In school, we are taught math, history, science, literature, and so on. This is all useful information but when it comes to knowing more about ourselves, our education system is lacking. We are not taught about our emotions. Popular culture and the classical view of emotions would have you believe that emotional intelligence is about […]
Get Smart: Emotional Intelligence Read More »
Life is an Art Gallery : How Slow Looking Can Improve Your Life and Relationships Nothing can make a person feel dense and inferior like a room full of fine art. It’s a silent source of shame for many. Let’s set the scene. You’re in an art gallery. To your left, a man with a
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As humans, we feel things deeply. It sometimes seems as if our emotions take on a life of their own. We can experience both immense joy and crushing sadness in a matter of minutes. Typically, we think of emotions as innate and universal expressions, and that we are born with the ability to feel these various emotions. New research in neuroscience is challenging this classical view of emotion. We are now learning that emotions may be psychologically constructed rather than biologically present.
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Something stuns you. The last breath you took is held prisoner in your chest. Concerns you’ve grown accustomed to fade like shadows at dusk, and you stare down the barrel of truths you’ve never seen before. You are suspended in this moment like a dust particle in a beam of light: void of opinion, untethered from knowledge.
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“Personality” is a common term that gets thrown around in everyday life. You might hear your roommate say “I am a big procrastinator. My mom says it’s just a part of my personality.” Your best friend might tell you, “I love how much of an outgoing personality you have.” As a society, we seem to
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Our bodies are made to survive. We have a variety of internal processes that help us with this as well. Our polyvagal nervous system transitions us from feeling safe and secure to our fight/flight response and potentially to our immobilization phase in the event of a stressor. Our body has mechanisms in place to help
All that Glimmers is Gold Read More »
Nothing is more peculiar and abhorrent than existing with the knowledge of your imminent demise. I can’t count the times I’ve wished I was a bug or a plant, completely oblivious to my upcoming appointment with death. At times, I wished I’d never been born at all.
Overcoming the Crisis of Existence: A Guide to Existential Depression Read More »
Psychologists have gone to wits end to describe what motivates people. This can be seen in the drive theories of Freud and the psychoanalysts, the operant conditioning of Skinner in behavioral psychology, and the work on self-determination theory by social psychologists Deci and Ryan, to name a few. So what do identity theorists have to say about what motivates us in life? In the Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, Vivian Vignoles reveals research about how your identity has a major influence on your thoughts, beliefs, and actions. In this post I will give a brief background on identity from a developmental perspective, explain the key points of Vignoles’ research, and then ground it in some real-world examples to show why identity motivations should matter to all of us.
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Feeling like you have impostor syndrome? This post explains what it’s about and why we want to be seen, through Identity Theory. Ditch the Ego (and Freud) Did Freud “discover the ego” or did he create it? When he and his associates began psychoanalysis in the late 1800’s, they were trying to discover the hidden
Feeling Imposter Syndrome? It’s all about Identity. Read More »
