HOW DIRTY IS YOUR MIND?

There is a certain four-letter word that is only used to describe a woman, and the last three letters of the word are:

___ U N T

Okay, what’s the word? It's never used to describe a man. Be truthful now, what is the first word that jumps to your lips?

Hmm. Really?

Is it a word that describes the woman who is married to your uncle?

I didn’t think so.  But if I misjudged you and you did come up with the word “aunt” you’re probably in the minority. The rest of you, well, admit it – you’re a little embarrassed, I'll bet - you sick bastards.

I use that word lovingly.

It can be tricky to base our decisions on logical analysis and careful scrutiny of all relevant factors. It’s much more convenient to blindly follow our primitive, gut instincts. 

A better method would be to balance that sudden creative and emotional inspiration with a moment of calm and quiet reflection, wherein common sense can be brought to bear. The key is to allow left-brain rationale to temper our passion – not to override the emotion, but to deepen the original right-brain impulse and forge it into a dispassionate and dependable strategy that can be trusted and acted upon with confidence. 

If you answered the “_unt” riddle incorrectly, you probably let your right brain (the seat of emotion) run with it. But had you waited before answering and allowed your left (logical) brain to take a shot at it, your strategy might have been to go through the alphabet and try all 26 letters as a way of discovering the mystery word. And had you done so, your problem would have been solved with the letter “A” – your search would have ended as soon as it began.

Now go wash your mind out with soap.