“The paradox is that hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake, leads to anhedonia. Which is the inability to enjoy pleasure of any kind.” Dr. Anna Lembke The content of this post is drawn from a great book called Dopamine Nation, by Dr. Anna Lembke. Dopamine is a powerful neurotransmitter. Common knowledge tends […]
Even though education and awareness are growing around this particular danger, understanding that it is happening doesn’t always translate into stopping the comparison behaviour. This likely comes down to the fact that much of this comparison is happening outside our conscious awareness, and therefore, generally outside of our control. We are constantly, and subconsciously, building […]
“Comparison is the thief of joy” Theodore Roosevelt The parallel rise in mental health concerns and social media use has not gone unnoticed to most. I think a lot of us are at least vaguely aware of an association between social media use and mental health problems, even in our own lives. There are several […]
When research comes out around the relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes, the news usually isn’t good. In fact, most of us know by now that spending too much time on social media isn’t good for us. One of the social media use patterns that has been identified as problematic is called […]
Depression and anxiety are a relatively common mental health concern and rates are only growing, especially among the young. Considering the parallel growth of social media use and these mental health concerns, a lot of people have been looking into a link between them. Although it is very difficult to prove causation, studies have linked […]
A mindset is like a default pattern we use to evaluate situations and understand them in relation to ourselves. People generally don’t just receive information and evaluate it objectively. Things we learn, experiences we have, our values, and our beliefs are just some of the things that create a lens through which we interpret information. […]
“Life’s hard. It’s supposed to be. If we didn’t suffer, we’d never learn anything.” Ethan Hawke So much of our efforts and ruminations center around making our lives easier. And why wouldn’t they? You would be hard pressed to find a single person who didn’t want their lives to be easier. That said, this desire, […]
We have to prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child Tim Elmore Preparing vs protecting. This has been described as the greatest paradox of parenting. Not only are these the two essential tasks involved in parenting, but they have a strange relationship to each other. At times, protecting a child […]
“Being human is not about being any one particular way; it is about being as life creates you—with your own particular strengths and weaknesses, gifts and challenges, quirks and oddities.” Kristin Neff “Remember, you have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” Louise L. Hay […]
“When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join their chaos.” L.R. Knost At the outset it is important to understand what happens in the body when we experience anxiety. In part one, we talked about how anxiety evolved to keep us safe. Part of that evolutionary […]