values Tag

Posts tagged 'values'

Parenting and Friendship: Why You Shouldn’t Be Your Child’s Best Friend

parent child relationship showing healthy parenting and friendship boundaries

When working with parents about their parenting style, I meet many parents disappointed with their relationship with their children.

And surprisingly, the problem often comes from the same place. Too many parents hold the false belief that they can become their children’s best friends.

They can’t. And more importantly, they shouldn’t.

This confusion between parenting and friendship is becoming more common in modern families. Parents want closeness. They want trust. They want their children to feel comfortable sharing their lives.

Children do not need another friend. They need a parent.

Read Parenting and Friendship: Why You Shouldn’t Be Your Child’s Best Friend »

Is Free Choice Real? How Pressure Affects Our Decisions

The concept of free choice has been examined since the dawn of time across all traditions and philosophies. At any moment of life, we are constantly choosing. We are choosing what to say, what to think, what to do, how to do it… It makes me wonder: do we truly have free choice?

The question here is not about choice but about freedom.

We always have a choice, but we don’t always have free choice. Even choosing not to choose is still a choice.

The concept of free choice has fascinated philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual traditions for thousands of years. The debate between free will and determinism has never been fully resolved.

Even in the Bible, after Cain killed his brother Abel, God told him that he had the freedom to choose, but did he?

For centuries, you can see many books and movies focusing on the same dilemma.

Do we really have free choice, or are our decisions determined by forces we cannot see?

As a life coach, I teach people to choose every day. I can tell you that as a mother, I do exactly the same thing. My eldest is now 37 years old, and I have practiced teaching her to choose for many years.

I chose the slogan “Happiness is a Choice” for my Be Happy in Life business many years ago because choosing is a big thing for me. I believe in all my heart that happiness is a choice but maybe it is not a free choice.

Read Is Free Choice Real? How Pressure Affects Our Decisions »

How Silence Improves Mental Health and Clarity

Quiet reflection showing how silence improves mental health

We live in a world that rarely pauses. Notifications, conversations, responsibilities, and expectations follow us everywhere. In this constant noise, our mental health is often the first thing to suffer.

What many people don’t realize is that one of the most powerful and accessible tools for emotional wellbeing is silence. Research, psychology, and lived experience all point to the same conclusion: silence improves mental health.

Silence is not emptiness. It is a state where the nervous system can settle, emotions can be processed, and clarity can emerge. When external noise fades, the internal world becomes more visible. This is why silence improves mental health not only by reducing stress, but by increasing self-awareness, emotional regulation, and inner stability.

As the final chapter in The Power of Silence series, this article brings everything together. We explore how silence improves mental health, strengthens emotional intelligence, supports decision-making, and helps us reconnect with ourselves in a sustainable, realistic way.

Read How Silence Improves Mental Health and Clarity »

Why We Remember Bad Things and How to Break the Cycle

Most people assume they’re too sensitive, too emotional, or too dramatic because they remember the bad things so clearly — the harsh words, the embarrassing moments, the mistakes, the disappointments, the fights, the failures.

And then they think something is wrong with them because the good things fade so easily. The compliment? Gone. The joy? Blurry. The victory? Forgotten. The happy days? A soft fog.

Why we remember bad things more than good?

The truth is simple: we remember bad things more than good because the brain is wired for survival, not happiness. This isn’t a character flaw. It’s biology.

Read Why We Remember Bad Things and How to Break the Cycle »

The Emotional Cost of FOMO: How Fear of Missing Out Steal Your Happiness

I decided to write about FOMO (Fear of missing out) because I’ve seen it quietly affect adults as much as teenagers — parents, grandparents, professionals, anyone who scrolls through social media or compares themselves to others.

We all want our children to be happy, successful, and confident, but sometimes, we forget to nurture our own sense of contentment. FOMO steals your happiness and I want to help you recognize FOMO understand its impact, and take practical steps to reclaim joy, confidence, and peace of mind.

Read The Emotional Cost of FOMO: How Fear of Missing Out Steal Your Happiness »

A Respectful Relationship Will Save Your Marriage

Man's hand and woman's hand holding a flower together

Respect is crucial for every relationship, and the foundation of every successful marriage. The problem in every relationship arises when we feel under attack, respect goes out the window.

It is easy to be respectful when everything is good and lovely. The real test comes when things are not easy and we no longer feel trusting, safe and secure.

Still, I think it is good to understand what a respectful relationship looks like, so you notice when you are not in that zone.

Read A Respectful Relationship Will Save Your Marriage »

It’s Hard to Say “I’m Sorry” When You’re Not

Kids sometimes do things that others don’t like. Sometimes, they break things and even hurt others. It’s important to help them understand what happened, but parents should never force them to say, “I’m sorry”.

I think the idea of saying “sorry” is distorted because of social “expectations” that if someone is hurt, we must have done something to cause it. This makes parents “teach” their kids to say “sorry” even if it comes without actual “sorrow”.

It’s very easy to see it with young children. They take a game away from another kid (sibling), the other kid cries. Immediately, the parents scold them and force them to go to the other kid and say they’re sorry.

This is humiliating. It plants in those kids the idea that saying “sorry” is admitting guilt, even if they don’t think they’re guilty. And it builds up and stays with the kids.

Read It’s Hard to Say “I’m Sorry” When You’re Not »

Is Money a Curse or blessing? My New Book: The Will

Yay, I did it! My new book, The Will, was published in November 2019 and I am proud to the max.

In this post, I’ve decided to answer all the questions I got from Carol Grainger, who edited the book, about the book and the process of writing it, from the first time I told her about it until the last edit.

Stick around and enjoy the ride with me.

The Will is a fictional novel. I love the story medium to help readers take their own journey in answering the question of whether money is curse or a blessing.

Read Is Money a Curse or blessing? My New Book: The Will »

Make a List: Judgment of Right from Wrong

Judgment is a very tense concept. We hear many objections to it, like “Do not judge a book by its cover” or “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes”. Still, although judgment is considered negative, we have lots of judgment towards everything that happens around us.

The reason we do is that we need judgment to navigate through life. If you consider judgment as the process of determining right and wrong, then judgment is essential to our survival. This is especially true for social survival.

We must have some kind of judgment towards everything we do in life, because it helps us choose what to do and what to avoid doing. Judgment and decision-making are Siamese twins. They have the same DNA and are inseparable. Making decisions requires us to use judgment to determine which of our choices we consider the best. So, judgment is not bad if we use it to make better choices.

Read Make a List: Judgment of Right from Wrong »

Assertiveness: Successful Communication Summary

Middle-aged woman in a suit looking assertive

You can learn assertiveness skills at any stage of life and you can always improve them and gain more respect for yourself and others. In this post, I have gathered all of my assertiveness tips in one big list. I hope this summary will be useful for you and for your children and students.

If we create a society full of assertive people, we will not have conflicts and we will live with each other with respect, so pass this along to everyone you know.

Read Assertiveness: Successful Communication Summary »