Reading Time: 3 minutes Is it better to be happier or healthier? This is a question that has been pondered by philosophers and scientists for centuries. There is no easy answer, as both happiness and health are important aspects of a well-lived life. Happiness is a subjective state of well-being that is characterized by positive emotions, such as joy, …
Reading Time: 3 minutes Previously published in South Sydney Herald. To a large extent, yes. In any bad situation, I have always striven to find the silver lining, no matter how well-hidden it may be. It’s all up to us whether we wish to fill our lives with positive thoughts or with negative ones. If life were to give me …
Reading Time: 6 minutes Stress is good and bad. A little stress can help people grow. A lot of stress can ruin people. Stress, which is ubiquitous, can be both good and bad. A little stress at the right time can serve as the forced but needed impetus that sparks growth and success – and in prehistoric times, fight-or …
Reading Time: 3 minutes Sometimes, despite your efforts, stress “happens anyway.” Co-author Sam Bracken had a difficult childhood, but he turned his life around. He was conceived from rape and his mother “dumped” him at an orphanage when he was four. At age five, a boy who later became his stepbrother lit him on fire. His stepbrother and stepfather …
Reading Time: 2 minutes Exercise Exercise promotes health and the natural flow of energy. It helps you fight stress by augmenting your strength, vigour, flexibility and overall hardiness. It relieves depression and insomnia, and boosts your immune function. It is essential to healthy aging, because it keeps your body agile and enhances brain function. Be sure to breathe deeply …
Exercise and Relationships: The Second and Third Roots of Happiness Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutes Many people become desensitized to chronic stress because they are so accustomed to it. If this is your pattern, consciously establish new behaviours. Prepare yourself for stress, so when it crops up, you have a new set of tools to use to work on it. “Every thought or emotion you experience has electrical energy and …
Reading Time: 3 minutes Stress is a part of life. Some stress is beneficial, but prolonged chronic stress is harmful. Take a holistic approach to changing the basis of your stress, not its symptoms. Rather than “managing” stress, you can identify its causes and reframe your thinking. Your thought patterns may be winding you up and stressing you out. …
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Reactive to Proactive” Shifting this paradigm means taking control of your stress instead of reacting to it. You can’t avoid stress, but you can minimize it. For example, proactive people avoid having to worry about their finances by saving money and following a budget. They exercise, eat right and get regular check-ups to ease their …
Reading Time: < 1 minute Stress is a part of life. You can’t learn a new task or enter a new situation without feeling stress. It illuminates problem areas of your life – and you ignore such areas at your own peril. If you’re trying to live an intentional, actualized life, you’ll inevitably feel stress, which can then become an …
Reading Time: < 1 minute “People who have at least three or four very close friendships are healthier, have higher well-being and are more engaged in their jobs.” Most people do not realize how much their social connections mean to their emotional and physical health and wellbeing. Those with friends, family and significant others derive great benefit from their …
