Our Latest Blogs

Reparenting Ourselves During Troubled Times: Learning to Live with Our Inner Critic

worried woman

According to the National Science Foundation, we have about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day, and 80% of them are negative. I used to be a quiet person who never asked many questions because of my painful past experiences, which included body shaming and bullying. I clamped myself up into an uninteresting bespectacled woman with […]

Sleeping when Everything Haunts You – Learning to Cope with Disturbing Thoughts when You Just Want to Rest

night sky lightning

“I can’t stop them from coming; it’s like I’ve lost the will to even try!” I said, pushing through my embarrassment. I took a deep breath and waited some time before speaking again. “Sometimes they start with a nightmare, where I’m chasing an ex who is running away from me, or I’m talking to a […]

Why a Lack of Exercise Is Making You Stressed

stressed out office worker

What is stress? The best-known stress hormone is adrenaline. That’s the hormone that movies mention when a hero is “filled with adrenaline” and suddenly has superhuman power. But what is adrenaline? Adrenaline is a hormone that is released when you are in a dangerous situation. For instance, when you encounter a predator like a tiger […]

It’s Only Heavy If You’re Carrying It – Moving on From Your Past

leaping man at sunset

Throughout my life, I’ve discovered that I am not a person who forgets things easily. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true; I forget things like where I put my keys or my phone at the end of the day, but I can clearly remember the name of a girl who pulled my hair in the […]

How Practicing Gratitude Helps You Deal with Anxiety

grateful woman in field of flowers

Gratitude is something that each one of us must practice on a daily basis, anxiety, or no anxiety. It makes us aware of all the good things in our lives that we usually take for granted. If you’re suffering from anxiety, you’re not alone. According to research, it affects almost 18.1% of the US population […]

Does Mindfulness Help ADHD?

young woman mindful meditation

ADHD, which is usually characterized by a display of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, has an incidence of 4 percent in the adult population. Both children and adults with ADHD experience two common and persistent daily challenges in their lives – maintaining self-regulation and paying attention. This highlights the fact that any attention training that helps to […]

Anger Management: How to Control It and Express It the Right Way

angry argument

Just like any other emotion, anger coveys a message. There are different ways in which we express our anger: in the way we speak, the way we take action, and in the way we behave in general. While it’s a natural response to certain situations, it may get out of hand, and sometimes it becomes […]

7 Trustworthy Tips on How to Stay Physically and Mentally Healthy Right Now

friends running on beach

Humanity is going through a unique period in its history. Stress, worries, anxiety, and fear of the unknown are upsetting us all. Sure, some are more affected than others. That’s why we have to be mindful of the most vulnerable. Society must relinquish selfishness, especially in times where the fate of one impacts on many. […]

Finding Your Flow: How Mindfulness Can Lower Your Anxiety

guitar player

Does your mind wander as aimlessly as mine? When you were preparing your dinner last night, were you really thinking about chopping those onions? Where were you mentally? If you’re like me, you were mulling over the ever-growing, ever-overflowing to-do list you keep track of in your head. Often I’m daydreaming about my fantasy vacation. […]

3 Free Mobile Apps to Help You Learn Mindfulness Meditation

young woman with smartphone

Where’s your cell phone currently located? If we are similar, it is probably right next to you, if not in your hand. Our cell phones can be addictive, mostly due to the abundance of applications that make our lives easier. Mobile apps can serve the purpose of helping us interact with friends and family from […]

How Spiritual Wellness Can Help Fight the Onset of Depression

woman praying

Almost everyone experiences depression or sadness at some time in life. Depression is a pervasive affective state that is experienced by individuals as they undergo challenges, loss, frustrations, and changes in everyday life. Most people, at some point, experience a loss of a loved one, encounter difficulties, or are placed in a position to care […]

5 Ways to Free Your Mind from Intrusive Thoughts

swimming polar bear

You’re headed to bed early – excited to finally get a full night’s rest. But as soon as your head hits the pillow, your brain is consumed with an unwanted, disturbing thought. You continue to dwell on that thought, tossing and turning all night long. Have you ever experienced a similar scenario where an unwelcome […]

Sound Body, Sound Mind

yoga pose

Just how closely is your mental health connected to your physical health? Your mental health and physical health might be more connected than you think.  Envision your mental health and your physical health as two sides of a shiny new coin.  On the mental health side is your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.  Flip it […]

The 5 Best Mood-Tracking Apps

young woman on smartphone

New technologies have been a complete blessing for millions of people worldwide, especially for those who suffer from mood swings or depression, because now they have access to some therapeutic apps that help them track their moods faster and more easily. Those who live with depression, mood swings, or even anxiety know how scary and […]

Finding Your True Self during the Coronavirus Lockdown

self-care tablet

The coronavirus COVID-19 has had an unquestionable impact on our lives and the lives of people across the globe. One of the biggest challenges faced by humans as a collective has been going into lockdown. For the time being, our movements, our ability to see friends and loved ones, and even where we work, is […]

How to Stay Connected During Social Distancing from Coronavirus

woman on video chat

As we continue practicing self-isolation and maintaining safe social distances, it’s essential to figure out how to stay connected to each other. Even though we can’t see our loved ones physically, we can use multiple other methods to maintain meaningful relationships. It’s necessary for our mental health, too. From video chat software to traditional handwritten […]

How to Complement Your Mental Health Care with At-Home Self-Care

elephant drawing

Even though mental health isn’t talked about in the same way that other health problems are, it affects a large portion of the population. In 2017, an estimated 46.6 million American adults had a mental illness, or 18.9 percent of all U.S. adults (almost 1 in 5). As more research and statistics come to light, […]

7 Ways Pets Improve Your Mental Health

7 Ways Pets Improve Your Mental Health Dogs, cats, and other pets are cute and cuddly companions that many people welcome into their family. In recent years, society has started to appreciate the intelligence and calming effect pets can have on their owners. The increasing number of pets has caused a booming pet industry for […]

How to Get Motivated to Exercise When You Have Depression

exercise buddies

When the going gets tough, simple procedures like getting dressed in the morning or taking a shower can represent a real burden, let alone going for a morning jog. When you have depression or when you feel stressed and agitated due to the daily grind and workload, it can feel utterly impossible to get your […]

Ways Working in the Gig Economy Can Negatively Impact Your Mental Health

uber driver

Over the last decade, the way we work has dramatically changed. Freelance, contract, and gig work have become a dominating force in the modern employment landscape. And the gig economy shows no signs of slowing down: According to Forbes, 36% of the U.S. workforce is involved in the gig economy, which equals about 57 million […]

You Are Not Your Disorder: 3 Steps To Overcome Fear During Recovery

scary foot bridge

As a life coach, I’ve noticed that fear is the #1 commonality among my clients who experience anxiety and depression. One of the most crippling inhibitors during the recovery process is fear. Fear of the unknown, more specifically. So often, we allow our diagnosis to become a part of our identity — who we are, […]

The Power of Positive Self-Image for Those in Recovery

Self Reflection

Holistic healing refers to the treatment of the whole person to achieve optimal wellness. And for those recovering from substance abuse, taking a holistic approach to care may be the key to success and lifelong freedom from drugs and alcohol. The recovery process, therefore, should be a multifaceted endeavor involving physical healing from addiction as […]

“Leaky Gut Syndrome” May Cause Depression

stomach ache

Our intestines play an important role. They not only digest food but also extract nutrients from it. Bowels are a protective barrier between internal organs and the outside world but they have one weak spot. The intestinal mucosa consists of a thin layer of epithelial cells that are interconnected by special proteins. These proteins don’t […]

How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help People With Depression

Mindfulness Meditation

Depression is one of the most prevalent health issues in the modern world. There have been people comparing the mental health crisis to a tsunami sweeping across the world. The depression causing so many people pain can be caused by many different outside factors. The stress of trying to succeed in a competitive business world, […]

How to Use Nutrition to Manage Your Anxiety and Stress

healthy food

Stress and anxiety are normal emotions that affect all of us. They are never something to be ashamed of. We all handle our emotions differently. Some people choose to cope by seeing a counselor, taking medication, or even starting a yoga practice. However, one aspect of life that all people can utilize to improve their […]

How to Create an Emergency Mood Lifter for Your Mental Health

music mood lift

Have you ever found yourself at an emotional low point during your day and wondered, “How did I get here, again?” Have you ever considered the possibility that you may be able to help prevent these low points from happening by creating an emergency mood lifter? Visualize a red metal box with a glass front […]

Running for a Healthy Mind: Defeating Depression with Freeform Jogging

jogging for mental health and depression

Even individuals with sunny dispositions have their dark times. It is therefore not a stretch to imagine that people who suffer from depression go through excruciating intervals of suffering when their mood takes a nosedive. The root-causes of depression can be manifold: they can be genetic, stress-related, caused by an ailment, or even diet. However […]

Ways a Toxic Environment Can Be Detrimental to Your Physical and Mental Health

Ways a Toxic Environment Can Hurt to Your Mental Health

Being happy and healthy can be extremely difficult when you’re in a toxic environment. A toxic environment can be a result of anything from an unhealthy relationship or negative work environment to self-esteem issues or a lack of self-care. Whatever the cause, toxicity is hard to cope with. It can sometimes be hard to recognize […]

Tips on Approaching Intimacy after Trauma

locked heart

Many people are battling to recover from past traumatic events. Commonly, these people will struggle with abandonment issues, jealousy, fear of not being good enough, and an overall mistrust in others. These lasting effects can make having intimate relationships with significant others or close friends very difficult, causing a lot of emotional turmoil; especially when […]

Mindfulness Exercises for Better and Healthier Sleep

mindfulness sleep exercises

During a typical week, we experience a lot of stress and anxiety, whether it comes from an intense work environment, social pressures, or any similar source. These feelings can stick with us for quite some time, and slowly jeopardize our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. It’s a sadly normalized aspect of adult life, […]

What’s the Connection Between Sobriety, Spirituality, and Mental Health?

spirituality sobriety

The idea of spirituality and its connection to sobriety is common. Addiction programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) often start or end with the serenity prayer which says, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom […]

Top Meditation Techniques to Fight Addiction

outdoors meditation

No matter what substance you use, if you do it regularly, some changes leading to addiction inevitably occur in your brain. To rewire an addicted brain, you need to undergo a treatment process that will heal not only body but mind as well. Reaching abstinence is a big victory. But the struggle will continue as […]

The Negative Impact of Stress on Mental Health

What is Stress? Stress can be defined as the way you feel when you’re under abnormal pressure. Everyone experiences stress from time to time, and it is a natural physical and mental reaction to life events. The below infographic from Study Medicine Europe examines the science of stress and offers an in-depth look as to […]

The Connection Between Mental Health and Intimacy

intimate friends

While most of us assume that intimacy is something we only experience physically, intimacy also depends on, and greatly impacts, our brains. In fact, mental wellbeing and intimacy are so closely related that each can affect the other. What is intimacy? Intimacy can be both emotional or physical, oftentimes both. Emotional intimacy refers to a […]

How Writing Can Improve Your Mental Health

mindful writing

Writing is a medicine for your mind. Whenever you feel mentally and emotionally exhausted, writing down the things that bother you will help you structure your thoughts and bring peace to your mind. Many therapists recommend investing time writing every day to improve your mental wellbeing. Dr. Mark Rowe MD, who is also an expert […]

Fighting Depression Without Medication

Overcoming Depression Without Medication

Clinical depression is more than just having a bad day. Depression is a real illness that impedes a person’s daily life and normal functioning. It causes pain both for those affected and the people close to them. Depression is one condition that is often overlooked or ignored because of the stigma and connotations associated with […]

How Sleeping Can Help Destroy Exam Stress & Deliver Success!

stress relief sleep

Do you think you got enough sleep last night? Can you recall the last time you woke up without needing an alarm clock and actually felt refreshed, not needing coffee? If the answer to either of these questions was “no” then you’re not alone. Roughly 66% of adults throughout all developed nations fail to obtain […]

4 Outdoor Exercises to Boost Your Mental Health

swim for health

Fresh air on your face, hair blowing in the wind and the shifting scenery around you as the daylight changes – and the weather, too. Being outdoors definitely awakens the senses and stirs the emotions. Getting outdoors is said to ‘blow the cobwebs away’, however, it can do so much more than that. The benefits […]

The Art of Self-Forgiveness: How to Let Go, Forgive Yourself, and Move Forward

wellness butterflies

 If you are really struggling with feeling bad about something, set aside those feelings of guilt or remorse for just one moment and listen… There is one simple truth about humans that is often forgotten–humans are not infallible. Everybody makes mistakes. The majority of us have made some terrible mistakes. Some mistakes may have cost […]

How to Practice Gratitude When You’re Depressed

young adult gratitude

Happiness is a goal that most people hope to achieve. It’s why you’ve seen an increase in practices such as self-care and gratitude. Gratitude is a form of self-care that aims to bring a sense of well-being and contentment through appreciating the things we have in our lives. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to practice […]

Living in the 21st Century: Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health and Well-being

social media phone

If you’re anything like me – or most Americans – the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning is check your phone: for updates, for statuses, for anything and everything. It seems like our entire life revolves around our phones. In today’s digital world, they allow us to do […]

How Exercise Helps Relieve Depression and Anxiety

Exercise for Depression and Anxiety

Most people are aware of the physical benefits of exercise. However, other than getting a rocking body, building muscles, increasing energy, and improving cardiovascular health, regular exercise improves mental health as well. Some of the mental health benefits of exercise include increased self-esteem and self-confidence, better sleep, improved cognitive function, relief of stress, increased relaxation, […]

Stress Busting Essentials for the New Year

stress busting meditation

As we step into a new year, it’s easy to let that overwhelmed feeling creep into our daily lives. With the holidays over and the stresses of work and school (or both!) weighing on us, it can be easy to slip into a stress-induced fog. To combat this feeling, it’s important to not only recognize […]

Uplifting New Year’s Resolutions for Your Mental Health

Mental and Emotional Health Resolutions

It’s that time of year again when we wave goodbye to one year and usher another one in. That means it’s also resolution time. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is the failure rate. According to U.S. News, 80 percent of resolutions fail by mid-February. Failure has become so common that most of us probably […]

How to Get Out of Bed When Depression Is Keeping You Down

Do you wake up in the morning and, within moments of opening your eyes to a day full of opportunity, think “what’s the point?” You are not alone. This feeling of constant dejection, that complete inability to feel any sense of self-belief or confidence, is something that often leaves you feeling weak and timid. Such […]

How I Healed My Chronic Anxiety and Depersonalization Naturally

Anxiety and Depersonalization Recovery

Disclaimer: I am not a physician or a mental health professional. The information in this post is simply a description of what I did to help myself overcome generalized anxiety disorder and depersonalization disorder. My bouts of anxiety and depersonalization started at the age of fourteen. I was just going into my freshman year of […]

Hope for the Holidays: A Light in the Darkness for Those with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

“Dear George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love, Clarence” – It’s a Wonderful Life With all the anticipation, excitement, expectation, and preparation that go into the holidays it is probably inevitable that we end up feeling a certain amount of disappointment this special time of year. This […]

Anxiety from My Head Down to My Toes

“Merging our bodies with our minds first starts with tuning into all the places and ways we experience anxiety and grief throughout our whole bodies.” For years, I lived with an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Oddly enough, it was feelings of physical distress in my body that caused me to seek help for the problem in […]

Resilience: The Power to Bounce Back from Adversity

Overcoming Adversity

Everyone experiences challenges and setbacks, but some people can recover more easily than others due to their resilience. Resilience is the capacity to bounce back quickly from difficulties. Some people are just naturally more resilient than others and can let things easily roll off their backs. Likewise, other people tend to be more emotionally fragile […]

3 Tips for Managing Situational Anxiety

Situational Anxiety

Are there certain situations that, no matter what you do, seem to cause your nerves to completely spike? For many people, public speaking is one such circumstance. As they stand up to speak, their hands instantly begin to tremble. Their voices change from steady to shaky. Beads of sweat pool at the top of their […]

5 Self-Care Practices that Will Benefit Your Mental Health

Practicing self-care is about knowing what we need to do to take care of ourselves. It involves taking deliberate actions to support our overall health and wellness. Often overlooked, these practices can improve mental health and reduce the risk of disorders like depression and anxiety. Anyone can take these simple steps to support a healthy […]

How Letting More Light into Your Life Can Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing

natural sunlight can increase happiness

Light within our home and at our workplace can affect our health and wellbeing. Natural light has so many benefits, but it can be hard to get enough of it when you spend most of your day at work. Artificial light decreases levels of melatonin, a hormone that is created in the brain by the […]

How The Gig Economy Benefits Those With Mental Health Disorders

How the gig economy benefits those with mental health disorders

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., and they affect tens of millions of adults. Approximately 72 percent of individuals polled claim daily stress and anxiety interferes with their lives in some capacity — 56 percent while working. Speaking of which, depression is among the top three personal employee problems in […]

Therapy in Nature: 4 Mental Health Benefits of Nature Exposure

Many people overlook the positive impact that the natural environment has on mental health. Your surroundings can vastly affect the way you think and feel – and regular exposure to nature has been shown to be healthy for the mind, body and soul. Here are four of the reasons why connecting to nature is crucial […]

Improving Mental and Physical Health – The Yoga Way!

As many as 1 in 5 Americans live with mental illnesses that include depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, among others. Many of these individuals often face problems in accessing health care that they desperately require, and even then, available medications or treatment may not be sufficient, resulting in unsatisfactory progress. Due to this and other reasons, […]

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