Shame can be an uncomfortable feeling. It is a painful form of vulnerability that can take a toll on us physically, psychologically and emotionally. Shame can make us believe that we are flawed, thereby creating a barrier between ourselves and people or situations because we feel unwanted and unworthy of their love and attention.

There are different types of shame; self-inflicted or caused by external factors. The common incidences that lead to shame, such as accidentally spilling a drink on yourself in public or being reprimanded by your superior in front of your colleagues, are minor. However, should the shame become too intense and toxic where it affects your mental state, it is advisable for you to address the issue or seek professional help. Read more

You might have heard people say that people who talk to themselves are crazy, or at least identifies someone as absent-minded or eccentric. While some may see this as odd behaviour, self-talk is actually quite normal.

Self-talk is the inner or outer dialogue you might have with yourself. You might self-talk in your own head or you might self-talk out loud. Either way, you’re essentially talking to yourself; sometimes even carrying on entire conversations in this way. Read more

If you find yourself in a constant state of worry and anxiety about the unpleasant things that might happen before the actual events take place; or you repeatedly think of the worst possible scenarios occurring, you could be a victim of your own thoughts.

This term is known as ‘overthinking’ whereby, the person put too much time into thinking or overanalysing in a way that is more harmful than helpful to their situation. In such cases, the emotion of fear plays one of the major roles for us to overthink, which in turn may cause anxiety, panic attacks and/or in severe case, depression. Generally, we will experience two destructive thoughts pattern when it comes to overthinking: negative dwelling on the past or being pessimistic about the future. Read more

Emotions play an important role in our lives. It can affect how we react to certain situations and influence the decisions we make about our lives, both large and small. While some can cope with adversities in their life, there are others that struggle to overcome it.

Having a ‘safe place’ or safety net, where we can rely on something or someone to cushion the impact, allows us to handle our emotions better. It is inevitable that at some point of our life, we will experience some sort of turmoil or event that can cause us to feel grief, sadness, stress or even depression. This is where the emotional and moral support from loved ones, friends or even professionals plays a crucial part in guiding us to navigate smoothly out of those difficult situations. Read more

Valentine’s Day is most often associated with courtship and love. It is a day of hope, budding romance, and appreciations for existing relationships. However, all is not always well when it comes to the matter of the heart. Behind many love stories lurks a jealous heart; and it affects everyone to some degree or another. Read more

Anger is an emotional state of aggression and hostility towards someone or something. Most people tend to think that also describes rage so they must be the same thing. It is but it’s also not quite so straight forward.

Rage is best described as a fit of violent anger and fury. It is the most extreme expression of anger. Anger can actually be good and lead to positive outcomes either by acting as a motivator to perform and succeed or acting as a means to overcome some personal difficulties. Rage is excessive anger that is often violent. Read more

Anger is one of the most aggressive emotional states we can experience. When you get angry, you are experiencing aggression and hostility towards something or someone. It can range from relatively mild to intense aggression and hostility. Often this emotion erupts over a perceived or real threat or trespass against you. Other times you get angry because things haven’t gone your way, or the way you expected them to. Read more

Many people dread the idea of shopping for Christmas gifts, decorating their house for the holidays, and having dinner gatherings with family members. If you are worried you might be the Grinch, don’t be. More people than you know also dread the holidays.

Festive holidays are meant to be joyful. However, studies has shown that stress and anxiety will be heightened especially during the holiday season. Reasons might be due to routines being interrupted – by travel, guests, parties and the holidays themselves. Hence, this can agitate and easily cause distress. Without any intervention, our discomfort for the holiday period may even grow with each passing year. This can have an effect on our overall ability to enjoy ourselves and our impact out sense of happiness. Read more