self-compassion

3 Easy Things to Try to Immediately Improve Your Mood

There are a million things that can cause our mood to rise and fall throughout any given day. Whether or not we show it, and no matter how hard we work to keep calm and carry on, our emotional responses can run widely outside of our control. It’s an unavoidable and entirely human thing to… Read more »

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Why We Don’t See Ourselves Clearly

On any given day of our lives, our self-esteem is likely to hit plenty of peaks and valleys. One minute, we may feel confident and content, the next we may feel insecure and uneasy. As unsettling as this can be, it’s not uncommon. Our self-perception is often not based on what’s actually going on in… Read more »

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How to Help Yourself Through Change

It’s impossible to overstate the way this pandemic has changed our lives. Chances are, at this very moment, you are right smack in the middle of that change yourself. Maybe you’re reading this article from your dining table when you’d normally be in your office. Maybe you’re cramming it in after a long day of… Read more »

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Nourishing Your Resilience in Hard Times

I was listening to a podcast recently where the host was talking about the state of the world as we enter a new year. At one point, he offhandedly remarked that we seem to be experiencing so many daily sources of alarm and distress that we don’t even have time to process one before we’re… Read more »

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Choosing Humanity

2020: Amidst alarm, heartbreak, TV binging and AI manipulation, a sense of agency rediscovered. During this pandemic, I have had unprecedented time alone. My first weeks were primarily filled with fear and horror, first overwhelmed by the mysterious, global and deadly nature of the virus and then awash with anguish and nausea after seeing the… Read more »

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7 Practices to Keep Calm in the Face of Uncertainty

“Uncertain” is likely a mild way to put how we’re all feeling right now. This year has presented so many shocks to our systems, many of us are struggling to retain any sense of equilibrium. The deer in the headlights feeling of “what comes next?” has our anxiety at peak levels. While there are real… Read more »

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Experts at Home: Dr. Kristin Neff on Self-Compassion

In this Experts at Home conversation, Dr. Lisa Firestone talks with researcher Dr. Kristin Neff about the importance of practicing Self-Compassion, especially during challenging times such as this global pandemic. Watch Now: Subscribe to PsychAlive (it’s free!) to see more Experts at Home.  

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The One New Year’s Resolution You Should Make this Year

New Year’s resolutions tend to get mixed reviews. Many people I ask about them roll their eyes, calling them “corny” or “unrealistic.” Others have a laundry list of items they want to “fix” about themselves come 2020. My feelings are somewhere in the middle. While I’m all for setting goals and seeking change that will… Read more »

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Love Yourself: Doctor’s Orders

The phrase “self-love” is more common in today’s vocabulary than ever before. Social Media has especially drawn a spotlight on this now colloquially used concept, which ultimately encourages people to not only accept—but love—themselves for who they are. Moreover, many outspoken celebrities and self-love advocates ranging from Demi Lovato, Chrissy Teigen, and Amy Schumer have… Read more »

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How Sick is “Sick Enough?”

10 pounds made the difference between actually living and simply surviving.   A year ago, I based my self-worth off the number describing the gravitational pull of my body toward the earth. I felt that my body’s natural hunger cues were signs of weakness.  I believed that if I could only run longer, see a gap… Read more »

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