Building confidence is an active pursuit that requires regular effort, which is why creating a so-called “brag file” can help. It’s an easy way to boost your mood when times get tough, or if you’re feeling down, jealous, or exceedingly self-conscious. Making a brag file is easy. Keep a running list of things that you […]
getting to know yourself
5 Ways to Stop Emotional Eating, According to Experts
Emotional eating and impulse control is an aspect of feeding ourselves that is almost solely psychological. It’s a broadly interpreted term that means many different things. Boredom eating qualifies as emotional eating, as does stress eating and eating when you’re sad or scared. “Emotional eating is basically just eating for any reason other than physical […]
How To Listen Better (An Essential Skill That We Need To Practice More)
If you follow me on Instagram you know that I’ve been on this kick recently of really trying to be a better listener. What follows is a parable that sums up why. A few weeks ago, I heard a conversation between critically-acclaimed psychologist Harriet Lerner and shame researcher Brené Brown that piqued my interest with […]
5 Proven Strategies for Building a Resilient Mindset
Resilience– also known as psychological resilience— is understood as a person’s ability to recover from setbacks and remain relatively unruffled by what life throws at them. It’s not really something you can measure so much as feel. We all have it, but like most aspects of mental fortitude, some of us are better at it […]
Beautiful Life Lesson: Thom Yorke, Rothko, and How We Interpret Joy
Sometime in the year 2000, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke sat for an interview on Dutch television about the making of Radiohead’s Kid A and the rough time he had separating his personal life from the world of celebrity after the monumental success of 1997’s Ok Computer. In this interview, Yorke relayed an anecdote that has […]
Watch Lady Gaga, Oprah Talk “Radical Acceptance” in Mental Health
Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour is a series of conversations between Oprah and various innovators and change-makers in society. In a recent candid interview with Lady Gaga in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the two spoke about Gaga’s career and also her focus on mental health. They also spoke about spirituality, and an innovative dialectical behavioral therapy concept […]
Why We Grieve People We’ve Never Met
The death of a beloved celebrity or public figure often brings with it intimate outpourings of grief— often from people who never met the departed. This begs interesting questions about the psychological impact of idol worship, public figures and relationships writ large, as well as our personal sense of wellbeing in the world. In the […]
On Building Confidence, and Why Confidence Isn’t a Destination
Building confidence is a lifelong pursuit that is often mischaracterized as something you can permanently achieve. In popular media, any discussion of self-improvement implies a conversion from one state of being to another, as if “becoming confident” is akin to graduating with a degree. One day, with enough hard work, you’ll miraculously wake up as […]