self improvement

  • anxiety,  depression,  fear,  optimism,  self improvement

    Best Web Posts on Depression and Anxiety

      From psychology blogs to self help sites, depression and anxiety occupy a popular niche in mental health topics.  That’s both encouraging and sad; sad because with the rising number of shares on my Feedly, I know that people are passing the links on to people who need the information to deal with their own mental health issues.  On the other hand, it’s encouraging to know that there’s an open dialogue going about both conditions.  Here’s a list of the best posts on depression and anxiety. 8 Misconceptions About Mental Health and Mental Illness. How Children Inherit Depression and Anxiety From Their Parents. 10 Tips for Supporting Your Spouse During…

  • fear,  freelancing,  Keep your sanity intact,  self improvement,  Your writing career

    Tools to fight fear #1: Determination

      If you lack determination, don’t worry that it’s a moral issue. It means that currently you’re lacking in: Intrinsic Motivation: This is an internal motivation, everything that lives amongst your deepest needs and desires. Without intrinsic motivation, there is no unmet goal or desire. You have nothing to move you forward towards something.   You may be in a situation where you’ve been so hurt in the past that you don’t want to get motivated about anything.  The thought of losing something else in some point of the future made you turn off your desire to want anything.  I’ve been there, but if you’re numb to wanting anything,  you’re about…

  • fear,  Health,  Keep your sanity intact,  self improvement

    How to use meditation to manage anxiety and panic attacks

    Youngey Mingyur Rinpoche changed my view of Buddhism and anxiety when I learned that he struggled with panic attacks from an early age.  For some people, depression and anxiety go hand in hand, while others deal exclusively with anxiety issues. Any time any spiritual leader opens up about dealing with mental illness, it has a profound impact on me. For the full story of how he used his Buddhist faith to manage panic and anxiety, start here: The rest of the interview is here:

  • self improvement

    Lessons in Diplomacy from David Tutera

      You know those times when you are forced to stand back and watch someone make a mistake? And you really want to jump in and diplomatically say something to help them out? And you don’t because you’re scared that they’ll kill you for piping up? Oh, sure you do. I found a way to use constructive criticism and it came from the most unlikely of places: a wedding themed reality show. Before My Fair Wedding came out, I had no idea who David Tutera was. The tag line of one person coming in three weeks before a wedding and throwing things into chaos by torpedoing a bride’s decisions seemed…

  • self improvement

    How to become an optimist in 6 easy steps

    We all experience setbacks, disappointments and crisis in our lives. Growing up, I was the consummate pessimist. I grew up in a pessimistic home, where everyone reached for fear and the standard “Oh, you can’t do that—it’s not done!” response whenever someone dared to voice a goal they had. After living years under a grey cloud, I made the decision to become an optimist. Ever the pessimist, I first thought that it was going to be impossible to change my outlook on life. As it turned out, the brain can be retrained to think positive thoughts; it’s simply a matter of rewiring the connections in your mind and making it…

  • self improvement

    5 good things about bad thoughts

    As Americans, we’re hard wired to strive towards happiness. The concept of happiness is even written into one of our founding documents, as Thomas Jefferson put forth our right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” But no matter how earnestly we search for it,  for one third of us, happiness continues to elude us. The field of positive psyhology, which looks at the science behind happiness, says that happiness comes from within regardless of our outside circumstances. So if happiness comes from within, what exactly is keeping us all from being happy? The major culprit—negative thoughts. Richard Carlson, the author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, offers a…

  • self improvement

    What improv taught me about life

    When I lived in Austin (the first time- I’m totally planning on moving back), I decided to take improvisational comedy class, also called “Improv.”  I was tired of conducting employee training programs and feeling at a loss when someone asked me an off the cuff or rude question.  And what I learned from those months in improv also applied to life in general. My job is to make the other person look good. I’ve been in countless situations where either by the very nature of the situation things were ultra competitive or the other person was determined to take a competitive or even adversarial stance. That only made me feel…