Well, it has been a minute! I am back, thought that it would be a good idea if I start working on my own habits whilst blabbing all about Atomic Habits I am currently running a mediation series about this beautiful approach to becoming the person you want to be; and thought that I should share some of these amazing resources along the way. Let’s Get Started! First, it is my suggestion that you start with a ‘life lens’ that sees the navigation of the messiness of life AS perfection. #MyBeautifulMessyLife Personal growth is hard, but that is also why it is so worth the effort. There are defini ..read more

Welcome back to my “Secret Life of Your Brain: A Mindful Approach to Cognitive Biases” series, also known as… #MyBeautifulMessyLife Thanks so much for joining me on this mind adventure! Seriously, I can’t stress this enough, if we just understand a little about our brain, why it’s doing what it’s doing, we will come to realize that it does some pretty amazing things AND some annoying things that can cause loads of distress at times. But it is all in the spirit of keeping you alive! Today, I will be chattering a little about one of our brain’s secret weapons for survival. Yes, our brain’s ..read more

Well it has been a minute! Understatement! I am back and blogging by a few requests from some very supportive followers. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement Over the next few months, I want to be testing out some content, so I would love to hear your feedback. I am calling this series… #MyBeautifulMessyLife YUP! You know me! I don’t think people are broken. We are all just humans going through a life, having things happen to us, trying to make sense of those difficult things and then trying to live with the meaning we have created. Well, from what I have noticed in my 26+ years w ..read more

This is My Year! Sabbatical 2020 I have been given this opportunity from the college I work at, to take a year to focus on advanced training in Mindfulness Meditation and bring the psychological benefits to people in my community. I want to take on some of my personal life challenges, such as my ever present Imposter Syndrome.   …sigh…yes even therapist’s feel this way….sometimes…#YouAreNotAlone So, I am starting up my own business, Changing Minds, a concept based on a study that I created and ran last year, with the goal of expanding the scope, lens and understanding of mental health ..read more

Values?!!? What? “Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep down, they’re probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to”. MindTools I know, yet another tough task I am throwing at you all for the sake of positive mental health. Staying true to your values can be a gruelling task especially when life throws all kinds of challenges and curve balls to test your ability to navigate and grow. But first, we really should figure out what those values are so that ..read more

I know, I know, it seems trite to say that YOU create your life balance and somehow you are to blame for all the stress and negative experiences that come from the multiple demands on your time. Well you are responsible, at least in part. I hear the voices in the crowd start to rumble…   Ok, ok! Before you start thinking that I am completely insensitive, please hear me out. I have grown tired of hearing the phrase “victim blaming” whenever there is a suggestion that a human just may have some power to negatively or positively influence their current situation. My whole professional worl ..read more

The “Power of Yet” is NOT Just for Kids! It is not too late to work on your brain and improve your mental health. Mindset studies have shown that fostering a growth mindset helps to increase self-confidence, train your emotion regulation capacity and helps to build resiliency. To me this is so inspirational and true in my own life. The concept of a “Growth Mindset” is making human growth and learning attainable. The brain LOVES to learn and when my brain is learning new things it is a happy brain. Seeking out learning opportunities is what I do as a common practice in maintaining my positive ..read more

Seek Out Peak Experiences?!?! “Why would I want to do that?” We want to provide our brains with peek experiences because our brains absolutely love learning. It is what the brain is designed to do; learn and keep up safe. This is called seeking out “novel stimuli” by us PsycNerds. “Novelty seeking refers to the tendency of humans and animals to explore novel and unfamiliar stimuli and environments. The idea that dopamine modulates novelty seeking is supported by evidence that novel stimuli excite dopamine neurons and activate brain regions receiving dopaminergic input”. Translation, find some ..read more

Motivation….ah….motivation…. This is a VERY common human struggle. Yes, even for those who appear perfect and completely in control….not mentioning any names I will give you some advice from  my professional experience. I have had the opportunity to see people in their real states, people who appear perfect in public or who make a living from writing books and delivering workshops on human motivation and optimal functioning and I have found that they are actually human too. Yeah I know! Right?!?! So, please stop thinking that just because someone spouts a quote, or is a self-help writer ..read more

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson I know, I know! I can almost feel the fear coming through cyberspace as I write this; imagining people reading this post and saying “OMG, I have no idea what my purpose is?!?!”, “I have nothing to offer the greater good in this world!” or simply “I am not doing ..read more