2016 Article Archive

Flourishing Life Society article Link: Accepting Imperfections

Our amazing mind assigns meaning to felt experience, creating emotion. Sometimes this process misdiagnosis the environment and leads us astray.

We get stuck in an existential funk, searching for meaning. Life may not readily appear meaningful; but we can give life meaning.

Positive attitudes boost performance; but if our performance is ill designed we still fail.

We need connections; but the world doesn't need vaguely hidden intentions. We need soul felt kindness.

We want joy; But Life is more than joy. Sometimes life hurts.

We create change by working through the unpleasant givens of life. When life seemingly doesn't play fair, we address the obstacles with creativity and resolve.

FLS internal Link. Negativity: The natural feeling responses to experience give both wisdom and limiting bias. As cognitive creatures, we need to examine what we are feeling, how we interpret that feeling, and determine the utility of our natural inclinations.

Internal Link: Judge, Judge, Judging- Undetected emotions interject, powerfully influencing action. A flow of energy creates impressions that guide future responses and we judge.

We are engaged in a constant work of becoming, satisfying needs, entertaining wants, and creating meaning. We can do this purposely or haphazardly.

Stressed Out. A Flourishing Life Society article link

Keeping on trck when life obstacles interfere

We move through stages of behavior, thought and emotion. Each phase impacting the others. We work to change by modifying any (and sometimes all) of the stages.

A Flourishing Life Society article link. A New Relationship with Reality

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Broken Promises.

We are pulled into harmful routines by emotion. We feel and then we react. Unfortunately, our reaction isn't always helpful. We need space to think and then act more appropriately.

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Finding Peace

Happily Ever After. Disappointments, Annoyances, and Other Relationship Imperfections. A Flourishing Life Society article link

Internal Link. Self: Here I am. The consciousness of self is complex. We are dynamic beings interacting with ever-changing environments. For stability, we need a concept of self. Too firm a concept and we are limited and deceived, to weak and we have no anchor.

FLS Internal Link. Loving Kindness

We don't magically transform. The process of change is often slow and methodical. Slow down, watch yourselves, and let small choices create major changes.

A Flourishing Life Society link. Overactive Mind

Living a Rich Meaningful Life. A Flourishing Life Society article link

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Self Deprecating

Staying Sane. Rejuvenating energy. A Flourishing Life Society article link

Truth is elusive. What is proven today may be challenged tomorrow. We need a different approach that allows for confidence in action without a closed mind to possible alternatives.

Betrayals are not only sexual. We can betray intimacy by divulging details, violating trust, and painting our partners as devils in disguise.

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Blaming

Experiencing Fear. Do We Stay and Fight? or Turn and Run? A Flourishing Life Society article link

Emotional Patterns. When Emotional Reactions Hurt. A Flourishing Life Society article link

Some concepts of forgiveness cross into smug self-righteousness, others create personal harm by ignoring lessons that shouldn’t be forgotten. But moving forward from injury by abandoning grudges serves us and society well.

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Help Yourself. Accepting Responsibility. Making a Change.

FLS Link: How to Calm Emotions. Emotional Triggers.

Internal Link: Life is difficult- Working through the emotions of living, seizing opportunities, and keeping expectations grounded.

Our emotions can be great teachers or callous task masters. We need emotion as part of the rich experience of humanness to guide us through the complexities of connection and survival but we must monitor feeling to keep us on task.

Internal Link: Pursuit of Happiness | If the sole purpose of our existence is to increase pleasure, we will never be satisfied. Living a full and rich life experiences many emotions. Happiness is a balance of healthy thoughts and growth promoting actions.

Small emotions, poking through from the past, can avalanche into full blown hatred. We must catch the mislabeling of experience, make corrections and work towards building a relationship with love an intimacy.

Sustainable joy is more than present pleasure. The best lives comes from actions that produce joy over time, not just momentary amusement.

Moods interfere with interpretation of life. Stepping back with understanding helps to modify these stinkers.

FLS Link: Correlations-Life is complicated, without pure guidelines to follow. We get lost with inflexible dogma instead of flexible openness to the complexity.

Building Blocks of Choice. A Flourishing Life Society article image link

Feelings are not a fool proof method for decisions. Our biased reliance on our own intuition can lead us astray, especially when we rely on our thoughts over proven and compelling research.

Uncovering Hidden Beliefs. Albert Ellis's ABC model. A Flourishing Life Society image link

Life is not a pretty little bundle of joys. We have pleasures and sorrows.

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Mental Health Breaks

Relationships take hard work. We desire companionship but often are lost on achieving closeness. Intimacy can be gained through persistent and mindful work.

We struggle to objectively evaluate ourselves. We subjectively change the facts to fit our self-supporting reality.

They Deserve the Pain; Learning from Others. A Flourishing Life Society article image link

A Flourishing Life Society article link. Self Enlightenment

Change, even wonderful change, hurts. We must push against the flow to achieve something different.

Life is demanding, squeezing resources from our reservoir of strength. We must conserve energy, maintain the edge, and keep sane.

Link: Healthy living isn't all logic or all emotion but a smooth blend of both. The aliveness of feeling mixed with the preparedness of thought.

Life has its challenges. Often the weight of demands drags us down. We need healthy escapes to rejuvenate and lighten our load.

we avoid personal responsibility by blaming others.

Small emotions, poking through from the past, can avalanche into full blown hatred. We must catch the mislabeling of experience, make corrections and work towards building a relationship with love an intimacy.

Flourishing Life Society Link: Facing Ineptness

$Greater clarity of self, mindful observance of the happenings in our minds and bodies, improves communication with others. When we adapt to a fast moving world by blocking awareness and skirting around details, we deceive ourselves and fracture relationships.$

Experience burns into the networks of the brain, creating a map to quickly assess new experience

Our explorations of life in general, and individually, is never complete. There is always more to learn. When fully engaged in discovering the greatness, we open our hearts to others.

We feel fear. This is normal. How we respond is important. Sometimes fear is experience appropriate and serves as a warning to back away. Other times, however, the fear is learned from a past that no longer applies to the present.

To achieve our dreams, we must courageously take on the anxiety of change, moving from the ordinary, and doing something more.