journaling

Have you heard of forest bathing? It doesn’t involve a bath, and doesn’t necessarily need water. Instead, it involves nature, yourself, and time to breathe.

Travel is a beautiful mix of exhilarating and exhausting. Our curiosity guides us to faraway places, foreign lands, new relationships, rituals unknown, food we’ve never tasted, novelty experiences…you name it.

This is an article on non-medicinal ways to combat the symptoms of depression and anxiety.  As always, if you’re having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 (in the U.S.), or your local mental health hotline.

Sometimes, we need to step back and take a breather. There's nothing more unhealthy than forgetting you're alive. How could people forget they're alive, you ask?

The Four Immeasurables may seem like insurmountable idealism, but don’t be fooled by your own ego. There are four easy ways to cultivate and nurture compassion, loving-kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

It doesn’t take a trained psychologist to realize that past experiences often dictate how we handle situations in our present—but they don’t have to define how we handle them in our future. My father was an adulterer for many years, which not-at-all-surprisingly has caused feelings of anxiety and distrust in my current relationships.

Sound a little familiar?

In the midst of busy work schedules and obligations, we will inevitably run out of steam if we don’t take some much needed time for ourselves to decompress. Self-care practices act as a reboot and refresh button to our systems. Allowing ourselves to do something good for our mental and physical well-being is absolutely essential to keeping the gears turning smoothly.  

If you’re like most of the population, you don’t keep a journal. Despite journaling being a simple tool that can help sharpen your memory, boost your mood and ease anxiety, almost no one does it. It’s up there with walking and drinking enough water as one of the easiest ways to improve your health and well-being, and practice self-care.