If you are like me, every time I decide to do something just for me, I have a flash of all the things that I should be doing instead. Since my to-do list is quite long, I have to fight the urge to postpone that relaxing walk or leisure reading to get something done on my list. After all, I’ve seen the research on the importance of self-control and self-regulation in obtaining long-term goals. Yet, recent research shines a light on the importance of fun and relaxation, too. Let’s take a look…

With so many of us working remotely in a highly stressed world, it is quite likely that we’ll be faced with occasional conflict with the people we work with. And even without the additional stress, most of us aren’t very good at handling it. So, how do we improve our ability to manage conflict?

Even those of us who are usually upbeat and positive have bad days occasionally. These bad days may be prompted by something that happened or for no apparent reason at all. So, what can we do about it? How can we turn these bad days into something more productive and positive?

A common comment related to my blog on mask-wearing was that people missed seeing other people’s smiles. It’s understandable that we feel this way. For example, when someone smiles at us, we smile back. Now, with the need to wear a mask, others can’t see our smile and we can’t see theirs. Perhaps without the prompt of seeing others’ smiles, we may be smiling less, which may have the effect of compounding a negative mood.