Root to Flourish READS recommends ‘Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity’ by Peter Attia

The gut-brain connection is real. It’s also a two-way street, with your emotions being able to create GI sensations, and your GI tract also being able to affect your emotional functioning.

There is an emotional distinction between wishing and hoping … but only one will help enhance your emotional wellbeing.

Six reasons why I’ve pulled back from social media … and am better for it.

Whatever comes after, “I just try to tell myself …,” you don’t actually believe. Language matters. Shift your self-talk to access emotional belief not just an intellectual understanding in order to shift how you feel.

Wilson Pickett’s raw version of ‘Born to be Wild’ teaches us that language matters.

Pro-tip to disengage from mindless scrolling and for truly curating inspirational content

Making tangible, concrete items with your hands is correlated with reduced depression and anxiety, and improved overall emotional wellbeing.

Exploring the deep structure of regret, and finding the meaning in regret.

Exploring what regret is, how it works, and how we process it to allow us to learn from our mistakes and create meaningful lives.

Exploring the mindset required to practice hygge, the Danish art of “taking pleasure in the presence of gentle, soothing things,” using mindfulness, gratitude, and getting out of your comfort zone.

How I organically transitioned from a forensic psychologist to an anxiety therapist … against my will.

‘Root to Flourish READS’ recommends ‘The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World’ by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This book chronicles a week-long conversation with these two spiritual leaders, allowing their own wisdom to provide an answer to the question: How do we find joy in the face of inevitable suffering?

You can be happier today by engaging in these three tasks.

Taking inspiration from Professor Dumbledore, we reflect on where we can find happiness, from within.

Practicing happiness means leveraging the percentage of our emotional wellbeing that is within our own control, recognizing that our behaviors and our habits do matter to affect how we feel.

‘Root to Flourish READS’ recommends ‘Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is filled with wonder and joy, and encourages the reader to allow curiosity and lead the way in living a meaningful, creative life.

When you attempt to decide, or plan for, or figure out, or control a situation when you really are unable to do any of those things, you’re attempting to create a safe, predictable space for yourself where you know what will happen next.

But … that’s not actually possible. You can’t actually do that …

When, instead, you 'Allow', you voluntarily choose to loosen your grip on the reins, to let go of the fallacy that simply because you make decisions and plan and predict, that things will go consistently with that vision. And, when you set down your attempts to figure out and control, you get the gift of approaching your life with curiosity and excitement instead of fear.

Perfectionism is not about healthy goal setting, goal achievement, and personal growth. There is an ugly underbelly to perfectionism. We use it as a force field to protect ourselves against the disapproval, criticism, and judgment of others, and internal feelings of disappointment and worthlessness. And it exacts a significant cost to us.

Taking inspiration from Mr. Ping’s Secret Ingredient Soup, from Kung Fu Panda, we explore the notion that it is only when you accept yourself – when you stop the search for the non-existent secret ingredient – that you can truly thrive and see how special you are.