August 17, 2017

4 Simple Habits That Make a HUGE Impact on Success & Happiness

August 17, 2017/ Dara Poznar

When I work with my clients on achieving goals, they are often astonished by how much we will break a single goal down into several micro steps that individually do not seem to add up to much, but collectively ensure progress and ultimately success. The same is true for daily habits. When performed once or occasionally they don't lead to very many big outcomes. But done consistently, however- well, prepare to rock this life, my friends.

December 19, 2016

17 Reasons 2017 Will Be The Best Year of Your Life

December 19, 2016/ Dara Poznar

I'm no regular clairvoyant, but I've got a premonition. I'm seeing you in 2017 and let me just tell you- you are unstoppable! Seriously, you are on fire. Something has changed in you and, holy cow, just wait till you see. Here are the 17 causes of your unstoppable-ness in the coming year:

You are beautiful inside and out, and you finally see that.

November 29, 2016

From Stressed to Blessed- The Mindset Shift That Can Turn Your Pain into Pleasure

November 29, 2016/ Dara Poznar

Mindset- a common theme in the self-improvement realm these days. What is mindset? Mindset is the established set of attitudes you hold. Your mindset impacts not only your day-to-day successes, but your overall success in life as well.

Can you learn and change and grow, or not? How you answer this question determines whether you have a fixed or growth mindset. If you have a fixed mindset, your attitude is that you...

November 17, 2016

4 Ways to Live a Spiritually Rich Life No Matter What You Believe

November 17, 2016/ Dara Poznar

We all have a spiritual dimension to our being. Yet we don’t all define spirituality the same way, and therefore don’t all go about satisfying our spiritual needs in the same way.

Regardless of what your personal approach to spirituality is, at the core, the essential spiritual need we all have is the same: to feel a sense of meaning in life and to find moments of complete presence, awe and gratitude. Do you agree?

I personally appreciate the following definition of what spiritual practice involves...

August 22, 2016

8 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem

August 22, 2016/ Dara Poznar

If you’ve ever felt a lack of confidence in your own abilities or have felt unworthy of some kind of positive outcome, then you’ve experienced less than optimal self-esteem.

Self-esteem is not static, and even people who generally experience themselves as capable and worthy will at times experience dips in their self-esteem. Being overlooked for a promotion, losing a job, or getting broken up with can cause such a dip for most anybody.

But some folks live in a perpetual state of self-doubt and unworthiness. Experiencing themselves as generally incapable and unworthy, people with low self-esteem live in an overwhelming and painful state of self-consciousness and anxiety. They want nothing more than to be liked and accepted, yet struggle terribly to like and accept themselves.

August 06, 2016

Why It's So Damn Hard to Be Happy

August 06, 2016/ Dara Poznar

There is endless information these days about happiness, and, specifically, how to be happy. There is no shortage of books, blog posts, TED talks, and documentaries on the subject. It’s naturally a popular topic because it’s the one thing we are all after. And one would think that since there has been this explosion of material dealing with how we should go about achieving happiness, we’d all have it in the bag.

But somehow we don’t. We’re still searching. Why is that? I mean it seems pretty simple: happiness is a choice, so choose it-right?

July 18, 2016

Stress isn't the problem. It's THIS...

July 18, 2016/ Dara Poznar

I remember having a conversation with a psychologist friend about an issue I was having with not feeling motivated enough to complete a project. I was completely astounded when she said that it sounded like I didn’t have enough stress to get it done. Not enough stress?, I scoffed. Well that’s a first. I’d heard over and over about how important it is to reduce stress, but never until that point had I been advised to go get some more of it!

She proceeded to explain that there is such a thing as “good stress”; a level of stress that stimulates you enough to get you focused, engaged, and motivated. So at this point, mind=blown, right? I mean, wow. It’s not just stress we need to be aware of, but good stress vs. bad stress. Good stress provides the stimulation you need to...

Embrace the Mud