Simply plunk down and unwind with some tea or coffee. In the struggle for survival, nearly every form of life has its mimics--right down to some of the most primitive pathogens. By adopting certain critical features of useful hormones or nutrients, these clever bacteria and viruses can gain entry into …

What a great opportunity this will be today. All we have to do is take a brief inventory of the many encounters we had yesterday. How many of them were peaceful? Did we take "the high road" very often? Were a few of those encounters riddled with words or actions …

It's human growth hormone, or HGH, which is the body's most powerful natural revitalizer. One of the most important roles of HGH is to free up stored body fat, so you can burn it to produce energy. It also stimulates an increase in muscle tissue. HGH finds a way to …

One of the benefits of exercise is not just for your immune system, but for the quality of your sleep. Exercise actually enables you to generate time. You will manufacture minutes. The reason is because of IL-1 and getting that extra Delta sleep. As a consequence, you'll spend more time …

Both men and women in the study ate more in response to larger portions. Fewer than one half of the men and women reported they noticed a difference in the portion sizes they were given. Researchers suggest that people have the expectation that the amount of food served to them …

First, if you eat infrequently, as shown in the top diagram above, your body slows down fat burning while ramping up fat storage. Similar problems occur when you eat foods that turn off the metabolic thermostat. Essentially, your body begins to sense that you are starving (for lack of nutrients …

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. We sometimes walk in unusual environments that are unstable underfoot, such as while on a boat at sea, or inside an aeroplane in turbulence. Walking while the ground moves - something deeply unnatural and unsettling - can demonstrate how the vestibular system …

But, these are not your life. Just parts of it. You are an expert on one thing in the Universe. YOU. Who else, after all, could you ask if you want to find out what makes you happy? So what does make you happy? The things that you have come …

As a bonus, the fibers are very beneficial to prevent constipation, which can round your belly. There is a scientific explanation for the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets: large amounts of carbohydrate from white flour and added sugar can wreak havoc on your blood sugar level (the amount of sugar in …

A tennis match, a guided tour of a natural park or city, a bike ride or bowling. On average, the most sedentary people make between 2000 and 3000 steps per day. By adding 2000 steps daily, you could manage to maintain your current weight and stop weight gain. Add more …

Looking in the mirror and facing our standards and goals by looking in the eye would help weight loss. In this way, it is easier to stop eating and remember why you want to lose weight. The Disease Control Center in the United States has revealed that simply climbing up …

If you have a particular urge for a food, you are probably not hungry, but you are simply greedy. If, on the contrary, you eat the first food on your way, then you are probably really hungry. Find another way to fulfill your emotional needs and eat only when you …

Better late than never, of course! Unfortunately, it has taken some of these students a decade or more to learn this lesson. Because I don't know why Julia didn't respond to my text and whether or not she is annoyed by texts like that, I will make a point of …

Our close relatives, the chimpanzees, use an intermediate form of bipedalism, where they walk using a combination of their hands and feet. This adaption is known as `knucklewalking', and it is not an especially efficient way of getting around.5 Many birds also walk on land on two legs - but …

You're only human, right? Nonetheless, you still need to give up your musturbatory demand not to be treated badly; otherwise, you won't move forward in dealing with the reality that you were, indeed, treated like that. Of course, there are degrees of bad treatment, and it would be irrational to …

This step requires asking the question, "What experiences have I had to support the healthier and more productive view I discerned in Step Five?" After all the feelings are sorted out comes the moment when the truth is told. Admitting that your feelings are yours, owning them as your reality …

A sixteenth-century philosopher who laid the foundations of scientific inquiry, Bacon advises us to clear our minds of certain preconceptions that can destroy our ability to think objectively. Within the general structure of my life I also have some schedules. Life goes better if I stick to a schedule. This …

Note that each of these thoughts is a particular type of desolation (to use Saint Ignatius' term), because each one makes it more difficult to draw near to God or to cooperate with his grace. These thoughts make it harder to pursue meaningful, intimate, and virtuous responses to our problems …

The person who catastrophizes lives in a perpetual state of "But what if? What if?" When feelings are not dealt with, they become bottled up and create a blockage, both personally and interpersonally. This, in turn, isolates you from yourself and your world. The fastest and surest way to become …

Now he's trying to find a direction. The second quality that consolations will always point toward is intimacy. Research in positive psychology points out that happy, peaceful people work hard to make their relationships as strong and healthy as they reasonably can (Seligman, 2004). Our Catholic tradition agrees that strong …

Alternatively, we could also indulge in self-destructive, sinful habits to make ourselves feel better in the face of hardships. In our coaching session, Tim uncovered and disclosed his feelings of anger, hurt, frustration, and hopelessness. We unearthed the initial incident and started to repair the damage from the past so …

Building upon Saint Ignatius' model, I argue that, drawing from other teachings both in our Christian tradition and in research in positive psychology (a branch of psychology that studies the habits and thinking patterns of emotionally healthy, happy people) can further clarify what consolations and desolations look like. Specifically, consolations …

The sixteenth-century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes says to treat others with the same dignity with which you would want to be treated. Hobbes puts his own spin on the golden rule: "Do not that to another which you would not have done to yourself" (Hobbes, 1939, 172). In disrespecting others …

It may be that you were in love, it may be a time when you had a strong community around you, and it may be a time when your children were still small. Whatever the cause, notice if your happiness in this period had much to do with money. Was …

Barry has some strategies for major problems but he seems to let the smaller things go by. Maybe that's a strategy too. Would his life be better if he used strategies for those smaller things? Everywhere you turn in society, there is seduction that reinforces our insufficiency. There is always …

At the beginning of each day, read this definition aloud to yourself. Over time, the definition will evolve; this is natural, so feel free to amend it as time moves on. You have made the first important step toward happiness by processing this simple yet powerful question. Each step on …

So Kant entreats us to exercise tolerance for others by treating them as persons and not mere objects. This means letting them decide and act for themselves. Abraham Lincoln addressed the need to exercise prudence in our attempts to control others, stating: "No man is good enough to govern another …

You experience unpleasant physiological, psychological, and/or emotional symptoms. You experience trauma at the thought or reality of separating from your addiction. You become angry, justify your right to have or use it, and act out to preserve your right to do what you want. If you had to flee …

During his workday, he also consumes various energy drinks and 16 oz. sodas to "keep him going." From the high dosages of salt, sugar, and caffeine from these drinks, Alex's blood pressure soars, and he sometimes gets jittery and anxious. In the evening his body crashes, exhausted from work, his …

A virtue is a quality that every human being displays when we are at our best. Remember, in an earlier chapter, when I asked you to imagine your Whole, Healed, Godly, Grace-filled self? All the good qualities you imagined this version of yourself possessing are virtues. Whenever a mood enhancer …

Self-study leads to self-awareness, and self-awareness empowers us to truly transform and stop repeating the same negative choices that undermine our life. It solves apex problems, and solving apex problems creates a domino effect of positive change. Sometimes for our life to take flight it is critical to change our …

"I wasn't high or anything," he strategically added. Unfortunately, the more he attempted to control the opinions of others, the more turned off to him they became, and the more they talked trash about him! What situations attended this increase in your experience of stress/anxiety? (Who was present? What …

But you could wash one fork. Yes, you could. But if not, get the soap out and set it on the counter. You can wash the fork tomorrow. OK, you have a lot of big important things to do and washing one fork isn't going to take care of them …

If we have ADD, we generally have a shortened attention span, although if something has really turned on our focus center we may be able to stick with it for a long time. We're on a roll. We're in hyper-focus. What did you tell yourself about yourself? Were you self-critical …

Imagine a farmer holding his hat in hand, wiping his brow and saying, "I'm really stressed out!" It's hard to imagine, since life was so different then. This is not to say that lives of people in those days were easy, far from it, but it was a very different …

Unable to meet their own needs and incapable of meeting each other's, the couple, (possibly your parents), look outside themselves to a third possible alternative, what about a baby! A baby would give them a joint focus, something to create together, and a tangible way to partner that is as …

The picking on each other started and continued. "If she could drop just a few pounds." "That laugh is so shrill." "Those socks are too short," and "I can't stand the way he drives." "He watches way too much TV." "She is so uptight about money," your parents might have …

Instead she must adapt a false self in order to cope with her world. This is a coping mechanism or facade. The compulsive drive to feel whole, complete, adequate, and euphoric in any form comes from the innate emptiness or void inside. The pursuit of inner peace or wholeness takes …

My first experience with brain freeze was on my first test in college. It was a chemistry test, the first test in my life that I had any doubt about. I wrote my name on the answer sheet, looked at the questions, didn't have a clue, and froze. My brain …

Perhaps you tried your best to do only good for your children, your parents, or your friends, but things simply didn't go according to plan. Then: "Oh, I should have known better! Why didn't I see that coming? It's all my fault!" The difference between you and the mouse, says …