Mind & Emotions Archives - Page 24 of 25

What Do You See?

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” ~ Peace Pilgrim

Although I do often write from a personal perspective, I rarely reveal specifics surrounding my daily life. Today is different. I lost my job on Thursday. I am now among the millions of unemployed … a number that we all know is growing daily. While there is intellectual comfort in knowing that we are not alone, when faced with looming bills to be paid, those numbers mean little.

As I sent out emails, letting friends and old contacts know of the situation (ie: Help! I’m looking for a job!!), many wrote back expressing sorrow and talking about the difficulties of finding work in these extraordinarily challenging economic times. One, in particular, stood out … “Glad to see that your spirits are up!! Mine were down when XXXX let me go. However…. persistence will prevail.” Yes, persistence will prevail, no doubt, but that’s not what struck me. What made me stop for a moment was the comparison … that in my note to him it was evident that I looked at things differently. That I wasn’t going to let the reality of the situation change my attitude toward life. Why, or why not?

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How To Get Yourself Out of a Bad Mood

By Ali Luke / 33 Comments

We all have times when we need to get out of a bad mood, or escape from a negative frame of mind.

I know I need to make an effort to change how I’m feeling when I find myself spiraling into a black mood. I might be unreasonably angry, irritable or tearful. I might be in one of those moods which we all get from time to time – wanting to scream, or hit something (or someone). Obviously, this isn’t pleasant for me or for the people around me, and it destroys my ability to focus on doing anything productive.

So I’ve found, partly through trial-and-error, and partly through reading the advice of others, things which help me to pull myself out of a bad mood.

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Are Antidepressants For You?

By Wendy Aron / 19 Comments

It’s no secret that the number of antidepressants being prescribed over the last two decades has increased dramatically. In fact, according to a recent government study, the number of antidepressant prescriptions increased by 16 million, up from 154 million to 170 million, between 2002 and 2005 alone.

Why such an increase? There are probably several reasons.

Drug companies try to reap as much profit as possible by developing new medications all the time. People see drug company advertisements for antidepressants on television and ask their doctors about them. Internists and GPs take the line of least resistance and prescribe the medications, while psychiatrists are paid handsomely by insurance companies for medication management. Also, doctors are not Gods and they do occasionally make misdiagnoses.

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The Universe Works If You Get Out The Way

By Chandra Alexander / 18 Comments

Sometimes, things just go our way. We get the job we have been dreaming of, an unexpected check comes in the mail, or things just seem to effortlessly fall into place for no apparent reason. We call it luck or attribute it to simply having a good day. But in truth, we have been given a glimpse of the true nature of the universe.

We tend to think the timing was right never realizing we are an intimate part of the process. We are not random recipients. If only for the moment, our state of being pulls to us this divine experience of synchronicity. There is rhyme and reason to the way the universe unfolds. When we are “in the flow”, the illusion that we can protect ourselves by being in control has been released. We have gotten out of the way long enough to experience how effortlessly this process takes place. We must be willing to stop pushing and allow the universe to send us the things we truly need rather than what we keep asking for.

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10 Secrets for Instant Self-Confidence

By Ali Luke / 73 Comments

There are lots of ways to improve your self-confidence over the long-term – but sometimes you need an instant boost. You can’t walk into an important work meeting, (or a class at college or a room full of strangers at a party) whilst frantically re-reading a self-help manual, or making a last-minute phone call to your life-coach. So here are ten secrets to boosting your self-confidence in just a few seconds…

1. Smile

The one-second tip for when you’re feeling nervous and unconfident is simply to smile! You don’t just smile because you are happy and confident – you can smile to make yourself feel better. The act of smiling is so strongly associated with positive feelings that it’s almost impossible to feel bad while smiling.

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How to Grow Outside Your Comfort Zone

By Ali Luke / 23 Comments

Growth doesn’t tend to happen when we’re feeling comfortable. In order to really change, we need to grow outside our comfort zone.

But when we’ve found something which is easy and which works, we want to carry on doing more of the same … it’s difficult to take a step into the unknown, or the uncomfortable. We convince ourselves we’re making progress (perhaps working slowly up the ladder at work, passing the next test in school, writing another blog article) – but we secretly know we’re not growing.

I’m going to think about three questions below:

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How to Find True Happiness

By Marelisa Fabrega / 43 Comments

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Openheim

Advice on how to be happy used to be the purview of self-help gurus. However, over the past few years scientists and psychologists have begun to give serious study to the subject of happiness. Although they’ve discovered that about 50% of happiness is determined by a person’s genes, and another 8 to 10% by life’s circumstances–such as income, health, and marital status–, the remaining 40% is up for grabs. In addition, scientists have found several ways to create true happiness, six of which are explained below.

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Going Against the Flow

By David B. Bohl / 11 Comments

In life, we’re often told to “go with the flow.” Meaning, the flow of energy, the flow of events as they unfold. The implication here is that we shouldn’t struggle against forces beyond our control. To do so is to expend valuable energy that’s better exerted elsewhere.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this going with the flow business, and what it all means.

It’s my feeling that people who are passive accepters will always go with the flow, no matter what. And that’s the majority of people. But then you have the other brand of personality – the movers and shakers. They’re fewer and farther between, sure. These people seem to have that killer gut instinct telling them when it’s right to go against the flow.

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How to Become Comfortable in Your Own Skin

By David B. Bohl / 12 Comments

Did you ever enter a room, see people talking and laughing together and wonder: how are they so at ease? Does it feel like a big deal to just “jump into a conversation” or assert your opinion? Do you have trouble relaxing and just being yourself in the company of others?

Many of us carry around the notion that other people are more emotionally and intellectually solid than we are. Is this true? Is it some kind of glitch in the human brain which makes us regard others as being better or superior?

If we press the pause button and really stop, what happens? We realize that our comfort level has much more to do with ourselves than anybody else. Here are some ways to become more effective, simply by feeling more at peace with who (and how) we are.

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The Perfect Day

By Peter Clemens / 19 Comments

Every so often life gets a bit hectic and crazy. When this happens, one thing I like to do is to slow down and think about my perfect day. This is not a perfect day in the sense that I can do whatever or be wherever I want. It’s nice to picture myself on a beach somewhere drinking coronas or skiing down the slopes of Whistler, but what is of more benefit to me is to visualize (and even better write out) the perfect day that I can experience right here, right now (as Fatboy Slim would say).

This exercise is based on a simple, but very powerful belief: it is possible for each of us can live happy, consciousness, and meaningful lives each and every day. Everything in our life may not be “perfect” – perhaps we are lonely, want more money, desperately need a holiday, dream of a better body or are bored with our work – but I believe with a shift in our mindset we can start enjoying the present, while still working towards the future we desire.

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7 Benefits of Losing Weight

By Ali Luke / 13 Comments

Are you overweight? If your life never quite satisfies you – if you don’t feel you’re as confident, productive, motivated or enthused as you could be, try kick-starting the changes you want to make by beginning with your body.

Seven years ago, I was shy, chubby, lacking in confidence, and struggling to think beyond my immediate future: going to Cambridge University. I’d been fatter than my classmates since the age of nine or ten. Finally losing that extra thirty or so pounds I’d been carrying around has had a tremendous impact on my life over the past seven years.

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