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We get it—life is stressful. Calm down in the time it takes to scroll through your Instagram feed.

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What are the benefits of understanding my strengths?​

A strength is something we perform well at, is energising and we do often - in summary, it's our authentic self at our best. When we put our strengths to work, we are happier, more confident, and more able to achieve our goals. We feel motivated to do great work and become engaged and productive individuals, teams, and organisations. When we don't know what our strengths are, we waste valuable time on things that drain us.​

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What are your Strengths? | Strengths Profile

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Discover your areas of Strengths with Strengths Profile - a powerful tool that helps you identify and develop your strengths.

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Search for online resources and information about mental health services delivered online, by telephone and face-to-face.

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In today's day and age, self-love is so commonly preached, yet so rare. Loving oneself is an extremely difficult task and it was a task that I had to learn how to master. My dreams to become a model and my high self-image was ruined by a comment made in innocence that made me start to loathe myself.

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What is work-life balance?

In short, work-life balance is the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one's career and the demands of one's personal life. Many people seek work-life balance, but it's not always easy to achieve. Some of the common reasons that lead to a poor work-life balance include:

Increased responsibilities at work

Working longer hours

Increased responsibilities at home

Having children

It's important to work toward reaching and maintaining a healthy equilibrium between your personal and professional life. A good work-life balance, said Chris Chancey, career expert and CEO of Amplio Recruiting, has numerous positive effects, including stress reduction, a lower risk of burnout and a greater sense of well-being. This benefits both employees and employers.

"Employers who are committed to providing environments that support work-life balance for their employees can save on costs, experience fewer cases of absenteeism, and enjoy a more loyal and productive workforce," said Chancey. Employers that offer options such as telecommuting or flexible work schedules can help employees have a better work-life balance.

How can you improve work-life balance?

Improving your work-life balance means making an effort to find the best way to spend your time so you thrive at the office and at home.

When creating a schedule that works for you, think about the best way to achieve balance at work and in your personal life. Chancey said that work-life balance is less about dividing the hours in your day evenly between work and personal life and more about having the flexibility to get things done in your professional life while still having time and energy to enjoy your personal life. There may be some days where you work longer hours so you have time later in the week to enjoy other activities.

Here are eight tips for creating a better work-life balance.

1. Accept that there is no 'perfect' work-life balance.

When you hear "work-life balance," you probably imagine having an extremely productive day at work, and leaving early to spend the other half of the day with friends and family. While this may seem ideal, it is not always possible.

Don't strive for the perfect schedule; strive for a realistic one. Some days, you might focus more on work, while other days you might have more time and energy to pursue your hobbies or spend time with your loved ones. Balance is achieved over time, not each day.

"It is important to remain fluid and constantly assess where you are [versus] your goals and priorities," said Heather Monahan, bestselling author and founder of the career mentoring group Boss In Heels. "At times, your children may need you, and other times, you may need to travel for work, but allowing yourself to remain open to redirecting and assessing your needs on any day is key in finding balance."

2. Find a job that you love.

Although work is an expected societal norm, your career shouldn't be miserable. If you hate what you do, you aren't going to be happy, plain and simple. You don't need to love every aspect of your job, but it needs to be exciting enough that you don't dread getting out of bed every morning.

Monahan recommended finding a job that you are so passionate about you would do it for free. "If your job is draining you and you are finding it difficult to do the things you love outside of work, something is wrong," said Monahan. "You may be working in a toxic environment, for a toxic person, or doing a job that you truly don't love. If this is the case, it is time to find a new job."

3. Prioritize your health.

Your overall physical, emotional and mental health should be your main concern. If you struggle with anxiety or depression and think therapy would benefit you, fit those sessions into your schedule, even if you have to leave work early or ditch your evening spin class. If you are battling a chronic illness, don't be afraid to call in sick on rough days. Overworking yourself prevents you from getting better, possibly causing you to take more days off in the future.

"Prioritizing your health first and foremost will make you a better employee and person," said Monahan. "You will miss less work, and when you are there, you will be happier and more productive."

Prioritizing your health doesn't have to consist of radical or extreme activities. It can be as simple as daily meditation or exercise.

4. Don't be afraid to unplug.

Cutting ties with the outside world from time to time allows us to recover from weekly stress and gives us space for other thoughts and ideas to emerge. Unplugging can mean something simple like practicing transit meditation on your daily commute instead of checking work emails.

Monahan said when she used to travel with her boss for work, she'd look over to find him reading a novel while she would be doing something work-related.

"I didn't understand at the time that he was giving himself a break and decompressing while I was leading myself to a potential burnout," said Monahan.

Now, Monahan practices the same tactics. She reiterated that taking a break to unwind is critical to success and will help you feel more energized and productive when you're on the clock.

5. Take a vacation.

Sometimes, truly unplugging means taking vacation time and shutting off work completely for a while. Whether your vacation consists of a one-day staycation or a two-week trip to Bali, it's important to take time off to physically and mentally recharge.

According to a State of American Vacation study conducted by the U.S. Travel Association, 55 percent of employees reported having unused vacation days left over at the end of the year. Employees are often worried that taking time off will disrupt the workflow, and they will be met with a backlog of work when they return. This fear should not restrict you from taking a much-needed break.

"The truth is, there is no nobility in not taking well-deserved time away from work; the benefits of taking a day off far outweigh the downsides," said Chancey. "With proper planning, you can take time away without worrying about burdening your colleagues or contending with a huge workload when you return."

6. Make time for yourself and your loved ones.

While your job is important, it shouldn't be your entire life. You were an individual before taking this position, and you should prioritize the activities or hobbies that make you happy. Chancey said that achieving work-life balance requires deliberate action.

"If you do not firmly plan for personal time, you will never have time to do other things outside of work," said Chancey. "No matter how hectic your schedule might be, you ultimately have control of your time and life."

When planning time with your loved ones, create a calendar for romantic and family dates. It may seem weird to plan one-on-one time with someone you live with, but it will ensure that you spend quality time with them without work-life conflict. Just because work keeps you busy doesn't mean you should neglect personal relationships.

"Realize that no one at your company is going to love you or appreciate you the way your loved ones do," said Monahan. "Also [remember] that everyone is replaceable at work, and no matter how important you think your job is, the company will not miss a beat tomorrow if you are gone."

7. Set boundaries and work hours.

Set boundaries for yourself and your colleagues to avoid burnout. When you leave the office, avoid thinking about upcoming projects or answering company emails. Consider having a separate computer or phone for work so you can shut it off when you clock out. If that isn't possible, use separate browsers, emails or filters for your work and personal platforms.

Additionally, Chancey recommended setting specific work hours. "Whether you work away from home or at home, it is important to determine when you will work and when you will stop working; otherwise, you might find yourself answering work-related emails late at night, during vacations or on weekends off," said Chancey.

Chancey advised notifying team members and your manager about boundaries beyond which you cannot be accessible because you are engaged in personal activities. This will help to ensure that they understand and respect your workplace limits and that they don't create unrealistic expectations.

8. Set goals and priorities (and stick to them).

Set achievable goals by implementing time-management strategies, analyzing your to-do list and cutting out tasks that have little value.

Pay attention to when your most productive work time is, and block that time off for your most important work-related activities. Avoid checking your emails and phone every few minutes, as those are major time-wasting tasks that derail your attention and productivity. Structuring your day can increase productivity at work, which can result in more free time to relax outside of work.

How does a flexible workplace help you achieve work-life balance?

Those who do maintain a successful balance between their professional and personal lives often point to their flexible work arrangements. Recent research found that over the past several years, many employers have allowed workers greater flexibility both with their schedule and where they work, a trend that has increased following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is clear that employers continue to struggle with fewer resources for benefits that incur a direct cost," said Ken Matos, global director of customer people science at Culture Amp. "However, they have made it a priority to grant employees access to a wider variety of benefits that fit their individual and family needs and that improve their health and well-being."

Flexibility can pay off for employers in the long run. "As we look ahead, it is clear that in order to remain competitive, employers must find ways to offer flexible work options if they want to attract and retain top talent," said Hank Jackson, former president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management.

"Work-life balance will mean different things to different people because, after all, we all have different life commitments," said Chancey. "In our always-on world, balance is a very personal thing, and only you can decide the lifestyle that suits you best."

The key is finding a flexible arrangement that works for your own individual needs. A FlexJobs study found that 87 percent of employees said that being given the option of working from home positively affected their work-life balance.

Beyond working remotely, other options such as flex time, mental health days, reduced hours or a compressed work schedule might be appropriate. Figure out what will best help and communicate your needs to your employer.

Why is work-life balance important?

The goal of a healthy work-life balance is to succeed at work and at the same time lead a fulfilling personal life. If an imbalance exists and too much of your time and energy is devoted to work, it will lead to negative consequences in almost every area of your life.

Here are some reasons why it is important to achieve a good work-life balance.

It impacts your mental health.

Stress in the workplace is unavoidable, but if you are dedicating too much time to work and don't have enough time to unwind, stress can become unmanageable, negatively affecting your mental health. And, if you are overwhelmed at work, you probably don't have enough time to deal with your responsibilities at home, which only exacerbates the problem.

A Mental Health America and FlexJobs study found that 76 percent of people said workplace stress negatively impacts their mental health, leading to challenges like depression and anxiety. But they found that having flexible work options, an indicator of good work-life balance, results in employees reporting better mental health. In fact, those who don't have flexibility were twice as likely to say that they have poor mental health.

It impacts your physical health.

Apart from impacting mental health, the stress caused by a work-life imbalance can also lead to a variety of physical health issues. A CDC report on stress at work notes that demanding jobs can result in a host of problems, such as cardiovascular disease as well as musculoskeletal and psychological disorders. The report also notes that there is some evidence that work-related stress might be a factor in ulcers, cancer and impaired immune function.

A healthy work-life balance not only reduces stress, which can help prevent disease, but it also allows you to prioritize your health by making time to exercise and eat a healthy diet.

It impacts your job performance.

A poor work-life balance has serious consequences for your health, but spending too much time and energy on work can actually negatively affect your work performance. Mind Share Partners' 2021 Mental Health at Work report noted that, due to stress and other work-related mental health issues, employees are only performing at around 72 percent of their full capacity. On top of that, they are missing around eight days of work a year because of mental health issues.

But, a 2021 study in the Kansas Journal of Medicine found that employer efforts to reduce stress and increase employee psychological well-being lead to higher performance. Since working overtime won't make you more productive, it's important to focus on how you work, not how many hours you spend. Working with your employer to find flexible arrangements that allow for a better work-life balance will help make you a more productive and more valuable employee.

It impacts your relationships.

It may seem obvious, but a work-life imbalance will cause problems outside of the workplace. A recent UKG survey noted that 71 percent of people said that work stress affects their home life and 62 percent said it negatively impacts their relationships. If you are stressed by work and spending too much time on it, you won't have the adequate time or emotional capacity to dedicate to your loved ones.

Finding a positive work-life balance will allow you to spend time with the people you care about. And not being overwhelmed by work means you'll be able to fully be present in the moment and enjoy that time with friends and family. The goal is to be more than just a good employee; it is to be a well-rounded individual with an enriching life in and out of the workplace.

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How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance - businessnewsdaily.com

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A healthy work-life balance can improve your physical, emotional and mental health. Bring balance to your life by implementing these eight techniques.

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Steve Jobs stood in front of the 2005 Stanford graduating class and said, ""the only way to do great work is to love what you do," but how does enjoying your work really lead to success in the workplace?

Being happy at work and loving what you do is an overall productivity booster and enhances performance. People who enjoy their jobs are more likely to be optimistic, motivated, learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and better business decisions.
Positivity is Pertinent to Success
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a distinguished Hungarian psychologist, being able to enjoy your work is the main factor in getting into a state of flow.
Flow: The experience you have when you are "in the zone". You feel fully focused, creative, and ideas are flowing freely.
This means that every time you are given a task and view it negatively, this mindset is already making it harder for you to complete your work. Doing work you love is energizing and creates a positive feedback loop that fuels productivity. Your passion for the work energizes you and vice versa, giving you more fuel to put towards success. The trick is figuring out how to make yourself love your work - even the most tedious of tasks.

Csikszentmihalyi discovered that once you take on a task with a positive mindset and think of the benefits you can reap from completing this project, your work is more likely to happen in a steady, concentrated flow. Being in this state of mind means you will be highly focused and fully absorbed in the task at hand, just as you would be while doing something you really enjoy. Being able to fully devote yourself to a task and give it your all will make you more productive and knowledgeable, leading you towards success at work.

The ability to complete work you don't enjoy with enthusiasm is hard enough, let alone being the best at it. Without the passion or drive it just doesn't come naturally. People are more confident at tasks that are more natural and seem to flow. This pertains to anything from writing emails, speaking to large groups, or even creating a presentation. Use a positive mindset to find your drive and build confidence in yourself. If you feel confident and secure with the work you are producing, you will be able to complete it to your fullest potential. Without this overall positive mindset, confidence is lacking and can lead to second-guessing yourself and becoming inefficient.

Passion not only drives you to enjoy your work, but helps in overcoming obstacles in the workplace as well. Anytime you hit a bump in the road or begin to doubt your abilities, remember the positive effects of the work you are doing. This persistence will lead to quality work that elevates you and brings you that much closer to your next goal. Use that drive and motivation as fuel towards your next checkpoint to success.
Finding Passion for Everyday Tasks
An overall positive and passionate mindset can be difficult to enact while completing tedious assignments. To change the way you think, you must also change the way you work. Find the significance in your efforts, live the vision of your organization, work with your colleagues, and in turn you can encourage positive change and take one step closer to success.

Every company has a mission or vision that they work to achieve. Whether it's clothing the homeless or creating happy, loyal customers while keeping costs down for the organization, raising your significance by working towards the common goal will keep you on the path towards success. By seeing your part in the big picture and realizing your worth, positivity and passion come naturally.

Along with realizing your own worth, knowing your team's abilities is just as important. According to Paul A. O'Keefe, assistant professor of psychology at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, working with your colleagues helps foster interest in work and create enthusiasm. In a study conducted by O'Keefe, it was found that those working with a partner reported greater interest in the subject and a stronger desire to master it. In other words, utilize your co-workers for motivation. Brainstorm, collaborate, and discuss to instill interest and drive in your work.

As you become more connected with your workplace and coworkers, begin to encourage positive change around you by asking yourself, "what can I do to improve this?" Immersing yourself in your work will help cultivate a passion for your duties. Add this passion on top of taking personal responsibility for making your company more successful, and your engagement will increase greatly, along with your job satisfaction.

The mindset you choose to take on when working is very important. Be conscious of the benefits you are creating for yourself and think positively. In turn, work will become more enjoyable and easier to master on the road to success.
Understanding human behavior is more than the basis of psychology - it is an essential component of virtually every business and organization. The USC online Master of Science in Applied Psychology prepares professionals to excel in the fields of consumer and organizational psychology.
Sources:
Liking Work Really Matters
How Loving Your Job Helps You Succeed
Having a passion for your work may be overrated as a key to success

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Liking Your Job Helps You Succeed | USC Online

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Steve Jobs stood in front of the 2005 Stanford graduating class and said, ""the only way to do great work is to love what you do," but how does enjoying your work really lead to success in the workplace? Being happy at work and loving what you do is an overall productivity booster and enhances performance.

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Motivation is rather elusive, isn't it? Some days you feel it, and other days you can't grab a measly corner of it no matter how hard you try. You stare at the computer screen, willing yourself to type, create, develop, and instead you find yourself simply going through the motions, barely caring about the work you're producing. Needless to say, you're totally uninspired, and you don't know how to make yourself feel otherwise.

Quora users have been there, and they have real and practical solutions for digging up that lost motivation and getting a job not just done-but completed with a sense of passion. Read on for seven tips and tricks that'll get you motivated in no time.

1. Don't Think About it as Hard Work

There is only one way for me to motivate myself to work hard: I don't think about it as hard work. I think about it as part of making myself into who I want to be. Once I've made the choice to do something, I try not to think so much about how difficult or frustrating or impossible that might be; I just think about how good it must feel to be that, or how proud I might be to have done that. Make hard look easy.

Think about it: If the project you're faced with isn't viewed as drudgery, but rather as a piece of the puzzle that's helping you along your career path, then perhaps the energy required to do it will be easier to come by.

2. Create Small, Bite-Sized Goals

There's a reason donut holes are so lovable. They're easy to eat. Before you know it, you've eaten a dozen of them. This is how goals should be too. Of course you should have a really big, audacious goal. But make sure you break down that goal into bite-sized, consumable goals. This way you'll feel like you're making progress in your journey and you'll also feel a sense of accomplishment when you complete the smaller goals. A feeling of progress and achievement is a beautiful combination.

You've no doubt heard this advice before, but have you applied it to motivation? Completing a large project is daunting when you don't know where to begin. How can you finish if you don't even know where you're starting? So, rather than focusing on a large, scary goal, take one thing at a time, and break the big goal into ideas you can digest one at a time.

3. Read Daily

Although it may sound counter-productive to set aside reading time when really what you're looking for is motivation to work hard, sometimes it's necessary to do something seemingly unrelated to tackle the task at hand. Developing a daily reading habit is one thing that's likely to have a long-lasting impact on your thought processes, ultimately inspiring you in all areas of your life.

4. Stop Caring About the Things That Don't Matter

Look very carefully and closely at your list, and shave off anything that's both truly demotivating and unnecessary for you to do. It's not always best to finish what you started if, down the line, you can't even remember the reason you started something in the first place.

5. Set a Quit Time

Raise your hand if you're motivated 24/7! I didn't think I'd see any hands. It's unrealistic to feel energized all the time, to want to plow through tasks all the time. You need to give yourself a rest, and if that means giving yourself a specified set time to unplug or turn away from the demands of your job, then do it. It's likely to help you perform harder and smarter in the hours that you do allot for work.

6. Just Do It

Now here's some worthwhile advice: Instead of waiting around, willing yourself to feel motivated, what if you just went ahead and started doing the work you know you need to do? Dive into the project and trust that the focus will be what you need.

7. Celebrate Wins

If you're constantly waiting for a long-term payoff, you forget how crucial all the little wins are. And it can be challenging to stay motivated and on top of things if there's no reward in sight. Treat yourself with small things and don't underestimate how gratifying it can feel to recognize tiny advancements.

What other motivation tips work for you? Let me know on Twitter!

Stacey Lastoe started writing short stories in the second grade and is immensely grateful to have the opportunity to write and edit professionally. Her work has appeared in YouBeauty, Refinery29, A Practical Wedding, Runner's World online, and The Billfold among other publications. She enjoys running and eating in equal measure and lives with her husband and dog in Brooklyn. All three of them are avid New York Mets fans. Say hello on @stacespeaks.

More from Stacey Lastoe

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How to Get Motivated at Work When You're Not in the Mood

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Motivation is rather elusive, isn't it? Some days you feel it, and other days you can't grab a measly corner of it no matter how hard you try. You stare at the computer screen, willing yourself to type, create, develop, and instead you find yourself simply going through the motions, barely caring about the work you're producing.

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You can transform your life by being physically active. Exercise helps with not only your physical health but your mental health. It releases chemicals in your brain (endorphins) that have a positive effect on your mood and your body.

It doesn't take huge changes. Start small. Just keep moving, whatever your age or ability. You'll feel better, have more energy and even live longer.

Get fit to reduce risks to your health

Only 1 out of every 3 people in Ireland is active on a regular basis. Most people aged over 65 in Ireland are inactive. 4 out of 5 children in Ireland are still not getting enough exercise. All of this creates serious risks to your health and wellbeing.

By staying active, you can reduce the risk of as many as 35 chronic diseases.

That includes:

Starting a fitness habit can help with other problems too, including:

bone health

breathing difficulties

high blood pressure

physiological and social issues

Being physically active can reduce your chances of developing a chronic disease by up to 50%, as well as reducing the risk of premature death by 20% to 30%.

Get fit and see your life improve

For everyone, being physically active helps to:

drastically reduce the risk of chronic diseases including heart disease, strokes and cancer

keep your weight at a healthy level

build your muscle tone and strength

make you feel happier by reducing feelings of stress, anxiety and depression

improve the quality of your sleep and your daily life

increase your energy levels

boost your self-esteem

add years to your life - up to 50% of our decline in health is actually caused by not being active

Getting fit if you're older

Staying active into older age is the key to staying mobile and independent. Just keep moving.

If you're older, fitness activities can:

reduce your risk of osteoporosis

increase the chance of staying pain-free

maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints

improve your balance and coordination

make it more likely that you can live independently

give you opportunities to make and strengthen social bonds

Related topic
How to improve your fitness

Encouraging active play in children

Being physically active is really important for babies, toddlers and children.

Encouraging children to be active can help:

develop their muscles, bones, balance and senses

develop and strengthen social and emotional bonds

establish a lifetime habit of being active

reduce their risk of ill health as an adult

make children feel great about themselves

If you're a parent and you're getting active regularly, the evidence is that your children are more likely to be active.

Fitness as a family helps to:

reinforce family bonds

provide extra motivation for everyone

encourage a sense of wellbeing

Related topic
Teaching your children to be active

Fitness if you have a disability or health condition

Whether you have a temporary or chronic condition, illness or disability, you can improve your health by keeping active.

Regular physical activity is very important in managing many chronic diseases. These include cancer, diabetes, arthritis and asthma.

Talk to your GP if you are worried about exercising with a health condition, disability or illness.

Related topic
Being active with a health condition or disability

Get active easily

It's easier than you think to get into a regular fitness habit - you don't even need to join a gym or buy equipment.

Some physical activity is better than none, and the more you do, the more health benefits you get.

Most health benefits occur with at least 30 minutes moderate activity 5 days a week, for example being able to walk a mile in 15 minutes.

Related topics
Fitness for your lifestyle Healthy eating for families

page last reviewed: 30/01/2019
next review due: 30/01/2022

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You can transform your life by being physically active. Exercise helps with not only your physical health but your mental health. It releases chemicals in your brain (endorphins) that have a positive effect on your mood and your body. It doesn't take huge changes. Start small. Just keep moving, whatever your age or ability.

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"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax" Mark Black

This is such an inspiring yet simple quote! At times, we get so embroiled in our hectic lifestyles with deadlines to meet and work-life pressure that we actually forget to relax! Yet relaxing for just 5 minutes periodically by stepping away from what is causing our stress levels to rise, can give us the energy we need to tackle our workload or problem we are facing.

Stress isn't all bad! A certain amount of stress is necessary to deal with difficult situations in our everyday lives. Physical changes in our bodies occur enabling us to take action, which fades quickly once the problem encountered has gone. However, if we stay in a state of high stress for too long, it can be damaging to our health.

Stress can affect our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and how we react or behave!

Physical symptoms such as headaches, tension in the neck and shoulders, dizziness, fatigue and poor sleep can all be a result of stress overload. Stress can affect our mental state too as it elevates levels of cortisol; a hormone that affects the function of the brain. This can result in worrying, poor concentration, difficulty in making decisions and uncontrollable thoughts. And to add to the list, emotional symptoms can present as irritability, feelings of being overwhelmed, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. A person in a high state of stress can cause aggressive or defensive behaviour, avoiding situations, poor communication, drinking too much alcohol and smoking. It can exacerbate mood disorders too.

Being over stressed for long periods of time can also cause fatigue. According to mentalhelp.net "Byproducts of stress hormones can act as sedatives (chemical substances which cause us to become calm or fatigued). When such hormone byproducts occur in large amounts (which will happen under conditions of chronic stress), they may contribute to a sustained feeling of low energy or depression"

We are not always able to avoid stress but learning to manage stress is key!

Practicing 'relaxation' is paramount to managing stress. When we relax, the flow of blood increases around our body giving us more energy. It helps us to have a calmer and clearer mind which aids positive thinking, concentration, memory and decision making. Relaxation slows our heart rate, reduces our blood pressure and relieves tension. It also aids digestion as we absorb essential nutrients more efficiently when relaxed, which helps to fight off disease and infection.

Refresh throughout our day!

Not only should we start our day feeling refreshed but we should continue to refresh at various points throughout our day! Schedule in 5 minutes a few times during your day to reduce stress levels and give your energy levels a boost. Here's a few relaxation techniques that are quick and easy to do:

Focus on your breathing

Meditation - you can always use an app to help! We love headspace.com

Progressive muscle relaxation (tighten and relax your muscles throughout your body),

Visualisation - imagine a relaxing place and focus on the details.

Take a gentle walk being mindful of your surroundings, keep your focus on the plants, the trees, the sunshine, the clouds...

Take control by finding a relaxing solution that satisfies you - this in itself is empowering.

It is really important to try to relax at home too. There are many simple inexpensive ways to have a little calm in your life - listen to music, take a walk, read a book, be creative, talk to a friend, exercise, take a hot bath or whatever helps you to release the stress from your mind and body. Read more about stress busters here.

Give your staff the chance to relax!

Mental Health awareness week runs from 13th to 19th May! This is a great chance for you to promote some stress busting techniques within your office! Why not run a Mental Health Workshopfor your staff, or Stress Management Training for your management teams.

Further reading and references

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/understanding-stress/https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/relaxation/#.XLCEAjBKipo https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/mental-and-emotional-impact-of-stress/

National Walking Month 2021 #MyMileMyWay
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Why relaxation is so important | Wellbeing People

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"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax" Mark Black This is such an inspiring yet simple quote! At times, we get so embroiled in our hectic lifestyles with deadlines to meet and work-life pressure that we actually forget to relax!

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Why do we love? A philosophical inquiry - Skye C. Cleary

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For many people, the concept of self-love might conjure images of tree-hugging hippies or cheesy self-help books. But, as many psychology studies attest, self-love and -compassion are key for mental health and well-being, keeping depression and anxiety at bay. Below, we take a look at some of the things that you can do to nurture this core feeling.

"Why is self-love important?" you might ask. For many of us, self-love might sound like a luxury rather than a necessity - or a new-age fad for those with too much time on their hands.

Ironically, however, self-care and -compassion might actually be needed most by those of us who work too hard and who are constantly striving to surpass ourselves and grasp the shape-shifting phantasm of perfection.

Most of the time, when we're being too hard on ourselves, we do it because we're driven by a desire to excel and do everything right, all the time. This entails a lot of self-criticism, and that persecutory inner voice that constantly tells us how we could've done things better is a hallmark of perfectionism.

Studies have shown that perfectionists are at a higher risk of several illnesses, both physical and mental, and that self-compassion might free us from its grip. Therefore, perfectionism and self-compassion are inextricably linked.

This article will look at ways to dial down the former and boost the latter, with the conviction that doing so will help you to lead a happier, more fulfilled life.

Most of us in the Western world have been raised to believe that perfectionism is a great quality to have. After all, being obsessed with perfect details leads to perfect work, and this personality trait gives us the opportunity to humblebrag during job interviews.

In reality, however, perfectionism is bad for you. Not just "not ideal" or "harmful when excessive," but actively bad. Like cigarettes or obesity.

A shorter lifespan, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, eating disorders, depression, and suicidal tendencies are only a few of the adverse health effects that have been linked with perfectionism.

Recovering from heart disease or cancer is also harder for perfectionists, with this trait making survivors - as well as the general population - more prone to anxiety and depression.

So what can we do to move away from perfectionism? First off, acknowledge that it's bad for you; beating yourself up over every little error gradually chips away at your sense of self-worth and makes you less happy. And you deserve better than this.
In the words of Kristin Neff - a professor of human development at the University of Texas at Austin - "Love, connection, and acceptance are your birthright."
In other words, happiness is something that you're entitled to, not something that you need to earn. Even the United Nations adopted a resolution recognizing that the "pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal."

Also, you should try to resist the temptation to beat yourself up for beating yourself up. Paul Hewitt - a clinical psychologist in Vancouver, Canada, and author of the book Perfectionism: A Relational Approach to Conceptualization, Assessment, and Treatment - likens the inner critic harbored by perfectionists to "a nasty adult beating the crap out of a tiny child."

When you've spent years cultivating this inner bully, you develop an unconscious reflex to put yourself down for every minor thing, no matter how ridiculous or absurd.

From missing a deadline to dropping a teaspoon on the floor, perfectionists will constantly give themselves a hard time over the most unexpected things - so criticizing yourself for criticizing yourself is not uncommon.

Thirdly, you can start cultivating some much-needed self-compassion. You might think that self-love is a case of "you either have it or you don't," but luckily, psychologists insist that it is something you can learn.

Self-compassion and self-love are largely used interchangeably in specialized literature. Research shows that having more self-compassion builds resilience in the face of adversity, helping people to recover more quickly from trauma or romantic separation. It also helps us to better cope with failure or embarrassment.

But what is it, exactly? Drawing on the work of Prof. Neff, Sbarra and colleagues define self-compassion as a construct that encompasses three components:

"self-kindness (i.e., treating oneself with understanding and forgiveness),

recognition of one's place in shared humanity (i.e., acknowledgment that people are not perfect and that personal experiences are part of the larger human experience),

and mindfulness (i.e., emotional equanimity and avoidance of overidentification with painful emotions)."

"Self-kindness entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than flagellating ourselves with self-criticism," write Profs. Neff and Germer.

Easier said than done? You might think so, but luckily, the same researchers who worked hard to study and define the feeling have also come up with a few useful tips for enhancing it.

By combining mindfulness with self-compassion, Profs. Neff and Germer - who works at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA - have developed a technique called "Mindful Self-Compassion [...] Training," which they have tested in clinical trials with heartening results.

In the words of the researchers, "Self-compassion says, 'Be kind to yourself in the midst of suffering and it will change.' Mindfulness says, 'Open to suffering with spacious awareness and it will change.'"

The program comprises various meditations, such as "loving-kindness meditation" or "affectionate breathing," and "informal practices for use in daily life," such as the "soothing touch," or the "self-compassionate letter writing," which have all been shown to help study participants develop the habit of self-compassion.
According to the researchers, practicing these techniques for 40 minutes every day for 8 weeks raised the participants' levels of self-compassion by 43 percent.
The mindfulness exercises that one can do to develop self-compassion are various. One simple exercise involves repeating the following three phrases during times of emotional distress:

"This is a moment of suffering," "Suffering is a part of life," and "May I be kind to myself." These three mantras correspond to the three elements of self-love that we introduced earlier.

In her book Self-Compassion, Prof. Neff details many more useful mantras and guides the reader to develop their own. Also, her website self-compassion.org offers a wide range of similar exercises, which are accessible for free.

Dr. Helen Weng - from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison - and colleagues have also developed a range of similar exercises that you can access here, which are also free of charge.

If you feel a bit skeptical about the benefits of mindfully repeating mantras to yourself, you may benefit from knowing that research backs them up.

Such mindful exercises in self-compassion have been proven to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increase heart rate variability, which is your body's physiological ability to deal with stressful situations.

Listening to yourself can mean two things. Firstly, paying attention to how you internally talk to yourself is crucial for learning to cultivate an intimate feeling of self-love.

In her book, Prof. Neff asks her readers to ask themselves, "What type of language do you use with yourself when you notice a flaw or make a mistake? Do you insult yourself or do you take a more kind and understanding tone? If you are highly self-critical, how does that make you feel inside?"
She explains that often, we are much harsher to ourselves than we would be to others, or than how we would expect others to treat us. So, to replace this harsh inner voice with a kinder one, you can simply notice it - which is already a step toward quietly subduing it - and actively try to soften it.
Finally, you can try to rephrase the observations that you may have initially formulated quite harshly in the words of a kinder, more forgiving person.

Or, you could try writing a letter to yourself from the perspective of the kind, compassionate friend that you have been to others, or from the perspective of a compassionate friend.
As researchers point out, "Simply asking the question is itself an exercise in self-compassion - the cultivation of good will toward oneself."
A second reason why listening to yourself is important is that, during times of emotional distress, asking yourself the question "What do I need?" - and listening mindfully to the answer - can prove invaluable.

But it's also worth bearing in mind that "What do I need?" "sometimes [...] means that an emotionally overwhelmed individual should stop meditating altogether and respond behaviorally to his or her emotional distress, for example, by drinking a cup of tea or petting the dog."

"Self-kindness is more important than becoming a good meditator."

Prof. Kristin Neff

Mindfulness can help us to relearn, as adults, to take pleasure in fundamental, everyday things that we used to enjoy spontaneously as children. Reacquainting ourselves with pleasure in this way is an essential component of self-kindness.
Perhaps because yoga can help us to get back in touch with our own bodies and regain a sense of pleasure from it, the practice also helps to quell the voice of our inner critic and boost feelings of self-love.
Researchers used practices such as the "Sense and Savor Walk" and "Mindful Eating" - aimed at taking pleasure in the environment and food, respectively - to increase self-compassion in study participants. Such techniques are intimately linked with the habit of listening to yourself and your needs, as described above.

Yoga poses also seem to be better for our self-esteem and bodily energy than power poses, with only 2 minutes of being in "warrior pose," for example, making you feel ready to take over the world.

The Internet abounds with free yoga videos, but the program " Yoga with Adriene" is probably one of the best ones for cultivating a kind inner voice. Using phrases such as "find some softness" and "come into your little cave of love," Adriene gently nudges you into your practice, encouraging you to simply " find what feels good. "

We hope that yoga, along with the other mindfulness tips outlined above, will help you along the (often imperfect) road to self-compassion.

As you move through it, try to enjoy the journey; hopefully one day, you'll find that the nagging feeling of incompleteness that is so typical of perfectionism has left you.

Instead, you'll have cultivated a kinder, more self-forgiving feeling of wholeness.

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The importance of self-love and how to cultivate it

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If you buy something through a link on this page, we may earn a small commission. How this works. For many people, the concept of self-love might conjure images of tree-hugging hippies or cheesy self-help books. But, as many psychology studies attest, self-love and -compassion are key for mental health and well-being, keeping depression and anxiety at bay.

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Using a template like above create 3 different life plans - one realistic, one if anything was possible and one which finds a middleground between the two. This helps us realise that some things which we initially think are not possible are often very achievable.

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Dr Radha: How reframing can give us new perspective and hope

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Reframing a problem can change it from being a problem to a challenge or opportunity

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The video above shows us why it is so important to find out core values and ensure that we stay consistent in everything we do.

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Why values matter | Jan Stassen | TEDxMünchen

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Networking can often seem daunting, however it is really as simple as finding a person who is in a position which you would like to be in and talking to them about what it is like to be there - ask them about their day to day life, what steps they took to get this position and how they think you could best chase the position too.

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One important part of personal growth is failure. Failure if dealt with correctly gives us opportunity to grow. The failure log above shows how this is possible.

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Finding purpose is a very daunting concept and is not easy, however we can make sure we are heading in the right direction and not preventing ourselves from trying.

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Finding purpose in life is one of those things that most people want. Whether we know it or not. As nice as it sounds, it can seem challenging to attain.

If you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about your own purpose, you might have some preconceived ideas about the purpose of life. These baked-in ideas about life often come from our family and the communities we grow up in. The purpose of our life is to get married and have kids. Or, maybe it's earning a certain amount of money or achieving a certain position in society.

But these types of achievements often don't bring the kind of fulfillment that comes with finding your personal sense of purpose. A personal sense of purpose is less of a specific end goal and more of an ongoing impact on the world, large or small. Purpose is your why.

This personal sense of purpose guides and sustains you. Day to day and through the years. Even when you have setbacks and the world turns upside down, purpose gives you stability and a sense of direction. That's why finding purpose is essential for living a happy, healthy life.

While asking what your purpose is can seem like a lofty question, it's one worth asking. And trying to answer. Finding your purpose can unlock greater satisfaction and success in all areas of your life.

So let's dive into the big questions: what is purpose in life, why it matters, and 12 steps to finding your purpose.

What is the purpose of life?

Philosophers have sought and debated "the purpose of life" for centuries. We won't try to answer that here. What matters is your purpose in life.

Most people will ask at some point, "Why am I here?" It can be a scary question or a thrilling one. Leaning into the discomfort of this existential question can lead to a better sense of self and more rewarding paths forward.

Your purpose in life is as unique to you as your fingerprint. We all have a particular set of talents, experiences, skill sets, and interests that light us up. Purpose is related to these, but it is your reason for being. It is why you get out of bed in the morning, even when the day is dreary, you're tired, and you know the tasks and challenges ahead are going to be hard or even boring.

Purpose is the long game, not the short-term goal. You never get to the end of it. However, even a strong sense of purpose can wear you down. That's why, ideally, your purpose blends with what interests you and brings you joy.

In Japan, this idea is known as ikigai, and it's the concept of following your joy. Ikigai has grown popular in the West in recent years as a way to help people find their dream careers and career paths.

The concept is finding the overlap between what you love and the world needs with what you are good at and the world will pay for. You craft your sense of purpose from your passion as well as practical considerations.

If you're lucky, you might have found your ikigai through your work. For example, a doctor hopefully believes their purpose is to help sick people or to ease suffering.

For others, finding meaning in our work and connecting it to our personal sense of purpose isn't so easy. Between work, family responsibilities, and social expectations, we often abandon the idealistic version of ourselves that yearns to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life. We believe we have to make this tradeoff - that meaning and purpose can't exist with pragmatic considerations. But that isn't helpful.

Why is finding purpose important?

Finding your purpose in life might sound like a nice-to-have, but it's more important than you may think.

Living a meaningful life contributes to better physical healthand mental fitness.It also reduces the risk of chronic disease. Multiple studies have even found that it can help you live longer.

How to find purpose in life: 12 tips

If you're asking yourself, "What is my purpose?" you're not alone. One study showed that just ¼ of American adults say they have a clear sense of purpose.

If you're part of the other 75%, follow these 12 tips to get started on finding purpose and meaning in life.

1. Develop a growth mindset

A growth mindset also allows you to:

2. Create a personal vision statement

A personal vision statementcan help you manage stress and find balance in your life. It also serves as a roadmap that will guide you toward your purpose by identifying your core values and establishing what's important to you.

A purpose statement makes it easier for you to make decisions aligned to your values and helps you stay motivated as you work toward your personal goals.

3. Give back

4. Practice gratitude

The prosociality study found that focusing on gratitudein addition to acts of altruism strengthened the participants' sense of purpose.

Practicing gratitude can feel a bit awkward at first. We get so used to our negative thoughts that switching them for positive ones can feel unnatural.

To get started, try writing three to five things you feel grateful for first thing in the morning or at night before you go to sleep.

5. Turn your pain into purpose

We all face struggles in life. Overcoming these challenges shapes who we become and gives us our unique strengths and perspectives.

Many people ask for help when struggling to overcome a major life change. Some later find their purpose in helping others facing similar struggles to those they have overcome.

How you transform your pain into purpose is up to you.

6. Explore your passions

Your passions and interests are a good indicator of the area in which your life purpose might lie. But they can be hard to identify. They're so ingrained in our ways of thinking that we can become blind to them.

If you're not sure what your passions are, ask the people who know you best. Likely, you're already pursuing them in some way without even realizing it.

Perhaps you're an unofficial mentor to young people in your community. If so, that could be your passion.

Another way to find your passion is to think about what you're good at. Someone who's great at helping others solve their problems might want to consider a career as a coach.

You might prefer to keep your passion as a hobby, or you might decide to turn it into a side hustle or full-time source of income.

7. Be part of a community

Purpose is about feeling connected to others, so being an active member of a community can contribute to a greater sense of purpose in life.

When you find your purpose, you'll discover that there are many others out there who share your passions, interests, and values.

Joining or creating a community allows you to find that sense of connection with others as you work together toward a common goal.

8. Spend time with people who inspire you

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with."

If you spend time with people who are positive and purpose-driven, they are likely to inspire you to have the same mindset. You may even discover your purpose through them.

Look beyond your colleagues and family members and ask yourself who you choose to spend your time with. Evaluate those relationships and make sure you are surrounding yourself with aspirational, positive people who lift you up.

9. Read

Reading also connects you to other people across time, place, and cultures. This helps you cultivate the sense of connectedness that generates a sense of purpose in life.

10. Join a cause

We all have a cause that we feel passionately about. Perhaps you have strong feelings about social justice, animal welfare, or the environment.

Fighting for a cause ties together several of the tips mentioned above, including:

Giving back

Forming part of a community

Doing something you're passionate about

Surrounding yourself with people who inspire you

Maybe you want to raise money for research into a particular disease or give inner-city children access to green spaces. Whatever it is, getting involved with a cause will help you find more purpose in your life.

11. Practice self-acceptance

Accepting your limitations can help you be kinder to yourself when things go wrong. We all make mistakes, but instead of beating yourself up for your failures, try to see each setback as an opportunity to grow.

Self-compassioncan help you become more self-aware and self-accepting. When you accept all of yourself, you're more likely to give the best of yourself in every situation. This might be at work, with your family, or while doing the things you love.

This can lead to a greater sense of connection to others and everything you do, giving more meaning to your life.

12. Take time for self-care

Self-care comes in many forms, and your version of self-care is unique to you. Perhaps you like walking in the forest, practicing some deep breathing, or journaling out your difficult emotions.

But why is self-care important? Because when our brains are relaxed, they are at their most creative. You cannot achieve or serve others when you are battling against yourself.

Have you ever noticed that some of your best ideas come when you're in the shower? That's because our minds are more open and receptive to the flow of ideas than they are when we try to force ourselves to think.

Creative thinking comes naturally when our minds are in a state of relaxation. And it can lead you closer to finding your purpose.

Finding purpose in life doesn't have to be hard

Behind every successful person is clarity of purpose. And unless you find yours, you'll continue to cruise through life on autopilot. You may find yourself knocked off-course and lost, uncertain how to move forward or which direction is forward. Or, life may be smooth but one day you may look back and wish you had used your time differently.

Identifying, acknowledging, and honoring your purpose is the foundation of a well-rounded life. It requires some courage because it opens up questions and ideas that might not be comfortable. Yet it's worth it. Purpose provides you with an inner compass that guides every decision and leads you to the experiences that will light up your soul.

Finding your purpose and connecting your purpose to meaningful work can be hard. Supportive guidance can help. If you'd like help finding your purpose and creating more meaning in your life, get in touch with BetterUp. One of our expert coaches will be happy to support you.

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What is My Purpose? How to Find Your Life Purpose (12 Tips)

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Finding purpose can give your life meaning and help improve your overall health. Discover 12 ways to find your purpose and live your most fulfilling life.

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Exploring the world can lead you to discover new cultures, ways of living, friends and memories.

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Planning new adventures as a new year approaches is always a thrill, but finding the best places to visit in 2022 is unique. After two years of border closures, cruise cancellations, and travel restrictions galore, 2022 is the year we hope to get back out there, uninhibited (albeit vaccinated and COVID tested), return to our favorite destinations, and cross new ones off our lists.

Though the hospitality industry was hit hard by the pandemic, many properties used the forced downtime to renovate rooms, add new amenities, and expand outdoor spaces to offer even more once guests return. 2022 is when many travelers will venture further from home, and even overseas, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, finally reaping the benefits of these valiant efforts.

Although COVID variants remain, regulations are still evolving, and precautions must still be taken, many of the destinations we chose for 2022 offer what we believe travelers are looking for in a post-pandemic world, from hotels with private accommodations to destinations teeming with fresh-air activities. Others, like Las Vegas, are for those who are ready and raring to make up for all the social time they missed - with a few splashy headliners, including Adele and the Raiders, thrown in for good measure.

As cruising makes its comeback, we included unforgettable places to see by water, from Antarctica to the Nile, and as hard-hit destinations like Italy and Asia recover, we found the buzziest reasons to return. Of course we didn't forget about all the stateside gems we got to know while domestic travel was surging, from Alaska and California to Florida and Michigan.

Our 2022 list, organized alphabetically, doesn't hold back, with aspirational trips as far away as India, Mozambique, Qatar, and even space - but we're also including hometown favorites, like Walt Disney World and its new Star Wars hotel; the wellness retreats of beautiful Sedona; and the simple pleasures of small-town, farm-to-table living in Franklin, Tennessee. Because no matter what type of trip you've been dreaming of, we want to help you turn 2022 into the year you get back out there and make it a reality.

- Edited by Nina Ruggiero and Scott Bay

1. Abruzzo, Italy

2. Alaska

3. Anguilla

4. Antarctica

5. Bahamas

6. Barbados

Whether you want a relaxing all-inclusive stay or a vibrant vacation filled with dining and nightlife, Barbados has you covered. Nowhere is that more evident than the pedestrian-friendly South Coast, which is teeming with new resorts and restaurants. The O2 Beach Club & Spa is an all-inclusive resort set on the white sands of Dover Beach, with three pools, six dining options, seven bars, and the Acqua spa, featuring the only hammam treatment room on the island. It joins other luxurious South Coast hotels, including Sandals and Sea Breeze Beach House. If you can pull yourself away from the resort pools, head along the coast to Worthing Square Food Garden, an outdoor food hall with 20 vendors serving dishes from around the Caribbean. Or stroll down the mile-long boardwalk for easy access to ocean-front food and drinks at local favorites like Champers, Salt Café, Tiki Bar, and Chill Café & Bar. - Kevin Gray

7. Belize

8. Budapest, Hungary

9. Burgundy, France

10. British Virgin Islands

Within the Caribbean, the 60 islands that comprise the British Virgin Islands have long held the reputation of luxury draped in relaxation. And now it's doubling down on that brand of island spirit with Richard Branson's second private island, the 125-acre Moskito Island that opened in October and sits right across from his first BVI paradise, Necker Island (which received a serious upgrade when it reopened last year after a two-year closure). The new destination will eventually have 10 private estates that can be rented through Virgin Limited Edition, but among the ones already available are Point Estate, starting at $17,500 a night, and Oasis Estate for $19,000. But Moskito isn't the only shiny new reason to visit BVI. Proving the area's resilience following the devastation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Saba Rock, the private island long known for its diving, went through a complete reconstruction before reopening in October; the Bitter End Yacht Club reopened in December with BVI's first over-the-water bungalows; and Oil Nut Bay will expand in early 2022 with new villas, a watersports center, and spa. Also on tap for 2022, the solar-powered White Bay Villas and new hilltop suites at Long Bay Beach Resort. And with the Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival returning in the spring of 2022 after being canceled for two years, BVI is proving it's truly back and stronger than ever. - Rachel Chang

11. Costa Smeralda, Sardinia

12. Crete, Greece

The Greek Islands have long been a perennial favorite vacation destination for discerning travelers, and Crete, the largest of the 227 islands in the archipelago, deserves a spot atop your must-see list. Yes, it's a place where you can find the white-washed buildings and blue roofs you've lusted after on Instagram for years, and a spot where you can dive into the cerulean blue waters of the Mediterranean at every turn. And of course you can dig deep into both history and mythology as humans have lived on the island since the 7th millennium B.C., not to mention the fact that Crete is the birthplace of Zeus. It's little surprise then, with all this beauty and history, that Crete continues to harbor a rich creative community, mostly centered in the neighborhood of Chania. There, visitors can peruse works in museums like the Mediterranean Architecture Center, or seek out unique pieces in galleries like the Municipal Art Gallery or the Redd Gallery. To visit Crete, hop aboard a sailing with Silversea, which takes guests to Crete and several other stellar islands, or book a stay at the Blue Palace Elounda, a Luxury Collection Resort, named one of the Top 10 Greece Resort Hotels in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards, 2021. - Stacey Leasca

13. Walt Disney World

The " World's Most Magical Celebration" - Walt Disney World's 18-month-long 50th anniversary event that kicked off on Oct. 1 - continues through 2022 with enchanting touches and highly anticipated ride and hotel openings. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will begin offering its immersive, two-night adventures in a galaxy far, far away on March 1. The interactive, choose-your-own-adventure experience will have guests wielding lightsabers, sleeping on the ship, brushing shoulders with Star Wars characters, eating intergalactic cuisine, and maybe even going on a secret mission, making this a truly unique experience that you can't find anywhere else in the world. Other 2022 openings include the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind indoor coaster at Epcot, slated for summer. - Elizabeth Rhodes

14. Doha, Qatar

As we ask ourselves what cities of the future should look like, we naturally look around for examples. Places like Shanghai, Tokyo, and New York City seem to fit the description on paper, but I'd argue that no city better encapsulates that definition than Doha, the capital of Qatar. There is so much to discover - from East-West/West-East, a series of four steel monoliths created by sculptor Richard Serra to the Museum of Islamic Art, the massive 560,000-square-foot gallery. Eat at Syrian comfort food spot Damasca One, Em Sherif a rooftop spot that serves up authentic regional dishes, and the lively corner restaurant Nourlaya Contemporary for Sri Lankan cuisine. Stay at the Mandarin Oriental Doha or Banyan Tree Doha. (Read Robinson's full dispatch on Doha in the July 2021 edition of Travel + Leisure) - Whitney Robinson

15. Edinburgh, Scotland

16. Finger Lakes, New York

17. Franklin, Tennessee

18. Galápagos Islands

19. Greater Palm Springs, California

Greater Palm Springs is kicking its signature self-care into high gear in the coming year. Taking a cue from its sister property, Sensei Lanai, the new Sensei Porcupine Creek is converting a 230-acre private estate into a luxury wellness experience in Rancho Mirage in 2022. In Palm Springs proper, Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza will celebrate Indigenous art and history alongside the new Spa at Séc-he, where visitors will soak in approximately 12,000-year-old hot springs. Nearby, Fleur Noire Hotel just opened its adults-only casitas and bungalows, with a speakeasy Champagne bar to follow. Unexpectedly, the desert has a budding surf scene - the former Wet 'n Wild waterpark is becoming Palm Springs Surf Club, with a state-of-the-art wave pool, spa, restaurant, and bar; DSRT Surf is set to open a 5.5-acre wave lagoon in Palm Desert; and Kelly Slater himself is bringing a green energy-powered wave basin to Coral Mountain, a proposed new wellness resort with a hotel and residences, set to open in La Quinta by 2023 pending city approvals. And for entertainment outside the splash zone, the $250-million Coachella Valley Arena will host hockey, concerts, and more live events by the end of the year. - Nina Ruggiero

20. Greenville, South Carolina

Once in the shadow of Charleston and Asheville, Greenville has emerged in recent years as a go-to destination in its own right - and it keeps giving travelers more reasons to visit. In 2022, the city of just over 70,000 people will welcome a luxury boutique hotel, unveil a new public gathering place, and build on its well-earned reputation as a culinary and craft beer hotspot. The long-awaited, 187-room Grand Bohemian hotel is expected to open its doors this spring, complete with a two-story restaurant and bar, art gallery, and spa. The 60-acre Unity Park will feature plenty of greenspace, an observation tower, baseball fields, playgrounds, and walking and biking trails. And recently opened restaurants, including French Laundry alum Drew Erickson's Camp, Urban Wren, Coral, and an outpost of Nashville's famous Prince's Hot Chicken located inside Yee-Haw Brewing will ensure you're well-fed while in town. - Kevin Gray

21. Ilha Caldeira, Mozambique

22. Jackson Hole, Wyoming

23. Kafue National Park, Zambia

Straddling three regions of Zambia, Kafue National Park is the largest (and oldest) in the country, measuring 8,648 miles. In the wildlife-rich Busanga plains - located in the secluded northern side of the park - spend the night at newly opened Chisa Busanga Camp in their bird's nest shaped rooms. Enjoy a silent safari, thanks to e-cruisers or an e-bike safari provided by the property. See wildlife from above with a hot air balloon safari from Shumba Camp or Busanga Bush Camp. Other accommodation offerings in the park include riverfront Ila Safari Lodge and Mukambi Safari Lodge. Both properties offer fishing, walking safaris, boat cruises, and have Instagram worthy pools (perfect for a soak and the traditional safari sundowner: a gin and tonic). - Mazuba Kapambwe

24. Kaunas, Lithuania

Kaunas, Lithuania has a lofty New Year's resolution. After a century of wars, Soviet rule, and, since the 1990s, independence, this UNESCO Creative City of Design is ready to cultivate a new identity - and it's doing so as one of two European Capitals of Culture for 2022 (alongside Novi Sad, Serbia). The festivities commence in January, with thousands of concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and events throughout the year to celebrate Kaunas' history while cementing its path forward. Also this year, Kaunas will welcome the highly anticipated $30 million Science Island, Lithuania's first national science and innovation center designed by UK firm Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC). By May, the city's former Magnus Hotel will reopen with sparkly new digs and a posh rooftop under the ibis Styles umbrella. This lively city is also a main stop on the recently unveiled 1,330-mile Forest Trail across the Baltics. And, a host of just-announced Ryanair flight routes, including Madrid to Kaunas, will make visiting this capital of culture a breeze. - Stephanie Vermillion

25. Kyushu, Japan

26. Lanai, Hawaii

27. Las Vegas, Nevada

28. Louisville, Kentucky

29. Malaysia

30. Maldives

The Maldives' 1,000+ islands sit in the Indian Ocean like a string of turquoise pearls. The tropical nirvana has 166 accommodation options, including the new Joali Being nature retreat, which leads guests on a transformative wellness journey. Alila Kothaifaru Maldives debuts in February with 80 beach and overwater villas on the Raa Atoll. Coming to the same atoll in May, also with 80 luxury villas, is Emerald Faarufushi Resort & Spa on a massive lagoon primed for snorkeling. The ever-innovative Soneva Fushi has a new experience that includes zip-lining to a six-course meal 30 feet about the sand. Along with Soneva Jani, they've debuted Soneva Soul, a new spa complex melding ancient and modern techniques. Other vacation favorites are unveiling new digs like the sleek, contemporary renovation of Naladhu Private Island and the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, debuting in February. - Katie Lockhart

31. Newport, Rhode Island

32. Nile Cruise, Egypt

33. Panama

34. Phuket, Thailand

35. Pico, Portugal

36. Quebec, Canada

37. Queensland, Australia

38. Santa Ynez Valley, California

Two hours from L.A., the Santa Ynez Valley is rural, unassuming, and coming into its own. The region has grown grapes for decades and has even made a Hollywood cameo in the movie Sideways. The arrival of newer tasting rooms, restaurants, and hotels in recent years has firmly put the area on oenophiles' and travelers' radars. Start with a private olive oil tasting at Global Gardens and hard cider at Tin City Cider in Los Olivos. Follow with pizza pies at Full of Life Flatbread and vino at nearby female-owned A Tribute to Grace and Casa Dumetz. Detour to Firestone Walker's outpost in Buellton for a few limited edition craft brews and finish with dishes such as roasted tomato and fennel risotto at the Ballard Inn's Gathering Table. Though it's technically just beyond the boundaries of the valley in Lompoc, The Hilt Estate, is too good to miss. And once it opens this year as an Auberge property, The Inn at Mattei's Tavern will make for the perfect base from which to explore it all. - Tanvi Chheda

39. São Paulo, Brazil

Known for its dynamic combination of luxury, design, and fashion influence, São Paulo is an international metropolitan hub of arts and culture. It's the largest city in South America, hosting an array of entertainment opportunities such as fabulous hotels, decadent restaurants, high-class museums, and iconic mid-century architecture. With airlines including American adding flights throughout Brazil in 2022 and a flourishing hospitality renaissance throughout the city, São Paulo is well prepared for its anticipated influx of new travelers. A must-visit destination for 2022 is the Rosewood São Paulo, located in the heart of São Paulo's Cidade Matarazzo and housed in a historic landmark building. Here, visitors will encounter 200-plus luxurious guest rooms, suites, and residences, plus six restaurants and bars and two pools. - Molly O'Brien

40. Savannah, Georgia

This coastal Georgia city is rightly famous for its atmospheric, moss-draped streets and squares, not to mention its hundreds of years of history. But lately Savannah has been boosted by creativity and innovation outside the sometimes frozen-in-amber Old Town, which means now is a particularly compelling time to visit. Make home base the brand-new Thompson Savannah, a slick 13-story tower with interiors by Studio 11 Design that anchors the still-developing Eastern Wharf neighborhood. Phase one of the 54-acre development, which aims to turn a once-industrial waterfront into a contemporary mixed-use destination, includes hundreds of apartments, fitness trails, access to the Savannah River, and multiple bars and restaurants, including Fleeting, a seasonally driven spot inside the Thompson. At the same time, Savannah's other major waterfront destination has also come into its own. The Plant Riverside District, a stone's throw from Old Town, marked its official grand opening in November 2021, putting a bow on a bustling JW Marriott hotel, countless restaurants and bars, and multiple live performance venues all along a rebuilt waterfront. Not that all the action is along the river: The ever-evolving Starland District, a short drive from Johnson Square, has its share of hangouts including Starland Yard, a food truck park that's also home to the excellent Pizzeria Vittoria Napoletana; Two Tides Brewing Company, which pours hazy ales and delicious sours in a super-cool taproom; and Troupial, a Venezuelan cafe. You'll also want to pack Wildsam Savannah, a newly released field guide that helps visitors understand the layers of history (and the contemporary politics) that are fueling the latest renaissance in Savannah. - Paul Brady

41. Seattle, Washington

42. Sedona, Arizona

With tourism already surging thanks to the Instagram fame of attractions like Devil's Bridge, Sedona garnered even more of a following during the pandemic among cooped-up city dwellers enthralled by the destination's red rocks and energy vortexes. In 2022, set your sights on North America's first landscape hotel, Ambiente, home to 40 standalone accommodations (called "atriums"), most with private rooftop decks perfect for stargazing. Opening in May, the sustainability-focused retreat will offer on-site trailhead access - further immersing guests in the Sedona landscape while combating traffic along the city's main highway - and reactivate an ancient waterway to populate a stream running throughout the hotel. Experience Sedona's culinary clout right on property at Ambiente's restaurant, Forty1, housed in a refurbished airstream, or venture next door to Mariposa, the city's must-visit restaurant by chef Lisa Dahl, who pioneered fine dining in this town. - Maya Kachroo-Levine

43. Singapore

44. Southwest Michigan

Beaches with ocean-like views were once the main draw to Michigan's southwest coast, but new high-style accommodations and hyper-local experiences are giving us more reasons to go. Where to stay with so many options? Consider the cool new motel-turned-boutique Lake Shore Resort in Saugatuck; The Fields glamping retreat with new spa tents in South Haven; the revamped, modern Harbor Grand Hotel in New Buffalo; or anywhere along the coast with high-touch Bluefish Vacation Rentals, which has killer lakefront homes now stocked with handmade local goods. Hop on the new pedestrian/bike trail in Union Pier, and definitely shop two new woman-owned standouts: the beautifully curated Haven and Ariane Prewitt's AP Cottage, scheduled to open this spring. Women are showing off the culinary scene, too, with everything from a special saison ale - winner of the 2021 Great American Beer Festival - at woman-owned Waypost Brewing Co., to new herb-inspired cocktails at James Beard-winning chef Melissa Corey's Penny Royal Café & Provisions, to James Beard nominee Abra Beherns' Granor Farm, where dinners return this year in a new glass-enclosed barn. - Nina Kokotas Hahn

45. St. Moritz, Switzerland

46. St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida

47. Todos Santos, Mexico

Todos Santos is one of Mexico's pueblo mágicos, or "magic towns," and locals are working to retain its history and culture while embracing the steady stream of travelers who have begun venturing an hour north of Cabo San Lucas to discover its charm. The area saw a handful of new boutique resorts pop up in 2021 that provide luxury amenities while keeping the rugged land and local flora the centerpiece. Wellness-focused Paradero describes itself as a "landscaping project" that just so happens to have luxurious suites, and El Perdido, an all-villa resort less than five miles south, provides all-terrain vehicles so visitors can get to Los Cerritos beach, the local surf break of choice. Oceanfront Rancho Pescadero's multimillion-dollar transformation will be complete in the spring. Bookings for its oceanfront villas and penthouse rooms - some with private rooftops and plunge pools - open in January. Todos Santos has fully embraced farm-to-table dining, with Javier Plascencia's orchard-adjacent Jazamango leading the way, and Santa Terra, a cosmopolitan oyster bar meets arts and entertainment venue concept, is in the process of adding multiple bars and restaurants, plus a glamping site and amphitheater, according to its developer, "without chopping down a single tree." - Nina Ruggiero

48. Udaipur, India

49. Wales, United Kingdom

50. Yucatán, Mexico

Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatán, has emerged as one of Mexico's most popular cities thanks to its lively restaurant scene, a busy calendar of cultural events, and a relaxed tropical atmosphere. Increasingly, however, travelers are venturing beyond the city to explore the state's unspoiled nature reserves, ancient Maya sites, and sprawling haciendas - a number now converted into hotels. Among the destinations that are drawing travelers to Yucatán are El Cuyo, a quiet beach town that was long a closely guarded secret of windsurfers. Now visitors can also enjoy gourmet Mexican fare at the El Chile Gordo restaurant and boho-chic lodgings at the new Casa Mate. In Espita, a charming colonial town near Valladolid, is the Casona los Cedros hotel which opened in summer 2021. Sisal, a historic port in the western part of the state, has attracted new interest since being named a Pueblo Mágico at the end of 2020. A new highway completed in April now connects Sisal to Hunucmá (and then beyond to Mérida) making it easier for beachcombers to visit, and perhaps spend the night at the cool Club de Patos. - John Newton

51. Bonus: Space

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Planning new adventures as a new year approaches is always a thrill, but finding the best places to visit in 2022 is unique. After two years of border closures, cruise cancellations, and travel restrictions galore, 2022 is the year we hope to get back out there, uninhibited (albeit vaccinated and COVID tested), return to our favorite destinations, and cross new ones off our lists.

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Worry can stop us from growing into the person we were born to be, it stops us from living the best version of our life.

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This simply wasn't my cup of tea. After the first 2-3 more or less helpful tips, it feels like all we get is a many (many!) stories from individuals, who - through a sudden epiphany - learned how to overcome worry and were cured of various deceases (stomach ulcers were a big favourite) and suddenly led a happy, fulfilled life. At the end of the book, my main impression was not that of a guide through worrying times and of sound advice but of the author hammering home his message of "do not worry ...more

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This simply wasn't my cup of tea. After the first 2-3 more or less helpful tips, it feels like all we get is a many (many!) stories from individuals, who - through a sudden epiphany - learned how to overcome worry and were cured of various deceases (stomach ulcers were a big favourite) and suddenly led a happy, fulfilled life.

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Listening to others stories can give us motivation to change the way we see things.

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Listen to this episode from A Change Mindset on Spotify. Welcome to A Change Mindset. Music by Tow'rs.

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This podcast series explores many areas ; physical health, mental health, wellness and diet.

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John Donahoe | Investing in Your Mental Wellness

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Listen to this episode from TRAINED on Spotify. How does the leader of the world's largest sports company navigate corporate life during an unprecedented year - while juggling being a father, husband, grandfather and friend? By practicing a skill not usually taught in business school: asking for support.

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Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve

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Carol Dweck researches "growth mindset" - the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that's slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it ...

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Learn how to create and sustain this type of love.

What Is Family Love?

The first love you ever know often comes from your mother and your immediate family members. This unconditional love seeks nothing in return. Those loving times you remember cuddling with your parents, playing ball with your brother in the backyard, or getting ice cream down the street with your grandmother aren't just cherished memories.

Family love psychologically grounds you and provides you a framework for future relationships. It enables you to form secure attachments. Securely attached children feel safe and cared for. If you had secure bonds, your parents were likely responsive and fulfilled your needs when you were young.

Having positive attachments and feeling cared for by your loved ones leads to higher social functioning later on. A child with secure attachments also can more easily form healthy ties with others when they grow up and throughout their future.

Benefits of Family Love

The advantages mentioned above regarding the fostering of secure attachments and higher social functioning aren't the only ones accrued by stable family relationships. When you feel safe, protected, and cared for during those crucial early years, you have a good framework for the world. The future outlook seems bright.

Living in a warm environment that is surrounded by family love generates other benefits including:

You gain confidence and a high sense of self-esteem.

You learn conflict resolution skills.

You learn about communication and social interactions.

You have good physical health (thanks to home-cooked healthy meals, regular exercise and play, and early bedtimes).

You become more resilient and adaptable as you and your family surmount challenges.

You feel like you have support when you need it.

You feel a sense of stability and predictability based on routine.

You don't have to do anything to earn family love. You have it unconditionally-just for being born.

Your childhood experiences and growth are seen in a positive light.

You also decrease the possibility that you'll have mental health challenges in the future.

Recent Research

A 2019 study showed that adults with higher levels of positive childhood experiences had lower odds of depression and/or poor mental health and greater adult-reported social and emotional support.

Estrangement From Family Members

Perhaps you didn't have an idyllic childhood and your parents weren't good role models. You might have chosen to distance yourself from them by choice. Or in later years, you preferred to strike out in a different direction than the one you were expected to follow.

Thus, rather than have tension and discomfort, you opted not to spend time with family.

What If Effects of the Pandemic Negatively Impacted Your Family?

During COVID-19, family dynamics often shifted. As a result of spending more time together, let's face it. Many of us became frustrated with each other. Some relationships frayed. Unable to escape to movies or to meet friends, you might have even grown resentful of your brother playing his music too loud or your cousin eating your favorite cereal on a daily basis.

Consequently, you may feel depleted and, to be frank, less than enamored with these people. Many confess they are more alienated from family members now than before the pandemic, although the whole family still remains under the same roof or in the same apartment building.

Recent research from Penn State showed because family members were stuck together for more time than they were used to, people's overall well-being began to suffer.

Others of us lived and worked across the country from our family. We couldn't travel to visit them or perhaps we couldn't give much time to loved ones. Maybe we felt guilty. Maybe we were relieved.

Disagreements over politics, wearing masks, and getting the vaccine strained family relationships. Perhaps you feel there won't be a return to the way things were before the pandemic and that's okay.

You can cope with estranged relationships and make peace with them through family therapy or individual therapy.

If you didn't have a wonderful family experience growing up or don't have one now, you still have agency in creating another kind of family. Family love can be found whether it's based on bloodline relationships or not.

Creating Family Love With Friends

Family love can be built with a group outside of your family, such as your friendship circle. Rest assured you don't have to be extremely close to your parents or siblings or children to have familial love.

For many people, their close friends aren't just "like family,"they are family. The important thing is to have close, meaningful relationships as they sustain us.

According to a scientific review of about 150 studies that included 300,000 participants, people with strong social ties have a 50% better chance of survival than those with weaker ties. This is regardless of age, sex, or health status.

While we can maintain ties through texting or quick phone calls to just check in, you might want to devote more attention to these important relationships in your life. We need to remember that having these close relationships is a significant aspect of good health.

Tips for Sustaining Family Relationships

Let's focus on easy ways to maintain these bonds; they matter deeply. Here are additional ways to nurture family love and significant relationships:

Make spending time with loved ones a priority.

Play games online regularly.

Practice better listening skills.

Write letters and send via snail mail.

Set up a regular weekend hour to chat at length.

Travel to your loved one's home.

Eat meals together.

Cook together in person or virtually.

Set up a weekly happy hour.

Join an exercise or weight lifting class together.

Join a recreational sports team together.

Volunteer together for a charity you both admire.

Be sensitive and caring.

Tell your loved ones you love them.

Express your gratitude to them, which not only will make them happy but makes you happier.

Use non-verbal expressions like eye contact, smiles, and affectionate embraces.

Hugs are important as we need physical touch as human beings. In fact, during a warm and welcome hug, the hormone oxytocin is released, which slows down our heart rate, reduces stress, and lowers anxiety. In addition, the brain also releases endorphins that flood us with feelings of pleasure and happiness.

There are many benefits of belonging to a supportive family network. It's an integral part of physical and mental well-being. Begin to focus your time and attention on those you love. Soon you'll be creating fun times and happy memories.

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The first love you ever know often comes from your mother and your immediate family members. This unconditional love seeks nothing in return. Those loving times you remember cuddling with your parents, playing ball with your brother in the backyard, or getting ice cream down the street with your grandmother aren't just cherished memories.

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According to the Greeks, to be in love you must experience all types of love concurrently.

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By: Michael Arangua

Updated September 10, 2020

Medically Reviewed By: Avia James
Talk To A Licensed Therapist With BetterHelp Source: pixabay.com
The words "I love you" can be said to many people, and the meaning varies widely. When we tell someone we love them we might mean it in an entirely different way than we would tell someone else those same words. Being "in love" and "feeling love" is not the same thing. Many people struggle to define love. This can be because of childhood abuse, or because their parents did not show love in the normal way. It can also have to do with the person you love; we're all guilty of sending mixed feelings which is why some people may not be sure that what they're experiencing is the "right" kind of love for that person.
Romantic Vs. Platonic Love
The biggest difference between types of love is that of romantic love vs. platonic love. Romantic love is the feelings you would have for a partner or spouse. While they may not necessarily be sexual, there is a sexual element to them and a physical intimacy that is not usually present in any other type of love. Platonic love does not have sexual feelings. With sexuality being a very open subject these days many people are comfortable having "friends with benefits" situations which can blur this line.

The addition of physical intimacy to platonic feelings does not mean love, it simply means that you continue to have a friendship but scratch a physical itch with that friend rather than using a romantic partner. There could be many reasons why, but it will never progress into romantic love.
Friendship
We often say that we "love" our friends but it's meant in an entirely different way than we would love a romantic partner. Friend love is platonic love. It's a love that means you care for someone, they are important to you, and you are connected to them emotionally but you do not have romantic feelings for them. Depending on the type of friendship you have you may be physical with each other (hugs, cheek kisses, etc.) but most instances are fully clothed or on areas of the body which do not have a sexual connection.

Friendly love can also be the love experienced with camaraderie or a connection through people at work. This might not be "love" but a shared connection that could blossom into friendship love if it was continued over time.
Familial Love
People who we are related to or who we spend a lot of time with tend to be quite close. If they are close as your family, you may feel familial love for them. This type of love is very strong and protective. You do not feel romantic feelings for these people, but you do feel a type of connection that is different than people who are simply "friends." Familial love is very relaxed and comfortable; you may be more open with someone you feel familial love for because there is also a deep amount of trust there. Familial love can be frustrating at times because you may feel familial love but have bad experiences with that person which can make it conflicting.

Familial love is the first type of love we experience and if it is not in a healthy way it can affect how we give and receive love as we get older.
Source: rawpixel.com Being "In Love."
When you're in love, you have strong feelings. Romantic love is powerful and can take over your world. It's quiet, understanding, caring, protective, and many other adjectives. When you're in love, you think about your partner a lot and will also spend time with them. You may buy them little gifts, compliment them, and want to plan a future with them. When you're in love, you'll also feel strong physical urges towards them. Biologically, romantic love is designed to create a bond that eventually leads to children through the physical act of love.
Physical Love
The physical act of love is biologically hard-wired into us. We are designed for procreation and to mate and produce children. There are many physical expressions of love, but sex is by far the culmination of these. While it is possible to have sex without having feelings for the person that does not love when you love someone sex becomes more about connection than about physical urges.
The 7 Types Of Love
According to the ancient Greeks, there are seven types of recognizable love, however, to be in love you must experience all seven concurrently.
Eros
This is physical love. It is passionate, and the closest description is romantic love. Eros or Cupid was a god of love who was blindfolded to indicate that "love is blind." Eros love is consuming and is considered connected to our life force and part of survival. Eros love is something we do not have any control over; it controls us. It is needy, dependent, controlling, and powerful. Eros is also deeply connected to lust because of this.
Philia
This is the love of friendship. Philia is friendship founded on mutual goodness and understanding. According to Plato, the best type of love is philia because it is trusting and dependable. It may transform into Eros over time but can also exist on its own. Friends who experience philia act as confidants and have a lot of insight about each other.
Storge
This is a subset of philia which is only for familial relations like parents, children, or siblings. Storage is different because it is related to dependency and familiarity rather than chosen through mutual feeling. We do not choose to experience storge; it's simply part of our relationship with that person.
Talk To A Licensed Therapist With BetterHelp Source: pixabay.com Agape
This is an ambiguous love and relates more to enjoyment than an actual bond. Agape is often used to describe a person's relationship with God, or with things they appreciate. It's altruistic and is a sign of good mental health. Agape describes the happiness you feel when a song you enjoy comes on the radio or your appreciation of a, particularly beautiful sunset. It is the love we feel for our surroundings, our place in the world, etc. It is unconditional love.
Ludus
Ludus is about enjoying the moment. It is playful love. It can be confused for eros which is often the case of unrequited love, but it is strictly platonic like philia. Ludus is casual, fun, and can be long lasting like in the case of close friendships. It is a shared experience without the pressure of eros or the physical urges that accompany it. Ludus requires time to grow and mature, it is a following on of philia beyond the initial friendship stage.
Pragma
This is a type of romantic love where the relationship has transcended the physical need and moved on from the powerful urges that accompany the beginning of a relationship. Pragma is about compatibility and steadiness. It is about shared interests and compatibility that often blooms out of arranged marriages where eros doesn't exist. Unlike Ludus, pragma is not about fun or enjoyment but connection alone. In pragma relationships, partners understand that there are things they don't like about the other but choose to ignore them in favor of the things they do enjoy.
Philautia
This is self-love. It's something most people struggle with as it can cause hubris and it can also cause deep inner struggle. It is connected to confidence, self-esteem, and people who struggle with philautia tend to have problems with addictions.
Source: pixabay.com

What Are The Four Different Kinds Of Love?

The Greeks thought that there were four different kinds of love, which are love Agape, love Storge, love Philia, and love Eros. Out of these types of love, Agape love is unconditional love. It is the love of God. Storge is found in family. It is the affectionate love shared by parents and children. Philia is friendship love, and can be known as Philia affectionate love as well. Eros is passionate and romantic love. Romantic partners can experience it, and it is based on sexual attraction and sexual passion. These and some other kinds constitute different types of love.

Please note that for the different types of love, there are different methods of execution. For instance, the Eros deals more with passionate erotic love, unlike the other types of love. Eros is the Ancient Greeks term for the Greek god of love. A kind of love like the Eros may also be unconditional love. Unconditional love simply implies a love without any form of limitations. To know more, read up the great article on the different types of love. Also check out information on love languages, which can tell you the different ways that you love in a relationship.

The highest form of love is said to be the Agape love of God, which is a spiritual love. It is one of the many types of love. It is God's love, and it is that kind of love that is totally selfless. Agape arises from an ancient Greco-Christian term, which means it's a word that was used by the Ancient Greeks. Agape is unconditional love. Typically, it is used to express selfless love between human beings and God. On most occasions, Agape love could be mixed up with Philia, brotherly love, or philautia. Agape love originates from God to mankind. The concept of Agape is normally widely examined in Christianity and other religions. Check out the great article on "What are the different types of love?" to help out. The article explains each kind of love and what it entails.

You can tell between a love and a crush. There are different types of love; however, love lasts for a long time while crush is temporary. Love is a bit jealous, but crush is obsessive love. Crush is very short-lived. It's more of an infatuation for someone. Most of the time, this infatuation or obsessive love is usually impossible or inappropriate. A crush is normally a very strong feeling of attraction. It springs up due to someone's appearance or the person's general posture. However, a crush may lead to healthy relationships, or enduring love, as you get to know someone you are crushing on. On the other hand, a crush may end abruptly and not result in Eros romantic love.

On the other hand, love is a little in the long term. The feeling of love is never inappropriate, unless it is a mania obsessive love, which would generally mean that both people in a relationship may not feel the same way about each other. It's also never an infatuation to love someone. Love accepts the feelings of attraction and stays on for a very long time. In other words, love doesn't have an expiration date. Love is not some form of survival instinct; it deals with physical desires, physical touch, and a lot more. Looking into love languages can tell you whether you are experiencing love or a crush.

Love is love, no matter which one out of the different types of love. It is neither easy nor hard. It should be filled with fun, understanding, mutual, kind, and altogether beautiful. Relationships, though, are hard work. It can take a lot of time and energy to get the kind of love that you want out of a relationship. However, love should come easy. It's important that you know love is a sacrifice that is way beyond sexual desires. You may want to look into love languages, to determine what your love language is. This is simply the way that you give and receive love.

In the early stages of a relationship, romantic partners may find it easy to love in the early stages of love. There are complications sometimes. On some occasions, people may fall out of love. For relationships, there are usually some ups and downs. So, love is meant to come easy, but relationships may need a little work to keep the fire burning. If you have some issues, don't hesitate to find a therapist. There are so many unseen advantages that come when you find a therapist. When you find a therapist, you can talk things through and explain how you really feel. You could also read up the great article on the different types of love to help out. You can also talk to a professional about any relationship problems that you may be experiencing or have them talk to you about love languages.

The word love means a strong feeling of affection. Out of the different types of love, selfless love means loving other people, not minding your personal needs. There is no ulterior motive in selfless love. It is true love and the kind of love that many people would like to experience. So, selfless love goes beyond sexual desire. It involves far much more than the physical body. Selfless love is a type of enduring love that is unconditional. There's no sort of survival instinct when dealing with selfless love. In a selfless love, you don't have any weird expectation; you are free of obsession. Overall selfless love is a perfect example of what unconditional love really means. You are in a state where you can do anything for that person. At this point, you can give the person anything he or she requires. This may be the type of love felt between spouses, or between a mother and child. Think about how you avoid things that your husband hates, or how you buy a special food for your child. These are examples of selfless love.

The purest form of love is sacrifice. It is the expression of selflessness, and it is far may more than anything related to the physical body. Sacrifice goes beyond what most people imagine. In a selfless love, there can be times where you experience an overwhelming type of love. Unlike other kinds of love, selflessness doesn't care about what it gains or whether it is worth it. For instance, a partner may sacrifice his entire time for you to make you feel better. Selfless love is not a form of obsessive love. It is one of the truest and purest forms of love. Lovers with selfless love often say affirmative words for love. If you are being selfless in your relationship, you likely want to understand your partner better and are striving for a deep emotional connection. Sacrifice can also be experienced by people that have had a loving relationship for a long period of time.

God's love is called Agape love. It is not similar to the different types of love. It is the unconditional love of God. It reaches out to everyone in the world because it is universal love. According to Christianity, Greeks thought God's love is the only kind of love that doesn't fail or falter. The word Agape arises from the Ancient Greeks and refers to Agape unconditional love. It's a Greco-Christian term that implies the love of God for all of mankind. Agape is widely considered and examined by both Christianity and all other religions. This means everyone has Agape unconditional love.

The ancient Greek philosophy describes love with some words. The 7 Greek love words are Eros, Ludus, Philia, Storge, Philautia, Pragma, and Agape. Eros is romantic love, while Ludus is playful love. Philia is brotherly love, while love Storge is a subset of Philia. Philia affectionate love can also be describing what friendship. Storge is affectionate love among family members. Philautia refers to self-love. Pragma is everlasting love, and Agape is the unconditional love of God. All of these terms were used by the Ancient Greeks to describe love.

Here are some helpful tips to uncrush your crush. A crush sometimes means a loss of control, in the fact that you don't know why you are crushing on someone, so you will need to take control back. To do this, talk about it, let it out, feel the pain, and let it go. Another tip is to cut yourself off all communication media. Spending more time doing what you enjoy will also make you forget about them. A beautiful tip again is to meet new people. With time, you will get over your crush. If it seems to be difficult, you might need to find a therapist, when you're ready.

You know you are in love when your feelings are influenced by the feelings of your partner. Depending on your love language, you may begin to act differently towards someone. You might engage in physical touch or expect to receive love back from them. You feel so high at the thought or mention of their name. You also may not be able to stop looking at them. You say sweet things to them in ways you cannot explain. You might not be able to explain the love you feel for them. These are telltale signs that you are in love.

However, there are still two sides to it. When you're in love with someone, you will start to see more in the person. Sometimes you may start to observe an extension of yourself in that person. So, when they are excited, you may also become so excited. When they feel sad or down, you also aren't happy. So, at the end of the day, you try your best to comfort them even when you feel just the way they feel. If you have any issues, don't hesitate to find a therapist that can help. A therapist may be able to help you understand your partner better, prevent emotional blackmail, and help you navigate modern love through all the stages of a relationship. Check out sites on love languages too, which can show you additional information about falling in love and how you may express it.

Some studies show that it lasts for as long as it takes for him to find another person to crush on. Most times, it takes an average of four months for a man to keep a crush. After that period of four months, a man typically assumes that the relationship is love. A crush is a strong combination of infatuation and idealization, sometimes related to a woman's physical body. If a crush lasts for up to two years, the brain chemicals can cause some serious damages, and, in some cases, it may give complete satisfaction depending on how you see it. If your crush lasts for over two years, it's best to find a therapist. When you find a therapist, you will find some help. If you feel like you are experiencing a crush and not love, and it gives you social anxiety, or sometimes leads to emotional blackmail, consider working with a therapist as soon as possible, so you can find a more familiar love or a healthier relationship.

Love languages may determine what true love feels like for you. You may want to engage in physical touch or buy them little gifts. You have strong feelings for them and will also want to spend time with them. In fact, you may want to spend all your time and energy on them. You feel so safe and free when you have true love. It is possible to experience this different type of love. True love is very similar to selfless love; you would want anything and everything for your partner. The great thing about true love is the assurance of the way the other party sees you. True love is a familiar type of love that should last for a long period of time. There will a specific type of love catalyst flying around when there's that kind of love.

A catalyst is anything that speeds up action. A love catalyst is an element that speeds up the feeling of love. When a love catalyst acts, there is a part of oneself that builds your experience with a type of love. So, once there is that part of you created by the love catalyst, you will tend to keep falling in love with that person. In no way is true love affiliated to obsessive love. For example, a love catalyst acts on self-love through the soul. As for affectionate love, the love catalyst works through the mind.

True love cannot fade away easily. It lasts long and remains for almost forever. Agape love, which is unconditional love is an example of true love. True love is long term and does not vanish. It is one of the forms of love that stands the test of time. In essence, true love is a very strong and long-lasting feeling that develops between couples or lovers. On most occasions, those relationships are usually happy, fulfilling, and passionate. So, it's a myth that true love fades away. Most times, the case may be that you were never really in love with that person. For example, if you find your husband hates everything you do, or everything about you, you might want to rethink if you are experiencing true love, or if you just need to work on your love language with each other. You can never fall in deep and unconditional love with a person unless there is a level of familiarity. If you feel you need to find a therapist to help, please don't hesitate to take a step. When you find a therapist, they can help you through it all and help you work on love languages in your relationship.

Love is beyond feelings. It may begin with feelings or physical attraction, but it is a choice you have to make every day of life. Sometimes a love catalyst may be of help. A love catalyst simply fastens the process of love; sometimes, a love catalyst improves the state of love in lovers or couples. You may not have that feeling of falling in love every day, but you need to stand by your choice to love your partner each day. Remember that a relationship could start off on Eros and Ludus but may end up revolving into Pragma. Yet, it is yours to choose. The Ancient Greeks were able to put different types of love into various categories, which may be harder to do in real life. This is why you might want to do some research into love languages, and the Ancient Greeks when you are trying to learn more about all the types of love.

Love is a choice. Unlike feelings, you have to decide and choose to love someone for the rest of your life, especially if you are married to that person. On most occasions, a love catalyst may help in developing your love for your partner. For you to keep love alive, you have to work to make that happen. The Greeks thought that they had love figured out, so you may want to start doing the same.

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What Are The Different Types Of Love? | Betterhelp

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By: Michael Arangua Updated September 10, 2020 Medically Reviewed By: Avia James Talk To A Licensed Therapist With BetterHelp Source: pixabay.com The words "I love you" can be said to many people, and the meaning varies widely. When we tell someone we love them we might mean it in an entirely different way than we would tell someone else those same words.

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8 Ways Successful People Spend Their Free Time 

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It's common to see successful people in their element; you see them at peak productivity, working long hours, and showing off the talents that make them great.

But what do they do in their free time, when they aren't actively pursuing their goals?

It probably won't surprise you to learn that how people spend their free time matters almost as much as how they spend their working hours.

Qualities of Effective Free Time

Successful people aren't all the same, of course. They enjoy a wide variety of different hobbies and lifestyles. But the hallmarks of "effective" free time spending almost always include some or all of these qualities:

Education. Successful people never stop learning. They're always eager to get the latest news related to their industry, and want to stay ahead of broader trends. But they also want to learn about other subjects, and expand their skillset-it's what makes them well-rounded enough to think in new and innovative ways.

Health and fitness. Most successful people also spend time improving their health and fitness. Better fitness often leads to better thinking and higher productivity; it also cultivates self-discipline.

Relaxation. Successful people aren't constantly doing hard things in their free time; they're also relaxing. Taking vacations and genuinely relaxing with friends and loved ones can relieve stress and set you up for better focus and clarity in the future.

Socialization. Socialization is vital for your mental and emotional health. Without it, even the most independent people can suffer from loneliness and depression. Socialization is also a gateway to network and meet new people, who can help you succeed in countless ways.

Examples of How Successful People Spend Their Free Time

These are just some examples of hobbies, habits, and activities that successful people enjoy when they aren't working:

1. Meditation

The benefits of meditation are well-documented, and countless successful entrepreneurs swear by the process. Even 15 minutes per day of focusing on the present moment and clearing your thoughts can bring you introspection, inner peace, and clearer thinking. Incorporate it into your daily routine.

2. Physical exercise

Physical exercise keeps you in shape, reduces your susceptibility to illness, increases your perceived energy, boosts productivity, and is a perfect opportunity to talk to other people. Best of all, there are countless ways to do it. Run, power walk, bike, lift weights, swim, row, or kickbox-what you do doesn't matter as much as the fact that you're doing it.

3. Reading and podcasts

It shouldn't surprise you to learn that most successful people spend a lot of their free time reading books and listening to podcasts. They stay plugged into the latest developments in a number of fields, and are constantly hungry for new information. Try to find an author or a podcast host you like, and go down the rabbit hole to discover untold depths of new content. Then try to get new content recommendations from people you respect and admire.

4. Vacations

Traveling the world to see and experience new places, cultures, foods, and experiences is not just fun; it's a fantastic way to expand your mind and recharge from burnout. Personally, it's my favorite way to spend my free time, but I can't do it all the time because it's quite expensive. Nonetheless, it's important to travel to different places that make you happy, and make memories that will last a lifetime.

5. Classes

Similarly, many successful people go out of their way to take classes in their free time. They might learn about subjects related to their industry, but it's more common for them to take classes in novel areas. They want to push the limits of their own understanding and think in creative ways; only exposure to new disciplines can cultivate this.

6. Time with family and friends

There's a collective illusion that most successful people spend all their time at the office, sacrificing time with friends and family or forgoing personal relationships altogether. However, most "truly" successful people spend much of their free time building those bonds up. You can accomplish far more, and be far happier, with a network of loved ones who support you.

7. Creative pursuits

Many studies confirm that doing art, and engaging in creative activities, can improve brain function and increase your capacity for creative thinking. It's no wonder, then, that so many successful people spend some of their free time with creative hobbies. They paint, they learn to play musical instruments, they creatively write, and they make short films; whatever mediums they choose, they always stay stimulated.

8. Volunteering

Finally, the most successful people spend time volunteering. Volunteering is a perfect way to give back to the community who helped you become a success in the first place. It's also a great opportunity to meet other like-minded people, and depending on where and how you volunteer, you can spend time outside and/or exercise at the same time.

How do Successful People Free Up Their Time?

These are the different ways successful people free up time from their busy schedule:

1. Waking up early. The most successful people usually start their day early. Many agree that it's the best time to get work done. There are hardly any distractions, and for many people (myself included), productivity is usually at its peak early in the morning.

2. Using technology. Successful people know how to reduce redundancy in their day to day routines, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to use productivity-enhancing tools or apps.

3. Prioritizing tasks. Successful people prioritize tasks and delegate non-essential tasks.

4. Working remotely. Studies show that 66% of professionals say their productivity improves when they're not in an office and 76% say there are fewer distractions outside of offices. Furthermore, a CoSo Cloud survey found that WFH employees save as much as $5,240 per year on commute costs by working from home. That money can be put toward a vacation or any of the other items on the list above!

Doing these activities doesn't mean you're going to be successful, and being successful doesn't mean you partake in these activities. However, there are elements of these activities-like relaxation, learning, and socializing-that need to be a part of your life. Learn from them, and try to optimize your free time to serve you well.

Image: Depositphotos.com

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8 Ways Successful People Spend Their Free Time - Small Business Trends

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It's common to see successful people in their element; you see them at peak productivity, working long hours, and showing off the talents that make them great. But what do they do in their free time, when they aren't actively pursuing their goals?

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Whether its a play, a nightclub or a concert, get out of the house and do something.

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Eventbrite - Discover the Best Local Events & Things to Do

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HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Congruence: Designing your work and life. It comes down to making good choices, consistent with your compass, and what you value.
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HIGHLIGHTS: 1. Congruence: Designing your work and life. It comes down to making good choices, consistent with your compass, and what you value.- Point of impact: from personal to the global.- Type of impact: renew - repair- sustain - support new-new. - Moneymaking, impact making, expression making.- Maximizing reality.- Strategy: Retreat.

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Chiropractor By Jesse Chappus, D.C.

Jesse Chappus, D.C., is a chiropractor. He holds a Master's Degree from The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, Ontario and a Bachelor's Degree in Human Kinetics from the University of Windsor.

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15 Simple Tips To Balance Mind, Body & Soul

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Chiropractor By Jesse Chappus, D.C. Jesse Chappus, D.C., is a chiropractor. He holds a Master's Degree from The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, Ontario and a Bachelor's Degree in Human Kinetics from the University of Windsor.

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Learning how to do what you love is key to fulfillment in life Posted by: Team Tony

You've heard the old saying, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." In many ways, this saying is true. If you're passionate about what you do and you're putting your focus and energy into it , you won't feel like you're working. Yet many people use this ideology as an excuse. Why put time and effort into something if you don't love it?

The truth is, if you love what you do for a living, you probably started out by taking small steps to reach that goal. Most people don't enter their careers and immediately have a passion for business. What is the IT factor these people have in common? Purpose. If you use your own sense of purpose to inform your professional decisions and progress, you will end up teaching yourself how to do what you love. To really be true to your purpose as it relates to your life's work, which is key to building a career in which you truly love what you do, then you need to ask yourself, "What is my inner potential, and what are my deepest talents?" By exploring questions that push you to discover your identity, and what you care about the most, you'll find your truth: that you must first understand what your true gift is in order to find fulfillment in your career.

As Tony Robbins says, "Change is automatic, but progress is not. If you want to make progress, you need a plan, a strategy and ongoing habits to get the results you want." We'll break down these components and discuss how they're necessary if you want to do what you love and love what you do.

Learning how to do what you love

If you're overwhelmed by the prospect of making drastic changes to do what you love for a living, take baby steps. Getting to know yourself is the first step in learning to love what you do. Here are some ways to get in touch with what inspires you.

1. Focus on your strengths

2. Find your passions

The next step in developing a career in which you love what you do is in thinking clearly about your purpose . What empowers you ? What do you wish you could wake up and do every day? These answers must fall in line with what your strengths are. For some people, the ability to do what you love means helping others. For a different person, it's expressing their thoughts and feelings creatively. Others value travel or spending time with their family. Once you've really thought about what living an extraordinary life looks like for you, consider how you'll achieve it.

3. Talk to a career counselor

Working with a career counselor is an excellent way to fine-tune your career path. Career counselors are trained to guide clients in the best possible direction toward self-actualization. A skilled career counselor evaluates your skills, background, inspirations and personality traits to help customize a course of action to do what you love.

4. Build your network

5. Save money

Implementing a strategy to love what you do

You've already put in the leg work necessary to do what you love. Your next step is creating a strategy for getting there. This is your action plan for learning how to do what you love and love what you do.

1. To love what you do, strategize wisely

2. Develop positive habits

Developing positive habits will also help you create a harmonious work-life balance , which will in turn enhance your feelings of contentment once you are in a career in which you love what you do. How does harmonizing your personal and professional lives enhance your career? Research demonstrates that it is work-life balance, not money, autonomy or even recognition, which ultimately drives career success . Specifically, a survey of 4,100 business executives from medium-to-large firms in 33 countries revealed that, when employees are able to balance their professional and personal lives, they engage far more readily with the tasks at hand (and the team with which they collaborate) than employees who are overworked. This sense of work-life balance results not only in fewer departures from a given company but also in employees feeling like they "have it all" in terms of holistic life fulfillment. Take their cue and work to harmonize your work life with your personal life.

3. Increase your passion for business by falling in love with your clients

Being able to do what you love for a living is possible, but it takes time. Decide today to start working toward your goals, and realize that there are many steps along the way between where you begin and where you want to be. Most importantly, cultivate habits that fill your life with joy as you travel down the path to success.

4. Give yourself credit for wanting to do what you love

Making change takes courage, and that's exactly what you're doing when you take strides to do what you love. Instead of taking the easy way out and settling for the status quo, you've taken the high road to build a life that inspires you.

5. Appreciate your mistakes

Learning how to do what you love is a process. Resist the temptation to look at your current career as a failure or mistake. Instead, look at it as a source of information - on what you want to be doing for a living, the strengths you developed in the course of your job(s) and the network you've built. When you're able to learn from your mistakes without beating yourself up over them (or throwing in the towel), every step you take is a step toward a life where you love what you do.

Team Tony

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How to Do What You Love and Love What You Do | Tony Robbins

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Learning how to do what you love is key to fulfillment in life Posted by: Team Tony You've heard the old saying, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." In many ways, this saying is true.

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There's a reason Hollywood loves to make movies about independent women (Eat, Pray Love and, for example): They're relatable, moving, inspiring, and not afraid to do something solo. But you don't have to wait for a life-changing experience to get started when there are plenty of amazing things you can do by yourself.

In a study by the British Journal of Psychology, scientists found that highly intelligent people became less satisfied the more time they spent with friends. In other words, spending some quality time with yourself is good for your overall well-being and results in greater life satisfaction. When you're doing something solo, you can go at your own pace, think and reflect, discover new things about yourself, and improve your self-esteem.

With all of the relationships you may have in your life, it probably seems impossible to get alone time - but it's important to make room for some. Here are 43 things every woman should do alone at least once in her life:

1. Go to a concert.

If an artist you love is playing a venue near you, buy yourself a ticket even if no one else wants to tag along. Attending a show on your own allows you the freedom to plan your night the way you want. Don't want to see the opener? Arrive late. Did he already sing all your favorite songs? Go home early. Should you sing along to the music at the top of your lungs? Absolutely, especially if you're surrounded by strangers.

2. Visit a museum.

Strolling at your own pace through the different exhibits you've been dying to see on your own can be liberating. With no one around to rush you through, you can take your time to appreciate the artwork around you without hearing, " Mom, can we leave now?"

3. Gaze at the stars.

An open, star-studded sky works well to put things into perspective. Grab a blanket and head to a spot where you'll have the best visibility. Instead of running through your to-do list for the next day or worrying about the fight you had with your significant other, try to unwind by focusing on the beauty above you instead.

4. Teach yourself a new instrument.

Have you always wanted to learn to play guitar? The violin? The flute? Here's your chance. Check your local thrift store to see if you can buy an instrument secondhand, then head to YouTube for free, beginner-level lessons.

5. People watch.

Grab a coffee and head to a place in town that gets heavy foot traffic - your favorite park, your local art museum, or even the cafe you like to frequent. Let your imagination run wild as you concoct backstories for the people walking past you.

6. Go kayaking.

Considering there's only room for one person in most kayaks, this water activity is perfect to do on your own - as long as you consider yourself an experienced kayaker, that is. If you've been paddling out onto lakes with your friends for years, consider spending a few hours exploring alone. Kayaking on your own is empowering: You'll learn to trust yourself, your body, and your decisions.

7. Wake up early to watch the sunrise.

Everyone deserves to start the day with something beautiful. Whether you hike to a local vista that gets a great view of the horizon or just kick back in your backyard with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, taking some time to be alone with your thoughts can be the perfect way to prepare for a long day.

8. Learn a new language.

Exercise your brain muscles by teaching yourself to speak a language you've always been interested in learning. There are so many resources available online that vary in intensity, depending on how much time you have to dedicate. For instance, Rosetta Stone offers in-depth learning software in 24 different languages that range in subscription length, from six months to two years, while Duolingo's free app offers bite-sized lessons daily in your language of choice.

9. Lay on the beach.

Spend a glorious morning with your toes in the sand and your nose buried in a book - without your kids. Though you may love frolicking in the waves with them, you'll benefit from taking some time away to soak up the sun and recharge without stressfully scanning the shoreline to make sure they're safe.

10. Try a new workout class.

Whether it's cycling, kickboxing, or HIIT, chances are there's a group exercise class you've been dying to try. Though you're showing up solo, you'll experience the evidence-based benefits of working out with a group, like the positive effects it has on social bonding, pain tolerance, and athletic performance. What does this mean? More calories burned for you, and a check off of your bucket list.

11. Experiment in the kitchen.

Some of us are born chefs, while others struggle to whip up tasty meals in the kitchen. Cooking - alone - gives you the time to experiment with different recipes and sharpen your skills, and you won't have your significant other complaining about burnt bread in the background.

12. Have a spa day.

While more research is needed to confirm the benefits of getting a massage, this form of self-care may be helpful for anxiety, depression, and headaches, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

13. Get organized.

If your basement is practically unrecognizable beneath a mountain toys, laundry, and cleaning supplies, it's time to get organized. Clutter can lead to stress and impact your productivity, so make sure you give yourself some alone time to clean up. Plus, it's way more meditative of a task than you realize.

14. Meditate.

Speaking of meditation ... there's more evidence now than ever that meditation is beneficial for your mental and physical health. According to Everyday Health, meditation can improve concentration, reduce stress, prevent cognitive decline, and keep your brain healthy and alert as you age.

15. Travel solo.

Take a cue from Eat, Pray, Love and plan a solo trip. At the end of the movie, Julia Roberts finds the love of her life because she spent the first part of the movie traveling the world alone in order to find herself. It doesn't matter how far you go ( try a staycation!) or what you do while you're there, as long as you challenge yourself a bit, create some memories, and have a blast while doing it.

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16. Take up a new hobby.

Life is short and now is the time to do that thing you've always dreamed of doing, whether it's knitting, photography, or gardening. Plus, when you have something fun to look forward to, you'll be motivated to plan more alone time for yourself in the future.

17. Take yourself to a really nice dinner.

Eating dinner in a restaurant by yourself is a real test of confidence. Yes, it's intimidating to dine alone, but it's also the ultimate way to let the world know that you're a confident lady who can do anything by herself.

18. Create a list of life goals.

It's not about putting pressure on yourself to check off the boxes, it's about stretching yourself to go further than you ever thought you could.

19. Go to the movies.

Get away from the stress of work, family, and the business of everyday life by escaping to a movie theater where you can get lost in the story.

20. Read a book.

If your New Year's resolution is to spend some more time reading, add reading 10 pages a day to your nighttime routine once the kids fall asleep.

21. Take a class.

Whether it's art, a musical instrument, or a dance class, trying something new will help you learn new skills, make friends, and gain confidence - it's that simple.

22. Take on a home improvement project.

The thrill you'll get when you walk past that upcycled piece of furniture, freshly painted room, or remodeled outdoor patio knowing you did it all by yourself will be soworth it - you'll feel ready to tackle whatever's next.

23. Get lost.

Take a drive, go on a walk, or get lost in an inspiring book. Literally or metaphorically, this is what life's about. And when you do find your way home (you always will), you'll feel like an entirely new person - stronger, wiser, and self-sufficient.

24. Bake a cake - and eat it.

Usually you eat cake with a group for a special occasion. But this time, make a cake - and eat a big slice of it - for no other reason than to celebrate yourself. And don't spend one second feeling guilty about it!

25. Figure out your mantra.

Every woman needs one. It's that phrase you say over and over in your head when you need to summon some courage. Here's a powerful one to consider: "Don't be scared to walk alone, don't be scared to like it." (Yes, those are song lyrics.)

26. Take some time to reflect on religion.

Whether it's in a church or under a tree in your backyard, ponder faith, religion, God, and the purpose of life - and do some digging so you know you're forming your own opinion without input from family, friends, or peers. You can't really own your opinions unless it's something you choose to believe, verses just believing in something because you were raised by those beliefs.

27. Take a long drive by yourself.

Blast your favorite tunes and drive off into the sunset. There's something so relaxing and thrilling about driving alone, with the windows down and the music up.

28. Take a hike.

Surround yourself by nature and go somewhere tranquil to be alone with your thoughts. You'll feel rejuvenated and inspired.

29. Relax in your own house.

Being alone at home is probably a pretty rare occurrence. Between kids running around, family stopping by, and your husband blasting the TV, wouldn't it be nice to be alone in your house for once? Send the family off to do something fun together, unwind with a glass of wine, and put your phone on silent.

30. Treat yourself.

Sometimes we get caught up in the business of work and family obligations that decades can go by in a split second - and we may realize that we never had certain experience we wanted to have. Perhaps it's that family heritage trip you've always wanted to take, or going to a Celine Dion concert. Make it a point to treat yourself to something you've always wanted, and don't ask for permission. You work hard for everyone in your life. You've earned it.

31. Unplug.

Turn off your phone, computer, TV, and everything else so that you can simply be alone with your thoughts. In fact, this is something you should do regularly by yourself.

32. Do all the embarrassing things you like to do when no one is around.

Want to dance around the house in your underwear, while singing along to your favorite song using your hairbrush as a microphone? Or want to sob through a sad, romantic movie while eating some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream? Whatever it is - do it!

33. Act like a kid.

Do something you haven't done since you were a kid. Maybe it's playing on a swing set, roller blading, or going to a carnival. It will make you feel young and carefree again.

34. Volunteer.

Sometimes it may feel like you're struggling in your personal life, work life, and family life, but in reality, there's someone out there that is less fortunate then you. Taking the time to give back is both humbling and eye-opening, and you don't need a buddy to do it. It's a great way to show yourself that you have what it takes to make a difference. Plus, doing good makes you feel good.

35. Create a piece of art.

Maybe you've never thought of yourself as the "artistic type," but everyone has a creative side. Experiment with paint, make a piece of jewelry, or craft something you saw on Pinterest - all of these activities will sharpen your creative abilities, which in turn will improve your problem solving skills and give you a fresh perspective on life.

36. Accomplish a fitness goal.

At least once in our lives, we should achieve some sort of athletic feat, whether it's finishing a 5K, completing an entire season on an intramural team, or learning a new sport. This is something you'll look back on and feel great about, which will give you an instant boost of confidence to tackle whatever lies ahead of you. Checking off that athletic goal will make you say, "I did that, now I can do anything."

37. Continue your education.

You can always learn something new, and if it's been awhile since you've found yourself in a classroom, don't worry. Just pick up a new book, register for a free online class, or listen to a podcast. Learning new skills and information will remind you just how smart and capable you really are.

38. Write a letter.

Yup, a real letter - not an email. Reach out to someone who made an impact on your life and let them know in the form of a heartfelt letter. No one gets to the end of her life and regrets showing love or gratitude. What people do regret are the things they never said. Don't be that person.

39. Complete a random act of kindness.

You, all alone, by yourself can make a huge impact on a stranger's life. Even if you don't instantly - or ever - see the impact you made, you can rest assured that you made a difference.

40. Explore your hometown like a tourist.

When you've lived somewhere your whole life, it can be hard to see the things that make your town truly special. Act like a tourist for a day in your own hometown by researching the city to find out what special attractions it has, its best restaurants, and its best parks. Wander around your town with a plan to see everything (or as much as you can) that makes it special. You'll see it in a way you never have before.

41. Have a drink at a bar.

Going to a bar might seem like a uniquely social thing to do, but it doesn't have to be. Instead of gathering up your best girlfriends to meet for a night out, have a night out by yourself at your favorite local watering hole. Try a cocktail you've never had but have always wanted to, and spend the evening people watching or chatting with the bartender.

42. Pick out some jewelry.

Treat yourself to a piece that's as unique as you are. Have fun trying things on, perusing the cases, and day dreaming about your favorite shiny objects. If you find something you love that's in your budget, give yourself permission to indulge, and every time you wear it you'll be thankful for yourself.

43. Go to an amusement park.

Looking for some adventure? Go to an amusement park and channel your inner kid. Ride whatever rides you want without having to worry whether your friends want to do. If you're drawn to the biggest roller coaster, ride it! If you're more into the marry-go-round, go for it! If you're really just interested in taste testing every carnival snack (funnel cake, deep-fried Twinkies, and corn dogs - oh my!), then eat to your heart's content.

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43 Fun Things Everyone Needs to Experience on Their Own At Least Once

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There's a reason Hollywood loves to make movies about independent women (Eat, Pray Love and, for example): They're relatable, moving, inspiring, and not afraid to do something solo. But you don't have to wait for a life-changing experience to get started when there are plenty of amazing things you can do by yourself.

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Ever say to yourself, "If I could just figure out what I'm really passionate about, everything else will take off"?

If so, you're not alone.

One of the most common stumbling blocks to launching a passion-based life is figuring out what you're passionate about in the first place.

Sadly, many of us go about finding our passion in the wrong way.

How? By thinking about it.

We're habituated to use our minds to analyze, rationalize and figure things out. It's natural yet oooooh so torturesome.

Common techniques to find passion include:

Taking expensive psychological tests

Recalling childhood interests

Sitting at Starbucks watching your friend's eyes glaze over after asking questions like "I don't know...what do you think I should do?"

Here's the problem: Passion can't be found in your head because it lives in your heart.
And the flames of passion are fanned by engagement, not thought. Juicy, right?

Here's what I mean: No matter how hard you try, you cannot figure out your passion by thinking about it. You need to take action and feel your way to your truth, from the inside out.

For example, for years, before I stepped foot in a dance studio, I often wondered about dancing hip-hop.

But most of my thoughts sounded like this: "Wow...dancing professionally would be awesome, but you're too old to get started. Most pros start training when they're 5. You've had zero professional training, and you're already in your 20s. Get real."

Or, "It sounds exciting, but dance as a career is crazy and irresponsible. There's no money in that. You studied business finance, so you should do something more stable and related to what you know."

The endless and debilitating chatter in our minds often tries to talk us out of what our hearts are yearning to explore.

The first time I took a class in a professional dance setting, I started to cry (happy tears, of course) because actually doing it felt right.

No matter how much I wondered about it before, it wasn't until I physically took action that my real passion (and gift) for dance fully emerged.

And from taking action rather than staying in my head, I was able to carve out a little niche for myself in the hybrid world of dance and fitness.

Rather than following traditional hip-hop dancer goals (like going on tour with major recording artists or auditioning for music videos), I was asked to become one of the world's first Nike Elite Dance Athletes-a category Nike created after I got started.

Not to get too woo-woo on you, but magic really does start to happen when you follow your heart.

Embrace this key idea and it will change your life: Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.

But taking action on something you suspect to be your passion is just part of the story. There's another important (and rarely discussed) piece to the passion puzzle.

And this, my friend, is the fastest, most powerful way to turn what you love into a business or career that can sustain you.

Ready?

Proactively bring passion to everything you touch, to everything you do. No matter what task is in front of you, bring as much enthusiasm and energy to it as you possibly can. Bring your full attention, your full presence, the Godlike quality that each of us has within, to every task in your day.

Whether you're brushing your teeth, making love or cleaning the kitty litter-do it like you want to do it.

When you make this shift, you'll ignite business ideas and creative insights far beyond what your thinking mind alone is capable of.

And let's face it. Passion is contagious. When you're fully present and passionately engaged with your life, people around you take notice and want in on whatever you're doing.

Want more?

Another side benefit to proactive passion is kicking life-sucking habits like procrastination, resistance and complaining straight to the curb.

Now that you're armed with an understanding of passion, do the following four steps to unleash yours.

1. Love everything you do.

From this moment forward, if you don't like something, you've got two choices: stop doing it (quit, delegate it, hire it out) OR love it with all your heart.

Anything else is madness.

When you commit to love everything you do, you strengthen your "passion muscles" from the inside out and open up a divine channel so that what you're meant to do can be revealed.

Remember, we human beings are creatures of habit. You can't be whiny, complainy and miserable for 80 percent of your day and expect to be enthusiastic and passionate in the last 20 percent.

And if you're feeling really stuck on this whole "finding your passion" thing, this is the fastest way to get your motor running.

Know this: Truly successful people are never the victim of their circumstances. They realize they have ultimate power in any situation and take responsibility for their experience.

Don't forget: In any given moment, if you can't change what you're doing, you can always change how you're doing it.

2. Look at your book collection, magazines, DVDs, CDs and credit card statements. Notice any themes?

What subjects are you constantly gravitating toward? What are you already spending your time, money and energy on?

What thread(s) have been recurring in your life again and again?

As best as you can, check in with your heart and physical body, not your head.

Anything "light you up" so to speak? Do you feel a sense of expansion in your body?

Do you feel excitement (or perhaps even a little fear) when you imagine a certain topic or possibility? Those are all good signs.

Remember, our passions are often irrational and war with logic and reason. That's why it's important to shift your attention into your heart and your physical body when exploring these questions.

Your heart and physical body contain wisdom far beyond the capacity of your mind.

3. What do you love to talk about, learn about and/or teach others about?

This is a really useful question.

Don't edit yourself here. With nearly 7 billion people on the planet, chances are that there's a market out there hungry for information, products or resources on your topic.

Or there's a company looking for someone with your unique set of gifts and interests to join their team.

If you're having trouble coming up with ideas, ask close friends and family (the honest ones) what you never seem to shut up about.

Also, don't underestimate the power of incorporating your passion into your already existing career or business.

You may not need a total overhaul in what you're doing. Maybe you simply need to inject more of what you LOVE into your life right now.

For example, Nathalie, a raw-food expert, recently rediscovered her passion for growing trees. Now she's giving a portion of her revenue to not-for-profit tree organizations and is building this component into her existing brand.

With that tiny tweak, she just gave herself a competitive advantage over other raw-food experts who aren't passionate about any cause (or brave enough to share it), and she is way more motivated to market and sell her products and services because they're tied to making a bigger difference in the world.

4. Quit talking and start doing.

Now that you've gotten this far, the next step is to begin taking consistent passion-based action each day.

That could mean writing, making videos, recording audios, taking a class or somehow engaging in an activity you love.

And here's the best part. Taking action on your passion often requires little to no cash outlay.

Articles, videos and writing take no money. Only time, effort and focus. And beginner classes can often be inexpensive or, sometimes, even free.

Building your life around what you love is something you'll never regret.

It's your passion for what you do that will give you the drive, commitment and energy necessary to create any amount of success and fulfillment you desire, and you'll have an extraordinary time while you do it.

That's everything you need to know about finding your passion and probably a little more because I just can't help myself, I'm passionate about sharing this work with you. Now go ahead and get started and don't forget to let me know how it goes!

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The Secret to Finding Your Passion (Hint: It's Not What You Think)

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Ever say to yourself, "If I could just figure out what I'm really passionate about, everything else will take off"? If so, you're not alone. One of the most common stumbling blocks to launching a passion-based life is figuring out what you're passionate about in the first place.

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In your quest for a balanced life, have you neglected your hobbies? It’s not too late. Use this guide to get inspired, spark your interests and follow your passion toward a new hobby.

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As the 61st minute of the 2019 Women's World Cup Final between the U.S. and the Netherlands began, Megan Rapinoe stood at the edge of the penalty box, stoically awaiting the referee's whistle. An hour of attack and counterattack in the sweltering heat and under the anxious gaze of tens of thousands of fans had exhausted both sides but had yet to produce a goal for either. At the sound of the whistle, Rapinoe took a centering breath, trotted forward and skipped the ball into the back of the net, breaking the tie. As the stadium burst into exultation, Rapinoe headed for the sidelines; she had already taken 10 steps when her calm finally yielded to the unmistakable expression of pure joy. It was a beautiful moment and a reminder that while the spoils go to the winners, there are yet more powerful forces-in our biology, in our minds-that motivate us to play in the first place.

Playing is a universal human behavior and has therefore long been a subject of intense scientific interest. Nevertheless, because play is unprompted and natural-characteristics that do not usually lend themselves to laboratory work-much about its nature has remained mysterious. But in a thrilling study published recently in Science, experimenters concocted a work-around for this dilemma: they taught rats how to play a common childhood game. And in doing so, they made a series of discoveries suggesting that play is an even deeper part of our nature than previously thought.

How deep in our nature is play? It would be useful to begin by defining exactly what "play" is. Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga, in his now classic Homo Ludens, tried to do just that. Among other things, he argued that play must be voluntary: gladiatorial combat, in many cases, should be disqualified because its participants may have been forced into the arena. And play must occur in a space and time in which the rules are different from those in real life. Taking a time-out during a game is a way to leave that " magical circle."

Play also needs to be internally motivated and should carry no material interest-players may grow stronger or faster, but play should not feed, clothe or pay them. In that sense, most collegiate athletes-at least for now-are still playing. Most important of all, play should be fun. To formalize this notion, if play serves some behavioral or evolutionary function, then the neural circuits of the brain involved in motivation and reward should be active during its occurrence.

What is the function of play? In making that assessment, it helps to remember that humans are not the only ones that do it. According to Homo Ludens, play predates human culture. "Animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing," Huizinga wrote. He had a point: playing is a widespread behavior among animals, from dogs catching Frisbees to cats playing with, well, just about anything. Some types of play may involve learning to work cooperatively with a group for survival. Predators might engage in sparring or chasing games to simultaneously train and explore. Other types of play help animals learn how to follow complex rules, how to switch roles or even how to build a theory of mind. In general, games are critically important in establishing healthy social interactions, and failing to play them can result in inappropriate aggression, anxiety and social isolation.

Because of this role for playing in social learning, the most important games may be the ones we play when we are young. Take, for example, hide-and-seek-a game that has been passed down by oral tradition all over the world since ancient times. The fact that it is both ancient and widespread is an argument in favor of its importance. But hide-and-seek's roots may lie deeper yet: even rats can play it. And true to the definition of play, they seem to do it just because they like it.

In an attempt to understand the neuroscience of play, a group of scientists trained rats to play games of cross-species hide-and-seek. In each game, the human experimenter began by placing the rat in a small box. If the lid of the box was closed, then the rat was the "seeker" and needed to "count off" in the box before setting out to find the experimenter, who had several objects to hide behind. If the lid of the box was left open, then the rat was the "hider" and learned to quickly leave the box to find a hiding place before the human experimenter began pursuit. In both scenarios, rats were rewarded only with social interaction.

During games when the rats were hiding, they preferred to be behind opaque rather than transparent objects, and they tended to stay very quiet until they were found-a commonsense strategy for those wishing to stay hidden-and basked in the accomplishment of besting a foe. On being found, rats often re-hid and awaited being discovered again, delaying their reward for playing. In contrast, during games when rats were seeking, they frequently vocalized and showed no preference for opaque versus transparent hiding places.

Rats also showed evidence for memory-guided search strategies. In some trials, experimenters returned to the same hiding place over and over again. Rats were quick to catch on and tended to find the experimenters faster in later trials, suggesting conscious access to game history. Finally, by recording from the brains of rats while they played hide-and-seek, the experimenters identified a series of neurons in the prefrontal cortex-a brain region associated with abstract coding of reward, motivation and rules-whose activities were correlated with specific phases of the game. Together, these results indicate that rats can learn the rules of hide-and-seek and that these rules have corresponding signatures in the their brain. In other words, hide-and-seek may be evolutionarily ancient.

These findings come as quite a surprise, which, in the world of research, means they have opened several new avenues of study. One primary reason for surprise is the complexity of the game the rats were playing. In a statistical sense, hide-and-seek could be thought of as a game of location inference. To be a good hider or seeker is to predict where the other individual will be hiding or looking and to exploit any prior knowledge ("Remy always hides in the chef's hat "). Indeed, the rats showed evidence for such behavior by returning to previously used locations, suggesting this paradigm could be leveraged to understand how we make inferences about the actions and intentions of others. Knowing rats can play hide-and-seek should therefore motivate us to ask what the boundaries on game complexity are for different animals-and whether, by seeking out those boundaries, we might better understand animal intelligence.

Another reason these findings are surprising has more to do with our understanding of what could still be hiding in the human mind. As Huizinga might have said, play is freedom. By acknowledging that nonhuman animals can exercise a type of freedom that seems very human, this research may chip away at the idea of certain human freedoms as exceptional. As scary as that sounds, it moves us closer to understanding ourselves, which is the ultimate goal of neuroscience.

But perhaps the greatest surprise in this story comes from the boldness in how it was told. Scientific research often relies on strict experimental protocols, controls and constraints. There is a reason for this practice: by minimizing variability, experimenters can build high-confidence predictions about specific processes. But just as there are benefits to studying the unusual, there are benefits to studying the ordinary in unusual ways. By examining an act of freedom, this study has taught us much about being free. In doing so, it has attempted to corner an age-old question: Why do we play? The answer may have less to do with fame, glory, money or power than with Rapinoe's rapturous smile as she jogged free of the penalty box this past July: we play because it is in our nature to do so.

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Play May Be a Deeper Part of Human Nature Than We Thought

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An animal study brings us closer to understanding our own behavior

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This question of why we're equipped to love has already been answered via evolutionary theory: We love because we're meant to reproduce. Species continue through reproduction, and continuation of the species is paramount in evolution. Since mating is the ultimate goal, then feelings of romantic love are merely a vehicle toward this goal. Yet, the 2005 study found that the areas that cause sexual arousal in the brain aren't fully active as people fall in love. The two regions overlap, but the experiences aren't the same [source: APS].

This doesn't disprove the idea that love exists to foster reproduction, but it certainly raises new questions. Specifically, why do we continue to feel love even after we've reproduced? The current answer is also based in evolution: The combination of reward and attachment lead to a lasting addiction for a particular individual -- our partner.

Because of the association with reward motivation and its attendant releases of dopamine, that initial rush of romantic love resembles addiction rather than emotion. Over time, however, other neurotransmitters may play a larger role in forming long-term attachment that lasts beyond our reproductive years.

The chemicals vasopressin and oxytocin help humans and about 3 percent of other mammal species to experience lasting, monogamous love. These two chemicals are associated with our ability to form memories of others and help us recognize other people. They're also released, along with dopamine, during sex.

This combination of dopamine (which induces feelings of pleasure), oxytocin (which is associated with feelings of attachment) and vasopressin (which also promotes attachment and also allows social recognition) leads to a learned behavior where we actually become addicted to our mate [source: Economist]. Regardless of whether it's the sight of the person we're in love with or the injection of some drug, if both trigger similar releases, humans can experience both similarly and become addicted as well.

These same chemicals may also play a role in familial love, like that between a parent and child or among siblings. The chemical oxytocin, for example, plays a role in parental bonding. It's released in mothers during childbirth, and it plays a role in the production and release of breast milk [source: Johnson].

We experience love, then, to foster the relationships that may lead to reproduction and to maintain relationships with the offspring borne from those relationships.

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Love -- is it really all we need? Scientists and songwriters agree that love is one of the most important aspects of being human, but why do we get that familiar head rush when we meet someone we like? As it turns out, most of the fun of falling in love lies in the pursuit of that special someone.

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Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love -- and people who had just been dumped.

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The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong | Amy Morin | TEDxOcala

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Many people talk about the risks associated with being unhealthy rather than the benefits of being healthy. Being unhealthy, as we know, can cause a variety of nutrition and obesity-related health diseases. Chronic unhealthy habits result in 700,000 deaths in the US each year.

How come there's less talk about the benefits of doing your body right? What does it offer you on a long-term basis? Keep reading to find out.
1. Fights Disease
Working out and eating right are a powerful duo when it comes to the longevity of health because it helps the body prevent disease. Health complications such as cancer, diabetes, or heart failure are all linked to poor health choices and a sedentary lifestyle.

While having a family history of a particular disease increases the chances you contract a disease, it is often the choices you make that either mark its appearance or makes it worse.

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables equips the body with the antioxidants and fiber it needs to flush toxins to keep the cells healthy. Any exercise helpful overall body health, especially the heart.
2. Builds Confidence
You gain a new level of confidence when you work out on a regular basis. Strength training, walking, running, dancing, or swimming may initially seem troublesome, tiring, or hard for some.

However, after time the challenges and pain become worth it as you begin to enjoy it while seeing your body change in the process.

The boost in confidence not only physical. It's mental too. You may begin to believe in yourself more and take on more things to challenge yourself.
3. Improves Brain Health and Mood
Proper exercise and diet also improve mental health. When you exercise, positive changes happen in the brain. Working out allows the body to circulate blood and oxygen to the brain more efficiently.

This improves memory and mood as new brain cells are made and a stronger connection is made between cells that communicate. Exercise is effective at combating anger, anxiety, and depression. Supplementor delves into detail how weight training affects the brain.

Changing your diet by reducing or eliminating processed food and sugar also helps improve mood and reduces fatigue and "crashes."
4. Reduces Stress
If you have a lot on your mind, doing something as simple as taking a walk outside can help reduce stress. When you exercise, your body releases feel-good neurotransmitters known as endorphins. They act as natural painkillers as well and help improve your ability to sleep.

Exercising also releases catecholamines that induce a fight or flight response that helps your protect your body from the effects of stress. You can control your stress with exercise by keeping your mind off bad habits such as smoking if you want to quit or control your appetite.
5. Optimizes Performance
You'll have more energy when you supply your body with the right fuel and engage in exercise. Working out as little as a few minutes during commercial breaks or for 20-30 during your lunch improves focus, creativity, and concentration.

When you get moving, you become both a mental and a physical powerhouse although it may seem as if it's the opposite during an exercise. Pairing your workouts, no matter how long or short, with a good diet improves mental clarity and performance.
6. Healthy Gut and Organs
The stomach is loaded with bacteria, both good and bad. There should be a balance between the two which occurs when you have more good than bad bacteria. Naturally occurring bacteria assists the boy with digestion and metabolism.

Other good bacteria help make vitamins B and K which also help fight bad bacteria and viruses. When the gut biome is altered, there is local inflammation that has the potential to become systemic if not addressed.

Eating fiber, fermented foods, and getting enough pre- and probiotics all help your colon thrive. This prevents digestive issues or disease.

Life is indeed in the blood. Working out is also helpful in having a healthy gut and organs because it prevents poor circulation. Just 20 minutes of exercise is enough to lower inflammation in the body. The blood flow released throughout the body all ensure you get the nutrients you need from the foods your needs.

Blood also is a means for transportation for sending cells and hormones from one area to another when needed. Exercise helps facilitate the ease in communication as well.
7. Maintain Healthy Weight or Lose It
When you are healthy inside, this health is also likely to show internally and vice-versa. Eating healthy helps you maintain or lose excess weight. Most people find that eating plant-based or eating a diet rich in lean protein and fiber allows them to eat as much as they want and still drop pounds.

You are more likely to stay healthy and achieve your weight goals when you refrain from eating sugary and overly processed foods without needing to count calories. While calories are important, the quality of those calories and where they come from also matter.

Working out helps you out even more by burning off excess calories. When you get rid of excess fat, you are helping reduce stress and pressure on your organs which ultimately helps you prevent disease.
The Physical and Psychological Benefits of Being Healthy
It's important to know the reasons why being unhealthy is bad for our health. Knowing the dangers often provides us the motivation we need to change things. However, the benefits of being healthy can also offer that same motivation.

Rather than looking at the negative aspect of things all time, look at the brighter side. Sometimes, reading the range of benefits being healthy offers makes people want to go for a walk or improve their diet.

If you found this article helpful, please read other blogs on the website.

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Many people talk about the risks associated with being unhealthy rather than the benefits of being healthy. Being unhealthy, as we know, can cause a variety of nutrition and obesity-related health diseases. Chronic unhealthy habits result in 700,000 deaths in the US each year.