mindfulness

Don't Hit "Snooze" on Those Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

It’s that time of year again. And we don’t mean the holidays. For 5% of Americans, the end of fall/beginning of winter marks the beginning of an annual slump. Some know it as “The winter blues”, “a seasonal funk”, or even “the holiday hangover”... in the clinical world, it’s known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or Seasonal Depression.

Gratitude: Just a Trendy Word or a Form of Mental Training?

“Gratitude” seems like one of those sticky catch-all words. It conjures up the image of a family at Thanksgiving dinner going around the table and professing all that they are grateful for. It conjures up images of writing thank-you cards for gifts (an oft-dreaded practice). These are certainly good practices of gratitude - and there’s more to living a gratitude-driven lifestyle than a simple “thank you”!