How do you usually respond when life just isn’t going the way you want it to? Maybe your spouse forgot your birthday, you got a flat tire on that day when you simply have to get to an important meeting, or you received a scary health diagnosis. What to do? Yes, you could yell at […]

How do you cope when you’re rejected by that college you’d pinned your hopes on attending? How do you pick yourself up off the floor when your marriage of 15 years falls apart? And how do you manage when you’re facing a grim medical diagnosis? Life can be challenging enough when we’re just dealing with […]

Our minds are meaning-making machines. First and foremost, our minds try to protect us by figuring out how to avoid danger. Our minds are interpreters of our world and immediate circumstances. It’s a fact of nature – we are instinctively on high alert for danger, because first and foremost we want to survive.  After all, […]

Maybe you’ve been thinking about moving on from your current job. Or going back to school. Or getting up an hour earlier, so you can actually eat a real breakfast and enjoy your coffee before the kids are up. And maybe you’ve been contemplating these changes for a month, or a year, and yet you […]

A 2010 study of over 2200 people found that about 47% of the time people are not thinking about what’s going on in the present. What’s more, the Harvard University researchers found that when our thoughts are focused in places other than the present moment, we are not as happy as when we’re in the […]

Although the Thanksgiving holiday serves as a good reminder for us to pause and count our blessings, the truth is that gratitude represents an attitude and actions that we can seek to cultivate every day of the year. In addition to improving our relationships with others, expressing our thanks offers many other benefits. Some quotes […]

Have you ever flown off the handle and said or done things you later regret? (Almost all of us have.) Or have you been so much “in your head”, focused on facts and figures that you lost contact with your feelings or those of other people? (Probably.) In the first case, you were in what […]

Why is it that some people bounce back from tragedy or even seem to thrive in the face of persistent hardship, while others collapse and stay down for the count? Are some people just born with this resilience, defined as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)? Are […]

“Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second we can sit down and do our work.” (Steven Pressfield) Whether or not we recognize […]

Given the volatile and angry nature of this current national election, how do we manage our anxiety? Regardless of our political affiliations, this particular election cycle has involved unprecedented negativity and sensationalism, driven in part by people’s dissatisfaction with governmental gridlock, concerns about our economy, health care, foreign affairs, and racial issues, to name only […]