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Have you ever found yourself working through your lunch break? Perhaps you have thought to yourself “I’ll eat after I finish this one more task…” or “I’ll take a longer lunch break tomorrow…” or “none of my co-workers are taking their lunch break so I don’t want to look uncommitted…” Have you ever found yourself […]

On any given day, many of us spend the much of our time engaging in social interactions, from picking up our morning coffee at Starbucks, to shopping for groceries, to taking public transit. And let’s not forget class presentations, job interviews and blind dates! Our lives are riddled with social exchanges. While some may find […]

Did you know that November is national gratitude month? Well, this month, at the Waterloo CBT Clinic, we will be celebrating national gratitude month and encourage all of you to celebrate with us. Gratitude refers to “the quality of being thankful” and the readiness to show appreciation. I think we can all agree that practicing […]

People often think of perfectionism as a desirable trait – perfectionists may be viewed as more effective, punctual, accomplished, and just generally seem to “have it together.” As a result, it is often thought that, “I’m a perfectionist” is a good answer to the question, “What is your biggest weakness?” on a job interview. Unfortunately, […]

Do you struggle to fall asleep despite feeling exhausted? Or do you wake up in the middle of the night, tossing-and-turning for hours, unable to fall back asleep? If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Although occasional sleep problems are experienced by almost everyone, recent studies suggest that 40% of Canadians experience frequent sleep problems. This is not surprising given the pressures of modern society which include jam-packed work schedules and constant access to work via email and remote access. Faced-paced lifestyles have become the norm in our society, and they leave less time for us to relax and unwind. Sleep however requires us to disconnect and disengage from the world around us, and daily stresses can significantly interfere with this process.

season for setting new goals is upon us, and I thought I would take this opportunity to share some information on motivation. Many people choose to set New Year’s Resolutions focused on exercise, but most of these resolutions do not lead to lasting behaviour change. Part of the reason for the lack of follow-through is likely due to the motivations behind these goals. According to Self-Determination Theory, motivation occurs on a continuum, with activities that are driven by rewards or punishments occurring on one end of the continuum (external motivations), and activities driven by enjoyment or interest occurring at the other end of the continuum (intrinsic motivations).

Stress is not new. Stress gets a bad rap these days, but in fact, there are some really good reasons why we experience stress. Let’s imagine a hypothetical person with no stress response. We will call him Bob.   Now, Bob has made the mistake of going out for a walk in the woods without packing his stress response. Unfortunately for Bob, he happens right across the path of a bear. Without the instantaneous physiological reactions we often associate with stress kicking in and triggering him to take action (fight back or run away) Bob will have to resort to lengthier cognitive processes to decide what to do in this situation. Sadly for Bob, the thinking, reasoning, and judgment that come in handy for so many other tasks are just not fast enough for this job. Bob learned the hard way that a stress response is adaptive, and could have kept him safe.