· By Laurie Arena
Book Recommendation: Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy
Book Recommendation and Summary: "Good Inside" by Dr. Becky Kennedy
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· By Joshua McKelvey
What is Health Coaching?
A health coach skeptic's view on being a health coach.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
What does Anxiety Look Like to You?
Anxiety can show up as irritability, especially when it overloads attention and working memory. Research suggests CBT, DBT skills, slow breathing, brief attention training, mindfulness/acceptance, and deliberate relationship repair can help interrupt the cycle. The core idea: notice the overload earlier, regulate before reacting, and take responsibility for behavior without turning it into self-condemnation.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
ACT Wise
Wisdom research suggests that wise functioning involves humility, perspective-taking, emotional regulation, openness, tolerance of uncertainty, and concern for others. ACT overlaps with many of these capacities through psychological flexibility, especially acceptance, defusion, self-as-context, values, and committed action. The key distinction is that ACT helps us relate more flexibly to our inner experience, while wisdom research asks how we use that flexibility to reason and act well in complex situations.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Emotional Regulation Under Stress
Emotional regulation under stress is not about eliminating emotions. It is about creating enough space to respond flexibly and act in ways that still fit our values and goals. Research suggests that effective regulation draws on multiple systems, including physiological calming, attentional control, cognitive reframing, psychological flexibility, practiced coping skills, movement, sleep, purpose, and social support. Mindfulness, CBT, ACT, and DBT each appear to target different parts of this process, with generally modest but meaningful benefits depending on the context and population. The most practical takeaway is that regulation works best as a system: notice activation, reduce intensity when needed, interrupt rumination, question interpretations, make room for difficult feelings, and choose the next action deliberately rather than reactively.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
What Mindfulness Practices Actually Work Best?
Mindfulness is not one single practice, and the research does not identify a universally “best” meditation. Instead, different practices appear to train different skills. Focused attention is most closely linked to improvements in attention and executive control; open monitoring may help with rumination and cognitive reactivity; body-focused practices support awareness of emotional and physiological signals; and loving-kindness may be especially useful for self-compassion. The strongest evidence generally supports structured programs such as MBSR and MBCT rather than isolated techniques. Neuroscience suggests mindfulness involves attention, emotion regulation, interoception, and self-related processing, but these mechanisms are still being clarified. Overall, mindfulness appears most useful for building psychological flexibility: noticing experience more clearly, becoming less automatically reactive to thoughts and emotions, and choosing behavior more deliberately.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
The Five-ish Pillars of Well-being
Well-being is not the same thing as happiness. It is a broader pattern involving how we feel, how effectively we function, whether our lives have meaning and direction, whether we feel connected to others, and whether our circumstances give us a reasonable foundation on which to build.
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By Laurie Arena, PMHNP, MSW, MSN Healthy Eating for Kids: A Uphill Climb You Don't Have to Make Alone
Healthy Eating for Kids: A Uphill Climb You Don't Have to Make Alone
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Agency & Autonomy: Why feeling like the Author of Your Life Matters
Agency & Autonomy is the experience of having meaningful choice, influence, and authorship in your life. Research links greater autonomy with better well-being across ages and cultures, while coercion and restricted agency are associated with distress. The practical takeaway is not “control everything,” but learn where you have real influence, act from self-endorsed reasons, and recognize when the environment itself needs to change.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Connection & Belonging: Why Relationships Matter More Than We Think
Connection and belonging are core parts of well-being, but they are about more than simply having people around. What matters is whether relationships provide acceptance, support, trust, reciprocity, and a sense that we matter. Healthy connection can come from a few close relationships, meaningful community involvement, and regular opportunities to contribute. The science also suggests that loneliness is not one single problem, so improving connection may require strengthening relationships, building community, developing social skills, or changing circumstances that make connection difficult.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Safety Is The Environment In Which Well-Being Exists
Safety does not guarantee well-being, but it profoundly shapes how difficult well-being is to build and sustain. When people live with violence, abuse, instability, or persistent threat, emotional health, autonomy, connection, growth, meaning, sleep, and physical functioning all become harder to support. Safety is therefore best understood as a foundation of well-being: not the whole structure, but part of the ground everything else must stand on.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Batman, God and the Meaning of Life
Meaning and purpose do not require a grand destiny, religious calling, or Batman-sized mission. Instead, well-being rests on three interconnected experiences: making sense of our lives, having meaningful directions to pursue, and feeling that we matter. Healthy purpose is flexible, shaped by our circumstances, and built through everyday relationships, routines, values, and activities that give our time and energy direction.
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· By Joshua D Mckelvey
Feeling Bad isn't Failing
Emotional well-being isn’t about feeling good all the time. It’s about experiencing emotions without being ruled by them, responding to yourself without unnecessary self-attack, and recognizing when distress calls for coping and when it’s telling you something in your life needs to change.
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