Want to Feel Happier? Try Thankfulness. Thankfulness—which might also be referred to as gratitude or appreciation—is a positive, other-focused emotion (Emmons & McCullough, 2004). It generally involves positive feelings about another person’s actions, but it might just be for the other person’s existence—e.g., I’m just thankful to have you! Thankfulness may just be one of […]
How to Deal with Passive Aggressive Behaviors
How to Deal with Passive Aggressive Behaviors. Learn where passive aggression comes from and what to do about it. Relatively few people learn assertive communication skills growing up, and it shows in our daily lives as adults. Maybe it’s your sibling, mentioning again on a phone call that somebody ought to call Mom and Dad […]
Are You Losing Yourself?
Are You Losing Yourself? Learn more about what it means to lose yourself, what causes it, and how to respond. It’s normal and healthy for identities to evolve with age, circumstance, and changing interests. Sometimes, however, our identities change without our control or awareness. The concept we formerly held of ourselves based on our interests, […]
10 Tips for a Peaceful Mind
Learn about the science behind cultivating a peaceful mind. A peaceful mind may be defined as a state of calmness or tranquility that is free from worry, ruminative thoughts, or other types of busy, frenetic thoughts. Oftentimes, we spend too much time thinking—thinking about what’s to come in the future, what’s happened in the past, […]
Do You have Trust Issues?
Learn how we define trust issues, recognize them, and work to improve them. Trust is believing that it is safe to be vulnerable with somebody else because they are willing and able to respond to you in a way that will meet your needs, or at least not harm you. The amount you trust another […]
How to Deal with Feelings of Abandonment
Learn why abandonment can leave long-lasting and insidious wounds that impact every facet of our lives. Abandonment is an extraordinarily painful experience. It can have substantial and, for many, long-lasting impacts on our perceptions of ourselves and others. An experience of abandonment and the lingering fear it instills in us can negatively affect how we […]
How to Communicate Assertively
What is assertive communication and how do you use it to improve your relationships? Imagine that you’re on a tight deadline for a specific project (e.g., a school assignment or work task) and have a full plate. One of your close friends asks you to do a last-minute favor for her. You want to say […]
Codependency: 5 Signs
Therapists and psychologists have come up with many definitions for codependency. Consistent across these definitions are several key elements (Dear et al., 2004). First, people who are codependent are far more focused on others’ experiences than their own. Second, people who are codependent are self-sacrificing to a degree that is often clearly unhealthy. Third, people […]
40 Tips to Live Your Life to the Fullest
Here are some science-based ways to make the most of the life you have here on earth. If you asked a million people, you might get a million different answers about what it means to live life to the fullest. For some, it might involve traveling. For others, it could mean raising a family. Still […]
8 Ways to Build Stronger Connections
What does it mean to build connections and how do we do it? Most people believe that love, intimacy, and social connection are more important than things like fame, wealth, and even physical health when it comes to their happiness (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). Our intuition is right because loneliness represents one of the most […]
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