Play is how we learn, develop, explore, and understand as children. As adults, it seems the pull toward productivity and responsibility can quickly take over. However, as adults, our brains and bodies still need the creativity and recuperation that play provides.

Our words have power. Words can carry love and comfort, joy, and peace; however, they can also carry hurt and perpetuate stigma. Stigmatizing language can be overtly recognizable but, more commonly, it is covert and subtle. What can we do to minimize our own stigmatizing language?

Structure and routine help us stay organized and on task and allow us to be successful in our endeavors. Additionally, freedom, flow, and creativity are necessary parts of our lives. Structure and flow don’t have to be in conflict; each can coexist to create a healthy balance in life.

When you have big goals and dreams that are taking time to grow and cultivate, it can be easy to get down. Maybe you’re working toward a growing business, preparing to move across the county, or want to make a major life change. In order to remain focused on and working toward your big plans, try these strategies.

Knowing how to make a change and actually making that change are two very different things. Often what stands in the way is avoidance. Avoidance differs from procrastination in that avoidance is typically tied to a mental/emotional block that persists, while procrastination is more short-term and situational.

What does finding balance really mean? Is it really possible for two opposing views to be true simultaneously? How can we find a middle ground? One tool and practice to utilize is living in the gray area and not getting stuck in black and white thinking patterns.

How wonderful that the messages we hear online, from friends, and from (healthy) workplaces now include the importance of self-care. However, the notion of self-care has turned into its own sort of trend…to the point that it has become an excuse for unhealthy behaviors.

Our relationship to our bodies is simultaneously the most intimate, connected, informed relationship and the most volatile, time-consuming, and fragile one. Our bodies are wise. They house intuition and cues; they know.

Making good choices, improving decision-making, avoiding indecision… Sometimes these tasks come easily and without much issue. At other times and, likely depending on the context, these tasks can become overwhelming, unbearable, or just annoying, often leading to avoidance and ambivalence.