Better Mind, Better Life!

In this episode of Better Mind, Better Life, I share what psychologists say are four common thinking traps (a.k.a., cognitive distortions) that we all struggle with—two that are people focused and two that are situation-focused—and how we can clear up our thinking and break free from those distorted traps. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please take a few seconds to answer the super brief Better Mind, Better Life...

The strength and ability to improve any area of your life isn't in your circumstances: it's in your mind! When we improve the way we think, we can improve our lives. Better mind, better life! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please take a few seconds to answer the super brief Better Mind, Better Life Listener Feedback survey . Your feedback will help me to continue improving the Better Mind, Better Life podcast! ~~...

Authors and professors Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatté say the very heart and soul—the foundation of resilience—is “the simple realization that our emotions and behaviors are created not by events themselves but how we interpret those events.” So they recommend “Learning Your ABCs” as the first skill for addressing those situations in which we seem to consistently lack resilience. In this episode...

Here’s the hard news: More than 50 years of scientific research has demonstrated that where you and I fall on the resilience curve—our natural reserves of resilience—affects practically everything. But here’s the good news: With practice, anyone can grow resilience. And if you increase your resilience, you can overcome pretty much anything life throws at you. Generally speaking, there are FOUR “wa...

“Baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical.” Even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you’ve at least heard the name of the ‘comedian’ who said it: Yogi Berra. Yogi was entertaining, both on the field as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and off the field because of his Yogi-isms—the unique and witty observations he became famous for. And, let's be honest, we love to be ente...

You may not realize it, but there is a very sophisticated factory in your brain, and it has the ability to help build your resilience … or even destroy it. I’m going to attempt to explain, in the fastest, simplest terms possible, how that works and why it matters for us both today and for the future. Of course, I am NOT a neuroscientist … although I DO play one on TV. Just kidding. I only accept a...

Despite the fantastical title, this is NOT an episode about an upcoming Harry Potter or other fantasy-related book. This episode is about resilience, plain and simple. But it is also a peek inside the overlapping space between fantasy and reality, and it starts LONG ago, in ancient times and ancient lands. Be forewarned, though: It takes a minute to wade through the history and separate out the fa...

I have a story you NEED to hear. But I also need to warn you: You aren’t going to believe that it’s true. You will feel compelled to research it yourself, to try and “fact-check” it because you’ll say, “No way this really happened. Not a chance.” So feel free to fact check. Because here’s the bottom line. Life has a way of giving us all a beat-down from time-to-time. And sometimes, life even kicks...

For the past 3 1/2 years, friends have been telling me that I *REALLY* should watch the new Cobra Kai series, so I finally decided to give it a go. Yeah, the 80s music is awesome, as are the 80s flashbacks, but what REALLY stood out to me are the characters and the important—even critical—life lesson that I was reminded of when watching. To really explore it, I had to dig out another 80s classic,...

Question: Is our ability to change, grow, and improve governed by any specific, recognizable laws or principles? More specifically, are there BIOLOGICAL principles of growth that can at least hint at or even point us to some principles for NON-biological (emotional, mental, spiritual, etc) growth? I think the answer is "YES!" ... x5, and this episode looks at those five principles! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...

Happy New Year! Are you ready for the FUTURE? No, not the future that requires 1.21 gigawatts of power and a DeLorean time machine running 88mph. I'm talking about the future you RESOLVE to embrace! But—and here's the really good part—you can forget about coming up with New Year’s resolutions or even a “word for the year,” because I found a guy even smarter than Doc Brown who has written a few res...

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing the moment you first learned about: The 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001? Hurricane Katrina in 2005? The deaths of Osama bin Laden and Steve Jobs in 2011? Brexit (or Trump) in 2016? The Global COVID Shutdown of 2020? History is full of iconic, life-altering moments ... and there is one which stands head and shoulders above the rest! That's what...

We’re in the midst of a three-part miniseries titled “Close Encounters of the Angelic Kind.” In the previous episode we looked at the first of three angelic encounters mentioned by the Gospel of Luke—all of which are connected to Christmas and the birth of Christ and each with a message that matters just as much today as it did then. In that first encounter, the priest, Zechariah, father of John t...

In the late 1970's Steven Spielberg introduced the world to a cinematic portrayal of one man's obsession with UFOs. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind , electrician Roy Neary (played by Richard Dreyfuss) is prepared to give up his life to pursue the truth about what he saw. The movie is considered a classic in the sci-fi genre and for decades has struck a nerve with those who've encountered thi...

Santa Claus is surely one of the most beloved figures of modern times. But did you know that he was perhaps even more beloved long before he acquired a fur-trimmed red suit, a big round belly, and nine flying reindeer to pull his sleigh? Believe it or not, the jolly Old St. Nick  we know and love today  actually took more than 1,600 years to develop! For many years, one of our family's C...

It’s difficult to imagine Christmas without decorated trees. But do they have any “redeeming” value for Christians? And how did the idea get started in the first place? I think the answer to the first question is a resounding  YES!  The answer to the second question is a LITTLE bit longer. Believe it or not, the Christmas tree  as we know it today  actually took more than 700 y...

In the previous episodes I talked about #gratitude and #Thanksgiving as the gateway to peace. I looked at the fascinating science behind gratitude as well as what the Bible has to say on the subject. I specifically referenced Philippians 4:4-7 which says "In every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understand...

For several years, many of my Facebook friends have participated in the activity of making a daily post to identify their thankfulness for something or someone. That’s fantastic! A number of years ago, I started the  “Let’s Say Thanks” campaign  on Facebook and each year try to get a few more people to participate. Also fantastic. And in episode 39 I shared a boatload of research from th...

In the previous episode, season 1, episode 39, I did my best to give you a brief (and, hopefully, fascinating) look at 30 years of psychological research on the subject of gratitude, a virtue which psychologists say may very well be the most important virtue a human can have. In this episode, I want to continue exploring gratitude, but I want to go back much further in history and take a look from...

I know this probably sounds like a bunch of marketing, clickbait hype, but it isn't at all. After 30 years of research and countless numbers of peer-reviewed studies, psychologists are finally agreeing with writers throughout the ages who argue that gratitude may very well be the most important virtue a human can have. Now, I can't give you a thorough account of all that research in just 10 minute...

Are you a "one-dimensional leader"? More importantly, how would you know if you were (or weren't)? This is the fourth and final installment in a series of episodes talking specifically about leadership. In this episode, I want to make one simple argument about leadership, taken from the world of psychology—specifically DISC personality styles—and that argument is this: ALL leaders need to be able...

Beginning in the 80s, Dr. J. Robert Clinton and his students began a massive study of leaders: historic, biblical, and contemporary. At the time of the original publication of Clinton's book, The Making of a Leader, in 1988, they had researched 500 case studies. Over the next 15 years, they researched another 3,000 case studies. As they have compared findings from those studies, they’ve gained ins...

I’m in the middle of a series of episodes talking about leadership. My goal is to offer you some ways of thinking about the subject that both encourage and challenge you with a unique (or, at least less familiar) perspective. In a previous episode I mentioned that life can be complicated and confusing at times. But it’s in those times when you have to remind yourself that you aren’t lost, and that...

For this and the next few episodes of Better Mind, Better Life, I want to tackle the subject of leadership, and, HOPEFULLY, offer you some ways of thinking about the subject that both encourage and challenge you with a unique (or, at least less familiar) perspective. For starters, it's possible that most of what people hold up as examples of leadership, aren’t leadership at all. And the explanatio...

Life can often feel very much like a maze. It feels like each day is filled with difficult choices—left or right—in which the consequences of those choices seem complex beyond comprehension. Will this help or hurt? Will it cause me to win or lose? Will I sink or swim? And some choices, once we’ve fully committed ourselves to them, seem in retrospect like tremendous dead-ends. But that's the wrong...