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esh-305
You can see how the sugar, the acid, the caffeine, and the artificial chemicals in sodas are really not good for you. Perhaps you might now understand that you should stop drinking them. However, if quitting sodas altogether sounds too difficult, cut down gradually. For example, replace one regular soft drink or one diet soda per day with another more healthy drink. Of course, the best choice would be water. Water has no calories, no acid, no caffeine, and no chemicals of any kind. And if you want something to add a boost of flavor, put a slice of lemon in the water. If you can't break your soda drinking habits in a short period of time, don't be too hard on yourself. Once you start cutting back, you are heading in the right direction.

2261-21
A psychology professor raised a glass of water while teaching stress management principles to her students, and asked them, "How heavy is this glass of water I'm holding?" Students shouted out various answers. The professor replied, "The absolute weight of this glass doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's quite light. But, if I hold it for a day straight, it will cause severe pain in my arm, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass is the same, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me." As the class nodded their heads in agreement, she continued, "Your stresses in life are like this glass of water. If you still feel the weight of yesterday's stress, it's a strong sign that it's time to put the glass down."

2261-22
Your emotions deserve attention and give you important pieces of information. However, they can also sometimes be an unreliable, inaccurate source of information. You may feel a certain way, but that does not mean those feelings are reflections of the truth. You may feel sad and conclude that your friend is angry with you when her behavior simply reflects that she's having a bad day. You may feel depressed and decide that you did poorly in an interview when you did just fine. Your feelings can mislead you into thinking things that are not supported by facts.

2261-24
Only a generation or two ago, mentioning the word algorithms would have drawn a blank from most people. Today, algorithms appear in every part of civilization. They are connected to everyday life. They're not just in your cell phone or your laptop but in your car, your house, your appliances, and your toys. Your bank is a huge web of algorithms, with humans turning the switches here and there. Algorithms schedule flights and then fly the airplanes. Algorithms run factories, trade goods, and keep records. If every algorithm suddenly stopped working, it would be the end of the world as we know it.

2261-29
Despite all the high-tech devices that seem to deny the need for paper, paper use in the United States has nearly doubled recently. We now consume more paper than ever: 400 million tons globally and growing. Paper is not the only resource that we are using more of. Technological advances often come with the promise of using fewer materials. However, the reality is that they have historically caused more materials use, making us dependent on more natural resources. The world now consumes far more "stuff" than it ever has. We use twenty-seven times more industrial minerals, such as gold, copper, and rare metals, than we did just over a century ago. We also each individually use more resources. Much of that is due to our high-tech lifestyle.