Although rarely talked about, there is an ancient and well-kept secret to happiness which Wise Ones have known for centuries. It is fundamental to good mental health and used by those who understand the concept that nothing is personal. So, what is this ancient secret I hear you ask? Well, the secret is The Fine Art of Not …
If you've read my other article What's the Worst that Could Happen? you may be starting to feel a little more able to cope with the life's inevitable ups and downs. So why would you need a 'reserve clause'? So you've thought about the worst and you're prepared. Great. But now that big challenge is looming. …
Others treat us the way we invite them to treat us... --Barb H. Coping with stress is a lot more difficult than preventing it in the first place. If we think prevention, we can avoid a surprising number of stressful situations by thinking ahead and side-stepping. We don’t have to have lunch with difficult or …
Continue reading Others treat us the way we invite them to treat us
Oh dear, yes... it seems to have struck again... Now, I was thinking the other weekend while I was on my CBT training course that maybe I had perfectionist tendencies... but that somehow didn't feel quite right to me... I do like to get things right obviously, but I'm not really that obsessed with being …
Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius once wrote: Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness... Why on earth would you want to start the day with that thought in your head? Because Marcus didn't want to be surprised. He wanted to be prepared. Yes, we all know people …
Grit... Resilience... Mental toughness... We hear a lot about them these days. But maybe we shouldn't. Why not? Because there have been good solutions to the underlying problem for about, oh, around 2,000 years? The ancient Stoic philosophers really knew what they were doing when it came to building mental toughness. In fact... What's the most effective …
Continue reading If You’re Good At Dealing With The Negative You Have More Time For The Positive
That happy meal might not only be promising more than it can deliver — it might actually be making you feel worse... According to The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In 2014, around 15.7 million adults age 18 or older in the U.S. …
Continue reading A Surprising (And Often Overlooked) Cause of Depression
Yes, yes... I know... All you want to do is ditch the 'diet' and stuff your face in front of the telly. But you know you'll feel crap afterwards, so why do you do it? For so many of us the Christmas season feels like a great time for bingeing, feeling totally stuffed, drinking too much, and we …
When it comes to the way you live each day, do you spend more time acting or reacting? If the latter, what one commitment can you make to be more intentional in the year to come?
In the first of this series we're going to take a look at healthy and unhealthy emotions, starting with anger vs. annoyance. I can already hear you asking what the difference between a healthy and unhealthy emotion is. Well, bear with me and by the end of this series of articles I hope you'll begin to have a better idea... …
Continue reading Healthy and Unhealthy Emotions: Anger vs. Annoyance
The Mindful Monkey 