In the throws of the #MeToo campaign, many people, especially women, have emerged and have started to reflect on situations when they felt invaded, intruded upon, where boundaries were violated and in many of these cases, the women are now reflecting on why, in many of these cases, they didn’t even say anything about it. I have personally been sexually harassed at multiple previous places of employment through my life and was overtly told I would lose my position if I spoke u

Have you ever noticed that what we remember about our past depends on our mood, our head space, our expectations, and the story we have about ourselves at that time (ie. whether we see ourselves as a victim, a survivor, an entrepreneur etc)? We have a selective recall bias that is impacted by all of the above factors. It is even influenced by who we are speaking with at the time and what we are talking about. This happens because each of those elements can prime our brain’s n

As many of you know I am an efficiency junkie! I want to find the things that have the biggest pay off for the least amount of effort. My gift to you today is sharing 3 of greatest determinants on our mental health … any one of these can be especially helpful when we are feeling stuck and down. They are also great for maintaining our wellbeing. So choose one to start today, or if you are really keen, try all 3 and see what happens! EXERCISE – do some! (ie. go for a walk, do c

This great TED talk focuses on how early life nurturing actually changes the expression of our genes, of our DNA. There are two layers to our genes, the older, harder to change layer, and the epigenetic layer, that is impacted by our life experiences and our choices. This means that who we choose to spend time with, how often we prioritize exercise, how we talk to ourselves and what we choose to focus our thoughts on (scary vs positive) actually changes how our body operates

Before I even open my eyes I am aware of the warmth of my blankets and the sweet bundle of fur pressed against the back of my legs. I breathe in; the silence is comforting. I pry my fur baby from his chosen spot to mine and nestle in for some morning snuggles, enjoying his familiar scent as I rest my cheek on top of his head. I savour these moments, these good feelings, mindful of a time when at first breath it was trepidation, rather than contentment that filled my lungs. Si

Carol Dweck introduced a concept called the Growth Mindset, a way of thinking, and talking to ourselves and others that promotes healthy and more positive outcomes. You might assume it is complicated, but it isn’t, something as adding yet to the end of something you can’t YET do, changes what parts of our brains stay engaged and which don’t. I am pretty sure we can all at least try something so simple, but in case you need more convincing, watch her 15 min talk about the Powe

Wherever it is you live, take the opportunity to explore and love it this holiday season! Here is some of what there is to love where we live in Halifax NS! Think of exploring your town as a tourist, be curious, have fun, adventure and find hidden gems right where you are. Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window

3 Simple Life Hacks to Living Your Values 1.Start before you feel like it 2.Watch your language 3.Don’t find time, MAKE time Start before you feel like it! Most of us wait until we feel like doing something BEFORE we do it. This is a problem. If we wait to do the things that will make us feel better until we are already feeling better, we won’t feel better at all!  Susan Jeffers wrote a book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, based almost entirely on this principal! 2. We

These questions come from just about everyone when we first meet, but especially when they haven’t had any “major  traumas” in their lives. It is as if they feel they don’t even deserve to be upset. They get even more upset, because they aren’t supposed to be. People will tell me about how their parents did their best and tried to motivate them and gave them opportunities, so what is their problem? Let’s look at the sneaky ways survival maps are created through this 15 min vi

When we are there, the air feels heavy, everything is a struggle and finding a silver lining is the last thing on our minds. There  are a few things that tend to be pretty high yield to get us unstuck that we all know about, like exercising– even when we don’t feel like it, eating well (healthy choices) and having a healthy sleep schedule (at least 6 continuous hrs of restful sleep/ night). There is another high yield choice that is less known, learning to be an OPTIMIST. OPT

Three simple but not easy questions can help you with this. Are you prepared to take the good and the bad? Are you willing to change the stories you have about yourself? Are you ready to risk failure and looking like a fool in order to find out who you are now? Let me explain… TAKING THE GOOD WITH THE BAD One of the biggest things that holds us back is when we have  mixed feelings towards others. It comes down to the fact that we don’t want to be mad at the people we care abo

For example would you spend your last dollar on a lottery ticket if you had never won the lottery, nor even known anyone who has? Probably not. Similarly, if my experience is that in groups of people I get rejected and excluded, that is what I will expect when faced with a group of people. It makes sense. Our past experiences help us understand the world we live in and so we can feel safe. We like to think we can predict how things will go and make decisions accordingly. Let’

I despise cold, so I was particularly looking forward to going in the dead of winter and we were really looking forward to the break. We arrived to find our “Island view” was a view of the hotels’ dumpsters. Literally. As some of you know, I do my best to practice what I preach, and if I matter, then we did not come to look at tropical hotel garbage! That is NOT what was advertised nor what we signed up for. So I politely went to the front desk, explained the situation and as

We usually learn to value ourselves from how valued we felt growing up. (See video about survival maps for more) It sets the stage for how we see ourselves and how we treat ourselves. It also impacts how we allow ourselves to be treated, and expect to be treated by others. (See last week’s post on Do you matter?) So let’s take a moment to look at our friends from the belief that  “I matter” instead of from whatever automatic lens we may have learned … 1. Who do you spend the

Have you ever wondered why it can be such a BIG issue? WORK (paid or not) provides us with: A sense of SAFETY (financial and physical), especially when it is paid work because without money we can’t have food or shelter. It allows us to maintain the standard of living we and our families are accustomed to. For many financial safety also means physical safety. Here in Canada we are fortunate to have good public access to health care. However, our health care system pays for th

Check out this 1 min video before you read on… (NOTE: it won’t be as effective if you skip ahead first) Have you noticed how often you are right about people? Some of that is because we are great at reading people, but sometimes it is also because the filter we have about others makes us NOTICE and INTERNALIZE all the times our beliefs are true and IGNORE and DISMISS all the times they are not. Just like in the video. This is part of why prejudices, stereotypes, racism and se

Also we will be completing our first 6 mo, run next month (last Awesome Videos of the Month for a while) and replacing it with different content. If there is particular content/ topics you would like to have in its’ place, let us know! Also please let us know if you prefer written or video formats. You can comment on Facebook, Twitter, or just send us an email! We look forward to hearing from you! Have a great weekend! Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new wind

Have you ever heard “Do as I say, not as I do.” Well, as a parent and as a professional I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t work! And, it is important. “Son, for the thousandth time, please put your dishes in the dishwasher and NOT on the counter! Did you even look to see if the dishwasher was full or not??” “Sorry, Dad,” my son said rather furtively, and he quickly got up and dealt with the offending cutlery, cup, and dishes. Does this situation sound remotely familiar to any