“Loneliness … is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.” Thomas Moore Loneliness is defined as “the quality or state of being alone including isolation, singleness and solitude.” Loneliness is a discrepancy between one’s desired and achieved levels of social interaction, while solitude is simply the lack of contact with people. Loneliness is a […]
The Myth of Happiness
As many of us are now experiencing the often ‘happier’ days of spring perhaps it is an opportune time to question the concept of happiness and in ‘feeling good.’ Jungian author James Hollis suggested that, “Feeling good may be a very poor measure of the worth of one’s life.” He furthered queried, “Think of the […]
The Stress-Disease Connection
Although most physicians agree that emotions play a role in the aggravation of existing physical disorders, it is not widely accepted that emotions actually cause the physical disorder. An entire field of science called psychoneuroimmunology studies the effects of emotions on the nervous and immunological systems functions. Our bodies get diseased when stressful feelings are […]
Feelings do matter
For the most part, we live in an emotionally illiterate society and are not practiced in expressing and receiving feelings. We often feel embarrassed or vulnerable when talking about certain feelings. We silence ourselves so we might not hurt someone about how we feel. Ironically, we end up hurting our bodies and souls when we […]
The Role of Humour
Often listed as a quality we appreciate in others, humour has a double-edged effect. On one hand, humour, defined as the noticing of the amusing or ironic truth of a situation, results in laughter which has psychological, emotional and physiological benefits. Laugher stimulates chemical changes in the brain that help buffer our bodies against the […]
Facing the Dark Lord of Winter
As the number of grey skies noticeable outnumber the sunny days, we often hear about ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’ or SAD. Symptoms of SAD may consist of difficulty waking up in the morning, tendency to oversleep and over eat (especially carbohydrates), lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, and withdrawal from friends, family and social activities. All these […]
