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The Debbie Downer Effect: How to Stay Positive Yet Supportive
So you happen to have a close friend or relative who’s always complaining about something or another. They’re always sharing some kind of bad news, and things never seem to be going right in their lives. But if things happen to be going well, it’s only momentary. Maybe for a…
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Why It’s Necessary to Make Time for Hobbies
“I like to (insert hobby) but I just don’t have the time.” You’ve probably heard someone say this. Or maybe, you’ve said something along these lines. “I like to–paint, write, bake, go biking, go hiking, read, sing, play an instrument, play a sport, etc.–but I just don’t have the time.…
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The Effect Negative Self-Talk
The impact negative self-talk can have on our overall happiness and wellbeing should not be understated. Therefore, the “effect of negative self-talk” deserves a post of its own. It is just that important. What is negative self-talk? In this short post, we’ll provide an overall definition of negative self-talk: The…
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Living Life Poetically: To Hope or Not to Hope
To Hope or Not to Hope is the third and final poem in my series of unfortunate poetry. I came up with the term “soul suicide”, which means making the conscious or subconscious decision to completely give up hope. It’s going through life like a robot–going through the motions with…
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Living Life Poetically: Pain Brush on a New Page
Confession: I’ve been procrastinating on writing this. But I made a promise to you and myself to post all three poems in my series of unfortunate poetry. The first was “Empty,” written in 2013. This one, “Pain Brush on a New Page,” was written in 2014. As you read “Pain…
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How Less Can Mean More
Can having less stuff mean more? It seems counterintuitive, but the answer to that is yes. Conversely, can having more stuff mean less? Again, yes. I never really thought about these two contradictions until a few years ago when I watched the documentary, Minimalism, on Netflix. It literally changed my…
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No More Hiding the Past
I admit I’ve gotten into the habit of modifying some of the older poems I’ve shared here. I tweak the last few stanzas or add a few lines to make them sound more uplifting. This site is about living life with positivity, so making those edits makes sense, right? Well,…
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5 Thoughts to Keep in Mind Whenever You’re in a Funk
Thoughts can be powerful–so much that they can pull you out of a funk even without anything else actually changing. So, if you’re feeling blue, shifting your thoughts is a good place to start. Before we begin, let’s clarify something. Thoughts like ‘count your blessings’ or ‘it can always be…
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Home Deprivation: Why We Should All Ask Ourselves ‘What Is Home?’
Close your eyes and picture “home.” Perhaps, a clear image of a physical structure comes to mind. But can there be more to a home than the physical structure? When we broaden our idea of what home is, it becomes apparent that the word is actually hard to define. It…
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Living Life Poetically: The Road
“The Road” chronicles my journey to where I am today. But it’s not all about me. It chronicles all of our journeys through life in general. The first half of the poem was actually written a few years ago–right up to the word “blue.” However, I couldn’t figure out how…
