I’m sure I’m not the only person who has fantasized about how I would react in a moment of crisis — rush into the burning building, shove the unsuspecting child away from the onrushing car, change the channel before the cliffhanger is spoiled.

I suspect I’m in a smaller cohort who wonders how I’d really react — split-second action or soiled drawers.

I reflect on those this morning because I’ve been wanting to write about dying, and no matter what opinions I espouse, I have no idea how I will react when my time comes. OK, so I’ve acknowledged that.

Welcome to another installment of “10 Words or Less,” in which I ask brief questions of interesting people and request brief answers in return. I became interested in today’s participant via our mutual interest in the National Speakers Association, of which he is not only a former president but a recipient of its highest honor, the Cavett Award. He’s a successful author and Ph.D. psychologist whose clients have included 3M, Daimler/Chrysler, GE, Honda, the FBI, and many more. Please remember: 10 words is an intention, not a limit, so please, no counting. It’s not that easy, and besides, let’s see you do it.
Name Terry Paulson
Born when, where "Panama City, Fla., fall of 1945."
Anything unusual about the circumstances? “The total charge for six days was $97. They didn’t charge enough, so now it’s a nursing home."
Your first paying job "Cutting apricots for $1.20 a flat. and I got to be pretty good at it because I wanted my dollar-twenty. I was also Baskin Robbins scooper of the month, May 1964."
Some wisdom gained through that job "I learned the importance of doing a quality job. At Baskin Robbins, I was appointed assistant manager. I got 15 cents more an hour, and I learned the importance of leadership."

Thanks to Hemi Weingarten at Fooducate for sharing his forum with me for a day. I used it to share 7 bullet points related to my having maintained a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years.

I left the comment below over at weightmaven.org, which is operated by friend Beth Mazur. Beth and I have interacted collegially, including when she published a guest post of mine a few weeks ago.

I won't add a link because he certainly doesn't need my help for traffic, but after balking a couple of times, I'm wading into the aftermath of the scurrilous post by Tuthmosis, who ran a piece about the five reasons to date an eating-disordered woman. He has been pilloried widely for saying awful things such as, "Her obsession over her body will improve her overall looks," and "She's fragile and vulnerable."

The hits keep coming on “10 Words or Less,” the feature in which I ask brief questions of interesting people and request brief answers in return. Today’s participant is one of the foremost living experts on addiction. He is a Distinguished Alumni Professor and the Donald Dizney chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Florida College of Medicine. Before we proceed, here’s the usual “10 Words” disclaimer: "Ten words" is an ethic, not a limit, so please, no counting. Besides, if you think it’s easy, let’s see you do it.
Name Mark Gold, MD
Residence Gainesville, Fla.
Born when, where New York City, May 1949
A formative experience "Listening to my mother, a Julliard-trained pianist, play the piano, and watching her give piano lessons."

A guy cold-called me the other day, essentially asking for a link to a graphic his organization created about diabetes, hoping to "get this conversation outside of just the diabetes blogosphere." I said sure.

Part of his idea was that I would share what I learned from reading the graphic, but there wasn't much. Apparently, stuff I think anyone knows isn't as widely known as I'd have thought. Stuff like:

I gave a speech recently at my Toastmasters club in which I discuss my spirituality. It runs about 10 minutes, but please don't let that stop you.

I’m generally down with the message of self acceptance at the core of actress Jennifer Lawrence’s presentation to Yahoo employees, reported in this HuffPo post.

But to play off her phrasing, this is just dumb:

“You look how you look, you have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."

As if these are the only options? 

Often, we can see how askew our norms are, just by taking a step or two back from them.

Today’s case in point is how all over America, adults are trying to dispose of the floods of candy that came into their house for Halloween, either cadged by their kids last night at their neighbors’ doors, or perhaps because fewer than expected of their neighbors’ kids came cadging at theirs.