Every day, millions of people are affected by the loss of a loved one. They remember the precise time, location, and what they were doing when they heard the news and its devastating impact. While commonplace, we may feel ill equipped to manage our grief and not ready to accept its impact on our lives. […]

Each grief experience is unique, yet we share the need to have it witnessed without someone attempting to lessen it or find ways to reframe it (Brown, 2021). While grief is typically acute during the early stages of loss, complicated grief is persistent, characterized by a long-lasting preoccupation with the departed. This is where therapy

Guided meditation is a great starting point for those new to meditation and a great way to refresh your practice if you are a seasoned meditator facing inner obstacles to meditation. Even the most experienced meditators experience obstacles, such as excessive internal chatter, dozing off, or restlessness, on occasion. All meditators benefit from fresh guidance

Visualization is a component of many meditation practices, including loving-kindness meditation (or metta) and the other three Brahma Viharas of compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity (Fronsdal, n.d.), often collectively known as the Four Immeasurables. Some types of meditation focus primarily on visualization and guided imagery to cultivate certain psychological states. This article explains how visualization

Feeling stressed? Take a few moments to focus on your breath rising and falling while sitting comfortably with a straight back in a quiet place. This summarizes the mindfulness of breathing meditation practice that was promoted in the West by John Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the Center for Mindfulness at the University

How much control do we really have over our lives? Many psychological theories have attempted to answer this question. One such explanation is the locus of control. Locus of control is a concept created by psychologist Julian Rotter (1954). Rotter was interested in social learning and why some behaviors stick while others languish. Locus of

Procrastination is an interesting concept in our culture. Perceptions of procrastination range from being the topic of jokes to being associated with mental illness (Svartdal, Granmo, & Farevaag, 2018). But what is the truth about this ubiquitous behavior? As a college instructor, I deal with student procrastination every semester, often resulting in end-of-term complications. I’ve

Unconditional positive regard describes an essential attitude that person-centered therapists adopt toward their clients, promoting growth and personal change (Wilkins, 2000). As mental health professionals, therapists recognize that they must deeply value their client’s humanity while being undeterred by any particular client behaviors for a successful outcome (Mearns & Thorne, 1988). Typically, the client experiences

At one time or another, haven’t we all sought perfection? A perfect score on a test, a flawless presentation, or the ultimate date. While aiming for the best can be helpful, perfectionism as a trait can be damaging, putting us at risk of mental and physical illness (Thomson, 2019). Perfectionism is a complex characteristic that

For years, researchers have pondered the factors that influence how people make judgments about their wellbeing. However, until the late ‘80s, much of what we knew about wellbeing was based on a poor definition of the construct. This left much of the scientific community scratching its head and asking the same question: What is wellbeing