Suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.There are many factors known to affect an individual’s risk for suicide. For example, people who are older, male, white, divorced, low-income, isolated or who abuse substances are all at higher risk. Psychiatric illness, mood disorders and lack of social support are also...
Getting a good night of sleep can seem like the most effortless and natural thing in the world, but when we can’t fall asleep it can quickly feel elusive and frustrating.
- By Hilary Smith
At the time I was diagnosed with bipolar, I had so little awareness of my body or stress levels that I literally had to be sobbing before I realized I was sad, or be awake for three nights running before I realized I was stressed and anxious. Learning to “hear” my body and mind has been a revelation for me, and a crucial part of my stability.
Ethical discipline is really a way of protecting yourself so that your efforts in spiritual practice can flourish without getting stomped to smithereens every other day, or every other year. The guidelines are fairly simple. There are ten that are enormously helpful in a general way. Bear in mind that they are all a protection for your own well-being, in solitude or in community...
When a habit forms, it indicates that the experience has been repeated a lot. When we call addictive behaviors “habits,” we mean the addict is doing drugs and engaging in drug-related activities so much, often to the exclusion of virtually everything else, that they become automatic.
Allow yourself to feel, hear, know, see, taste, and sense the energy transfer that is happening in this moment. With your free will ask yourself this very important question, “Are you willing to experience more joy in your life?” This seems like the simplest of questions and...
A lot of people experience various degrees of depression and anxiety. Even in good times, an average of sixteen million new cases of depression occur in the United States every year, leading me to ask, What is really going on here? Some of the antidotes to depression...
You’re not being offered one side of life that seems better than its opposite. You learn the knack for living peacefully with both sides of life—divine and human, light and dark, high and low, winning and losing, succeeding and failing, loving and hating, order and chaos, happiness and sorrow.
Each of us is body, mind, and spirit, and of the three, it is our minds that can limit us. While the spirit is indeed most important, it’s our bodies that communicate messages from Source, because our bodies are solid, substantial forms that only relay truth. The more we listen to them, the better we accurately understand what’s happening in our lives.
Uncertainty in these times is the only certainty. That which has a beginning will end. In my own life, many years ago, a business decision to take on a partner nearly ended in disaster. Though fear and panic gripped my heart I knew that the only way to...
Have you ever been there — knocked to the ground by a traumatic event? Woken up one morning as someone you knew and in the midst of your busy day had it all suddenly change? In my case, I unexpectedly had joined the tribe of the traumatized — women facing cancer.
- By Pam Grout
One of the most radical things a person can do is to see life as a good time. To make a decision to be happy. But make no mistake. Living life with joie de vivre is a revolutionary act. It takes vigilance. Few of us believe we get to choose. We think it's a matter of fate, a roll of the dice.
- By David Kundtz
How can I tell you about the importance of feelings? It's like trying to tell you of the importance of the floorboards in your home. Most of the time we never really think about floorboards, but what if your home had none? There would be nothing to stand on. The same with feelings...
- By Sanaya Roman
There are many life-paths you can choose, just as there are many ways you can serve on a planetary level. There is a path of will, a path of struggle, and a path of joy and compassion.
At first you may notice small, subtle alterations in your life and everything appearing to flow with ease. You may find that other people start to notice a difference in you. You may even find that situations that you have always hoped for turn up. Most importantly, you will notice...
Whenever you find yourself in a difficult or uncomfortable situation, think of three things that you’re glad about even in this unpleasant moment. They can be things that you’re glad are not happening or things that you’re glad are happening. Feel...
Do certain people want more medical care than others do? And, does that matter?
Some therapists will use "dream interpretation" to help a patient understand himself, but understanding will not cure symptoms. Our goal is to find blocked memories and to cry. The more you cry, the more your mind will heal itself, and when the pain is gone, the understanding will take care of itself.
- By Stuart Wilde
Our emotions are nothing more than an extension of the ego's opinions -- nothing more. For the most part, our emotions are theatrical manifestations of the ego's opinions. They are forms of manipulation. You have an opinion and you start cranking the emotion. So we live as prisoners of these opinions.
- By BJ Gallagher
A young woman had a suitor who loved her very much. The suitor came to her door clutching a bouquet of daisies to give her. "Where are my roses?" she demanded. Her suitor turned and went away. The next week he was back on her doorstep with another bunch of daisies...
Storytelling is a key part of human culture. Where politics and power are concerned, stories become something not only to be told, but to be shaped and influenced
When you look at yourself through another’s perspective, you gain insights not normally available. When we are able to appreciate another’s actual experience, we don’t rely on our distorted projection of their motives; we go directly to the source...
Part of what I do as an archaeologist is judge between competing claims to truth. Indeed, you could say this is the entire purpose of science.