Why Do We Keep Doing What We Know Is Bad for Us?
Why do we keep doing things we know aren't good for us? The answer may have less to do with weakness and more to do with habit, emotional soothing, and conditioning....

Making choices that you probably otherwise wouldn’t make were you alone – probably happens more often than you think in a wide variety of settings...

According to TheNew Republic magazine in June this year: ‘You will have to make sacrifices to save the planet’, while the US newspaper Metro asks: ‘What would you give up to end climate change?’

Employers’ small gestures of kindness can have big impacts on employees’ health and work performance, researchers report.

Everyone is subject to the release of stress hormones and the resulting feelings of high arousal or alarm. Some of us have neural programming that activates automatically and calms us. We go from alarm to interest or curiosity about what the amygdala is reacting to. Those of us who don’t have that software stay alarmed until the stress hormones burn off.

When we practise Mindfulness, we get to know ourselves better; and in particular we get to know more about our habitual patterns of thought and behaviour. It is a bit like turning a dimmer switch up in a room. In a similar way, Mindfulness increases our inner awareness and this starts to reveal more and more of what is in the room of our mind.

Of course, your ancestors can and do leave behavioral and attitudinal legacies that help you actualize your innate potentials. Mingled with ancestral legacies we discover blessings as well as curses. You can take a major step toward maturing when you can see and accept both the good and the bad in other...

Welcome to the world of the Imposter Syndrome. It is a secret world, inhabited by successful people from all walks of life who have one thing in common – they believe that they are not really good enough. They might be men or women, young or old. And imposter beliefs are not always related to work; I have met ‘imposters’ who feel they are not good enough parents, husbands, wives, friends or even not good enough human beings.

When we’re one part of a group meant to decide someone else’s punishment, our peers can sway us to punish more often than we would if deciding alone, a new study finds.

Buddhism explains the profound truths of life. But it also provides an immensely practical method for overcoming obstacles and transforming oneself. It can be applied to every area of your existence: family, work, relationships, health. And it can be applied by anyone. Each and every human being contains the inherent capacity to be a Buddha

Though it’s not easy, it is possible to change the poor sleep habits of children in preschool and elementary school, experts say.

I have a policy: On Sundays, I don't allow myself to come within five hundred yards of the computer; the phone goes on voice mail; and the cell phone gets to snooze in my purse all day. My friends know how I am about Sundays, and they respect my need for solitude. This soothing Sunday routine means a lot to me...

This full moon conjunct Neptune and Black Moon Lilith invites us into deep contemplation of who we are aside from the details of our lives. Because an unnerving dissolution of self may occur when we surrender those things that define us, it’s an act of spiritual courage to embrace what remains when we do.

In today's changing times, we are looking for a better way to be ourselves, not someone we were raised to be. In this time of intense self-discovery, all others serve as our mirrors.

None of us will ever forget where we were on 9/11, or how we learned about the attacks on our country. Our hearts, and our innocence, were shattered on that awful day.

If you’re a parent of a preschooler, you might be wondering how you can help set your child up for success once they enter kindergarten.

Many religions urge their adherents to be charitable toward those in need.

I teach, speak, and write about joy, peace, power, ease, and grace because I am learning to bring them more fully into my own life, not because I have mastered them. And to the degree that I have been able to make them a reality in my life, part of my life's work is helping others make...

Fear of dying – or death anxiety – is often considered to be one of the most common fears. Interestingly though, neither of the two widely used diagnostic psychiatric manuals, DSM-5 or ICD-10, has a specific listing for death anxiety.

Everyone experiences down days at times. Feeling flat is a normal reaction to something upsetting happening, tiredness or just being stuck in a rut.

In the film Being John Malkovich, an unhappy guy named Craig discovers a portal into movie star John Malkovich's mind, through which he can live vicariously for fifteen minutes. Soon there is a long line of people paying $200 to enter the portal and be someone else.

Practiced daily, this basic activation exercise enables you to gradually shift the center of your being to your heart. The ideal is to start your day with it, but you can do it at any other time, including just before going to sleep.