Does fear get in the way of your well-being and compromise your quality of life? An estimated 8.7 percent of Americans, or 19.2 million people, suffer from a specific phobia like glossophobia (fear of public speaking) or necrophobia (fear of death). Even if you don’t have a specific phobia, you can probably appreciate that feeling of fear […]
I was moved by this poem by Derek Walcott, and thought I’d share it with you. The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger […]
I’ve always been a huge believer in exercise for treating depression. If I skip even two days of working out, my mood begins to dip and I feel much more fragile. Exercise is the one piece in my recovery from depression that has never failed me. Even on my sickest days, a hard workout will […]
We’ve been told since our first pimple arrived to look in the mirror and say, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and today is going to be a GREAT day, despite this mammoth zit on my chin” while plastering a fake grin on our face. Positive psychologists have force-fed us affirmations, telling us that the […]
As I mentioned before, I will be sharing excerpts and quotes that have been helpful to me in rough patches. Feel free to share your own. This passage is from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. I came across it in The Mindful Way Through Depression. How could we forget those ancient myths […]
As a highly-sensitive person (as defined by Elaine Aron in her bestseller The Highly Sensitive Person), I’m easily overwhelmed. I have been compiling ways to calm down over the years. I learned some in Aron’s book, some as part of the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program I participated in, and just recently picked up a slew […]
Brace yourselves for an unsettling statistic: 22 veterans die by suicide every day. That’s why you may have been tagged on Facebook or Twitter — or will be soon — to do #22pushups. Say what? The #22KILL movement was organized in 2013 by a group called Honor Courage Commitment to raise awareness about the staggering statistics on veteran suicide, and also […]
I thought I’d share the following excerpt from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Mindfulness for Beginners because it has been very helpful for me lately. I’ll be sharing more quotes and excerpts in the next weeks and months. Feel free to share your favorite passages, as well. It is a big step toward reclaiming our lives when […]
It’s that time of year again when the highly sensitive types among us who thrive with lots of sunlight begin to wither with the plants as the sun begins to hide. Not only do we get less vitamin D (and deficiencies have been linked to depression), but the change in sunlight affects our circadian rhythm — the body’s […]
This post is from my archives. Imagine you had to take a five-year-old with ADHD with you everywhere you went: to work, in the shower, to the grocery, on your run, out with friends. He was always anxious to leave and get back to his xbox at home. On the way to the store, he’d […]
