Test Case

Gender

In Defense of Men

Melissa Kirk on October 4, 2012

This culture isn't very nice to men. How can we all create a culture that's friendlier and more forgiving of men?

This culture isn't very nice to men. How can we all create a culture that's friendlier and more forgiving of men?

Manifesting isn't magic; it's just what happens when you follow your own soul home.

Friends

So, What's Your Story?

Melissa Kirk on April 27, 2012

Are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves healthy or harmful?

Are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves healthy or harmful?

The other side of the coin of the fear of letting go is the jubilation when we spread our wings and fly.

If you struggle with telling yourself a story that you're ugly, consider changing that story. It's a prison you create with your mind.

Health

What Does It Mean to Be Mentally Healthy?

Melissa Kirk on October 10, 2011

For World Mental Health Day, let's cultivate compassionate self-awareness for ourselves and others who struggle with staying balanced.

For World Mental Health Day, let's cultivate compassionate self-awareness for ourselves and others who struggle with staying balanced.

Why is happiness so important, and is it, in fact, even sustainable? And if we were happy all of the time, how would we learn to surf the waves of our emotions, and to gracefully dance with our shadows?

Depression

The Danger of Letting Others Define You

Melissa Kirk on July 29, 2011

When we feel that we only fit into one definition—when we believe how others define us or when we define ourselves narrowly—we lose parts of ourselves or feel that we can't give voice to parts that don't fit with that definition.

When we feel that we only fit into one definition—when we believe how others define us or when we define ourselves narrowly—we lose parts of ourselves or feel that we can't give voice to parts that don't fit with that definition.

Embarrassment

Shame on You! Do You Use Shame to Control Others?

Melissa Kirk on June 26, 2011

Shaming others is a way we can often get people to do what we want, but is it worth it?

Shaming others is a way we can often get people to do what we want, but is it worth it?

Disappointment means we haven't accepted that the person who disappointed us is not, in fact, us.

When we experience low moods, it can be very difficult to do what we need to do to be succesful in life. But we can learn to use the times when we feel balanced to get done what needs to get done.

Friends

Using Values as Your Compass

Melissa Kirk on February 25, 2011

When we struggle or feel lost, one easy way to ground ourselves is to use our personal values as a compass to guide our way.

When we struggle or feel lost, one easy way to ground ourselves is to use our personal values as a compass to guide our way.

Relationships

A Valentine's Day Musing

Melissa Kirk on February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day: the day of chagrin for singles and the imperfectly coupled everywhere (even when we pretend we don't care.) How can we use this day as a reminder to generate love every day?

Valentine's Day: the day of chagrin for singles and the imperfectly coupled everywhere (even when we pretend we don't care.) How can we use this day as a reminder to generate love every day?

So often in self-help and therapy, we forget the most important step to being able to live happily with our own minds: the deep self-awareness that flows beneath judgment.

We so often use words to clarify, but what happens when more words just confuse?

Once you're over the self-diagnosis phase, you get to the other-diagnosis phase. Self-help books: the perfect stocking stuffer!

What happens when we become overly identifed with a particular symptom, experience, or diagnosis? Is it just that it's comfortable to be in that place, do others help keep us in that box, and how can we expand our understanding of ourselves and our experience?

When you have this job, you're faced with more information on health and wellness issues than you may have ever been exposed to before. In the first stage, self-diagnosis, you binge on information, all of which promises to help you and everyone you know.

We ruminate to have the sense that we are taking action on a difficult problem, but when it gets out of control, what can we do?

Four things I think it's important to realize about depression, for people on both sides of the therapy couch