Happiness & Success
Achieving Happiness Through Acceptance of Life
The quest for happiness often leads to frustration, as many fail to realize that the...
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- Written by: Vybarr Cregan-Reid, University of Kent
During the summer school holidays, the social rhythm of life can become as crazed as a Keith Moon drum solo. So it’s important to remember to switch off from time to time.
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- Written by: Heidi Gazelle, University of Melbourne
When parents observe shyness in their child, they may wonder if it is normal or cause for concern. For instance, in social situations, the child may cling to their parent, be hesitant to speak, reluctant to interact with others, and play alone when in groups more often than other children their age.
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- Written by: Shane Satterley, Griffith University
There are some striking similarities between cults and terror groups. An all-encompassing ideology can, when exhibited by a group or individual, have destructive effects on society.
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- Written by: Alan Cohen
I saw a documentary that introduced Jawara women who wear the bones of their dead husbands around their necks. In some cases, the widow totes the man’s skull. In our culture many of us also wear the skulls, bones, or remnants of dead husbands, lovers, family members, business partners, or friends around our necks—not physically, but energetically. We hang past memories, resentments, and upsets...
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- Written by: AJ Earley
Children are not as adept as adults at understanding complex emotions like stress, and aren’t likely to be able to tell you when they have too much on their plate. A child who is stressed out isn’t likely to appear so. Rather, their anxiety is often portrayed through a series of signs, which can be physical, emotional, or behavioral.
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- Written by: Ari Berkowitz, University of Oklahoma
How does the architecture of our brain and neurons allow each of us to make individual behavioral choices? Scientists have long used the metaphor of government to explain how they think nervous systems are organized for decision-making.
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- Written by: Noelle Sterne, Ph.D.
A friend told of a family situation that you may relate to. For many years, she’d been estranged from her sister, who now lived across the country. Growing up, they’d been very close, and my friend could hardly recall why they’d stopped talking. Year followed year, and my friend could never bring herself to call.
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- Written by: Jude Bijou, M.A., M.F.T.
If you're waiting for a change and frustrated it's not happening, maybe it would be beneficial to give up all hope! Sounds strange? "Hope" is a double-edged word. Hope in its best sense is something that keeps you going in difficult times. But "hope" can also be...
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- Written by: Inês Varela-Silva, Loughborough University
I doubt I shall ever see blue in the same way again, since blue paint on my skin was the only thing covering my nakedness. I was among the 3,200 people – strangers to one another when it all began
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- Written by: Ora Nadrich
We all want to be loved. But if we've experienced a love loss in the past, it can be hard to get over that fear. You can spend your whole life trying to avoid being in a similar situation, so you don't have to feel vulnerable that way again. Or, you can...
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- Written by: Jill Rosen, Johns Hopkins University
Scientists have for the first time watched the human brain making a purely voluntary decision to act. Unlike in brain imaging studies where researchers watch as people respond to cues or commands, Johns Hopkins researchers found a way to observe people’s brain activity as they made choices entirely on their own.
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- Written by: Luke Smillie, University of Melbourne and Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne
It is generally thought that science helps good ideas triumph over bad. The weight of evidence eventually pushes false claims aside.
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- Written by: Adrian R. Camilleri, RMIT University
People are notoriously overconfident. Regardless of the context - sports, finance, politics - people believe that their judgements and decisions are better than they really are.
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- Written by: David Ian Cowan
Thousands of case studies proved beyond any reasonable doubt that cancer can be cured by a change in one’s thinking! In the patients who were able to resolve the conflict through recognizing their innocence and mistaken self-blame and guilt, not only did the pattern in the scan resolve itself (disappear), but so did the cancer.
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- Written by: Cara Bradley
The notion that our minds produce thoughts automatically was a breakthrough insight for me. For years, I battled to still my mind, to stop thinking. Once I embraced the perspective that my thoughts are another sense, my relationship with thinking changed.
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- Written by: Unger Baillie, University of Pennsylvania
As social species, the social networks of lizards, hyenas, and dolphins influence every pivotal aspect of their lives: finding a mate, reproducing, getting sick, or surviving.
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- Written by: InnerSelf Staff
When rats are given an anti-anxiety medication they become less empathetic and are less likely to help free companions that are trapped.
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- Written by: Cody DeHaan, University of Rochester
The tragic mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando has sparked renewed interest in the causes of homophobia.
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- Written by: Therèse Tappouni
It’s necessary to be conscious of the way we store events in the body and how they create layers of similar emotions—grief with grief, joy with joy, anger with anger, and love with love. These layers are like the strata in rocks, building great cliffs of emotions that are touched each time another similar emotion is experienced.
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- Written by: Olivia Remes, University of Cambridge
Anxiety disorders – defined by excessive fear, restlessness, and muscle tension – are debilitating, disabling, and can increase the risk for depression and suicide.
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- Written by: Jude Bijou, M.A., M.F.T.
Funky moods obscure our experience for hours, days, weeks, or even longer. Left unattended, they shape our personalities and determine the quality of our lives. We think that we have no control over our moods but the truth is quite the contrary.
