There’s no way of sugar-coating it. To unlock your best life – to be successful and happy – you must learn how to eliminate self-destructive behaviors and replace them with healthy ones.  Shame Shame can make eliminating self-destructive behaviors challenging.  It’s easy to sink into shame when we mess up. Instead of realizing that we…

They tell us: “You deserve to be happy.” They even say that pursuing happiness is our God-given right.  But is happiness what we want, or is our soul searching for something deeper? The thing about happiness is that it comes and goes.  You can be happy one minute, and the next, you’re down in the…

We need mental toughness today now more than ever, not just to survive but to flourish.  Self-monitoring is a kind of self-awareness that develops mental toughness and resilience.  What is mental toughness? According to Mental Toughness Inc., “Mental toughness is the ability to resist, manage and overcome doubts, worries, concerns and circumstances that prevent you from…

Imagine being fully in charge of your life and reaching a level of personal freedom where you only have yourself to answer to. Imagine dreaming, setting, and achieving goals.  Being independent and practicing personal autonomy is a dream that few people seem to achieve.  But, personal autonomy is more than just focusing on you and…

Time-stealers are everywhere. You can start the day with good intentions but get derailed quickly by disruptions and distractions that drain time and energy. Life is hectic; whether rushing to get the kids to school or yourself to work, you can fall behind fast and play catch up the rest of the day. The day…

It’s been said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” Procrastinators have learned the habit of delaying something they must do until the last minute or until it’s past due. Sometimes it’s not a big deal and might even be helpful. But it can create anxiety and stress, harming…

Willpower is “the ability to control one’s own actions, emotions, or urges.” And self-control is “restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires.” Imagine the kind of life you could unlock if you were that person.  Well, you don’t have to imagine because here are ways to strengthen your powers of willpower and self-control.  Willpower Strength…

Avoiding problems is a band-aid approach to handling life’s challenges that makes things worse. According to Christina Smith, LMHC, “Avoidance is a maladaptive coping skill that offers the mind an escape from uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and/or experiences. It may seem like avoiding discomfort could be helpful, however, it results in never addressing the actual issue….

Some people know what they want and are determined to make it happen no matter what.  They’re ambitious; driven. And will work nights and weekends – even holidays – to achieve their goals, while others are okay with dreaming and drifting, accepting whatever life hands them, and hoping for the best along the way.  Why…

The only way to make progress in life is to make decisions. But that’s harder than it sounds unless you’re making little decisions.  When making big decisions, sometimes you think you have everything figured out and know what to do. Easy.  But there are times when knowing what to do can be a real struggle…

William James said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”  Let’s resolve to be wiser in 2023 by letting go of everything we can that doesn’t add meaning to our lives.  Let our motto be, simplify, simplify, simplify! Trying to keep up with everything is exhausting and wastes time….

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”  Everyone makes mistakes. But only a fool keeps repeating the same ones.  It’s not that we make mistakes that matters but what we do about them. Mistakes can either break us or build us; block our…