Blog for Better Living

Strategies to Help You Receive Feedback

By: Kamaljit "Sonya" Virdi, Ph.D. | May 19, 2023

Feedback is an important exchange that happens between friends, colleagues, relatives, and romantic partners. When successful, feedback is an opportunity to feel more connected and better understood by another person. Positive feedback can be reassuring because it highlights our contributions, underscores our strengths, and appreciates our thoughtfulness. However, constructive, or critical feedback is harder to […]

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Anxiety, Personal Improvement, Relationships, Stress

Mental Health Awareness Month

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | May 12, 2023

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! This month provides an opportunity to discuss the importance of mental health, break the stigma surrounding mental health concerns and to encourage anyone who struggles to seek help. The topic of mental health and mental health treatment is now part of the mainstream conversation, which is not surprising, since […]

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Anxiety, Depression, Grief, Personal Improvement, Relationships, Stress, Therapy, Trauma

Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

By: Kristen Lipari, Ph.D. | April 28, 2023

Sleep is essential to every process in the body. Sleep affects our physical, mental, and emotional functioning, immunity, and metabolism. Lack of sleep, or poor quality of sleep can leave us vulnerable to increased anxiety and mood symptoms. When we don’t sleep well, we feel fatigued the next day, which makes it difficult to attend […]

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Anxiety, Personal Improvement, Relationships, Sleep/Relaxation

From Burnout to Balance

By: Jen McWaters, Psy.D. | April 14, 2023

Practical Tips to Manage Stress and Boost Mental Resilience   Stress has a significant impact on our mental health and relationships and can lead to burnout and other serious health issues. As a working professional, I know how important it is to manage stress effectively. In this article, I will share practical tips to help […]

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Depression, Personal Improvement, Relationships, Stress

How to Apologize in Three Steps

By: Rochelle Perper, Ph.D. | April 7, 2023

Saying “I’m sorry” is an effective way to build trust in relationships and is important for emotional closeness. A good apology reduces stress, creates a new perspective, and gives us a chance to learn something new about ourselves and others. We are all susceptible to saying something unkind, lashing out in anger, or being careless […]

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Personal Improvement, Relationships, Stress

How to Get “Unstuck” from Anxiety

By: Natalie Rice-Thorp, Ph.D. | March 24, 2023

If you struggle with anxiety, you may notice that the harder you try to make it go away, the worse it becomes. If you wake up in the morning checking for signs of anxiety to determine if it will be a “good” or “bad” day, you may be caught in an “all or nothing” anxiety […]

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Anxiety, Personal Improvement, Relationships

Spoon Theory: What You Need to Know About Living With Chronic Illness

By: Michael Toohey, Psy.D. | March 10, 2023

Spoon theory isn’t a dissertation on how spoons work. It’s a metaphor for the amount of energy that a person has on any given day. The concept began in the disability community 20 years ago and has been popular ever since, especially with people who suffer from autoimmune and chronic illness, like lupus, fibromyalgia, or […]

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Personal Improvement, Relationships, Therapy

How to Renew Your New Year Resolutions

By: Niyatee Sukumaran, Ph.D. | February 17, 2023

It is that time of the year when many of us resolve to make changes in our lives. Inevitably, over the course of a few months, the enthusiasm and zeal to stick to our New Year’s resolutions starts to fade. Like many of us, I am not immune to this cycle, and I have often […]

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Holidays, Mindfulness, Personal Improvement

Feeling Stuck? This May Be Why

By: Lisa Card Strong, Ph.D. | February 10, 2023

We all have moments of feeling low when life isn’t going our way. Creating change is difficult when it takes most of your energy to just get through the day. Feeling stuck and down can sometimes be triggered by a relationship or work issue. Or, in some cases, there’s no big explanation. You may have […]

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Depression, Personal Improvement, Relationships, Therapy