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Articles by Jena Field
Distress vs. Eustress? Steps to Understand and Manage Stress
Doctors, scientists, and the media warn us that stress is toxic. They instruct us to “calm down” or suffer the health consequences. This causes a dilemma for many of us. How many people do we know who lead stress-free lives? And how often do we encounter stress on a regular basis, despite our best efforts to manage stress or avoid it entirely? Can there be such a thing as positive stress? The problem is that stress is the result of caring about something; it is human and it is inevitable.
4 Steps to Rewire Your Brain and Feel Happier
The sun is out, blissfully hot and I am in the sea. Saltwater stings my eyes as I swim away from shore. I stop suddenly and flip over onto my back. My legs float up and I starfish while staring up at the sky. I connect with myself, with all of my past selves, and all of my future selves. Then I send compassion, forgiveness, and love, as I’ve done many times before. I am consciously taking this tiny step to strengthen my resilience and feel happier.
Steps You Can Take Now to Manage Stress
Doctors, scientists, and the media warn us that stress is toxic and that ‘We Must Calm Down’ or suffer the health consequences. This causes a dilemma for many of us. How many people do we know who lead stress-free lives? And how often, despite our best efforts to manage or avoid it, do we encounter at least a moderate level of stress on a regular basis? Neurologically, a stress response is a milder form of a fear response (fight, flight, or freeze, for example).
Making Sense of the Loss of ‘Normal’
I have been eyes-wide fangirling about Brené Brown recently. Her TED Talks on the power vulnerability are changing the way we think as a culture about authenticity and connection. In her “Unlocking Us” podcast, Brown interviews David Kessler about his new book on grief. While listening to Brown and Kessler talk about the pandemic, one sentence stopped me in my tracks: We are dealing with the collective loss of the world we knew. Something clicked for me.
Cabin Fever Survival Guide for Talent
“If one more person tells me to be grateful, meditate or improve myself, I am going to punch them in the face,” I think to myself. Then I feel guilty for disregarding the less fortunate. Then I feel guilty for feeling more fortunate than others. And for the panic carb-ing. And for daytime drinking. I am grateful for the heroes on the frontline who are serving hospitals and supermarkets. But none of us can feel one emotion at all times.
Feeling Stuck? Find a Creative Path Forward With Indie Artistry
I was the queen of procrastination. Attending a university triggered a whole host of self-doubts: I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m definitely going to fail — you get the idea. I resisted doing the work until the last minute and sometimes passed it. Instead, I ate, played games, chatted on the phone and reorganized everything in my apartment, just to avoid the emotional discomfort that the work triggered in me.
Tools to Defuse Your Destructive Inner Critic
Everyone has an inner critic. Mostly, our inner critic is like a well-meaning parent, pointing out our mistakes and weaknesses, basically nagging us to be better. I think of my inner critic as an annoying cricket. Like the crickets from my childhood that occupied my house, my inner critic tweedles relentlessly and keeps me awake at night. When your inner critic pipes up again, thank it for trying to protect you. Then respond to its criticism with a constructive alternative.
The science behind creativity – what happens in the brain and why | Open for Ideas
What is creativity? There’s an extraordinary new type of brain scan called an fMRI that allows us to witness creative thinking while it’s happening. For the first time, we can see that creative thinking is not a mystical or divine force that shines down on us from the heavens (sorry, Elizabeth Gilbert!). Rather, creative thinking is our brain networks firing on all cylinders to make new neural connections.
Rewire Your Brain and Feel Happier: Embrace Your Inner Critic
This is part 3 in a 3 part series by Dr. Jena Field on rewiring your brain for happiness. Almost everyone has an inner critic. Mostly, our inner critic can be likened to a well-meaning parent, pointing out our mistakes, highlighting our weaknesses, and nagging us to be better. I liken my inner critic to an annoying cricket. Like the crickets from my childhood that used to move into my house, they tweedle relentlessly and keep me awake at night.
Confront Your Shame to Rise Above Anxiety
Anxiety is so in right now. Everyone from Beyonce to Prince Harry is talking about their struggles with anxiety and how they overcome them. This growing awareness of mental health is great. The more we know about anxiety, the closer we come to ending the stigma around it. But, anxiety is a secondary emotion. It’s the one we see and feel, but it is not the main emotion driving us. Anxiety is often the result of a deeper emotion.
How to Deal With Social Anxiety From Camming
I am walking into a friend’s BBQ when a guy sidles up beside me, reeking of booze and leering. “Entry for a kiss,” he says. “Erm, no, thanks,” I say and avert my eyes. He persists, “Come on, just a quick one.” I ignore him, looking intensely at my phone. His tone turns more aggressive, “Jesus, you’re being such a stuck-up bi…,” but before he can finish, I touch an eject button on my phone and he catapults into the sky, gone from my sight.
How to Handle Cam Loneliness
Cam modeling can be an emotional rollercoaster, “When you’re in front of that audience, there’s such a high, and there’s such an energy … you’re laughing, you’re meeting people and then all of a sudden, your show’s over, you close your computer and it’s just like the silence is almost deafening,” cam model Nikki Night once stated in a Forbes magazine interview.
4 Steps to Rewire Your Brain and Feel Happier
The sun is out, blissfully hot and I am in the sea. Saltwater stings my eyes as I swim away from shore. I stop suddenly and flip over onto my back. My legs float up and I starfish while staring up at the sky. I connect with myself, with all of my past selves, and all of my future selves. Then I send compassion, forgiveness, and love, as I’ve done many times before. I am consciously taking this tiny step to strengthen my resilience and feel happier.
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