I may have been the last person in the USA to become aware of the attacks on 9-11. I was at home that day on vacation, hammering away at a novel I was writing. Since I didn’t have broadband, I hadn’t checked the news, and this was an era before our phones sprouted brains and tuned into social networks. Around 3 pm Pacific Time a colleague called and left message, saying that she hoped my family was alright.  Why wouldn’t they be alright? I wondered. Was there something I didn’t know? Within a few minutes I had returned the call, and after a brief conversation, I turned on the television. Then, like millions of my compatriots, I was swept into the 24-hour, non-stop tsunami of news depicting a country in crisis.

We sometimes panic for a good reason. For example, if you see a small child wandering toward a busy street, a burst of adrenaline will enable you dash across the…

Hi Ducks! Whether you have big travel plans or plan to stay local, spring break is right around the corner. Even though some students experience spring break as a time for rest and relaxation, it can sometimes be more stressful than we expect. With the stress of finals and everything in-between, this blog post will discuss coping and coping strategies that can help you feel better.

So, what is coping, anyway? Coping happens in response to mental or psychological stress, usually triggered by life changes. It is an effort to return to mental and emotional wellbeing. Coping strategies are the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that you use to adjust to the changes in your life. You can use coping skills in all aspects of life, from academic and relationship concerns to identity exploration and periods of transition or change.

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One of the books I have most enjoyed reading this past year is Lost Connections by Johann Hari. Hari, a writer and journalist, struggled with depression for many years. Like many depressed individuals seeking help, he was given medication along with the explanation that depression is caused by a biochemical imbalance in one’s brain. However, even after years of taking antidepressant medication, which supposedly corrects this imbalance, his depression never went away.

Hari’s personal experience with depression eventually led him on a quest to find the true causes depression along with potential solutions. Keep in mind the Hari is a writer, not a scientist. Nonetheless, in his quest to find the truth, he met with several prominent researchers and took a deep dive into the relevant literature.

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The concept of mindfulness has been discussed and practiced for millennia, first within various Eastern spiritual traditions, much later in Western psychology, and pretty recently by everyday folks in the U.S. Similarly, gratitude is another concept which is increasingly talked about in the pursuit of mental wellness. While practicing mindfulness and increasing one’s sense of gratitude can be quite valuable independent of each other, the two actually overlap quite seamlessly and offer unique benefits when integrated together.

Mindfulness can be thought of as the process of purposely brining one’s awareness to the present moment without judgment. In other words, practicing mindfulness just doesn’t happen by accident, it’s intentional. Bringing our attention to the present is what’s most often associated with mindfulness - connecting to the current moment rather than past or future ones. Finally, and possibly most challenging, is to do so without judgment; this can be tough,…