FOR SOME, SELF-DOUBT AND CONFIDENCE ISSUES COLOR A WHOLE LIFETIME. HOW CAN YOU BREAK OUT OF THAT SHELL TO REACH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL?
There was a long time when the lack of belief in myself was a major factor in my life. I didn’t pursue an ideal career, or start my own business, because I didn’t think I could. I didn’t stick to habits because I didn’t really believe I had the discipline. I was shy with girls, I had a hard time making new friends, I didn’t assert myself in the workplace. I didn’t push past my comfort zone. All because I didn’t really believe I could. While I’m not free of self-doubt these days, I can honestly say I believe in myself like never before. That doesn’t mean I think I’ll never fail or quit: I will. Probably often. And that’s okay. Continue reading. Originally posted on Fast Company.
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Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could hack into our own brains and rewire them to be happier?
Science has shown we actually can thanks to a phenomenon called experience-dependent neuroplasticity. "It’s a fancy term to say the brain learns from our experiences," says Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of the book Hardwiring Happiness. "As we understand better and better how this brain works, it gives us more power to change our mind for the better." Hanson assures he isn't just talking new-age mumbo jumbo. "This is not just 'smell the roses,'" he says. "I am talking about positive neuroplasticity. I am talking about learning. … The brain is changing based on what flows through it." Understanding how our brains function can help us better control them. Here are some key takeaways from Hanson on how our brains work when it comes to wiring for happiness: Continue reading. Originally posted on Fast Company. Strengthening your positive emotions and weakening your negative ones can have huge benefits for performance. Here's why.
The most recent newsletter from management coach Jon Pratlett explains that, when you encounter a difficult situation, your brain reacts differently when you say "I am…" as opposed to "I feel…" "Research suggests that when our brain's fight/flight response is activated and we become aware of it, saying to ourselves "I am angry," "I'm frustrated," or "I'm sad" is only likely to perpetuate the threat response." The reason is simple. When you say "I am" you're making a statement about your identity, which implies the permanence of that emotion. You're saying to yourself "This feeling is who I am." By contrast, if you characterize your emotion as something you feel, it doesn't imply permanence, since emotions are fleeting. Saying "I feel..." rather than "I am..." is more likely to result in: Continue reading. Originally posted on Inc.com. It’s nearly impossible to go through life without experiencing significant setbacks. Sometimes we’re the recipients of bad luck. Other times we’re the victims of others’ wrongdoings. Still other times we’re victims of our own mistakes.
In our book, Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success, we profile 17 people who have faced serious adversity, from illness and financial loss to war and natural disaster. Each survivor not only bounced back, but bounced forward, often accomplishing things they never dreamed possible. Their experiences, as well as decades of research in the field of positive psychology, show that certain myths can keep us stuck in unhappiness longer than we need to be after difficult events in our lives and hold us back from resilience. By combating these myths, we can help ourselves to bounce forward. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. Many of my coaching clients first come to me looking for the epiphany: that instant moment when you have it figured out, and all of the emotional pain is wiped away with clarity. Sometimes it happens for them. They return with excited emotions and they say, “I had my aha moment!”
It’s great to have an epiphany, but what you do with that new clarity is what matters most. Most of our habits are so ingrained in our lives that changing behaviors causes regression. Most epiphanies force us to see situations and ourselves in a new light. The next step is courage. And taking that step to live out your epiphany is when real transformation happens. In my own life I've had some powerful moments. But the ones that have impacted my life the most are the ones I've put into practice. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. Are you someone who needs to get a 20 out of 20, even on things you don’t care about? If you can’t do something perfectly, you won’t do it. If you can’t get a task done immediately, you feel flustered. You get a promotion and a few months later you want another one.
If you are, you are not alone in today’s driven society. Being a perfectionist is useful to a point, but it can become a trap. For example, if everything you do must be perfect, your precious energy will get burned out on unnecessary things instead of focusing on the few that are important to you. To relax the internal pressure, we need to understand where it comes from. If you listen closely, you probably have a voice in your head egging you on with statements like, It has to be perfect, or That's not good enough or I can’t fail. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. We all have goals for the future. Most of us tend to think of them in terms like: "Once I am financially secure, I'll be happy." A better alternative may be to look backwards, instead.
As personal finance blog Modest Money explains, there's always a gap between your current situation and your future 'happiness' when you achieve your goals. While it's good to have goals, they don't have to be the condition your happiness is based on. Instead of anticipating future satisfaction a couple years away, examine your life two years ago to gauge how happy you are with your life now: Rather than constantly focusing on your future, remind yourself regularly of where you were 2 years ago. What did your life look like? What was your career like? How were you? And when you think about that, celebrate how much you've come in the last 2 years. You need to train yourself not to only think about the future but to also celebrate what you've accomplished in the past. Pay attention to your "reverse gap" the period during which you had successes but also difficulties that you've overcome. That's how you create happiness and gratitude in the now. Continue reading. Originally posted on Lifehacker. It's easy to think of happiness as a result, but happiness is also a driver.
One example: While I'm definitely into finding ways to improve personal productivity (whether a one-day burst, or a lifetime, or things you should not do every day), probably the best way to be more productive is to just be happier. Happy people accomplish more. Easier said than done though, right? Actually, many changes are easy. Here are 10 science-based ways to be happier from Belle Beth Cooper. 1. Exercise: 7 Minutes Could Be Enough Think exercise is something you don't have time for? Think again. Check out the 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. That's a workout any of us can fit into our schedules. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it is an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor's book The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study are surprising: Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels early on, the follow-up assessments proved to be radically different: Continue reading. Originally posted on Inc.com. Everyone is fuelled by their own dreams and ambitions, but taking a close look at the complex relationship between happiness and motivation might give us a hint at what drives people to do their best work. Does happiness drive motivation?
Are Happy People More Productive? There is enough evidence, by now, to believe that happy people are more productive. In fact, a Gallup-Healthways study estimates that unhappiness among workers in the US is costing a whopping £180 billion per year in lost productivity. A series of studies by Andrew J. Oswald and his team also provide evidence that happiness positively impacts productivity. In one experiment, subjects have their happiness levels increased by being shown a clip of comedy routines. The subjects who had watched the comedy clip showed 12 per cent greater productivity than those who had watched a "placebo" clip. A second study by the same group of scientists took a look at major, real-life unhappiness shocks such as bereavement and family illness and how they impact productivity. In this study, a random group of subjects was given a questionnaire about their happiness level and possible negative life events. Then they performed the same tasks as the subjects in the previous experiment. It turns out that having had a bad life event in the previous two years lowers people's performance by approximately 10 percent. Continue reading. Originally posted on Lifehacker. Robin Williams was one of many comedians who made people laugh while simultaneously struggling with a personal darkness. Are comics more prone to depression - and if so, why?
"It doesn't take a genius to work out that comedians are a little bit nuts." Those were the words of comedian Susan Murray earlier this year, responding to an academic study that suggested comedians had unusual psychological traits linked with psychosis. It takes a certain type of person to stand up and make a fool of themselves in public. But there is a difference between being a bit zany and suffering mental health problems. However, the image of comedians as tortured souls who tell jokes in an attempt to dispel their inner demons has become common over the years. Kenneth Williams once said: "I certainly wouldn't call myself a happy human being. All the comedians I've known have been deeply depressive people, manic depressive... They kept it at bay with this facade.". Continue reading. Originally posted on BBC News. |
Please Note:All postings on the NEWS page are made purely for information and interest. I do not endorse or denounce any of them but find them all very interesting. I leave it up to you to decide if what you read will work for you. Archives
June 2023
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