January 11th, 2010

Self-Mastery Tip: Enhancing Meaning and Purpose

by Dr. Brian Higley

The great psychologist Victor Frankl (who survived the Nazi death camps) said that we can handle and “what” in our lives if we have a strong enough “why.”  This shows how important it can be to connect what we do with something that is meaningful to us.  If we can connect our goals with an exciting meaning, purpose or mission, we tend to feel more energized to overcome the barriers to achievement of our most important aims on a day to day basis.

Meaning and  purpose can be enhanced by staying aware of how what we do connects with our broader objectives in life.  Here are some ways people have been able to stregthen meaning and pupose in their lives: Read the rest of this Article »

January 10th, 2010

Self-Mastery Tip: Increase “Psychological Flexibility”

by Dr. Brian Higley

Often, being extroverted or “outgoing” is helpful to the ability to experience or achieve what we want to in life.  On the other hand, introversion or “self-reflection” is also frequently very helpful as well.  Introversion-extroversion flexibility can help us be more at ease across a variety of situations in life.

Psychological flexibility can be increased by understanding our current comfort zones and how to broaden them.  Here are some ways people have been able to increase flexibility in their lives: Read the rest of this Article »

January 9th, 2010

Self-Mastery Tip: Coping Effectively with Stress and Conflict

by Dr. Brian Higley

In today’s fast-paced, complicated world, even the most disciplined lives are often filled with challenges and disagreements.  Structuring our minds and our environments to minimize these complications and to effectively cope with the stress and conflict that cannot be minimized is a critical piece of the Self-Mastery puzzle.

Effective coping can be facilitated by a clear understanding of how to increase our ability to handle challenging times will also decreasing the amount of difficulties that we experience.  Here are some ways people have been able to cope effectively with the stress and conflict in their lives: Read the rest of this Article »

January 8th, 2010

Self-Mastery Tip: Cultivating Realistic Learned Optimism

by Dr. Brian Higley

We’ve found that both research and our personal experience has revealed two things to be true when it comes to optimism:

1. That an optimistic outlook can be extremely helpful to well-being, personal effectiveness and relationship satisfaction.
2. That many believe it is more “realistic” to be pessimistic than it is to have an optimistic outlook.

This shows how critical it can be to cultivate an optimistic outlook that is also based on realism (as oppossed to “rose colored glasses”).   Unrealistic optimism can be as damaging as pessimism when it comes to the ability to achieve important goals or experience satisfaction in life, so learning how to be both realistic and optimistic is critical. Read the rest of this Article »

January 7th, 2010

Self-Mastery Tip: Make Good Physical Health Practical

by Dr. Brian Higley

Almost everyone knows that taking care of our bodies is important to enhanced influence over our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.  Promoting improved health in the major systems of the body (including the cardiovascular, muscular-skeletal, nervous, endocrine and respiratory system) can enhance energy, increase positive moods and decrease the frequency and intensity of illnesses.  If there is so much positive pay-off that people are aware of, why is it that so many of us do not engage in activities that can bring them about?  We’ve found that one reason people do not attend to their physical health regularly is that they do not put together a plan that is both helpful and practical, which results in either unhelpful routines or routines that are given up on within a few weeks of beginning them.

Better physical health can be made more practical by identifying customized methods of being more healthy, the barriers to engaging in those methods and the most powerful ways to overcome these barriers to action.  Here are some ways people have been able to make better physical health practical in their lives: Read the rest of this Article »