Netherlands, 2015. Stress is defined as the tension an individual feels when facing a demanding or uncomfortable situation. It can also be described as an alarm system that tells the body to 'watch out.' So how does this alarm system work? Have you ever noticed your heartbeat quicken enough to hear while watching a horror movie, or felt your hands go ice-cold and your mouth go dry while giving a presentation in front of a crowd? All of these reactions stem from the body's 'fight or flight'...

Oshawa, ON, 2022 At the University of Florida, Professor Jerry Uelsman divided the students in his photography class into two groups: he told the first group that the more photographs they turned in at the end of the term, the higher their grade would be, while the second group would be evaluated on a single "perfect" photograph they submitted. At the end of the year, he found, surprisingly, that the best photographs came from among those the first group had turned in. That's because...

Oshawa, 2022. We all have behaviors we'd like to change or adjust. These might include quitting smoking, losing weight, or finishing assigned tasks on time by working steadily. Say, for example, you started a diet. Everything's going fine, but then you went to a get-together with friends and happily ate a slice of cake among all the delicious treats. What do you say to yourself after eating that slice? 'All that effort was for nothing.', 'I won't be able to accomplish anything.' — if you take...

Oshawa, 2022 Today, I'll be talking about two fundamental psychological concepts that many of you have often heard of, but perhaps don't know the deeper meaning behind. These concepts are widely followed both by mental health professionals and by many people who are more or less interested in psychology, and they're associated with psychological well-being, that is, mental health. However, in this piece I'm declaring where I stand, and by pitting the two concepts against each other, I want to...

Canada, 2023. I'll give you two scenarios to show you how effective the thoughts in our minds can be, and the power they hold over our emotions and behavior. Imagine you've attended a get-to-know-you meeting for a school club. You're in the meeting hall, and there are many people you don't know. The interesting part is that the others don't know each other either. There's a lot of new material you could discover in that room, and many people you could get to know. But you feel a sense of...