When going through difficult times it is easy to let our social connections suffer. Letting these connections weaken can interfere with recovery from stress. What can we do to maintain healthy social connections in stressful passages in life? First the benefits. Maintaining healthy social connections has been shown to have several well-being benefits. It can … Continue reading Resilience Through Social Connection
Stress
Strengthen the Brain
When a person has experienced traumatic stress in childhood or as an adult it can change the architecture of the brain in unhelpful ways. This is because traumatic stress changes neural pathways in the brain, making it easier for the brain to interpret normal stimuli in abnormal ways. This rewiring can make the brain respond … Continue reading Strengthen the Brain
Tools for Tough Times: Shedding Stress
Why shed stress and harmful emotions? They have a negative impact on us physically, and that impact can build up over timeUnremitting stress, anger, anxiety, or bitterness can “rewire” our brains and predispose us to reactions that we neither want nor needIf left unmanaged and unresolved, they can damage our relationships at home, work, and … Continue reading Tools for Tough Times: Shedding Stress
(Not So) Great Expectations
We expected this pandemic would take a year or so, then it would be back to normal. We expected most people to rally to the cause of protecting their neighbors and not their own self-interests. We expected a safer world would return, yet it is getting decidedly less safe. We expected a rest from political … Continue reading (Not So) Great Expectations