Almost everyone has something they fear – maybe it’s spiders, enclosed spaces, or heights. When we encounter these “threats,” our hearts might begin to race, or our hands may become sweaty.

An interactive therapy involving parents and their depressed children can reduce rates of depression and lower the severity of children’s symptoms, research finds.

Two years ago, I came into work on December 1 to find a bag on my desk labelled “Karen’s Christmas Intervention”. It contained many Christmas themed gifts and challenges...

Thoughts don't exist just between our ears with total privacy. They are quite public. Our thoughts exist as tiny packets of energy called thought forms. Thought forms are real. And, they exist to carry out the intent of the thinker.

Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success. Today, we are going to talk about creative visualization, that is, the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life. There is nothing new, strange, or unusual about creative visualization. You are already using it every day.

Each year it seems our travel gets more and more out of control. Between the multiple holidays, family we need to visit distributed all around the country and the rounds of parties for work and with friends

The story of Canadian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, the first ever Olympian to win multiple medals in both the summer and winter games, is a story of triumph over adversity.

Have you ever felt awe and exhilaration while contemplating a vista of jagged, snow-capped mountains?

When we look within ourselves for sources of power and qualities such as fearlessness and resilience, our heart is not the first or most immediate place that comes to mind. Indeed, the mind--the seat of our mental and logical reasoning--tells us that relying on the heart’s energies might make us weaker...

NBA players who use Twitter or other forms of social media late at night don’t perform as well on the court the next day, a new study shows. A player’s shooting percentage was 1.7 percentage points lower following a night during which he tweeted during typical sleeping hours. Late-night tweeting was also associated with approximately 1.1 fewer points scored and 0.5 fewer rebounds in the next day’s game.

As Bear sang his song the darkness began to shrink down into nothing and very soon it was gone as quickly as it arrived. Creator stood in front of Bear and said, “I am happy you have found the answer to the darkness. I have always been with you. My energy flows through the top of your head down to your heart and meets the Earth’s energy fusing together to create light. This light, combined with your voice, is like a tapestry woven together as a protection from all evil.”

There are certain critical turning points when grief and despair begin to transform into acceptance, contentment, and Love. I have seen three common ingredients that seem to signal the moment when the weight of depression and disappointment starts to lift...

I know some of you, myself included, feel that lessons must be painful to be appreciated or remembered. Contrary to popular belief, not all lessons have to be painful. Some can even be fun. It's all in the 'moral to the story'. Life gives us wonderful examples to follow ... allow me to illustrate.

In the world that we live in now, with ecological destruction for the sake of material possessions and with the divisions among humanity, a return to our wu-wei nature is imperative, or we will face the dire consequences of our ignorant actions.

This advice is for you if you resonate with one of the following sayings and want a different perspective on a problem you’re facing NOW. I obtained the advice by imagining myself in the future when I was no longer setback in the way described by each of the sayings. I then asked myself what advice I would give that younger and stuck me.

In every interaction with other people, we are always making choices consciously or unconsciously as to what we dwell upon. We can make a conscious choice to focus on the positive in people or situations, no matter what. In other words, we can choose to concentrate on the exciting potential of the moment and of the people involved.

You have probably never heard of William Kingdon Clifford. He is not in the pantheon of great philosophers – perhaps because his life was cut short at the age of 33 – but I cannot think of anyone whose ideas are more relevant for our interconnected, AI-driven, digital age.

Who’s happier, men or women? Research shows it’s a complicated question and that asking whether males or females are happier isn’t really that helpful, because essentially, happiness is different for women and men.

Memories and responses to living are passed through your genes from one generation to another. Limited thinking, encouraged and taught to your ancestors, is imprinted in the cells of your body. Everything you deal with in daily living is recorded and stored in your physical body, and just because you do not consciously remember your experiences does not mean the cells of your body forget.

When we’re in severe or chronic pain, our normal life is not available to us in the way it used to be. Instead, living in pain feels like being taken out of life. Our normal life recedes to a distance at the same time that the feeling world of pain becomes incredibly close, imme­diate, and demanding. Pain becomes our experience of life.

We live in a world of extremes. Extreme wealth, extreme poverty. Extreme hedonism and joy, and extreme fear and pain. Extreme religious devotion, and extreme hatred. And as with everything, the microcosm and the macrocosm are reflections of each other. In each one of us there resides these extremes, or at least a presence of these realities -- though maybe not in the extreme.

It seems that to some extent, we really are as young as we feel. But how do we know which is the chicken and the egg? Are people who feel younger simply healthier to start with or are they so keen on being young that they actually take better care of themselves and therefore live longer?

Ultimately, the most effective ways to increase happiness, optimism, and resilience depend on each unique individual and each particular situation. Paths to greater wellness are varied. It’s a lot like musical tastes. Different people may prefer Bee­thoven, Bach, the Beach Boys, Beyoncé, or Bobby Lewis, but the joy each person feels while listening is the same.

The current approach today is essentially we’ve entered into a culture of freneticism—that’s a Big Think word, and that means we’re really busy. But I believe we’ve created the business on ourselves.

Consensus reality occurs when others agree with our dominant conframes and we all forget that we're only dealing with our habitual interpretations and not reality itself. Even if others share our conframes and agree with our interpretations, that still doesn't make them real. It merely means that we're all sharing the same illusion.

At this time of year, many of us delight in the extra hour of sleep that comes with turning the clocks back. However, when spring rolls around, we invariably curse the loss of sleep that accompanies setting the clocks forward.

For decades, personality psychologists have noticed a striking, consistent pattern: extroverts are happier more of the time than introverts. For anyone interested in promoting wellbeing, this has raised the question of whether it might be beneficial to encourage people to act more extroverted. Evidence to date has suggested it might.

Everyone knows what it’s like to be knocked off center, to lose their inner sense of balance and groundedness, at least temporarily, when faced with life’s unwanted curve balls. Whether it’s a troubling health diagnosis, the death of a loved one, a serious car accident, a layoff, or a natural disaster, life can intensely challenge our resilience.

Do you believe that the universe operates at random, or is there a higher intelligence that orchestrates encounters, events, and a stream of destiny? After observing many uncanny synchronicities, I have a firm belief that, despite appearances of haphazardness, a brilliant and loving hand guides us to our right place at the right time for the right purpose.

Let's imagine our minds as being filled with rows of cubbyholes. Each cubbyhole represents a particular relationship in our lives. Some of these cubbyholes contain largely benevolent thoughts. Others are filled with grievances and other dark thoughts. As I begin to think of those people, I may find a significant amount of resentment or anger stored away...

The path with heart has no set of predictable moves to ensure success. It is not a set of routines or a prescription of step-by-step actions; it is a philosophy, a way of seeing and being in the world that leads you to your life task, the contribution that spirit asks you to make.

Contemplate how a person’s life would be changed by starting to hear or see things others can’t. Now imagine it could offer something good. Clinical psychologist Lily Dixon and her team detail the experiences of seven people who have lived with verbal or auditory hallucinations; amid the struggles, the researchers report, their journeys have also taken them to some positive places.

Heaven and hell both exist on this planet today. This day. There is not some day in the future where our free agency to make any choices that we want will be locked down. Where there will be a judgment made, and some eternal status assigned to us. We will not be “assigned” a heaven or hell experience. It is us, the human beings, who decide the fate of humanity.

Talk to high-school students preparing for their science exams, and you’ll probably hear two things: that they’re scared of physics, and relatively comfortable with biology. Strangely, this is contrary to the view of most researchers.

At the time of this writing, I am entering my 73rd year, and I am extremely healthy. Just because the years are passing does not mean that the quality of our lives must automatically go downhill. Think about what you would really love to do with the next portion of your life...

Being passive developed as a pattern for a really good reason -- we were avoiding feeling our emotions (especially sadness) and had to find some place to channel the sensations we were experiencing. Maybe dad was a tyrant and we felt like we had no choice but to be quiet and duck. Maybe our classmates laughed at us when we made a mistake, and we decided being shy was safer.

I am not some enlightened being trying to guide you on a journey he has already completed. That is an old model, partaking of a kind of spiritual hierarchy based on a linear conception of the evolution of consciousness. In the present transition, each of us is pioneering a unique part of the territory of Reunion. In keeping with that, I must offer you my doubt and conflict along with my insight.

It may surprise you to learn that your ego doesn't believe that love really exists, but it's true. Just think! When you allow your ego to direct your search for love, you are actually asking the only thing in the universe that doesn't know what love is, to find it for you.

Every now and then I come across an affirmation that really 'hits home'. One of these is "I think and speak only words of love". I found this one in Louise Hay's book "Heal Your Body." When I started using this affirmation, I immediately saw and felt its power-full effects.

Every single thought you have can be assessed in terms of whether it strengthens or weakens you. Authentic wisdom is the ability to monitor yourself at all times to determine your relative state of weakness or strength, and to shift out of those thoughts that weaken you.

I believe that the primary goals of consciousness are to keep us alive and to stave off trauma or potential future trauma. Now if I am correct (and I may not be), then self-harm or the extreme of self-harm — self-annihilation — would be extremely difficult. Consider the statistics...

Success and failure only have to do with ego. The soul is busy taking a journey and having experiences from which it will learn. It knows nothing of success and failure. The soul only knows truth, honesty, and integrity...

Whether you were born in December, January, August or September can have a significant and long-lasting impact on your life. Our new research shows your birthday month may also contribute to shaping your personality. In particular, we found people’s self-confidence can significantly differ because of their month of birth.

The structured nature of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and its clearly defined principles (based on the links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours) make it relatively easy to train practitioners, ensure standardised delivery and measure outcomes.

Roger Fisher (1922–2012) served as a reconnaissance pilot in World War II and then graduated from Harvard Law School, becoming a professor there in 1958. Witnessing maiming and death firsthand during the war and then seeing the destructive effects of costly, pro­tracted litigation as a partner in a major law firm, Fisher was pas­sionate about finding more creative alternatives to resolve conflict.

Mention hazardous drinking and most of us imagine teenagers or students getting drunk, causing havoc and filling our emergency departments on a Friday night. But what if I told you that we should be just as worried about how much our parents and grandparents are drinking?

The paths we take in search of happiness often lead us to frustration and suffering instead. We try to create outer conditions that we believe will make us happy. But it is the mind itself that translates outer conditions into happiness or suffering. After 2,000 years of practice, Buddhist monks know that one secret to bliss is to put your mind to it.

Most people think they know what a psychopath is: someone who has no feelings. Someone who probably tortured animals for fun when they were little. But here are five things you probably didn’t know about psychopaths.

The term give-up-itis was coined by medical officers during the Korean War (1950-1953). They described it as a condition where a person develops extreme apathy, gives up hope, relinquishes the will to live and dies, despite the lack of an obvious physical cause.

All of us have traumatic memories. Over the years we may become aware how they are affecting our lives in negative ways. Here’s a technique you can use on yourself to change your personal history by consciously healing memories with new thinking and imagination...

Awe-inspiring experiences can have negative consequences as well as benefits, according to a new study. The study uses cardiovascular responses to stress to take a broad look at awe and the critical role perspective plays when considering the effects of encountering it.

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, obviously the roads – the roads go without saying. How about guidance for how to live in the 21st century?

If I told you that there was just one thing you could do that would give you everything you want, would you do it? Well, all you have to do is believe! All that matters is that you can see what you want and believe in it with all your heart and soul. Few people believe that strongly and still fewer work hard enough for their beliefs to reach fruition. How much do you believe?

One day, as I was answering a question on the subject of death, the following words came to me: "You are not afraid of death, you are afraid of life." Thinking over that response, I realized how true it was. Our fear of death is all the greater when we have not dared to live.

What is the next step? Where are we all going? We are witnessing ... and participating in ... great events, extraordinary events. Nothing less than a planetary transformation is taking place, right here and now. Nothing less than a revolution in consciousness is going on. This is a time of great awakening! Hallelujah!

We live in a culture that worships youth and beauty and often disregards, disrespects and diminishes age. This is a shame for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that everyone is growing older every day. Don't be defined by it. Don't allow the culture to define you. Don't allow others to diminish you in any way. It's time to take back control of your life and...

Ever heard the saying "3 steps forward and two steps back"? Of course you have! Well there's more than that. All universal activity, including human endeavor, occurs in excess and must be corrected.

I had accepted our culture's stale and simplistic view of adulthood -- that the person you are at midlife is the person you will always be. At precisely the time when I thought my development was coming to an end, I found myself embarking on a totally unexpected journey of growth and change... the "second half of life".

We all want other people to “get us” and appreciate us for who we really are. In striving to achieve such relationships, we typically assume that there is a “real me”. But how do we actually know who we are?

We’d all like to be a little happier. The problem is that much of what determines happiness is outside of our control. Some of us are genetically predisposed to see the world through rose-colored glasses, while others have a generally negative outlook. Bad things happen, to us and in the world. People can be unkind, and jobs can be tedious.

Connecting to the true Self gives me access to information and knowledge way beyond anything I have ever learned in a book or the limited amount stored in my memory. I know if I can tap into my true Self I will have access to all the information I need.

What happens if, instead of coming from fear of our own past, we initiate change from a state of quiet confidence that the changes we collectively wish to explore are being investigated to discover whether or not they might carry us to a HIGHER state of being than we are presently experiencing—even if there’s nothing significantly “wrong” with our present conditions.

One of my favorite hiking trails on Maui leads to a magnificent hidden waterfall far off the beaten path. The path to the waterfall begins as an offshoot of a main trail in a county park. County officials posted a sign, "End of trail." I chuckled to think that what was advertised as the end of the trail was really the beginning...

Human laws form a basis of social agreement and social order, but human laws are only pale reflections of a higher order of laws sewn into the fabric of existence. These laws govern the movement of the Earth, the cycle of seasons, the forces of nature, and the structure of the atom itself. The great laws existed before humanity, before nature.

More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organisations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon. I’ve termed it ‘metric fixation’. The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible – and desirable – to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics); and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.

What are beliefs really? Beliefs are opinions, assumptions, prejudices, judgments, ideas, and attitudes through which everything you experience in life is filtered. They are the lenses through which we see the world.

On average, men pick up on visual motion significantly faster than women do, according to a new study. Humans’ ability to notice moving objects has always been a useful skill, good for avoiding an animal predator in ancient times and crossing a busy street in the modern world.

Vulnerability isn’t timidity or weakness. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that we are sensitive, alive, and affected emotionally by our interactions and experiences. When we are open and accessible, we are able to connect with ourselves, and we make it much easier for others to connect with us.

We have repressed a lot of our emotions, whether they are considered 'good' or 'bad' ones. Sometimes we hold back on expressing our love for fear of being misunderstood, or perhaps thinking the timing is not 'right'. Most commonly, we have been taught to hold back on our 'negative' emotions — fear, anger, sorrow, pain, etc.

Poor mental health among young people is on the rise in the UK, while access to support and treatment remains patchy. There is now a pressing need to build resilience in young people to minimise their risk of poor mental health later on, as our latest report argues. There are 12.5m young people in England, and one in ten will experience poor mental health. Half of all lifelong mental health problems start before the age of 14, but only one in four young people uses mental health services.

Seeing time tick down quickly on a countdown clock may give people more patience than seeing time pass slowly would. In a series of experiments, the speed of a countdown clock affected the patience and decision-making of video game players, both during and after the game, according to David Reitter, associate professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State.

As within, so without. Those four words compose one of the most powerful truths brought to mankind. What happens within is the determinant to what happens without. Carrying it one step further, in order to change our physical lives, we must look within for answers.

In addition to mapping human consciousness, the Seven Levels Model can also be used as a template to describe the stages of human psychological development. Figure 1 shows the stages of psychological development and their correspondence with the seven levels of consciousness.

What is the infinity sign really about? There was a time when knowledge of the power of symbols was the preserve of initiates only and it was passed on in secret. The infinity sign, or lemniscate, is one such fascinating symbol and produces its power regardless of whether we believe in it or not.

It can seem like our human narrative has lost its way. Where the everyday news is filled with stories of humanity struggling with itself. Our eyes can show us everything that we don't want. And the chances for hope can seem fleeting. But there is a much bigger story going on as well. And you are a player in that story too.

When we consciously choose what graces our environment, it will harmonize with our inner journey. Our home will be welcoming, restful, and intensely personal. Each book on the shelf, every painting on the wall, and even the decorations we use at Christmas will reflect who we are and what matters most...

New research may explain why some people—like sports stars—anticipate and react to fast-moving objects much quicker than others. When Serena Williams returns a lightning-quick tennis serve—most of us marvel at her skill and speed. Considering what the human brain overcomes to make it happen, these kinds of feats are nothing short of miraculous.

There are three forces that motivate people. The first two are avoiding pain and seeking pleasure; these are fueled by desperation. The third, inspiration, transcends the others. When you're inspired, you embrace both pain and pleasure in the pursuit of your purpose.

'Charity begins at home' is not a bromide. It is a direction. It means start with being nice to yourself, your authentic self, then try being nice to everyone else. When we place ourselves too low in the pecking order, we feel henpecked and...

Once upon a time, the tribe of humanity embarked upon a long journey called Separation. It was not a blunder as some, seeing its ravages upon the planet, might think; nor was it a fall, nor an expression of some innate evil peculiar to the human species. It was a journey with a purpose: to experience the extremes of Separation, to develop the gifts that come in response to it, and to integrate all of that in a new Age of Reunion.

You know that you are indulging in black and white thinking when you use words like “always” and “never”. Or when you generalize about something or someone and say “everyone” or “no one”.

The real riches lie in the kingdom within, yet many people live their whole lives not knowing how to find them. The only inner life they know consists almost entirely of their emotional and mental involvement with the world around them...

Guess what?! August is National Happiness Month, and that means the whole month of August is dedicated to celebrating what makes us happy. You see, no matter what your age or gender, we all have one desire in common: to be happy.

My friend Mark has been a physician for over 40 years. Recently he told me a story that helped me understand what real healing is.

The two most important men in my life died at early ages due, in part, to their addictions. We are all products of our environment, but I believe the cycle can stop with us. Just as addiction affects the whole family, so does recovery...

How much is a kind word worth? How deeply can a touch heal? How important are your little interactions with your family, friends, and clients? Never underestimate the power of a kind word or thought. It may affect one or many, many people without you even knowing it. Even a gentle touch can make a huge difference.

In a Twitter account called So Sad Today, the American writer Melissa Broder has been sending out snippets of her daily inner life since 2012. Broder writes about mundane sadness – ‘waking up today was a disappointment’ or ‘what you call a nervous breakdown i call oops, accidentally saw things as they are’– and she is brutally honest about her own shortcomings (‘whoops, hurt myself conforming to socially accepted standards of beauty that i know are false but still feel compelled to fit into’ or ‘just felt a flicker of self-esteem and was like what the fuck is this’).

The journey I want to speak about here, is the journey we must all make if we want the mind, body, and soul to be one. If we are to be ourselves, we must take the journey. What happens along the way of your journey, is for you to decide...

Science is rapidly proving that the mind, brain, and body are tightly linked. Though emotional and physical pain register in the body similarly, the long-term effects of emotional pain are actually greater than those of physical pain.

Simplicity is not the same thing as destitution, or self-imposed deprivation. It has to do with finding a graceful balance in life where we have enough material possessions to provide for our basic needs, plus some comforts and luxuries that may not be required for basic survival.

World Cup football teams with a higher proportion of players smiling in their official portraits have scored more goals on average in all group phases since 1970.

For several hundred years, people have mistakenly believed that technology, once fully developed, would solve the ills of mankind, that science would provide the path out of the woods, away from illness, poverty, misery, and pain. We now know that...

You are dissipating your energy out into existence through the personality, instead of using it to stay in your reality. The mask is kept on by energy going out. As you deny the projection of the personality, you conserve energy.

If you want to live a certain kind of life, you are going to have to be proactive so you can consciously create life as you would like it. You must first mentally visualize and then physically create what you want. You can do this by having a clear vision and developing strong intentions...

Each soul incarnated into a specific form on earth for a unique purpose. Your journey is now and exists at this moment, whether you realize it or not. It will be more enjoyable if you consciously pursue your spiritual purpose to bring the world to Love. Consciously following your spiritual purpose brings you ultimate...

We feel good when both the rational and emotional parts of our brain interact perfectly and are in balance. Things to do with our feelings and emotions are dealt with by the right side, while the left side handles analytical thinking.

When we decide between alternative courses of action, an immediate consideration is whether our choice will serve us: make us happier, fulfill a desire, increase our comfort, enhance our security or boost our wellbeing.

Miracles happen all the time. You probably know someone who has had a miracle happen to them, or maybe a miracle has happened to you.

What do you think of when you think of Florida, Hawaii or California? Sunshine. It doesn't mean they are without storms, rainy days or even catastrophic events like earthquakes and hurricanes, but in general, those places are sunny and warm. A happy individual is similar.

Memories of past events play a key role in how our brains model what’s happening in the present and predict what is likely to occur in the future, according to a new study.