Are you getting in your own way despite your best efforts? You could be self-sabotaging. Learn how to recognize and stop self-sabotage.

Are you concerned about a friend struggling in a toxic relationship? Wondering how to broach the subject with them? It can be a delicate balance to be sure. Explore helpful tips for ways to open the conversation and support your friend (without tension or drama) while they navigate their current situation.

Revisiting shyness in young children after the pandemic is important. Shyness is not a weakness, a vulnerability, or an inherent problem; it's a category of normal social behavior. It’s key to support children in resocializing at their own pace.

Have you recently been “ghosted” then subsequently “gaslight” by the person upon their re-entry into your life? You may have experienced “ghostlighting.”

People worldwide are experiencing a connection recession—loneliness. In the United States alone, 61 percent of adults report they are lonely. Life far beyond the planet's surface, floating in the vast expanse of space—it sounds thrilling and adventurous, doesn't it? But in reality, it can be a story of isolation and loneliness, as astronauts have reported.

So how do these space pioneers combat the loneliness that often accompanies their groundbreaking missions? And how can you bring the lessons down to Earth and apply them for yourself?

If you grew up journaling, or have never journaled before, you may have heard of this as a mental health tool but may wonder how it relates to anxiety and difficult thought cycles. Thought cycles can be caused by a desire to control or work out the possibilities of something that, frankly, may not be able to be controlled at the moment. Other times, ruminating thoughts can occur because we are replaying a moment that we wish went differently, or we can be avoiding a feeling and instead, thinking about it, which makes it seem like we’re tending to it. Much of the time, this may be a natural cause of life. Anxiety can come in many forms.

If you’re reading this, you may be struggling to reach a goal or complete a task. You’re not alone – lack of motivation is something we all are faced with at some point in our lives. Whether you want to start exercising, quit smoking, do the laundry, or to finish a work project, you can find yourself dragging your feet or even planting your feet firmly and not budging at all.

At some point, the distress of procrastinating becomes greater than the distress of starting the task. It creates a lot of discomfort when one part of us desires to get the task done and another part of us would rather do anything else — this can leave us feeling ambivalent, frustrated, nervous, or useless. Some avoidance is expected at times, but is it recurrent or at a level that creates distress and prevents you from functioning in certain areas of your life?

How often do you find yourself in a situation when you say to yourself, “I need to really…”

…go to the gym
…eat healthier
…go to bed earlier
…exercise
…spend less money
…be happier

If you listen carefully to our inner dialogue as well as to others, “need to,” “should,” and “have to” statements are often part of our daily lexicon to help keep ourselves in check with certain desires and motivation. The problem with these all-or-nothing statements is that they are implying that what we are currently doing is far from being our perfect selves.

While most people relate seasonal affective disorder with the dark days of winter, summer time can also trigger this disorder. In fact, for many people, the summer months are the most difficult: 10 percent of those diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder suffer symptoms at the brightest time of the year. The summer’s brutal heat, bright light, and long days can contribute to depression for the opposite reasons that the winter does. Like typical SAD, the change of light can affect a person’s circadian rhythm, which may disturb overall health and sleep patterns.

Kindness is a virtuous characteristic and a learned behavior that is often instilled by our caregivers at childhood. It is an interpersonal skill that often requires courage, strength, and occasional sacrifice. From a young age we are taught to be considerate, compassionate, and thoughtful towards others, either through direct interaction or by observation. Our heroes, whether fictional or real, often exhibit selfless and altruistic qualities that inspire us to hope, dream, and be our best.Thus, kindness and compassion can become instinctive behaviors that we learn to exclusively associate with others while forgetting about ourselves. Even our heroes often practice self-sacrifice at the expense of their well-being. By focusing on kindness as an act that is meant for others we tend to exclude the ideas of self-care and personal compassion from our daily routines.