Mind and Mental Health
10 Thought Patterns that Keep You from Happiness
We tend to view our minds as our whole being. But through meditation we learn to watch our thoughts, almost like leaves floating by on a river. You can’t watch yourself, so that must mean that your thoughts aren’t all of you, but rather, a part of who you are. Even still,...
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The Healing Power of Gratitude
We live in a culture today that is becoming increasingly out of balance.Each day presents itself with more to do and what seems like less time to accomplish it in. In fact, it’s rare today to find someone who isn’t struggling to balance time, money, work, and family,...
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Multitasking: Healthy or Unhealthy?
How do you feel when I say the word “multitasking”? Do you feel overwhelmed? Or do you proudly say that you’re a good multitasker? Does it stress you out? Or do you feel efficient?As a health professional, I’m supposed to tell you that multitasking may be bad for you...
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What is Spirituality Anyway?
Spirituality isn’t a trend. I’m always baffled by those who coo about how “into” spirituality they are, like it’s a piece of bamboo clothing or some sort of fad diet. Maybe it’s because I never really thought about spirituality as some kind of commodity that can...
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Exercise to Boost Your Creativity
For many, tapping into our creative side can be difficult, and at times, seemingly impossible. In fact, speaking with many people has led me to believe that a significant number of people do not even believe they have any creative ability at all. Given how we are raised t...
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Dr. Daniel Amen: Brain SPECT Scans
My mother recently told me about a webinar she participated in with a psychiatrist whose main focus is ‘brain science’. She was very excited to discover his work because she is a world-renowned therapist and pioneer in the development of social services for survivors of ...
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Cure Back To School Blues The Buddha Way
September means back to school for kids and teens and also marks the end of summer let down for everyone else. The ending of anything is a great measure of our attachment to it, how long we grieve, complain or feel anxiety about the closing of something is a great indic...
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3 Steps To Transforming Negative Emotions
We all have individuals in our life that trigger this feeling in us of resentment. “How dare they!” we think to ourselves. I would never do that, we think, I would never be that selfish. We can become consumed by people or situations that we feel are unfair. However we d...
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Nervous System Function: Learning
The first thing to develop in a human being while in the womb is the nervous system. The nervous system is the most important system—it controls every cell, organ and function in your body. It is your body’s computer, fully equipped with its own wiring system. It sends and re...
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Finding Happiness Over The Holidays
The holiday season is an amazing time of the year. It’s a time that’s meant to be filled with love, joy, and happiness as there is so much to feel blessed about and so many things to feel grateful for. The gift of life alone is miraculous, leaving one in a state of won...
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5 Tips for Natural Stress Management
Stress is a normal part of everyday life, and a little stress is good for our bodies because it helps stimulate us to achieve our goals. But overwhelming stress, also called distress, is a big problem.Stress is the bodys response to a threat. The fight or flight response ...
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Commitment Phobia
Commitment phobia is something that has historically been a stereotype predominantly attached to men in relationships who are afraid of getting married. However commitment phobia is much more prevalent in all of us than we may at first like to admit. How committed are ...
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Support Your Mental Health Naturally
It may seem normal to brush off prolonged feelings of stress, fatigue, or irritability, but thats the last thing we should be doing. Good mental health is vital to our overall well-being. Every October 10, health care organizations mark World Health Day to bring awareness to m...
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Brain Health: A Smart Business Connection
Business success depends on a healthy and fit brain. As the integrated control center for your body, the health and fitness of your brain is critical to performance. Pull the plug on the connection between the body and brain and you lose the power source for longevity and heal...
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Letting Go: Breaking the Cycle
Relationships intrinsically create patterns that are energetic and repetitive. Think about how you handle money: You are either a saver, spender, avoider, or scrooge. Likewise, consider your relationship to conflict. You might run away from it or be drawn to and invigorated by it...
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Love Your Body
It’s well known that Valentine’s Day is a holiday centered on love. On this day couples typically exchange gifts, girlfriends get hopeful, boyfriends get nervous, and singles are continually reminded of and guilted by their solitary way of life. Being among the single ladies thi...
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Increase Brain Power and Improve Study Skills
What student doesn't want to do better? In essence every student can improve, some a little, others a lot. This does not just apply to school. All of us are students; we learn and perform mental tasks every day for our career, in relationships, and in life in general. Eff...
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Healthy Relationships
There is a certain amount of drama that makes life more exciting, unexpected, and fun. We may win a small sum at the casino, bump into an old flame, negotiate a risky business deal, or study for a big exam. Those are examples of agreeable drama. There are also the less desirable ...
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Jealousy: The Ego’s Playground
We've all been jealous at one time or another. But how do feelings of jealousy work? Where do they come from? Let’s take a closer look at the ego. The ego I'm referring to isn't the self-important or conceited attitude (though this quality is certainly prevalent a...
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Call a 'HALT' to Emotional Overeating
There’s no doubt that many food cravings have a physiological basis, but if we’re honest with ourselves, many of us also use food as a mood booster. Having written a book on the four steps to winning your inner battle with food, I know all about emotional overeating. It used to ...
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Omega-3s: The Smart Choice for Your Brain
It’s getting crisp outside, the leaves are turning red, and the kids are back in school. Homework and studying are the best, but there’s another way you can help your child’s (and even your own) brain growth and development. Nutrition plays an important role in cognitive function...
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There's No User's Manual for Dreams
Do you remember the first time you bought an appliance? Maybe it was when you went off to college or left home to live on your own. When you brought it home, opened the box, and saw the label “some assembly required” you were relieved to learn that assembly instructions and an op...
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Dreaming About a Mother
Mothers permeate our lives, both in reality and in our dreams. It can be challenging to write about the subject of mothers in dreams without discussing the classic theories of Freud and Jung, among others. In modern dream work, however, where we believe that only the dreamer can ...
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Dream Shifting: Examine All Perspectives
After a nap, a dreamer awoke with the following dream fragment: “I was looking out from a big picture window at a body of water that felt like it was the Pacific. I think I was slightly higher than the water, perhaps looking from a high-rise building or condo of some sort. Sudden...
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Mind Over Matter
Pushing something out of your mind is sometimes easier said than done. Think about a time when you have received bad or worrisome news in the middle of a busy day at work. Chances are, you "pushed it" out of your mind to get through the day, only to be surprised later ...
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Get in a Good Mood by Eating the Right Foods
In a perfect world, parents are patient, understanding, calm and rational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The reality is parents are only human with both good and bad days. The good news is that there may be a reason for those less than optimal days, and it could be as simple as...
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Pay Attention to Dreams During a Detox
When seasons change, holistic practitioners often recommend detoxifying the body. By this, they mean a cleansing where anything old, stagnant, or unhealthy can be released and the body is purified. This will usually be accomplished by a change in diet along with herbal or nutriti...
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Love Can Improve Mental Health
February is Heart Month, a lovely time to pause and remember all the glorious and lovely things in our life! My promise to myself is to laugh more—to be honest, open, and grateful for this beautiful life. Looking into the soulful eyes of my children always fills my heart with utt...
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What is Anxiety?
Feeling tense, worried, or having “butterflies in your stomach” is one experience we are all familiar with. While it is not a particularly pleasant experience, normal anxiety serves an important function in our history as a species by helping to alert us to impending dangers. Anx...
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Babies, Births and New Beginnings
Dreams about babies and births are very common, and you do not need to be pregnant or a woman to have them. With the birth of each new year, we turn another page in our calendars, write a new year in our check books, and look to what the new year will bring. Similarly, in dreams,...
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Big Dreams, Little Dreams
In a recent e-mail conversation with a colleague, we talked about a mutual friend's "Big Dream." We were not referring to her hopes and dreams for the future, rather to a specific dream that seemed to take her beyond the everyday concerns typical of so many dreams....
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Dealing with Anxiety Dreams
When you think of the holidays, do you think of stress or spirit? Is your “to do” list the first thing that comes to mind or your soul? If it is indeed stress, then you are likely to have typical anxiety dreams that go hand-in-hand with the hectic pace and demanding days leading ...
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Delve into Your Dreams in a Dream Group
The New Year arrives at different times for different cultures, and there are other times of the year that herals a new start. We often think of Spring as the time for new growth and new beginnings, and the beginning of a new school year comes in Spetember for many people in the ...
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'Tis The Season: Circadian Rhythms
The holidays are here, and that means it’s time for another yearly occurrence, albeit one that comes without tinsel and Santa: It’s the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Although they often can’t explain why, many people complain of feeling sluggis...
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Not Enough Hours, But a Million Moments
Most of us are busy. Our "To do" list contains more tasks than can possibly be completed in the time we allot. There is no time to waste. We run from here to there, and back again, trying to complete as much as we can. We expect too much of ourselves in the time we have...
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Enhancing Our Mental Health: Part 2
This month I discuss ways to enhance mental health by controlling our thoughts and attitudes, being optimistic, challenging ourselves with new experiences, and learning to meditate. Controlling Thoughts and Attitudes Most of us have difficulty letting go of troublesome thoughts...
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Why Dreams Matter
The development and nurturing of dream recall is something that does not come naturally to all of us, but it is a rare person that does not ever remember at least some part of a dream. It is a skill like any other and can be learned with patience and encouragement. Some people wo...
Read more...Enhancing Our Mental Health: Part 1
Self esteem is the mental and emotional perceptions we have of our self. It shows how much we value, accept, respect, and love ourselves. The way we feel about ourselves is influenced by a number of factors: upbringing and childhood experiences in our families of origin; authorit...
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Good Mental Health: Go Fish!
Ahhh . . . summertime! When I think of July and August, images of sweltering days at the beach, dripping icy treats, and evening barbeques of fresh seafood and greens come to mind. There's a feeling of contentedness and peace that re-appears year after year, generally in lat...
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Practicing Self-Care
The better we feel about ourselves, the better care we take of ourselves. We practice self-care by assuming responsibility for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well being. Let’s scratch the surface with the physical self and delve into the other dimensions of health...
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