Negative thought patterns can have a stranglehold on our lives.  They can turn a peaceful mind into a plethora of worry and fear.  Often these negative thought patterns creep in slowly, like a slow-moving dark cloud on a sunny summer day. But over time, they can become our everyday thought patterns, and the sunny day we were once enjoying becomes a treacherous storm that is seemingly out of control.  What are negative thought patterns? Negative thought patterns, which can be referred to as Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANT’s), are “The conscious or subconscious thoughts tha ..read more

The impact of gratitude can be powerful. Whether you’re browsing social media, reading through blogs, or listening to a podcast, you’ll likely be hit with the expression “Gratitude is the attitude.” Although it can be a bit cliche at times, gratitude can have a real effect on our lives. Developing an attitude of gratitude can be highly beneficial in all areas of life.  Think about any moment in your life when you were struggling. At those moments, sometimes even the smallest ounce of gratitude can lift us out of the murky waters, whether you appreciate the smile of a stranger, the gentle ..read more

Productivity can be hard to come by when you’re experiencing a rough mental day.  How do I define a rough mental day? A day in which you constantly struggle with negative or obsessive thinking patterns leading to an increase in negative emotions and unhealthy behaviors (drinking, using drugs, overeating, etc.) Productivity, on the other hand, is defined as the quality or state of being productive. When you experience a rough mental day, being productive can seem like the last thing on your mind. Just trying to stay above the murky waters of your mind is enough to take most ..read more

There are certain truths about meditation that you should know before diving into the practice.  Meditation has been a game-changer for my anxiety and my mindset. It has given me an opportunity to tap into my subconscious mind, get behind my anxious thoughts, and release painful emotions of my past while learning to stay mindful of the present moment.  Meditation was not something I actively pursued.  I had struggled for many years with obsessive thoughts, suicidal ideations, and negative thought patterns. The pattern of these nagging thoughts slowly began to wear on me un ..read more

Living with extreme anxiety has been one of the most challenging hurdles I’ve had to overcome in my life.  Where I am now is much different than where I was just a few short years ago. I categorize extreme anxiety as any chronic anxiety that affects every other area of your life. Sure, every person experiences anxiety to some degree. Anxiety is quite natural and not always a negative thing. For example, if you’re about to play in a big championship basketball game, experiencing a certain level of anxiety is completely normal. If managed properly, anxiety can help remind us of c ..read more

Health and wellness have become trendy blogging topics in recent years.  Just about every major health organization in the world has a blog, and many smaller organizations do as well.  Blogging has become mainstream the past decade, and almost everyone knows someone who runs a blog.  But how do you start a health and wellness blog? I’ll start by sharing a quick story with you about my struggles.   THE STORY OF UPPLIFTER Ever since I was a young kid, I had struggled with severe anxiety and bouts of depression. Throughout my youth I knew there was something not quite right ..read more

I want you to envision driving in your car to work one morning.  You receive a phone call from your spouse. You begin to argue, and the discussion quickly turns heated and confrontational.  After ten minutes of posturing back and forth, you hang up in frustration, tossing your phone on the seat beside you. You arrive to work anxious, irritated, and emotionally charged.  As you walk through the office, your most annoying coworker begins berating you with their problems and issues, furthering your morning irritability. After five minutes of listening to nonsense and chatter, you ..read more

Meditation has many benefits that can help in improving both physical and mental health.  Through the past five years, meditation has begun to explode onto the mainstream as one of the significant personal development trends.  There have been books, podcasts, apps, blogs, and social media pages dedicated to nothing but meditation and meditative techniques and practices. The benefits are aplenty and more research is being conducted on the topic every year.    MY EXPERIENCE WITH DAILY MEDITATION   Meditation has changed my life.  It has given me an opportunity to t ..read more

Metacognition is a word that you might have heard.  It is “the awareness or analysis of one’s own learning or thinking processes.” Essentially, it is thinking about your thoughts.  How do you identify with the thoughts you are thinking? What labels do you attach to them?  Practicing metacognition is easier said than done; it takes hyper-awareness to monitor our thought and learning processes consistently. But in doing so, we can identify destructive thought patterns that cause us worry, grief, and anxiety. Identifying these patterns is helpful because we can then begi ..read more

You may be familiar with the term dopamine, as it is often used along with serotonin to describe the so-called “feel-good chemicals” in our brains. Learning how to boost dopamine levels when they’re low can help alleviate anxiety.  Let’s start with the basics. Dopamine is “a catecholamine neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, retina, and sympathetic ganglia, acting within the brain to help regulate movement and emotion.”  Your body makes dopamine, and your nervous system uses it as a chemical messenger to send messages between your nerve cells.  It play ..read more