advice

Advice and tips on managing mental health, maintaining a positive outlook and becoming your happiest self.

The Cobalt Tongue
Sarah’s dress was a cruel kind of blue, a shade somewhere between a summer sky and a forgotten bruise. Elias tried to focus on her words, something about her aunt’s cat, but the taste of it filled his mouth, sharp and insistent. Not a flavor like lemon or salt, no, but a cold, metallic tang, like old pennies left too long in a damp palm. Beneath that, a vast, echoing emptiness, a hollow ache that settled deep in his molars. He wanted to spit, but polite society didn’t allow for such things, not in a brightly lit cafe with too many people and their own silent worlds. He swallowed hard, feeling the phantom chill go down his throat.
By HAADIabout a month ago in Psyche
To Know Thy Enemy
There are many people who want to have success in life... But they struggle tremendously. We have watched as this often crumbles into forms of tribalism...
By Dr. Cody Dakota Wooten, DFM, DHM, DAS (hc)about a month ago in Psyche
Adenovirus on the Rise: What You Need to Know About the Silent Virus Spreading Fast
Why Doctors Are Warning About Adenovirus Infections Adenovirus is not a new virus, but lately it has been gaining renewed attention from doctors, parents, and public health experts. Reports of rising adenovirus infections—especially among children—have raised concerns worldwide. While many people think of it as just another cold virus, adenovirus can sometimes cause serious illness if ignored.
By Waqar Khan2 months ago in Psyche
When pain shows on the skin: how emotional abuse can steal your peace and your beauty
There was a time in my life when a was trapped in an emotionally abusive situation. Each day felt like a silent war. I cried often. I was anxious, unsettled, and constantly walking on egg shells. I smiled in front of others_ at school, in public during conversations_ but inside, I was deeply broken.
By CIM2 months ago in Psyche
Being the First Dreamer in a Family of Survivors
I did not come from dreamers. I came from survivors. They woke before the sun because survival does not wait for rest. They worked through pain because pain never paid the bills. Their lives were shaped by necessity, not desire. Food mattered more than fulfillment. Stability mattered more than passion. In my family, dreams were considered dangerous. They were luxuries people indulged in when rent was paid, when cupboards were full, when tomorrow was guaranteed. Dreams, we believed, could distract you from staying alive. And then there was me. I wanted more than endurance. I wanted meaning. I wanted to imagine a future instead of bracing for the next emergency. I wanted to ask questions like “What do I want?” instead of “What do we need right now?” I wanted a life that did not revolve entirely around fear. That is how I became the first dreamer in a family of survivors. No one prepared me for the guilt. Every step forward felt like a quiet act of disobedience. When I rested, I felt lazy. When I imagined a different life, I felt ungrateful. When I pursued joy, I wondered who I was leaving behind. Their sacrifices built the ground beneath my feet. How dare I stand taller than they ever could. I learned early that ambition can feel like betrayal. That wanting more can sound like criticizing the lives that came before you. That growth can feel like saying, “Your way was not enough,” even when that is not what you mean. I loved them. And still, I wanted something different. That contradiction lived inside me like a second heartbeat. They taught me how to survive. But no one taught me how to dream without shame. I watched them carry exhaustion like a family heirloom. I inherited their discipline, their resilience, their silence. But I also inherited their unfinished hopes, buried so deep they no longer had names. Sometimes I think my dreams are not entirely mine. They are borrowed courage. They are postponed desires finally asking to be lived. Still, pride and guilt walk beside me everywhere I go. Pride, because I am doing things they never had the chance to imagine. Pride, because their struggles did not end with them. Pride, because survival evolved into possibility. Guilt, because my life is lighter. Guilt, because I can choose. Guilt, because my fears are not as sharp as theirs once were. Being the first dreamer means translating survival into something gentler. It means honoring the past without being imprisoned by it. It means carrying gratitude without carrying chains. I am not rejecting where I come from. I am continuing it differently. Their strength taught me how to endure. My dreams teach me how to live. And maybe that is the quiet purpose of progress. Not to erase the struggle of our families, but to make sure it does not have to be repeated.
By Luna Vani2 months ago in Psyche
No One Talks About the Grief of Becoming Better
No one warns you that healing will ask you to mourn. They tell you growth feels empowering. They do not mention the quiet grief that follows becoming better.
By LUNA EDITH2 months ago in Psyche
Reclaiming the Morning: How 30 Minutes of 'Analog Calm' Transformed My Creative Potential. AI-Generated.
The Morning Dopamine Trap: Dissecting Digital Depletion In the fragile threshold of awakening, reaching for your smartphone is an act of quiet sabotage against your own mental sovereignty. By flooding the brain with the hollow dopamine of notifications, you subvert the natural surge of cortisol meant for clarity, replacing poised alertness with a state of compulsive agitation. This is the anatomy of digital depletion—a shift from the proactive architect of your day to a reactive prisoner of the feed. It creates a cognitive fog that leaves you mentally bankrupted before your feet even touch the floor, turning your morning into a desperate, breathless chase for a focus that was surrendered at dawn.
By Mohammad Hammash2 months ago in Psyche
Abrupt And Immediate Change Rarely Works
We are getting ready to come into a new year. You know what that means... Everyone is going to be trying something "new" to start off the year.
By Jason Will2 months ago in Psyche
Why Abrupt And Immediate Change Rarely Works
We are getting ready to come into a new year. You know what that means... Everyone is going to be trying something "new" to start off the year.
By Dr. Cody Dakota Wooten, DFM, DHM, DAS (hc)2 months ago in Psyche
When Winter Teaches Us How to Feel Again. AI-Generated.
December doesn’t arrive loudly. It seeps in. Earlier sunsets after a day of rain. Streets that look familiar but feel emptied of color. The air sharp enough to make you aware of your breath. Winter, more than any other season, doesn’t ask for productivity or performance. It asks for honesty.
By Ahmet Kıvanç Demirkıran2 months ago in Psyche
The Psychology of Emotional Contagion. AI-Generated.
Walk into a room where tension hangs in the air, and you may feel uneasy before anyone says a word. Enter a space filled with laughter, and your mood often lifts almost instantly. This phenomenon is not coincidence or imagination; it is emotional contagion at work. Emotional contagion is a subcategory of social psychology that explores how emotions transfer from one person to another, often unconsciously. It shapes group dynamics, relationships, workplaces, and even entire societies, influencing how we feel and behave in ways we rarely notice.
By Kyle Butler2 months ago in Psyche
The Static Hum
The air on the platform tasted like old rust and forgotten rain. Elias pulled the collar of his threadbare coat tighter, the fabric scratching at his neck. His duffel, one measly bag, felt lighter than the hollow ache in his chest, an ache that had burrowed deep and set up shop weeks ago. He watched the train pull in, a long, dark serpent of ancient steel, its breath a sigh of steam that dissipated quickly into the cold, a fleeting ghost in the fading light. This was it. The last one. The one to wherever.
By HAADI2 months ago in Psyche