Kate's Nuggets

Rest is a crucial part of life. Especially when we are stressed and things are busy. In this episode, Kate discusses rest as a radical act and rest as the foundation of productivity.50% of Americans don’t take the vacation days they earn. 31 million earned vacation days are left unused by Canadians every year. What do we have against rest?Rest is crucial for regulating our nervou

Your Inner Sage is capable of handling every situation you might encounter. All you have to do is learn how to put it in charge. In this episode, Kate helps you get to know this very powerful part of your consciousness. We all have subpersonalities, parts of our personality that function independently. If you have ever had the experience where you felt like one part of you wanted t

Many of our self-sabotaging behaviors are overactive responses to fear. In this episode, Kate describes the anatomy of fear and discusses how understanding that anatomy can help us learn more appropriate fear responses.When our threat response system is engaged, we can’t think straight. We act reactively and without thought. If our threat response system is badly calibrated, we b

We all belong exactly where we are, but we don’t always feel like we belong. In this episode, Kate describes a powerful way of increasing our felt sense of belonging.If we don’t feel like we belong, we struggle.It doesn’t matter whether we cognitively understand that we are a necessary part of all that is or how we fit in the systems that rely on us. If we don’t feel it, it

One powerful way to overcome the disruptive effects of fear is through commitment. In this episode, Kate discusses some ways to think about and work with commitment.Have you ever been so committed to something that no set-back was enough to stop you from trying? Heard stories of heroic rescues of children by their parents in the face of enormous dangers? Commitment is a powerful mo

Emotions are messages from our non-cognitive intelligence about the state of our world and what actions we might want to take. We need to take them seriously, but we don’t want to be ruled by them.When we are infants, our behaviours are instinctive reactions to emotions. We do not have any information about how the world works so there is no point in slowing down to think about w

When life feels tough, it is more important than ever to have a practice of noticing the good that exists simultaneously.In every moment, there are good and bad things happening in the world. People naturally notice bad things more than good things. This can easily lead to a pessimistic outlook. Actively paying attention to the good things acts as a counterbalance. In this episode,

There are so many self-care tools to choose from. How do you decide how to spend your time? If you understand which neurotransmitter is involved in the mood or experience you are trying to shift, it is easier to decide.Different neurotransmitters mediate different emotional and behavioral subsystems. And different interventions affect different neurotransmitters. So when you are pl

It is one thing to be mindful and compassionate when things are calm, but how do we stay open and loving when the world is exploding around us? In this episode, Kate provides some ideas for practicing mindfulness in action.Most of us have heard by now that mindfulness creates calm and allows us to stay non-reactive, but few of us have time to sit and meditate. In fact, the people w

One of the easiest ways to improve relationships is to celebrate each other’s joy whether we understand it or not. Sympathetic joy is the joy we feel when others' experience joy. We delight that they are delighted. We celebrate on their behalf. When we are in the habit of celebrating other people’s successes and good fortune on their behalf, we increase our own experience of jo