Social comparison is one of the most insidious and destructive games we can play, and nearly always leads to a decrease in mood. It is the practice of looking at the lives of others from the outside, via social media, TV, or within our social circles, and assuming those people either have it easier or have more than we do. Ironically, where one person may seem to have abundance you can assume … [Read more...]
5 Ways To Feel Better Right Now Without Therapy: Part Two, Reframe Your Perspective
"Feel the feelings, drop the story." Pema Chodron. Studies show we have between 60,000 and 90,000 thoughts per day. That's a lot, and if they all contributed towards making ourselves into the best human we can possibly be, happiness would seem far less elusive. Unfortunately many of those thoughts are repeated multiple times throughout the day. Some of them may be checklists of things we don't … [Read more...]
Why is Self-Kindness So Challenging?
Why do we find it so hard to be kind to ourselves? What is it we're afraid of? We deprive ourselves when we make self-kindness the last thing on our agenda. And we deprive the ones we love of the best we have to offer them. Because how we love ourselves is how we love others. What is self-kindness? Self-kindness is looking in the mirror and finding something we like today rather than hacking … [Read more...]
How to Make Peace with your Body
**Disclaimer: this article is not intended for persons dealing with eating disorders.** I've struggled with my body image since the age of 10. Whether I've actually been overweight or, in the eyes of the world, "skinny," my self-perception has always been fat...fat...fat. I think I've actually been called "fat" only once. I was about twelve and it stung like nothing had ever stung before. No … [Read more...]