Total Brain Blog

Why Embracing Hardship is the Secret to Well-Being

Research shows that we have more positive experiences than negative ones, yet research also shows that our brain tends to focus on the negative aspects of our lives. We take the ...
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6 Tech Tips to Avoid the Facebook Funk

Does texting or using Facebook and Twitter to connect with others make you feel better or worse? It probably depends. Fortunately, scientists are diving into this question and ...
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How Feeling Down Can Make You Mentally Strong

To be alive is to feel. Travis, a veteran of the Iraq war and a participant in my study on yogic breathing for post-traumatic stress, shared with me at the beginning of the ...
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How to Say No Like a Boss: A Primer in Self-Compassion

We have all said yes when we knew better, and mostly the impact is as meaningless as eating an hors d’oeuvre just to be polite. But sometimes the impact is life-changing: saying ...
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From Warrior Pros to Warrior Pose

Once thought of as a new age phenomenon in popular US culture, yoga and meditation are rapidly finding their way into the conservative arena of the military:
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Most of Us Are Managing Our Emotions the Wrong Way. Here's What to Do Instead.

It’s normal to experience emotions at home or at work: frustration, anger, fear, excitement. But how you handle these feelings can go a long way toward building — or destroying — ...
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Selfies or Selfless? The 6 Top Habits of the Happiest (and Most Successful) Social Networkers

Have you ever found yourself on a vacation, a date, or a great party with friends and family you love when suddenly, out of the blue, and for no good reason, you develop an ...
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A Surprising Yoga Practice to Heal Anxiety and Trauma

"Hard core military guys and yoga – that doesn’t really …um… go together, does it?” I’ve been asked. It’s true that, when they first arrived to participate in my study, the young, ...
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