A while back, I picked up a couple of self-improvement books to help me in the change I wanted in certain areas of my life. Interestingly, they had one key message. Visualize your success. Visualization, the theory went, not only opened up your sub-conscious mind to the opportunities out there, it a...

This article first appeared in Happify. Nothing has impacted us at a global level the way the pandemic has. Collectively, and personally, it has beaten down on us with a relentlessness that still has no end in sight. Now. eight months in, many of us are experiencing “pandemic fatigue,” the lead...

It happened a few times last week – something uncalled for, and pretty minor, that my children said or did – and I went overboard in how I reacted. As in lecturing, criticizing, making them feel bad about themselves. And then I struggled endlessly with the guilt, and tried to numb it with bags o...

This article first appeared on Happify.com For all our presumptuous beliefs about being totally in control of our lives, we live up to 90% of the time in the vast subconscious. Our thoughts and behaviors arise from the depths of an iceberg that channel our direction while we sit atop, unaware of ...

This article first appeared in Happify. Most of the time, as we’re speeding along through our lives, ticking off the milestones we’ve set for ourselves, we consider any obstacles to be bad news. Who wants to deal with problems when we’ve got our eyes on a goal. But if there’s on...

This article first appeared in Forbes. Are you like the many women who evaluate an opportunity endlessly, and eventually convince themselves that it’s not right for them? Or worse, decide against it even before they’ve quite thought it through? You may certainly be right in your ...

This article first appeared in Thrive Global. Ever started out with great intentions – and motivation, only to find it lag as time goes on? We’ve all made birthday promises, or set New Year’s resolutions, and then wondered why they keep showing up year after year. We’ve set daily...

This article first appeared in Positivepsychologynews.com “This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some  momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!” - Rumi Some habits never die. Unless we do...

This Article First Appeared in Happify It was only this year that I learned that, despite President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, many owners of enslaved people continued to hold them captive until June 19, 1865. Or Juneteenth. That got me thinking about privilege—wh...

This Article First Appeared in Thrive Global Now that the initial fight or flight reactions of the pandemic are all but gone, many of us are struggling to deal with the uncertainty of the long road ahead. Disengagement is the order of the day. A friend shared that come September, she has no i...

This Article First Appeared in Happify. Emotions are messages from our interior—little bundles of information that allow us to navigate the world around us. Painful emotions tell us what to avoid and when to fight back. Joyful emotions do the opposite; they open us up and make us seek oneness...

This Article First Appeared in Happify Have you ever started out with a certain intention then ended up in a place where you didn’t want to be? For example, you wanted the best relationship with your partner or child, and instead realized that you spend most of your time feeling resentful or r...

This Article First Appeared in Happify It was twilight and I had turned into the little alley to take the shorter route home. Suddenly something moved in the shrubbery. Before I could think, literally, I felt blood rush to my extremities and found myself turning back in panic. Within seconds tho...

This Article First Appeared in Thrive Global Its August already. Where did the year go? The one for which we had more goals and dreams than perhaps any year we remember. And yet, it feels like all we’ve done the first six months is avoid curve balls. And looking ahead, we feel just as uncer...

This Article First Appeared in Happify I always believed that forgiving went hand in hand with forgetting. I believed that when we forgave someone for their mistakes—or ourselves for our failings—we freed ourselves to move on with a clean slate. Our relationships blossomed, we felt good abou...