Worry is a powerful emotion. So powerful in fact that it keeps many of us up at night. The good news is, there are specific things that we can do to reduce this anxious feeling. I truly believe that we are meant to have beautiful, worry-free lives. It takes a great deal of work and courage, but if we develop the skills to overcome worry, we will find ourselves filled with more peace and happiness. So what causes us to worry? There are four main triggers that cause anxiety in our lives: 1. The unpredictability of the future - The unknown is scary for many people, and not knowing exactly how something is going to go can feel debilitating. 2. Our own expectations - We have a strong desire for things to go a certain way, and we worry that they won’t go the way we planned. 3. The lack of control we have over the future - It’s impossible to control the future, this much we understand. It’s this very understanding that causes us to worry and feel anxious. We crave the very thing t

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where life is going so well and you can’t imagine it getting any better? Then, seemingly out of nowhere, something happens and your day or week isn’t good anymore. This may happen after we return from vacation. One moment you're relaxing on the beach, enjoying the moment, and then you return home and lose that feeling of relaxation and you may even feel unhappy. A more serious example of this is when things seem to be going great but then you receive an upsetting phone call that someone close to you is in the hospital. There are both big and small examples that can affect our happiness every day. And if we have a hard time regulating our emotions, these instances can make us feel like we’re on a roller coaster. Today we’ll review a step-by-step guide to finding and maintaining happiness throughout these big and small situations that can throw us off course. 1. Acknowledge that life changes When things are going well for us, it c

Life is not always consistent. There are times when it’s easy to make life go well for ourselves and as a result, we’re happy and content. But other times our lives can seem hard and difficult and we’re not sure what changed. Let’s discuss our dreams to explore this further. Sometimes my dreams are really intense, and when I wake up, it takes me a few moments to realize that it wasn’t real. For example, I’ve had dreams where someone important to me dies and it takes a couple of minutes for my thoughts to catch up to my feelings and remind myself that it was only a dream. These dreams can feel real to us, even if we understand that they’re not. That’s the true power of our emotions. The only way we can bring ourselves out of the emotions attached to our dreams sometimes is to adjust our thinking. Our thoughts have a lot of power over how we feel. In fact, oftentimes our thoughts shape the way we feel. Our happiness is dependent on the quality of our thoughts. We’re not happy because

Have you ever had an ‘off’ day where you just don’t feel right? To remedy that feeling, you may call a friend or two and spend time with them. I bet you felt much better after hanging out with people you care about. But why does this happen? How do friends change an unhappy day into a good day? I noticed an absence of friendships when I was at university away from my family and friends for the first time. I didn’t live in the dorms because my grandparents lived close by, so I opted to live with them. Because of this, it was difficult to meet new people, so I did something to combat my loneliness. I found an intramural soccer league, even though I’d never played soccer and I met new people and was able to make new friends. These friendships and connections increased my overall positive association with going to college and with the university. This is why connections are so powerful. Ever since then, I’ve made an effort to stay connected with my friends. One of the longest studies in

Forgiving ourselves for our past actions is often easier said than done. The good news is, we are capable of forgiving ourselves, no matter the pain or heartache we’ve caused in the past. In fact, self-forgiveness is an essential part of leading a more truthful, happier life. Recently, there was a woman from my town who has four children of her own and she went out drinking one night. On her drive home, she crashed into another car with three teenagers and killed all of them. She was sentenced to 51 years in prison for her consequential choice that evening. Most of us reading this story can’t relate to this type of crime, but I think it’s safe to assume we’ve all made decisions that could have had really harmful consequences. Or we’ve caused people intentional, or unintentional harm that we later regretted. One of the listeners of this podcast sent the following email, “Hello, Dr. Puff, I’m a long time listener. In my early childhood, I experienced a lot of violence, both verba