Eating disorders can be a mystery to outsiders. It’s difficult to empathize with throwing up, starving, or bingeing until it hurts. But there’s a reason for every eating disorder. In this edition of Daily Mindfulness, we reveal 4 psychological drivers behind anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, and other forms of disordered eating. Looking in from the outside, […]

As the worst of winter sets in, some folks notice their tempers may match the days: short, dark, and icy. Winter blahs are pretty common this time of year. Some people even grow to hate holidays. Others feel let down once the Christmas tree is out by the curb. Still, others get ground down by […]

One definition of addiction is a compulsion to continually engage in an activity or behavior despite its negative consequences. When the repetitive behavior results in the individual experiencing legal, health, relationship, and/or vocation problems, that individual most likely has an addiction. How do we acquire an addiction? Some of us are genetically predisposed to acquiring […]

Last week we defined addiction, the steps leading to addiction, including the parts of the nervous system involved, and the “Avoidance Cycle.” As you recall, the Avoidance Cycle (AC) begins with the individual’s attempt to not repeat the unwanted behavior. The AC starts with an earnest commitment to resist the unwanted behavior. Because resistance/avoidance is […]

We all know the basics of being healthy: eat well, exercise, and get some rest (especially when you’ve got your country’s 500th anniversary to plan, your wedding to arrange, your wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it) because, as they say, if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything. But how to […]

Technology is essential, but it’s also making us—especially younger generations—more anxious. But how exactly? This week, we explore 5 ways technology feeds anxiety. July 4, 1776: The United States declared independence from Britain. July 20, 1969: humans landed on the moon. November 9, 1989: the Berlin Wall came down. Will we look back on June […]

What is Affect Labeling? When experiencing a negative emotion, we often try to ignore it, pretend it’s not there, or distract ourselves. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of energy and does not always work. A surprisingly effective strategy to deal with a negative emotion is to actually stay with the emotion, identify it, and name […]

We often underestimate how difficult it really is to get rid of anxiety. The fact is — we are all evolutionarily predisposed to be anxious. Some of us more than others. Therefore, it’s not realistic to avoid anxiety altogether. But, more and more people feel that anxiety interferes with their daily lives, and they look […]

Stress is a state of mental or emotional tension that causes discomfort and drains energy from us. Poor management of stress leads to anger, headaches, accidents, heart attacks, depression, and other countless ills. Besides being associated with major life events, stress also occurs daily through small stressors like project deadlines, tense relationships, and traffic jams. […]

Falling in love seems to be an essential part of human nature. It’s universal—we all know what love is even if we have a hard time defining it or detailing its complexities. And love transcends cultural and societal differences: in a historical study of 166 societies, anthropologist Helen Fisher found evidence that feelings of love […]