Positive Psychology Articles

We usually hear people saying I am exhausted, I have no energy left, My mind is blocked, I am not able to find any solution to my problems, I feel passive, etc. So, what exactly is energy and why do people feel this way? rnEnergy can be either physical or mental. Energy is a kind of strength we need to perform any task. For example, if we don’t have enough energy, we would not be able to strategize or perform tasks smartly in this busy life. rnSo, where does this energy com

My wife and kids tease me that the title of this practice is corny - and it is. Still, I like it. If you don't nourish the things that nourish you, they wither away like a plant in dry stony ground. Looking to the year ahead for you - a year that can begin whenever you want - what's one key thing that will bear lots of fruit for you if you take care of it?

While on my traveling in India, I was passing through a mountainous area. Besides the breathless beauty of huge mountains & lush green trees, a female monkey caught my attention who was carrying a baby monkey with her. I realized that the baby monkey looked dead & even its skin was coming out. Then, I came to know that the female monkeys are so attached to their babies that even after they are no more, they hold on to their dead bodies until they are completely worn out. Pain

The main Mortal Kombat set a pattern in battling diversions, a pattern that nobody would set out to cross. Its first continuation, Mortal Kombat II, based upon it and made it stunningly better. The viciousness has been expanded higher than ever and the game is much darker than its forerunner. It is my preferred continuation in the MK arrangement, however there are others that have pursued. The character check has about multiplied to twelve. New characters incorporate Kung Lao

The quest for happiness is the one that everyone strives for. Whilst there is an abundance of literature on how to achieve this happiness, the fundamental key lies in recognizing that to achieve happiness you should strive not to cause unhappiness to others. In short, the laws of nature are such that if you want to achieve happiness then you must make others happy. This can only be achieved by ensuring that your inner intentions are fundamentally good. If your inner intent is

rnLife is not meant to be a smooth ride, always! Each joy is followed by sorrow and each obstacle by success. How our lives actually play out to be is dependent more so on how we choose to tackle the different phases of our life; how soon we are ready to give in and accept defeat or how far we are prepared to persevere in order to reach to our desired goal in life. The great scholars in society generally suggest in favor of cultivating the habit of reading, daily atleast 4-5

I am considerably successful in my career. However, once in a while, a voice in my head says I am faking it all the time. I feel like I don't deserve the accolades that come on my way. I have had this feeling throughout my academic life. It is now following me to my workplace. And it is not just that. I am even poor at taking compliments. It is something in me that says I don't deserve this. Obviously, it wasn't helping me get anywhere forward. That's when I sought the help o

We are all aware of the ill effects of negativity in our lives. We become pessimistic in our thoughts, antagonistic and unenthusiastic in our speech and our actions invariably reinforce our bleak view of things. Whilst this can occur consciously, this negative state of mind may well be entrenched on a subconscious level. rnThe impact of negativity upon ourselves directly include the following: rn• You suffer from ill health through adverse thinking. • You create obstacles

Everyone prefers to be happy rather than being unhappy, sad or miserable. And there come numerous occasions in our life when we feel happy. However, all too often this sense of joy fleets as we encounter another challenge in life through unfolding circumstances. The key question, therefore, is how can we daily remain happy despite what happens around us? Being happy does not mean you have to be cheerful and smiling all the time. Happiness is an overall feeling of satisfaction

I choose the company of Gnani!!!rnBelieve me, this is the LIVE source of inspiration and peaceful thoughts! rnLet me share with you this video at https://www.dadabhagwan.tv/Home/Video/Depression+in+Gujarati - it will help you understand what I am trying to say. Not sure if you follow this language though?? But even if you don’t, never mind, just read on, for here’s what’s going on in the video... A young boy, who is highly depressed at this point in time, and is in sear

[Note: this practice involves our visual system, which for many people is impaired. If this is the case for you, you could adapt my suggestions to focus on the voices of others or a sense of their “energy.”]

Because this practice could seem so abstract or so obvious that it’s not worth doing, I am going to take longer than usual to explain why it’s so important.

What do you feel when someone thanks you for something? For a comment in a meeting, a task done at home, an extra step taken, or an encouraging word. You probably feel seen, and appreciated, and that you matter to the other person. Maybe a little startled, maybe wondering if you really deserve it, but also glad. Personally, this is how it is for me.

The truth of anything is like a mosaic with many tiles and many parts. One part of the truth of things is that they are robust and enduring, whether it's El Capitan in Yosemite or the love of a child for her mother and father.

Our mind is the part of an internal functioning mechanism where thoughts arise. The daily life can be busy, hectic and overwhelming. It is constantly on the go with thoughts, memories, and emotions. Finding peace of mind in the modern world is a significant challenge. And not knowing how to deal with the constant negativity around you, it creates such a turbulence within us, that we feel sick and tired of this mind, but can’t find ways and means to come out of its clutch. T

At some point or the other in our life, we all must have experienced those times when nothing seems to be going right. No matter how huge amount of efforts we put in, no matter how good and best our intentions may be, we persistently continue to fail. Amidst such a scene, we get so angry and frustrated, that we end up asking life, “What wrong am I doing? I just want the other person to be happy. And I want that he / she never suffers. Is this wrong? Am I asking for too much

I've always liked lizards. Growing up in the outskirts of Los Angeles, I played in the foothills near our home. Sometimes I'd catch a lizard and stroke its belly, so it would relax in my hands, seeming to feel at ease.

1.No, no, we don’t have to get afraid of negative thoughts. 2.We do not have to come into any kind of suffering either, for it won’t help us get anywhere. 3.Rather we must maintain awareness when such thoughts arise. 4.The moment negative thought for some third person arises in our mind, we can have a small chat with our self within, “Would I like it if someone thought negative for me? No. Then I should not think negative for anyone.” This is the fundamental religion

Lately, I've been thinking about a kind of "case" that's been running in my mind about someone in my extended family. The case is a combination of feeling hurt and mistreated, critique of the other person, irritation with others who haven't supported me, views about what should happen that haven't, and implicit taking-things-personally.

This practice is definitely a case of teaching what you need to learn: I've been working through a big bucket of tasks lately with little chance to rest. (I console myself knowing that the bucket is emptying a lot faster than it's filling with new tasks.)

Most of us wear a kind of mask, a persona that hides our deepest thoughts and feelings and presents a polished, controlled face to the world. To be sure, a persona is a good thing to have. For example, meetings at work, holidays with the in-laws, or a first date are usually not the best time to spill your guts. Just because you're selective about what you reveal to the world does not mean you're insincere; phoniness is only when we lie about what's really going on inside.

Benevolence is a fancy word that means something simple: good intentions toward living beings, including oneself.

Life is full of tradeoffs between benefits and costs. Sometimes, the benefits are worth the costs. For example, the rewards of going for a run - getting out in fresh air, improving health, etc. - are, for me, at least, worth the costs of losing half an hour of work time while gaining a pair of achy legs. Similarly, it could well be that: getting a raise is worth the awkwardness of asking for one; teaching a child good lessons is worth the stress of correcting her, and deepening intimacy is worth the vulnerability of saying "I love you."

Instead of living in the moment, we live for the most part in our minds, cluttered with thoughts. These thoughts are in fact part of our memories from the past. These memories are either pleasant or unpleasant, depending upon whether we had a like or dislike towards them when they occured. For example, instead of enjoying the holiday you have been looking forward to, you spend most of your time thinking about your work whilst on holiday. You cannot fully relax and appreciate

To simplify a complex process spanning 600 million years, your brain developed in ways that are loosely related to three major stages of vertebrate evolution: - Reptile - Brainstem, focused on avoiding harms - Mammal - Subcortex, focused on approaching rewards - Primate/human – Neocortex, focused on attaching to “us”

In every life, reminders arrive about what's really important. I’ve received some myself, as I’m sure you have, too. Perhaps it was news of a potentially serious health problem, the death of a loved one, or an accident that could have turned fatal. These are uncomfortably concrete messages that, sooner or later, something will catch up with each one of us.

rnEveryone knows that unpaid medical bills cause a major financial struggle and millions of bankruptcies a year. If you have a medical debt, or believe you were overcharged, it is common, and there are many different options to pursue. Your options are much stronger when you can pay (even small payments), but if you can't, that doesn't mean you're bankrupt. One thing is for sure, being proactive and learning what your options are is a step in the right direction and a way to

In situations or relationships with any kind of difficulty – tension, feeling hurt, conflicts, mismatches of wants . . . the usual crud – it’s natural to focus on what others have done that’s problematic. This could be useful for a while: it can energize you, highlight what you most care about, and help you see more clearly what you’d like others to change.

Our mind is the part of an internal functioning mechanism where thoughts arise. The daily life can be busy, hectic and overwhelming. It is constantly on the go with thoughts, memories, and emotions. Finding peace of mind in the modern world is a significant challenge. And not knowing how to deal with the constant negativity around you, it creates such a turbulence within us, that we feel sick and tired of this mind, but can’t find ways and means to come out of its clutch. T

Getting caught up in wanting - wanting both to get what's pleasant and to avoid what's unpleasant - is a major source of suffering and harm for oneself and others. First, a lot of what we want to get comes with a big price tag - such as that second cupcake, constant stimulation via TV and websites, lashing out in anger, intoxication, overworking, or manipulating others to get approval or love. On a larger scale, the consumer-based lifestyle widespread in Western nations leads them to eat up - often literally - a huge portion of the world's resources.

We spend so much of our time trying to get somewhere. Part of this comes from our biological nature. To survive, animals – including us – have to be goal-directed, leaning into the future. It’s certainly healthy to pursue wholesome aims, like paying the rent on time, raising children well, healing old pain, or improving education. But it’s also important to see how this focus on the future – on endless striving, on getting the next task done, on climbing the next mountain – can get confused and stressful. It’s confusing because of the brain:

Things come at us with so much urgency and demand these days. Phones ring, texts buzz, emails pile up, new balls have to be juggled, work days lengthen and move into evenings and weekends, traffic gets denser, financial demands feel like a knife at the neck, ads and news clamor for attention, push push push PUSH.

I once heard a teaching story in which an elder, a grandmother, was asked what she had done to become so happy, so wise, so loved, and respected. She replied: "It's because I know that there are two wolves in my heart, a wolf of love and a wolf of hate. And I know that everything depends on which one I feed each day." This story always gives me the shivers when I think of it. Who among us does not have both a wolf of love and a wolf of hate in their heart?

I had a lightbulb moment recently: I was feeling stressed about all the stuff I had to do (you probably know the feeling). After this went on for a while, I stepped back and kind of watched my mind, and could see that I was thinking of these various tasks as things, like big rocks that were rolling down a hill toward me and which needed to be handled, lifted, moved, fended off, or broken into pebbles.

In every moment, you and I and everyone and everything else – from quantum foam to fleeting thoughts, intimate relationships, rainforest ecosystems, and the stars themselves – are each a kind of standing wave, like the ever-changing through a persistent pattern of water rising above a boulder in a river.

To simplify and summarize, our brain has three primary motivational systems – Avoiding harm, Approaching rewards, and Attaching to “us” – that draw on many neural networks to accomplish their goals. Lately, I’ve started to realize that a fourth fundamental human motivational system could be emerging as well.

When we encounter someone, usually the mind automatically slots the person into a category: older, younger, your friend Tom, the kid next door, etc. Watch this happen in your own mind as you meet or talk with a co-worker, sales clerk, or family member. In effect, the mind summarizes and simplifies tons of details into a single thing - a human thing, to be sure, but one with an umbrella label that makes it easy to know how to act. For example: "Oh, that's my boss (or mother-in-law, or boyfriend, or traffic cop, or waiter) . . . and now I know what to do. Good."

I remember times I felt frazzled or aggravated and then said something with an edge to it that just wasn't necessary or useful. Sometimes it was the words themselves: such as absolutes like "never" or always" or over-the-top phrases like "you're such a flake" or "that was stupid." More often, it was the intonation in my voice, a harsh vibe or look, interrupting, or a certain intensity in my body. However, I did it.

One of the strangest and most meaningful experiences of my life occurred when I went through Rolfing (ten brilliant sessions of deep-tissue bodywork) in my early 20's. The fifth session works on the stomach area, and I was anticipating (= dreading) the release of buried sadness. Instead, there was a dam burst of love, which poured out of me during the session and afterward. I realized it was love, not sadness, that I had bottled up in childhood - and what I now needed to give and express.

Have you ever watched two people quarrel, or otherwise be stuck in a conflict with each other? Usually, if either or both of them simply acknowledged one or more things, that would end the fight.

To simplify a complex process spanning 600 million years, your brain developed in ways that are loosely related to the three major stages of vertebrate evolution: - Reptile – Brainstem, focused on avoiding harms - Mammal – Subcortex, focused on approaching rewards - Primate – Neocortex, focused on attaching to “us”

In middle school, I thought it would be cool to play a musical instrument and picked the clarinet. My wise parents rented one rather than buying it, and I started practicing. (In the garage because it sounded pretty screechy.) After a week or two of doing scales, I got bored and picked my way through a couple of easy songs. But after a few more weeks, I couldn't go further because I hadn't laid a foundation with scales and similar exercises - so I quit in frustration.

From moment to moment, the flows of thoughts and feelings, sensations and desires, and conscious and unconscious processes sculpt your nervous system like water, gradually carving furrows and eventually gullies on a hillside. Your brain is continually changing its structure. The only question is: Is it for better or worse?

Have you ever noticed that some days seem to go faster than others? That you find yourself saying to yourself, “Wow, today went fast.” Well, there may be a reason for that. This is what we will explore in this article. There are three concepts of time. They are the past, the present, and the future. Of these three, the only one that really exists is the present. The past is gone and cannot be brought back, and the future isn’t here yet. According to Eckhart Tolle in his

For many of us, perhaps the hardest thing of all is to believe that "I am a good person." We can climb mountains, work hard, acquire many skills, and act ethically - but truly feel that one is good deep down? Nah!

There I was recently, my mind darting in different directions about projects in process, frazzled about little tasks backing up, uneasy about a tax record from 2010 we couldn’t find, feeling irritated about being irritable, hurrying to get to work, body keyed up, internal sense of pressure. Not freaked out, not running from an attacker, not suffering a grievous loss, my troubles tiny in comparison to those of so many others – but still, the needle on my personal stress-o-meter was pegged in the Red Zone.

As a rock climber and a parent, I know some physical kinds of clinging are good - like too-small holds or small hands!

Although fall is almost over, it's not too late for a Feel Good Fall article. These articles are designed to boost your mood. INSPIRATION LINK PARTIES Every Monday I throw link parties that boost people's inspiration and positivity. Participants share ideas for crafts, recipes, and tips that will make you feel warm and fuzzy. Two of them recently ranked on Google. If you want to see the best linky parties according to Google, check them out. Although it's too late to shar

A previous JOT - admit fault and move on - was about our relationship with other people. This JOT applies the same practice to ourselves. Most people know they have less than wonderful qualities, such as too much ambition (or too little), a weakness for wine or cookies, something of a temper, or an annoying tendency to rattle on about pet interests. We usually know when we make mistakes, get the facts wrong, could be more skillful, or deserve to feel remorseful.

Overthinking means thinking about something for too long and making it into a problem.... problem because generally, overthinking happens around negative thoughts, negative emotions, negative imaginations and negative assumptions. Mind is indulged into multiple things that don’t help you think positively. And these negatives produce nothing meaningful; they only lead to worries and anxiety, which harm our mental being, then physical being, and our spiritual well-being too.