Read more about the article Cornerstone Habits Can Help Improve Your Life
Cornerstone Habits Can Help Improve Your Life

Cornerstone Habits Can Help Improve Your Life

Whether intentional or not, chances are you have formed a few habits that you practice every day. Maybe you have a habit of waking up and going straight to look at your phone. Perhaps you have a habit of cleaning up as you cook. Or, maybe you have developed a habit of biting your nails when you feel stressed or nervous. Habits, whether good or bad, are a necessary part of life. Why? They help free the decision-making areas of your brain up for choices that need more of your attention. Forming habits isn’t as simple as it…

Continue ReadingCornerstone Habits Can Help Improve Your Life
Read more about the article Gratitude and Gratefulness: The #1 Secret to Happiness
Gratitude and Gratefulness: The #1 Secret to Happiness

Gratitude and Gratefulness: The #1 Secret to Happiness

I’d been awake since 3am, and hadn’t slept more than four hours in nearly a week. Every stressful aspect of my life, personally and professionally, needed my attention in some way, and no relief appeared in sight. I was so on edge that when my husband inquired if I wanted some tea, I unwittingly snapped, inadvertently taking my frustrations out on him. I instantly felt awful, knowing I’d messed up with my partner, and needed to atone. But as I walked towards the kitchen, my husband met me in the hall, holding a hot cup of…

Continue ReadingGratitude and Gratefulness: The #1 Secret to Happiness
Read more about the article Six Strategies to Savor the Happiest Moments of Your Life
Six Strategies to Savor the Happiest Moments of Your Life

Six Strategies to Savor the Happiest Moments of Your Life

Have you ever experienced an almost perfect moment in your life? We’ve all felt it: those moments in time so spectacular that you wish you could experience it every second of every day. Maybe you were indescribably content devouring a delicious lobster roll off the coast of Maine in mid-summer, or found yourself lost in ecstasy during the encore of your favorite band’s set at Coachella (side note: I really miss concerts). There may be nothing better than that glow of joy radiating from within, and in those rare instances when you find yourself feeling immeasurably…

Continue ReadingSix Strategies to Savor the Happiest Moments of Your Life
Read more about the article Three Tips for Conquering Anxious Feelings and Thoughts
Three Tips for Conquering Anxious Feelings and Thoughts

Three Tips for Conquering Anxious Feelings and Thoughts

What do you do when anxiety arises? How does your body feel when those trickling anxious thoughts become a steady flow? Perhaps a sinking pit plunges in your stomach; a heavy pressure begins to squeeze your chest; your heartbeat and pulse start pounding, well above normal; or pins and needles engulf your neck, shoulders, and legs, as a cold sweat develops down your spine. Needless to say, no one would classify those physical feelings as particularly pleasant, even though they’re a universally present feature of human existence. We all deal with fear, and anyone can find…

Continue ReadingThree Tips for Conquering Anxious Feelings and Thoughts
Read more about the article How to Hack Your Brain for Happiness
How to hack your brain for happiness

How to Hack Your Brain for Happiness

My good friend, Debbie, got divorced 22 years ago after a nasty breakup between her and her ex-husband. He had cheated on her with her brother’s fiance, publicly declared he no longer loved her, then left her, “in a pool of my own tears,” as she described it. The breakup was so sudden, so painful, and so traumatic that she swore off romantic relationships-- of any kind, from single dates to long-term partnerships-- from that day forward. “That heartbreak was worse than any joy I ever felt with him, and I can’t look at any part…

Continue ReadingHow to Hack Your Brain for Happiness
Read more about the article How to Increase and Incorporate Mindfulness in Your Life
How to Increase and Incorporate Mindfulness in Your Life

How to Increase and Incorporate Mindfulness in Your Life

Consider what’s happening right now. Seriously, what is literally happening to you right now? Where are you sitting as you read this: the type of chair, how your body feels resting atop it, or how your legs and torso feel against the chair’s surface? Are you cradling your phone with your hand: the bottom resting on your pinky knuckle, supported upright by your three middle fingers behind it, as your opposable thumb scrolls up and down the smooth screen? Knowing, and being aware of, what’s happening to you in the moment is a process known as…

Continue ReadingHow to Increase and Incorporate Mindfulness in Your Life
Read more about the article Meditation and Debunking the Preconceived Notions
Meditation and Debunking the Preconceived Notions

Meditation and Debunking the Preconceived Notions

Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of focus on the side effects of modern medicine, particularly those related to medicines we ingest into our body. While the current medical hesitance appears misguided, at best-- seriously, folks, please get vaccinated when you can-- on a broader scale, a cautious approach towards any medication is understandable. No medical decision should ever be taken lightly, and for many people, deciding on whether or not to take a prescribed medication comes down to weighing the risk versus the reward. But what if I told you there was…

Continue ReadingMeditation and Debunking the Preconceived Notions
Read more about the article Six Reasons Why Sleep is Important for Finding Fulfillment
Six Reasons Why Sleep is Important for Finding Fulfillment

Six Reasons Why Sleep is Important for Finding Fulfillment

On any given morning, my son will wake as either Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, and you can generally predict-- with astonishing accuracy-- on which side of the coin he’ll land. If he goes to bed at his normal time, and obtains the requisite 10 hours of sleep he needs to recharge his brain and body? He’s an angel. But when he resists his body’s circadian rhythm, and rejects his natural sleep-wake cycle, refusing to fall asleep at his normal bedtime? Well, let’s just say you should avoid our house on those mornings. If this pattern…

Continue ReadingSix Reasons Why Sleep is Important for Finding Fulfillment
Read more about the article Why Routines are Fundamental for a Fulfilled Life
Tom Brady is a paragon of human excellence

Why Routines are Fundamental for a Fulfilled Life

Tom Brady is a paragon of human excellence, a fact driven home by his recent tenth Super Bowl appearance at the age of 43. He’s achieved a level of professional success few could ever even imagine, and while it’s become fairly routine to heap praise on the future Hall-of-Famer, his unparalleled accomplishments as a football player beg the question: how does he do it? The answer is quite simple, particularly if Aristotle’s assessment of excellence-- that preeminence is not a singular act, but the habitual repetition of actions-- is correct. Tom Brady, like the vast majority…

Continue ReadingWhy Routines are Fundamental for a Fulfilled Life

Managing Conflict In Relationships

Managing Conflict In Relationships                Healthy relationships are not based on how little conflict happens within them, but how they handle conflict when it arises. Every human relationship will involve disagreements and fights. How we choose to handle them usually stems from how we were raised but can be improved by understanding what it means to communicate effectively—even when it’s difficult. If handled well, negative interactions within a partnership can be a great opportunity to grow together and improve intimacy.                World-renowned couples researcher Dr. John Gottman has identified four toxic relationship behaviors that he coined…

Continue ReadingManaging Conflict In Relationships

End of content

No more pages to load