Renown psychiatrist Peter Kramer once said that the opposite of depression isn’t happiness. It’s resilience, the ability to bounce back from tragedy, to regain a healthy sense of perspective after traumatic or stressful experiences. In my recovery from depression and anxiety, it is calm— more than excitement or joy or contentment–that I seek. I want...
I do hereby confess that I exhibit symptoms of compulsive hoarding, especially when it comes to books, magazines, newspapers, or other tangible, often recyclable sources of information. I never know when I will need that reference book that I haven’t touched in 18 years, and I experience substantial anxiety whenever my husband attempts to throw...
A good friend of mine describes her depression as an elevator that takes her down to an unfurnished basement with toxic mold, the stench of cat urine, and no windows. When she is there, she has difficulty believing that there are any floors above her. What she sees and smells, she surmises, is the sum...
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 ask, “How long is this going...
Most adults spend more waking hours at work than anywhere else. If you are unhappy there, you are unhappy a major chunk of the time. Sharon Salzberg, renowned meditation teacher and cofounder, with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein, of the Insight Meditation Society, has just released an invaluable resource on finding happiness at work. “Real...
