Donnie Blizzard

It's the idea that in order to lead healthy, happy emotional lives we need consistent habits and exercises that support our mental health and wellbeing.

• Decreased stress: you learn to manage your triggers.
• Better communication in relationships: it helps you to tolerate and manage difficult emotions and then find more productive ways to work through difficulties.
• Decreased anxiety: you train your mind to stop fearing its own emotional reactions.
• You stick with your goals: you learn to deal with emotions like anxiety, shame, regret.
• Increased self-awareness: you learn to build a better relationship with your emotions.

• Emotional clarity: Taking the time to deliberately reflect on our emotions, to observe and label them.
• Emotional myth-busting: Eliminating myths and misconceptions floating around people’s minds about emotions. 
• Emotional tolerance: Learning to resist short-term gratification and instead invest in long-term values.

• Mindfulness: practicing mindfulness means building the mental muscle of awareness and attentional control.
• Cognitive restructuring: learn how to modify the content of our thoughts. 
• Mental minimalism: just like we need to be good stewards of the stuff that we let into our lives, we also need to be good stewards of the stuff that we hang on to in our mental lives.

Most people believe deep down that they have a true self that is morally good.

In an experiment, people were asked that if they could enter another body, which traits would most likely come with them. They consistently mentioned that they would retain traits related to their morality.

• The self is made up of a combination of your physical appearance, intelligence, memories, and habits.
• The true self is what people will call their essence. It is what makes you you.

When people are asked which actions are in alignment with their true self and which not, they consistently say their true self consists of the parts that are morally good.

What we know from neuroscience and psychology, the true self doesn't exist. There is no evidence for a separate morally good true self deep within a person.

But the ides of a morally good true self still plays an important role, such as how we understand others' behaviour, assess our own lives and how we think it influences our behaviour.

One of the most common messages in college commencement speeches is, "Be true to yourself." Morals traits are continually shown to be the deep-down part of a person that makes them unique.

A study revealed that when people make positive changes in their lives, they are viewed as showing what was always deep inside them. When they partake in negative behaviours, they are viewed as moving away from their true selves.

One reason is that it's beneficial for well-being and helps us to cooperate with and trust others.

Another reason is that we tend to reflect on our positive traits. When describing the essence of something, we tend to say the essence of these things is good. When we describe the essence of a table, we describe the traits of a good table, not of a broken table.

• If we believe in a morally good true self, it does not explain political strife, hate crimes and online nastiness. A possible explanation can be that our definition of "morally good" is based on our own values, which can vary.
• Thinking that others have a moral good true self doesn't seem to be supported by the criminal justice system based on punishment and retribution.

People that believe that they have a morally good true self care about morality as core to their identity. If they then behave immorally, it threatens the sense of their identity.

People might respond to the threat by denying that they're acting immorally or get defensive. Others might do a good deed to reestablish their goodness.

A belief in the morally good self is a powerful idea that can help a person to keep trying. But it can also fuel an existential crisis if your life doesn't match up to your "true self."

The idea of a true self deep down can mean there is a real you to be found - that there are happiness and fulfilment in doing it. However, it's good to be aware of the bias of a morally true self.

These are the habits that, once implemented, have a positive impact on many other facets of your life.

Their effect is similar to a domino: all you need to do is perform this one habit and you’ll see the benefits ripple out.

Exercising regularly is perhaps the most impactful keystone habit you can implement.

When you take up exercising on a regular basis, you start eating healthy. And you start feeling good about your body. You procrastinate less and you get good sleep.

When you get adequate sleep, your mind and body are primed for a productive day. 

That means more energy and mental capacity to do the work you want to do — and do it well.

• Early morning hours are prime for productivity: early risers tend to have a higher level of cognition and the ability to solve complex problems.
• The morning is the time when your willpower is at an all-time high: when we wake up, our willpower is still high because we’ve used less of it. As the day goes on, our willpower is depleted.

Everybody is aware, in a certain measure, of the different truths life provides us with. One of them, which is also the scariest, is related to the fact that eventually, we all die. 

However, instead of freaking out on the topic, it might be better to learn how to spend our time in a productive and enjoyable way, as if every day was the last that we get to spend with our beloved ones.

One of the biggest truths you will ever come to realize is that hard work, ambition and targets give actual meaning to your life. 

Furthermore, once you have given a purpose to your work, you will most certainly see that motivation goes a long way into making someone's life more interesting to live.

Whoever believes that happiness knows no bound is in for a big surprise: happiness, like everything in this world, knows limits and very often we perceive this fact maybe just a bit too harsh. 

In order to enjoy life and to get to feel happy, as much as it is possible, one should first be able to deal with difficult situations. Therefore, maturity tends to be seen as the key to ensuring a satisfactory life.

In the long run, individuals are made to hurt and be hurt. This is not so good. However, the great news is that people are also the ones who heal or help with the healing. 

And that is truly amazing news: trust people, because some turn out great and for those who don't, remember that in the end, nobody is perfect.