The Marble Jar Channel

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll share some of my summary and takeaways from the paradigm shifting book The Righteous Mind by moral psychologist, Jonathan Haidt.  Very occasionally, I read a book that changes the way I view the world.  I read quite a bit and am highly influenceable, but there are only a handful of books that have changed the filter through which I see things — these are some of those books (Egoscue, Attachment, Paradox of Choice).  Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind is one of those paradigm shifting books for me.  It helps that I read it at a time when I was puzzling over the polarization our political discourse.  I’m a dyed in the wool liberal, but I enjoy talking to people with different views. And not just to yell at them that they are wrong — I like to hear WHY people think what they think.  I grew up in a very conservative town and have lots of friends of ver...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll show you how I turn photos into usable text using Google Keep and the Plain Text Paste App.  *Okay — I’ve done quite a few videos recently about exporting text from PDFs, Kindles and the like. Since I’m in graduate school now, this is relevant to my life, but to be fair, I have always been a note taker.  My memory is not great and I read a lot of nonfiction.  It’s really the only way for me to retain more than the most superficial information from the books I read.  I’ve gotten so that I really prefer to read books on a Kindle.  My primary reason is that i like the ability to easily make highlights and quick notes while I’m reading. Then I can export those highlights to an Evernote note.   When I’m reading a physical book and I want to highlight something or make a note, I have to put down the book, go get my phone and then type in the quote.  Wel...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video I’ll walk you through my mental Decision Tree on whether its worth engaging in healthy conflict in order to heal a relationship.   Within the last 2 weeks, I’ve had 3 relationship conflicts to deal with.  It’s uncomfortable and stressful even for someone like me who is more at home with conflict than most. I come from a family that believes that conflict generally ends well. Now that doesn’t always mean we fight fairly or are on our best behavior during conflicts, but we honor the role of conflict as essential to good relationships. I married into a family where conflict generally does NOT end well. My mother in law once told me that there were never any fights in her marriage.  I think she believed that was a sign of supreme relationship health -- I take the opposing view on that.      So, my view is that our most important relationships are worth fighting fo...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll talk about why setting clear interpersonal boundaries is good for your relationships and helps you from growing resentful. I know that I’m a little prickly.  What this means is that I am sensitive to certain kinds of offense.  In particular, I don’t don’t like to be talked to in a condescending tone.  That makes me prickle and I can be rather vocal in my objection.  I’ve always considered it to be a bit of a character flaw, but as I age and watch other people's relationships crumble or implode around me, I can't help but wonder if it would be better if people were a bit more prickly along with being a bit more generous.  Let me explain.   For me, it is all about boundaries.  Boundaries are unwritten rules about how you expect others to treat you.  Some rules are guided by social norms — don’t kiss me on the lips if I’ve just met you or walk...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll talk what I don't like about  Mint.com  -- my budgeting program of choice.  This is the last of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. In the last two videos, I did a quick tutorial on  Mint.com , which I use for budgeting and I talked about what I like about Mint.  In this video, I'll share what I wish it did better: Security  - I wish I didn't have to give my bank account login credentials to Mint.  That said, if I want the convenience of having all of my transactions in one place, this is the price I have to pay.  Thankfully, Mint isn't some 2 bit, fly by night operation.  They are owned by Intuit, who also owns TurboTax and Quicken.  They have some experience in keeping data safe.  Here's what Intuit says on their website about how they store this data: "Login user name and passwords are stored securely in a separate database usin...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll talk what I like about  Mint.com  -- my budgeting program of choice.  This is Part 2 of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. The first video in this series gives an overview of how I use Mint.  In this video, I want to cover all of the things I like about Mint: Consolidation  - prior to using Mint, I had an elaborate process by which I would log into both my bank and my main credit card website and export transactions from each.  Then I would put them all into a spreadsheet.  This required me to be at my laptop and would take some doing.  Plus there were inevitably duplicate transactions.  It was, in short, a pain in the rear.  Mint makes this process SO MUCH EASIER.  Once you establish a connection inside Mint with your bank account and credit card accounts, it seamlessly pulls in all your transactions each time you visit the webpa...

Hi, everyone. This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll give you a quick tour of the program that I use for budgeting,  Mint.com .   This is the first of a 3 part series on how I use Mint. I’ve been compulsively keeping a budget since I was in college.  My parents made it a mission to spend as little money as possible when i was growing up, so I guess some of that rubbed off on me.   I'm also someone who loves systems, tracking things, and data -- so budgeting is a natural fit for me.   Obviously, the technology has improved a lot in 25 years. My favorite software used to be Microsoft Money, but they phased that out years ago, which is when I switched over to  Mint.com .  Mint has some real advantages and some annoying drawbacks, but having tried many of the alternatives, I’m convinced it’s the best thing out there at the moment for my needs.  I have two separate videos where I share my lik...