Oftentimes, the hardest thing about a task is the process of getting yourself started. Many great potential achievements and opportunities have been left on the drawing boards and in the minds of people who didn’t have the drive to get started. They may have been too self-critical or perfectionistic or passive, or they may have […]
I consider myself to be a pretty motivated and productive guy. Although I’m in control of much of my schedule, a typical day consists of work, physical activity such as walking and exercising, and spending quality time with my wife and often with family, neighbors, and other friends. I know that I’m not too unique […]
At this time of the year, when we just celebrated Mother’s Day and prepare to celebrate Father’s Day next month, it always brings to my mind a question that I remember from my youth. It was pretty universal in my generation to ask the following question – particularly after seeing parents receiving gifts and being […]
We all have bad days – and some of them are of our own making. Of course, sometimes things don’t work out because we are treated unfairly, and sometimes we are treated fairly but we don’t get the job or the relationship or the discount or the tax break that we want. Even on the […]
Some very compassionate people have a difficult time expressing self-compassion. According to Dr. Kristin Neff, self-compassion expert at the University of Texas, the practice of self-compassion involves giving ourselves the same kindness and care that we’d give to a friend. Why do some people find that concept so difficult? In some cases, the problem is […]
A person’s comfort zone is a psychological state of mind in which a person is operating in familiar territory and feels in control and relatively free of anxiety and stress. It is a psychological space marked by performing routine behaviors that carry little risk. As the name implies, it is comfortable to be in your […]
There are a number of wonderful medications that provide benefits to a targeted physiologic process or area of your body. Some even do more than one helpful thing. But there is no drug that does so much for you as exercise and other physical activity. A regular program of exercise obviously helps with muscle tone, […]
On many occasions, I’ve discussed the importance of social connectedness. Being socially connected provides you with more opportunities to have fun and to have a support system. Furthermore, during the aging process, there is a strong association between loneliness and poor health and a shorter lifespan. Something that can get lost in the process when […]
No matter how positively we approach life and how satisfied we are with our situations, nothing ever turns out right all the time. We all wind up being disappointed at times, feeling regretful at times, and feeling that we are being treated unfairly at times. During those times, it is pretty normal to try to […]
Many years ago, when I was in school, we would occasionally get a test where you lost more points if you got the wrong answer than if you left the item blank. In essence, there was a penalty for guessing. I could never understand why. Perhaps my thinking in that regard may have been one […]
