No intelligent person wants to acknowledge that they may have a bias in terms of race. We know in our minds that it is unfair, unwarranted, and detrimental to have a negative view of someone on basis of race. We also know it's politically incorrect. We like to think we're smart enough to outwit any insidious form of racism that may be lurking in back of our brains.

Well, our brains don't know that. These tests measure what's going on in our brains, not what we want to have going on. The results can be quite shocking.

I guess good news is that there's a part of our brains that is trying to behave properly! This study was done with educated, intelligent, fairly progressive white students at Dartmouth College. Though it isn't mentioned in report, I'm guessing that these students didn't consider themselves racist. What happens if same study is conducted with those who readily admit their prejudice?

If we know better, and we want to avoid being racist, how do we go about doing so? We assume that more contact with individuals of other races will help us overcome our prejudices, but that sometimes backfires. Integrated communities are rarely racism-free.

Contact doesn't eliminate racism--greater understanding and positive relationships do.

Think about your brain and your own bias regarding race. The first step is to be honest: virtually every single person on planet has a racial bias of some kind. The next step is to take a test to find out for yourself where you stand.

And then? What next?

We learn racism. We know enough about brain and how it works to recognize that whatever we learn we can also unlearn. Absorb everything you can about other ethnicities and cultures. Read, travel, see movies, listen to music, try new foods--do everything possible to develop a voracious curiosity and robust enthusiasm for people of all races.

Stimulate your brain in an effort to render that "executive control" area irrelevant. Train your mind while building relationships with individuals of other races. Outsmart your brain's racism by becoming colorblind.

Thinkers know better than to be racist. The challenge is to free our brains of lingering doubts. Immerse yourself in richness of world. It'll make you smarter--and more excellent--in every way.

According to Linda Naiman, of www.creativityatwork.com, belief that only special, talented people are creative -- and you have to be born that way -- diminishes our confidence in our own creative abilities. She goes on to say that notion that geniuses such as Shakespeare, Picasso and Mozart were `gifted' is a myth.

In a study Naiman references, conducted at Exeter University, researchers examined outstanding performances in arts, mathematics and sports, to find out if widespread belief that to reach high levels of ability a person must possess an innate potential called talent. The study concludes that excellence is determined by opportunities, encouragement, training, motivation, and most of all, practice.

According to Webster's Dictionary, creativity is 'marked by ability or power to create - to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.' So, where do you allow your creativity and excellence to come through? Where do you find yourself saying 'Let's try to put this with that and see what happens?' What activities bring you joy? What activities make you feel connected to lots of other pieces of yourself and others? What activities bring you a strong sense of accomplishment and achievement? These are most likely areas where we express our creativity.

It is vital that each one of us recognize that spark of creativity, nurture it and allow it to grow. You are creative; you just might not have figured out where yet. Honor your creativity. It is a critical component in achieving life of your dreams.