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Am I an Emotional Vampire? How Do I Know?

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

By Judith Orloff

We’ve all got a smidgen of vampire in us, especially when we’re stressed. So, cut yourself a break. It’s admirable to admit, “I think I’m emotionally draining people. What can I do?” Can’t be free without such honesty. Then you can change. These are some common indications that you’re becoming a drainer.

People avoid you or glaze over during a conversation
  You’re self-obsessed
  You’re often negative
  You gossip or bad-mouth people
  You’re critical, controlling
  You’re in an emotional black hole, but won’t get help–this strains relationships and won’t free you

The solution is always to own up to where you’re emotionally stuck and change the related behavior. For instance, one patient in computer graphics kept hammering his wife with a poor-me attitude about how he always got stuck with boring projects at work. Instead of trying to improve the situation, he just kvetched. She started dreading those conversations, diplomatically mentioned it to him. This motivated my patient to address the issue with his supervisor, which got him more stimulating assignments. Similarly, whenever I slip into vampire mode, I try to examine and alter my behavior or else discuss the particulars with a friend or a therapist so I can change. Don’t hesitate to seek assistance when you’re stumped. Also, review the types of emotional vampires listed below to make sure you’re not one of them or that you don’t have one in your life. Read More→

Categories : Relationships
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The Coat Button Cure

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

By Hannah Keeley

I was once a prisoner of perfection. If I couldn’t mop the entire kitchen floor perfectly, I wouldn’t do it at all. If I couldn’t declutter my entire closet, I wouldn’t clear out anything. See, here’s the deal with perfection. Some people may look at a cluttered, messy home and think, ‘well, this person is definitely NOT a perfectionist.’ But, that’s not the way it works. The perfectionism is exactly WHY the home is so messy. A mom doesn’t have enough uninterrupted time to do projects to a perfect standard. And for perfectionists, “good enough” just won’t cut it. It’s got to be perfect.

Well, I escaped my prison. And I’m going to help you do the same.

A person once told me, “You don’t notice much on a running horse.” Now, at the time, I just didn’t get it. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my perfect standards were just for my benefit, and no one else’s. No one notices if you vacuum under the furniture. No one notices the dirt around the edges of the bathroom. No one even notices the dust on the windowsills. You are the only one who really cares about the details.

I remember one time when I just started having kids, we wanted to invite some friends over, but I canceled the plans because I had not cleaned the bathrooms. Can you believe that? I gave up hours of fun and fellowship with people I love and enjoy because of a dirty bathroom!!

Then I started becoming a racehorse. No one notices the color of the saddle or if it’s genuine leather. No one knows if the mane is conditioned or has little ribbons braided into it. All they are focusing on is the race.

Here’s the deal–are you going to live your life in the box at the starting gate or are you going to break out and start running the race that has been set before you? Read More→

Categories : Personal Growth
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Hugs Raise Vibration

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

By Debbie Z. Lattuga

People are always asking me what they can do to raise their vibration. We all know that to be a master manifester requires a high level of vibration. But so many people get stuck every day with the ‘daily grind’.

And we all know the recommendations introduced in The Secret. Do your visualizations, make vision boards, meditate and generally try to feel good in every moment.

Hugging Raises Your Vibration

The short cut to raising your vibration is hugging. According to a study done by the University of Kansas, hugging:

Feels good dispels loneliness helps us overcome fears opens doors to feelings helps build self-esteem fosters altruism curbs your appetite eases tension helps fight insomnia affirms our physical being increases hemoglobin blood counts offers a healthy, safe alternative to alcohol and drugs imparts feelings of belonging effects keeps on working, even once the hug is over helps relieve physical pain heals.

I’ve highlighted a couple of things I think are really significant.

Hugging Eases Tension

Hugging just plain feels good. Studies show that hugging lowers blood pressure. Read More→

Categories : Relationships
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By Willie Horton

Our world, our entire universe and, indeed, your own daily life operates like a big energy-exchange machine. Ground-breaking discoveries in the field of quantum physics has begun to confirm just how this energy actually works. But, for starters, we already know that everything is made up of energy. Superstring theory, which the CERN teams working on experiments with the Large Haydron Collider will, in time, be confirmed experimentally, states that the most basic components of everything in the universe are superstrings of energy. You’ve got trillions of superstrings of energy that combine into particles, molecules and cells which, all together, add up to what manifests as the physical you. To quote the physicist Brian Greene, your superstrings are like violin strings. When they are all in tune, your life is like a beautiful symphony. But how often does that happen? How often do you feel completely in flow, that all is well, that you’re completely content and that all is simply falling into place for you? Isn’t it more often the case that some of your strings are out of tune and your daily life sounds more like a second-rate school brass band!

The funny thing is that, even though most people have no idea of superstring theory or, indeed, that we are simply comprised of energy, the ordinary man-in-the-stress (or, obviously, woman!) even uses common expressions that describe the physical results of our superstrings being ‘out of tune’. Strangely enough, these everyday expressions generally refer to the energy centres in our body which ancient mysticism describes as the primary or key energy centres, known as chakras. Let me explain what I’m talking about by way of example. Read More→

Categories : Spirituality
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Sexy Glass

Monday, July 19th, 2010

By Ungenita Prevost

You’ve heard of looking at life through rose colored glasses. Well this concept has many different definitions. But the most common is having an attitude that things are better than they really are. Okay so if what you focus on materializes it would behoove you to do that. Glasses are worn to see correctly but what if you wore glasses to see your life exactly the way you want it.

When you think of glass, you probably think of eyeglasses, the cola loved by millions was once stored in a sexy glass bottle or your favorite nutritional beverage might be stored in a glass bottle. Glass is optically transparent & so are you. You have the ability to get crystal clear & design a fabulous future when you use your imagination. Read More→

Categories : Personal Growth
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