Some of the few people I know who are in such a ready state all the time are special operators in the Marines and Navy SEALs. Their training prepares them to respond to crises anywhere in the world on virtually no notice, and when they do deploy, they do so …

Just as there is a distinction between the social drinker and the alcoholic, there is a distinction between the person who has one affair and the person who repeatedly has affairs even when a job or marriage may be in jeopardy. Not everyone who has affairs, participates in unsafe sex …

Addiction is not about substances or behaviors, but is about disrupting the processing of pleasure; Science also tells us that stress alters the way we think. Parts of the brain that help us problem-solve shut down at times of stress, fueling impulsive behavior. When this behavior becomes excessive, the brain …

What if a VR simulation came out that offered an immersive experience that mimicked the sensory and motor involvement of real contact, without actual collision forces? Such a game could provide haptic feedback for when a fighter took a punch, but this could be vibrational and nondamaging. This would enable …

What shocked him was the gulf between this and their cardiopulmonary health, which he found languishing in the fortieth percentile. He then dug deeper and evaluated their heart and lung health separately, something few people even consider doing. Frank discovered that many players' lungs were lagging far behind their hearts …

What gives me the right to declare that everyone is collectively, pathetically apathetic? I'm a 25 year-old white guy who had it pretty easy growing up. Sure, I decided three years ago to finally get serious with my life, but that's not really a motivational story. Did I surmount great …

I was quickly told by both my husband and the therapist that I was projecting the behaviors I had experienced with my two previous husbands onto my fiance, a very successful and upstanding man. Having a history of being willing to trust others rather than myself, I unquestioningly went on …

But really, we can recognize so-called good people in our lives, right? These are the folks that volunteer for unpaid projects and charities. They post online about doing benefit relief trips. They are probably firefighters or policemen or veterans or something else seemingly noble. They share experiences that end up …

My marriage would not be blessed as I had willed it to be. Over the years I would find out about things that were going on. Women would call my house and tell me things about my husband. Or someone at his work would pull me aside and tell me …

You Are Not in Control Staying indoors all the time furthers the illusion that we can control our environment and minimize, or maybe even eliminate, risk. As Frank Merritt told me when we were brainstorming for this article, If I'm cold, I'll turn the heat up; Such convenience sure is …

Here's the deal: most people are apathetic. It's more than just not caring about some kid in Africa. It's an apathy that's deep within our society and accepted by everyone. There's a cognitive dissonance, a conflict within ourselves, that we all suffer from. We keep coming up with great ideas …

Odds are you are accustomed to being seen for your gender identity and aren't concerned that someone will wrongly project their ideas about gender onto you. It's common for people with privilege to believe that their experiences are universal and not be aware that others have very different experiences. Not …

Yet when the behavior is addictive, women whose husbands are engaged in non-physical sex addiction such as pornography, voyeurism, and exhibitionism say they feel the betrayal, the humiliation, and the shame as do those whose partners are engaged in sexual behavior that has become physically intimate with others. Use of …

In fact, you could even make this a golden rule for yourself, and, if you're feeling empowered, you can ask those you're with to do the same. You can back up your request with the knowledge you've gained by reading this article. For instance, we now know the importance of …

Queer bodies. Racialized bodies. Trans bodies. Disabled bodies. Old bodies. All marginalized bodies and identities are a site for injustice. Body positivity is necessarily about combating oppression and figuring out how to thrive despite it. That's why I want to see body positivity ideology shift from a dominant story to …

Self-love alone cannot fix that. The body positivity movement's narrow focus means its tools can't work as predicted--or at all. Yes, we all need self-love to cope with body shaming and to resist internalizing it, yet self-love is not the cure but the response. All the self-love in the world …

They're often the ones who have the most engaged fans, too, because we want our athletes to be real people we can relate to. So even if you're an accomplished competitor, you might want to assess how many of your posts relate to your sport, what you're projecting to the …

But one day I had an epiphany, and just like that, me and heart rate monitoring were through. A friend of mine wanted to start doing triathlons and asked me to go running with him. I readily agreed, and we set off for a ten-mile loop around Newport Beach's Back …

While it may be a beneficial tool, social media also has its limitations. The majority of information shared online is public, so it's important that you carefully consider how much personal information you want to share online and that you be thoughtful and realistic about the risks involved with oversharing …

Investigators gradually increased the temperature under the rodents' paws until they moved away. That was each rat's pain threshold, and they made note of it. Next, they ran the experiment with two rats side by side and saw that when both rats were exposed to the heat, it could lower …

If learning which variation of this exercise better activates your glutes gets you back on the basketball court five days earlier than expected, then perhaps you should keep using the shorts. If not, then it'd be better for you to set this $700 item aside and instead defer to the …

You are biologically wired to need connection. So of course, rejection is going to hurt. Your natural response might be self-criticism. Try not to go down that path. What I try to do is notice it, label it--Oh, there's that same old story again--and then let it go. REAL BUT …

Did my family work hard? Absolutely. But many people do. These stories are just a small snippet of the many unearned advantages I have had that paved the way for my financial success. Whatever that is--whether reading, working out, or just sitting and relaxing--make it a priority as much as …

These are denied to awareness, because they would be disorganizing to self. Many aspects of self would not exhibit the discrepancies evident in these three examples, but would be of this order: Here the attitude of others is not introjected, but is simply perceived for what it is. It is …

As there is compelling evidence that weight stigma causes much of the disease we blame on fat, this huge oversight means that our prescriptions are causing the very problem they aim to solve. Ioannidis's second culprit, selective reporting, means that you're likely to read a lot of confounding studies. Studies …

Even though my brain may take me there by default, the adult me has learned strategies so I'm less likely to go there, and when I do, I'm less likely to stay for as long. What's key to soothing these triggers is the experience of feeling loved. I'm taking risks …

This type of finding appears to support our clinical and theoretical hypothesis that the individual may deny experiences to awareness without ever having been conscious of them. There is at least a process of subception, a discriminating evaluative physiological organismic response to experience, which may precede the conscious perception of …

The digital world can be a space of incredible resources and learning opportunities, but it also opens us to the challenges of its intended and unintentional effects on our emotional well-being. Keep up-to-date regarding technology's ability to alter reality--for example, the availability of certain filters and photoshopping capacities--so that you're …

Yes, we instinctively want to protect ourselves, but then we begin to see that being defended--building an emotional moat and walling ourselves up inside--also isn't safe. It's a false refuge, as described by psychologist, author, and meditation instructor Tara Brach. By blocking out vulnerability, we also block out joy and …

Certain results then follow in the development of the ordinary child. One result is a denial in awareness of the satisfactions that were experienced. The other is to distort the symbolization of the experience of the parents. The accurate symbolization would be: I perceive my parents as experiencing this behavior …

These untested perceptions are also a part of our personal reality, and may have as much authority as those which have been checked. That the perceptual field is the reality to which the individual reacts is often strikingly illustrated in therapy, where it is frequently evident that when the perception …

They also stop us from seeing the actual person in front of us. As members of society, we necessarily internalize the assumptions and meanings associated with these categories. Whether consciously or unconsciously, this affects our interactions and influences our decisions, such as whom to hire or whom to trust5--and whether …

I had no idea who she was, but her account contained enough details to convince me we'd hung out. I remember those clubs, though I thought I went alone. I visited them to meet my cocaine connection, who also happened to be a sex worker. On two occasions, showing up …

C113: You find a change in focus, or a change in basic faith as to what can go on from the self outward, or inward, but I mean, depending on the self itself, how it moves, or changes, or thinks. It really revitalizes the whole total experience. S114: For myself …

It was a bit hard for me and my friends to roll with his social gaffes when we first met him, as he inadvertently insulted several people, much to his partner's chagrin. Over time we've come to accept that it's simply part of his makeup. When he says or does …

It is possible that, because psychologists feel secure in regard to their work in diagnosis, and somewhat insecure in the newer field of therapy, they tend to postpone its consideration. As to the third reason, (c), most psychiatrists regard it as extremely unfortunate that the medical student receives so little …

For example, right here in section 1094b and 1095a in my reprint, I've underlined them. His first sentence starts with Now, the second says, and further. This remark was designed to understand the feeling and to clarify the idea expressed by Mr C in such a way that he realized …

This includes the world around you, outside of your home. It involves an engagement with your community, social life, clubs, activities--whatever you do that is rewarding and that connects you with people you enjoy being with. On Level Three, we get all kinds of the positives we're looking to load …

The activity of the leader developed in the direction of sensitive recognition of the attitudes and ideas expressed by the members of the group. This involved an understanding of the needs of the members of the group, and a positive judgment to avoid participation when the interaction between the group …

Many of us had a hard time getting rid of this dependence. Some never did. As for me, I waddled along for the first three or four weeks rather confused and sometimes indifferent. Later I began reading and thinking about this and that in therapy. Instead, look for strategies to …