Self-Questions To Prevent Cracking Under Pressure

You have a task, project, or some job to take care of, but instead of getting started or making progress you become stymied, frustrated, and feel pressured. As anxiety increases, your focus, logic, and creativity diminish. You quickly despair of making any headway at all and the pressure keeps mounting . . .

Diligent, responsible individuals know they need to get their work done and frequently keep pushing themselves even when the effort is only making things worse. It seems that there is something in anxiety that tends to perpetuate itself.

If you are in this situation, it may help to stop and ask yourself questions intended to shift your current mindset or perceptions and help unblock your efforts …

Nine Skills Necessary for Good Mental Health

The focus of this year’s National Mental Health Month is the mental health of young people. The National Mental Health Association reports that one in five young people is affected by mental health problems.

Whether you are a young person or someone who cares for them, it is vital to keep in mind that mental health is far more than the genetic and neurobiological hand we are dealt.

Good mental health is a combination of biology, adequate life-skills, emotional awareness, and lifestyle choices.

Finding Mind-Body Balance with Acupuncture and Herbs

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can complement psychotherapy and nutritional counseling in the treatment of eating disorders.

The Lessons and Liabilities of Loneliness

Most of us, when we speak of loneliness or of being lonely, are talking about a feeling. It is a feeling described as emptiness tinged with longing, sadness, or grief. We may feel cutoff from others, bleak, desolate, or desperate whether in a room by our self, in company with significant others, or at a crowded party.

Loneliness comes from a real or perceived need for belonging that is not being met. It is also, for some individuals, the experience of sensing the disconnection among those around them. Feeling lonely is not the same as the fact of being by one’s self. People can be solitary and satisfied, or solitary and lonely . . .

Oniomania: Attempting to Buy Well-Being

Most of us understand the pleasure derived from purchasing something we want. Our brain’s pleasure center loves novelty, and our positive anticipation of enjoying the item stimulates good feelings.

Having this experience helps us understand how shopping can become a compulsive coping behavior for some people.

Compulsive shoppers are those who feel compelled to spend money despite problematic consequences such as closets full of unnecessary items, mounting credit card debt, or unpaid utility bills.
Like any compulsive behavior, once it is performed the individual has heightened feelings of well-being . . .

16 Ways To Boost Your Brain’s Health

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out … the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his …

Looking for A Relaxing Therapy Experience? Consider Watsu

Imagine the experience of being supported and cradled in a pool of warm water. As your eyes close, light plays across your eyelids and water muffles the world’s sounds. There is nothing you must do, nowhere to go, no effort to make. Sounds relaxing, even blissful, doesn’t it?

Unhappy? Maybe You Are Not Complaining Enough

No one likes being around a constant complainer, and having a mind full of continuous whine is not a prescription for good mental health.

However, when you find yourself stuck in a troubling mood you might want to use conscious complaining as a self-help tool. It is an easy and quick way to get clogged emotions moving again.

Chronic worry, anxiety, depression, and anger can be the result of trapped emotion. If ignored, the feelings will become more intense and eventually wreak havoc on your thought processes and drain your physical energy. The eventual outcome might be symptoms of a mental disorder.

Dieting and Eating Disorders: Three Distinctions

Although they share several behaviors, there are definite differences between dieting and having an eating disorder. Looking at those differences may clear up any confusion you have about whether you, or someone you know, is dieting or has a diagnosis.

The best thing to do, if you are worried about yourself, is to talk to your doctor. If sharing this concern with your doctor (or anyone else) is unacceptable to you, it is possible that you have an eating disorder. The sooner you talk to someone and get help, the better. Listen to the voice within that knows what is best for your long term health . . .

Lower Anxiety By Living At The Speed-of-Sanity

It is easy to get caught up in the speed at which we are expected to perform in the world of work or school, or to meet the demands of a busy family. A digital world is a fast paced one. Where time is money, and where fewer numbers of people are expected to accomplish more, our internal engine can pick up the habit of running fast, and forget to slow down.

Though we cannot change the world’s pace, it is essential to our physical, mental, and emotional health that we know how to return to our inborn signature rhythm or life pulse, and that we do it often . . .

What the Body Needs To Produce Serotonin

Our physical, mental, emotional, and chemical well being are interrelated.

Something that has an immediate impact on each aspect of health is our dietary choices.

This is why a nutrient rich diet is the most common sense and scientific first line of treatment for all our ills, including depression. A simple explanation of how the body manufactures serotonin illustrates this.

A Simple Way To Relieve Feelings of Overwhelm

Here comes that dreaded feeling of overwhelm. It is not just that you have a lot to do. In fact, you may not have that much to do, but your mind is going into overdrive. Your anxiety or panic begins rising, and you know that you cannot possibly handle whatever things you need to handle . . .

Six Lifestyle Changes Packing An Antidepressant Punch

Our bodies are still designed to thrive on plenty of physical activity and sunlight, social connectivity, diets loaded with omega-3s, and up to ten hours of sleep.

Instead, many of us live on fewer than eight hours of sleep and eat processed foods that lack omega-3s. Most of us are sedentary, work indoors, and may or may not have adequate social interaction.

This mismatch between our paleolithic body and our modern lifestyle facilitates depression. The answer then, points out Ilardi, is to make lifestyle changes that accommodate the age-old needs of our body . . .

Six Factors Behind Your Emotional Response To Stress

A couple dozen people are waiting to board a plane, and at the last minute the flight is delayed … One person immediately runs up to the gate attendant waving a ticket and demanding to know why and what the airline plans to do about it. Another individual plugs in a pair of ear buds, closes their eyes and gets comfortable.

One situation provokes many different human reactions. Our own reaction to a specific event makes sense to us while another person’s response can seem over the top, or even ridiculous. What causes this variety of emotional behavior?

This Simple Game Teaches the Power of Thought

We know it is better for our physical and mental health to think positive thoughts instead of negative ones. What we might not realize is how quickly and decisively our thoughts impact our well being.
The Finger Growing Game is a simple and fun way to demonstrate to yourself the power of your thoughts.

The first time you play the game, it is eye opening. The second and third time you play it will likely be to verify the original results. After that, playing the game occasionally serves as a helpful reminder of why we need to manage our minds as best we can . . .