Erin Olivo - Mindfulness Meditation

The Real Reason Why You’re Stressed Out

2021-08-27T04:13:38+00:00By Erin Olivo|Stress Less, Wise Mind Living|

If you’re a regular reader of the Wise Mind Living blog, you know that I believe most people who are stressed out have the wrong idea about what stress is. Which is why they aren’t very good at managing their stress.

What you need to do is learn how to manage your distressing emotions—because that’s what stress really is.

So where do these distressing emotions come from?

And if you don’t like these feelings, and they’re the reasons for stress, why do you have them, anyway?

The basic answer is that we have emotions because there’s a […]

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How to Beat the Holiday Blues

2021-08-27T04:13:38+00:00By Erin Olivo|Be Happier, Wise Mind Living, Depression|

The holiday season is in full swing. Anything that can hold a strand of lights is lit up. Christmas tunes are playing in the elevators. And your inbox is full of emails from retailers reminding you of all the gifts you need to buy.

It’s the time of year that also comes with an underlying message that you should be happy, merry and grateful.

But for many people, the holiday season is actually a difficult time of year and brings on the holiday blues.

There are plenty of things that can make you dread the holiday season. The grief over the […]

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What Is An Anxiety Attack?

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Stress Less, Anxiety Relief|

Sometimes patients come to me because they want to know how to deal with an anxiety attack. However, the symptoms they’re describing are technically those of a panic attack—a burst of fear or worry with intense physical manifestations.

A panic attack hits you all of a sudden: one minute you’re fine and the next minute your heart is pounding, you can’t catch your breath, you’re sweating like crazy and you feel a bit dizzy.

It can feel so extreme that you think you’re dying – or going insane. Thoughts like that, of course, make the whole thing worse by providing […]

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Four Tips to Overcome Social Anxiety

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Stress Less, Wise Mind Living, Anxiety Relief|

The holiday season is upon us and although it’s supposed to be festive and fun, it can also bring a lot of anxiety-producing social occasions.

Whether it’s due to an office party, a big gathering at your in-laws, or an open house in your new neighborhood, many people suffer from social anxiety and that can make you feel out-of-sync with the merry mood.

If you’re dealing with this problem, Wise Mind Living strategies can teach you how to overcome social anxiety.

My patient Angelina was having anxiety issues about her upcoming office holiday party and asked me […]

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3 Essential Tips to Improve Your Relationship

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Improve Your Relationships, Wise Mind Living, Forgiveness|

Relationships are complicated and can cause emotional stress—to be successful they take work.

Here are three simple strategies I teach all of the couples I work with that you can use to improve your relationship today.

Put the other person first.

Deep down you know that you should put your partner first—but it’s hard to do because it makes you feel vulnerable.

You worry that if you don’t put yourself first you won’t get your needs met. But take a look at any successful relationship you admire and I bet you’ll see that they put each other’s needs first.

This is the issue […]

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Why I Wrote Wise Mind Living

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Wise Mind Living|

Today is an exciting day for me: my first book, Wise Mind Living: Master Your Emotions, Transform Your Life, has officially launched.

I wrote this book because I believe most people have the wrong idea about what stress is, which is why they aren’t very good at managing it.

What we need to do is learn how to manage our distressing emotions—because that’s what stress really is.

Wise Mind Living is an owner’s manual to your emotions. As a clinical psychologist with 19-years experience treating patients, I realized that most people have no idea how […]

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The Best Ways to Cope With Negativity

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Be Happier, Wise Mind Living, Anxiety Relief, Gratitude, Acceptance|

Have you ever had one of those days where your exposure to negativity is overwhelming?

I had one this week. After a long day at the office, I turned on the evening news and heard about the shooting in Ottawa, the ongoing fear of the Ebola virus, and the continuing ISIS attacks.

Whew – sometimes it feels like the world is going crazy!

It’s hard to not let the negatives around us become negatives inside us. But you don’t have to let the bad news ruin your day or make you anxious.

Here are three tips to help you shake off the […]

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Why Mindfulness Meditation Improves Athletic Performance

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Live Mindfully, Wise Mind Living, Meditation|

Whether or not you’re a basketball fan, you’ve probably heard of Phil Jackson, the “Zen Master” who led Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and then Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, to a record-setting 11 NBA championships.

He’s currently the president of the New York Knicks and just announced that the team is undergoing mandatory mindfulness meditation training.

As someone who has practiced mindfulness meditation for 20 years and teaches it to my patients, I was thrilled to hear this news—but not because I’m a crazy Knicks fan. (Truth be told, as a Duke alumni I […]

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Why Spending Time In Nature is Key to Stress Reduction

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Stress Less, Wise Mind Living, Anxiety Relief|

Fall is officially in full swing! The lazy days of summer have been replaced with a hustle and bustle that coincided with the kids going back to school.

You can feel the energy in the air, and for me it’s even more intense this year for several good reasons.

In addition to prepping for the launch of my book and working with my patients, I just started writing for the Oz Blog! I’m very excited to be working with Dr. Oz again. You can read my first post here […]

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How to Reduce Your Fear of the Ebola Virus

2021-08-27T04:13:39+00:00By Erin Olivo|Wise Mind Living|

Fears about the Ebola virus have reached an all time high since the discovery of a case in Dallas this week.

But despite the fact that experts say the chances of an outbreak happening in the US are extremely low, the current media coverage is feeding people’s fears instead of helping to minimize them.

Here are some Wise Mind Living strategies to help you avoid joining the Ebola hysteria.

1. Check the facts
Make sure you only get information from non-sensational, respected sources. And once you have it, try not to give in to emotion biased, catastrophic thinking […]

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