The way we represent things in our minds determines how we feel about life. A related distinction is that if you don't have a way of representing something, you can't experience it. While it may be true that you can picture something without having a word for it or you can represent it through sound or sensation, there's no denying that being able to articulate something gives it added dimension and substance, and thus a sense of reality. Words are a basic tool for representing things to ourselves, and often if there's no word, there's no way to think about the experience. If Bob never feels bored, and he doesn't have that word in his vocabulary, I had to ask further, "What's a word that I never used to describe how I'm feeling?" The answer I came up with was "depression". I may get frustrated, angry, curious, peeved, or overloaded, but I never get depressed. Why? Had it always been that way?No. Eight years ago, I'd be...