If a car is left in the garage, it’s not running or working. It can harm the car to be used too little, just as it can harm the car to be used too much, or in the wrong way. … Continue reading
How to Avoid a Passive Attitude
Category: Psychology & Self-Improvement
The Perils of Not Being Yourself
People can sense it when you’re not being yourself, and that you’re trying to merely get a reaction out of them, or gain their approval. This indicates low self-confidence and weakness on your part, and some will strike back when they sense … Continue reading
The Conditions of Love
I think what people really yearn for is not so much “unconditional love” — since we all love for reasons — as “uncomplicated love.” The purest form of love is NOT love without a self, love without reasons, or love … Continue reading
Think Your Way to Reality
How you think about something does not change reality. But it does change the way you interact with, and act in, reality. This will often lead to real-life consequences. For example, you hear about “the self-fulfilling prophecy.” This is not … Continue reading
A Taste for Living
Self-discipline, self-esteem, and mental health all require a basic love of life. You either love life, or you don’t. If you do, you will take life seriously–and you will exhibit characteristics of self-discipline and good mental habits. If you don’t … Continue reading
Is The Brain All There Is?
It used to be that parental influences were thought to be all determining in an individual’s personality. Freud, and his successors, focused on such factors as the mother-child relationship and alleged infantile sexuality as the determining factor in human nature. … Continue reading
Managing Temporary Conflict
If someone important to you—a spouse, for example—becomes defensive or hostile, then she’s probably starting to lose touch with the facts. You will do your relationship, the person with whom you’re in temporary conflict, and even yourself no service by … Continue reading
The Truth Doesn’t Hurt
Facts are nothing to fear.
Emotional Help
People seeking help, even people with emotional problems, usually understand the issues at stake better than a lot of mental health professionals. They understand that what they need are ideas, suggestions, perspective and solutions. They don’t need a relationship with … Continue reading
Wishing and Reason
Wishing is planning with no intention of ever acting. Thinking is conceptualizing and visualizing with the full intention of action. Reason puts the thoughts into place so that action can begin.
A Can-Do “Prayer”
An alternative to “I can’t”: “I am able to succeed at living. This is because I have a mind that can know reality and be right. My mind is intelligent enough to set a long range goal. My mind is … Continue reading
Trapped?
One of the most common causes of depression or any other kind of emotional malaise is feeling trapped. In reality: You’re rarely trapped. The more you think you are, the more depressed you will feel. But feelings are not facts. … Continue reading