Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Have you ever had an idea, brought it to fruition, and during its infancy you discovered that your idea was bigger than you knew? International We Are Not Broken Day began in 2019, so is still fairly new, as is the organization of the same name. The founder, Texan Nochola Cotto, intended it to be a day for women who’ve been touched by any sort of trauma to be heard and helped. The “we are not broken” part has resonated with so many people that observance of the day has spread to anyone who’s suffered any kind of trauma.

Amputees
PTSD sufferers
People with depression
Victims of violent crimes
People with diminished mental abilities
People who are “different” in any way

Just being outside of what humanity at large considers “normal” subjects people to all sorts of unintentional, and sometimes intentional, abuse. Attitudes about people with disabilities, whether mental, psychological or physical, can be quite harsh, and human beings can often let those harsh words out of their mouths. E...

Today, let’s celebrate peculiar people. It’s officially Peculiar People Day, though no one knows how this one got started or why. It seems to be a nod to a group of faith healers formed by Englishman John Banyard, “Peculiar People,” in 1838. Or maybe not – the two events simply share the words “peculiar” and “people.” The peculiar and slightly murky beginnings of this day make it peculiar enough to celebrate, though you know I’m going to dig a bit deeper for you, right?

While most of the world’s institutions, including family units, religion, schools, and governments work to enforce conformity and societal norms, it feels a bit rebellious to celebrate peculiar people. First, just who are these people we’re celebrating today? People like:

Albert Einstein.

Frida Kahlo.

The first woman to experiment with blue and purple dye in her hair.

Mark Zuckerberg.

Nikola Tesla.

That Chinese man who wore 140 pounds of bees as head and torso covering in 2014.

Leonardo da Vinci.

Irène Joliot-C...

Welcome to the first “official” workday of the new year. Around half of Americans make resolutions to start a new year, and of those, fewer than 10% will follow through and succeed at their newfound resolve. Of the other 90+ percent, most will quit this week. This.Week. Ouch!

Before you get all bummed out about the looming mass failure, let’s step back a bit and examine why the failure rate is so high. There’s interesting brain science involved, and I’ll make sure you’ll understand it perfectly.

The brain loves patterns. Humans can learn as fast and as much as we do because brains look for patterns, connect the dots, and voila! A new pattern is formed around the new information. That’s where language skills come from, math skills, driving skills…all the skills start out as a basic pattern the brain forms. If you’ve ever driven somewhere and realized that you don’t really remember driving because you were preoccupied with something else, congratulations. Your brain is very good at run...

The week between Christmas and the New Year celebrations is usually a quiet one. Many people are on vacation, and those who are working this week feel like it’s some of their most productive time. Why? Because there are far fewer interruptions, meaning they feel they can get more done than normal.

Since the 1990’s, the major causes of interruptions at work are emails, messaging apps and phone calls.  Research conducted by Gloria Mark and her team at the University of California Irvine discovered something surprising – tasks which were interrupted were ultimately completed in less time with no difference in quality versus the same tasks when performed with no interruptions. Why the need for No Interruptions Day this Friday, then?

Because the stress, frustration level, time pressure and effort involved skyrocketed in the interrupted group. The level of workplace satisfaction was much higher in the uninterrupted group.

This is what mental wellbeing is all about – finding the small thin...

Today marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere, meaning it’s the beginning of astronomical winter north of the equator and astronomical summer to the south. As far back as 12,000 years ago, people have noted the change and even built monuments to track and celebrate the heavenly event. Stonehenge, anyone? It’s oriented to sunset on the winter solstice, marking the beginning of the longest night of the year.

Different cultures around the world created celebrations around the December solstice, with most of them centered around family, food, light, fire and a positive outlook for the coming season. Those all sound like great ways to celebrate, don’t they? Whatever tradition you embrace, may your life be filled with the optimism of your celebration. And if you need a little boost to find that optimism, the Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bite podcast is here for you!

Want a warmer love this winter? There’s a Tiny Bite...

Are you a fan of something? Chances are, you’re a fan of a lot of things – maybe your college sports team, a sport you play, a certain musician or type of music – most of us are fans of a lot of things.

When you’re a fan, it means you’re focused on something in a positive way – appreciating it, hoping good things happen to it and for it, and finding ways to incorporate the object of your fan-dom into your life more often.

So as you make the list of the things you’re a fan of, do this – add your name to that list. Become your own fan – appreciate yourself, root for yourself, and find ways to celebrate yourself more often in your daily life.

When you become your biggest fan, what you’re actually doing is paving the way for a happier, more successful life. I dare you – be a fan of yourself!

Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"

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Do you know someone who doesn’t like chocolate? Most of us do – most of us, and not all of us. To a small percentage of people, chocolate tastes bitter and nasty and they avoid it. The rest of us make up for them, though - the average adult eats their weight in chocolate each decade of their life.

I might be a little ahead of the curve on that one – how about you?

As with most indulgences, there are reasons to enjoy chocolate, and reasons it might need to be avoided. Chocolate can help your brain focus, can have benefits where aging and heart health are concerned, and when we eat it, the part of our brain associated with falling in love is stimulated. No wonder chocolate can be so addictive!

Want some scientific reasons to indulge in chocolate? Cocoa is high in polyphenols and flavanols, antioxidants that help lower inflammation in the body. There are studies that show that blood flow is improved, blood pressure is lowered, heart disease is less common and the chance of having a str...

Wellbeing isn’t about your physical body, it’s about your emotional state. Wellness is physical, and often what ails you isn’t physical at all.

Down in the dumps … bored … melancholy … moody… heavy hearted – those are normal human ways to feel. We don’t celebrate them and we don’t seek them out, and sometimes we find ourselves in the grips of a lack of wellbeing.

When that happens, try this – step away from any screen you might be interacting with and go outside. Seriously…set the phone down and walk away from even that screen.

Spend 10 minutes outside. Walk if you want to, run if the spirit moves you, or just sit on a bench or a rock or a tree stump. Spend ten minutes outside and let the magic of having no roof over your head soak into you. Spend ten minutes doing nothing and let the stress seep out of you. Don’t fret about whatever was bothering you – turn those thoughts off if they try to intrude on your outdoor time.

When you’re ready, go back to what you were doing before with...

Mac McAnally and Jimmy Buffett wrote a song called "Changing Channels.” It’s a song that speaks to the desire to stay in one place even as the world changes around you, and plays with the word “channels” as life events and also as waterways to new destinations.

What if you could view the changes that happen in your life as simply changing channels?

Can you see the end of a relationship as just a change of channels? Can you see the need to move to a new place of employment, or maybe even start your own business, as a new channel in your life?

When you can view your life as something you’re in charge of, so in charge that you can choose to change channels whenever you please, then you remove most of the sources of stress in your life. You are in control, and you operate as if you’re the captain of your own ship, choosing your channel as you navigate your own life.

Mac and Jimmy would be proud of you!

Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"

 #vete...

Life handed me lemons recently. Really disappointing, really expensive lemons.

Has that ever happened to you?

Something you’d planned didn’t work out, or something you’ve worked hard to achieve didn’t happen? It feels awful, doesn’t it?

Not gonna lie, the day my lemons showed up wasn’t my most productive day, by a long shot. A lot of people will tell you to dig deep, tough it out, fake it ‘til you make it, and I’m here to tell you it’s OK to feel the disappointment. It’s ok to want what you want and to not be happy when it doesn’t happen.

We’re human and we have a full range of emotions for a reason. Mourn the loss of your dreams and plans and remind yourself that often when something feels like it didn’t work out, it really did. For reasons we may not know until later, our dream didn’t fit right now so it didn’t happen. That doesn’t mean it never will, just that it might take a bit longer.

Slowly add sugar to the lemons as you think of ways to sooth your sadness, just like you’d ...