Top 10 Basic Mindfulness Exercises – Part Two
While the concept of mindfulness may be a very simple concept in theory, it is far more difficult in practice. It may be especially difficult if you find that you have been living a large portion of your life essentially on “autopilot.” This results in going through the motions of the days, the weeks, and…
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Top 10 Basic Mindfulness Exercises – Part One
“An operational working definition of mindfulness is: the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness is a powerful skill that has been taught for thousands of years by many world religions: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity,…
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4 Relationship Myths
In a healthy relationship, we are able to ask for what we need without a paralyzing fear of conflict or of the potential reaction of the other person. This is far easier said than done. It can be scary to assert ourselves in a relationship, exposing our authentic vulnerable selves to another human being. While…
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Primary Emotions vs. Secondary Emotions
Emotions allow us to experience the heights of excitement, joy, and love, as well as the depths of anguish, guilt, and sorrow. Emotions color our worlds and are the foundation of our basic humanity. They act as signals to us, alerting us to what is happening internally. That bodily surge of excitement is a clear…
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Top 10 Ways to Regulate Emotions – Part Two
Ready to learn about five more strategies of emotion regulation? As mentioned in Top 10 Ways to Regulate Emotions – Part One, strategies six and seven are specifically endorsed by Dr. Marsha Linehan, creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. The following emotion regulation strategies are adapted from The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook (McKay, Wood, &…
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Top 10 Ways to Regulate Emotions – Part One
Emotion regulation skills allow us to effectively cope with our emotional reactions. While we cannot always maintain control over what we feel, we have total control over how we choose to respond to those feelings. The first step to gaining greater control over your emotions begins with learning how to recognize emotions and their effects…
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Authentic Self vs. False Self
“No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.” – Thomas Mann We all wear masks. Our social masks enable us to survive and to interact appropriately in a wide variety of interpersonal contexts. We show a different side of ourselves to different people in our lives: significant others, family members, friends, professional…
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How to Use Anger Constructively
“If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot.” – Korean proverb According to Dr. Martin Seligman, a world renowned psychologist who specializes in positive psychology, the three components of anger involve a thought, a bodily reaction, and an attack. Sometimes the automatic thought that occurs to us in moments of anger…
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How to Identify Emotional Triggers
Emotional triggers consist of thoughts, feelings, and events that seem to “trigger” an automatic response from us. The word “trigger” is important here, because the idea is that our reaction occurs automatically. It might seem as if the emotional reaction is completely involuntary. The truth is that this reaction, like everything else that we do,…
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Top 10 Ways to Tolerate Distress
Distress. It is impossible to avoid, no matter how charmed your life may be. Emotional pain and distress are an inevitable part of life. The inability to learn how to effectively cope with intense emotion and distress only leads to increased suffering. According to Dr. Marsha Linehan, a world-renowned psychologist credited with the creation of…
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