John

Physical Exercise and Nutrition

Sleep, water, food, and movement are the platform the rest of this work sits on. Exercise also rebuilds trust in your body’s signals, which…
How Our Brain Works

Your brain takes in your experience, matches it against everything you have lived through, and builds beliefs that shape how you feel and what…
It All Starts With Being Mindful

Mindfulness is not meditation, and it is not about achieving a quiet mind. It is the skill of knowing what is actually happening around…
Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness gets credited with almost everything. Here is what awareness actually delivers on its own, what needs the other three steps, and what the…
Reframing

Reframing is the skill of shifting a belief toward something more reasonable and better supported by evidence. It is not positive thinking, and the…
Affirmations

An affirmation only works if you believe it. Here is why repetition changes the brain, and how to build a ladder of statements small…
Mantras

A mantra is an affirmation used as the object of focus in meditation. It trains attention and works on a belief at the same…
Meditation Practices

Meditation is the exercise. Mindfulness is the skill. Here are the three methods we use, how to begin, and why a wandering mind is…
Visualizations

Visualizing lets you rehearse what is coming, draw on what has already worked, and loosen the certainty holding an unhelpful belief in place. Certainty…
Writing and Journaling

Writing gives us a dedicated space to untangle what we are thinking. Here are the core methods, including thought records, and why reaching one…
Counseling Yourself

Write out both sides of a conversation and let the friend in you talk to the one who is struggling. It gives you compassion…
Your Inner Child

Some beliefs we carry formed early and were never examined since. Speaking to your younger self is a compassion practice, and it does not…
Mirror Work and Exercises

Mirror work brings you face to face with your own internal dialogue, with nowhere to look away to. It is the most direct practice…
Gratitude

Gratitude is not about looking on the bright side. It works on your explanatory style, the habitual way you narrate why things happen, and…
What Causes Our Emotions?

Emotions are not random and they do not arrive from outside us. They come from what we believe is happening. Here is how that…
Emotions Trigger Actions / Re-actions

Every behavior we produce is aimed at feeling better or not feeling worse. Understanding that chain, from belief to emotion to action, is what…
Identify Negative Thinking

Our thinking goes off track in predictable ways. Here are the common patterns, grouped by what they do, and what actually works once you…
Muscle Tension Relaxation Meditation – 10 Minutes

Stress carries itself in the body, usually without our noticing. Scanning for tension and deliberately releasing it lets some of that stress go.
Muscle Tension Relaxation Meditation – 15 Minutes

Stress carries itself in the body, usually without our noticing. Scanning for tension and deliberately releasing it lets some of that stress go.
Muscle Tension Relaxation Meditation – 20 Minutes

Stress carries itself in the body, usually without our noticing. Scanning for tension and deliberately releasing it lets some of that stress go.