Archive for November, 2007

Punishing and sabotaging ourselves

Princess Diana is among many people who have self-harmed. She admitted cutting her arms and legs, explaining, “You have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help.” [From the page Cutting.]
Physical self-harm is a complex experience, not simply explained as just a cry for help. [...]

Susan Smalley: ADHD is beneficial to humanity

Susan L. Smalley, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, and founder of the Mindful Awareness Research Center.
In her article Living And Loving ADHD, she writes about her husband Kevin Wall who, along with Al Gore, just won an Environmental Media Award for the creation of Live Earth.
She [...]

Living more fully without so much inner static

“Mindful Awareness is the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences. Mindful Awareness has scientific support as a means to reduce stress, improve attention, boost the immune system, reduce emotional reactivity, and promote a general sense of health and well-being.”
That statement is from the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) [...]

Stammering as an opportunity

Following her acclaimed role in The Devil Wears Prada, Emily Blunt developed her character of ‘Prudie’ in The Jane Austen Book Club. In an interview, Blunt describes her as a “very secretive, kind of geeky looking French teacher…
“It was challenging because I had to be very restrained. She was much closer to the person I [...]

The upside of our dysfunctions

“So many good things have happened to me because of how unhealthy I’ve been mentally.” Judd Apatow
The photo shows Apatow directing his wife, Leslie Mann, on the set of “Knocked Up,” which he also produced and wrote. Other credits include “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” and the acclaimed “Freaks and Geeks” [...]

Eric Maisel on emotional mastery

“Mindfulness includes minding your emotions. If you know it will rile you to re-read that curt email from that literary agent, delete it. What are you saving it for? Become someone who is able to mind her emotions…
“You get angry, you get envious, you get depressed. You are not a stone, nor do you want [...]

The power of subconscious thinking

Director Mike Nichols recognizes the value for creative expression of our unconscious depths.
“In making movies,” he said, “time is so short — because it is so expensive — that we tend to neglect the place from which the best ideas come, namely that part of ourselves that dreams.
“The unconscious is our best collaborator. I try [...]

Hiding Behind a Mask

Who we seem to be as a public persona may be a useful fiction, helping us fit in with other people, and be more accepted. But a mask may also compromise our authenticity.
Hale Dwoskin, CEO of Sedona Training Associates, thinks “Most of us live behind masks all the time based on the false assumption that [...]