One of the biggest causes of self-inflicted pain is the thought distortion known as all or nothing thinking. All-or-nothing thinking means thinking in extremes. You are either a success or a failure, lovable or unlovable. Your presentation was either totally good or totally bad. If you are not perfect,...

The easiest way to be happier in 2023 is to stop thinking about and focusing on what you don’t want! Most of us spend way too much energy on what we don’t want. This just gives us more of the experience of what we don’t want. When you grasp...

I’ve written much about ignoring the noise and viewing with prejudice. But sometimes the noise is valuable, and it can be trying to tell us something. Whatever you want to call it— the gut feeling, sixth sense, intuition, or voice in the background, it can hold important information. When...

Our amazing immune systems help prevent infection by fighting foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens. It includes Pattern Recognition Receptors, or PRRs; molecules which recognize a wide variety of foreign invaders. Once recognized, the body takes drastic action when they first appear, since it immediately sees...

I don’t know what will happen. The truth is none of us do. We just think we do. Most of us are great at speculating, projecting, and fretting about the future or what we think is going to happen. This comprises a huge portion of our mental noise. If...

You probably guessed it: the biggest cause for unhappiness is overthinking. Overthinking ruins friendships and relationships. Overthinking creates problems you never had. Being in your head too much prevents you from fully living. In our complex world, we need to make things simpler. There is a deluge of information...

Fluctuating moods are part of the human condition. Moods are like the tide; they flow in and flow out. Go with the flow of your moods and don’t strain to resist the low ones. That just makes things worse and extends them. The lows can help you appreciate the...

This T-shirt is a great reminder, one which we all need. We need to remember to consider the source, and since the brain has a huge negativity bias, it’s natural that it produces negative thoughts. It’s simply doing its job. This is because we evolve very slowly thru genetic...

We’ve all heard the phrase, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Why is that? Because that’s how things look to you. Other people may look at your life with envy and see all kinds of awesome things. But you may not see those things. You may...

Can you hear the ever-present noise? Your brain is creating somewhere between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute. This chatty self-talk is happening right now as you are reading this. This is what the brain does. Neuroimaging studies suggest the normal resting state of the brain is a silent...