Concern EAP Memphis

09/08/2025

Mindfulness Matters:
Can Living in the Moment Improve Your Health?

At some point in your life, someone probably told you: “Enjoy every moment. Life is short.” Maybe you’ve smiled and rolled your eyes at this well-intentioned relative or co-worker. But the fact is, there’s something to it. Trying to enjoy each moment may actually be good for your health.

The idea is called mindfulness. This ancient practice is about being completely aware of what’s happening in the present—of all that’s going on inside and all that’s happening around you. It means not living your life on “autopilot.” Instead, you experience life as it unfolds moment to moment, good and bad, and without judgment or preconceived notions.

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2012/01/mindfulness-matters

09/07/2025

09/05/2025

09/05/2025

How Your Diet Affects Your Ability to Beat Addiction

The dopamine fix is hard to overcome. It’s that little chemical reaction in your brain that allows you to feel happy and pleasured in response to certain stimuli.

It may happen when we drink a cold glass of chardonnay or our favorite beer, gamble, have s*x, and yes, it also helps us stay addicted to whatever vice we have. It can become harder and harder to satisfy it as time passes. So, what does dopamine have to do with how your diet affects your ability to beat addiction?

https://www.madisonmedicalassociates.com/posts/addiction/how-your-diet-affects-your-ability-to-beat-addiction/

09/03/2025

How to Set Healthy Boundaries & Build Positive Relation

☘️ Define what is appropriate behavior in our relationships – behavior that keeps both parties safe.

☘️ And setting healthy boundaries is crucial for self-care and positive relationships.

☘️ But let’s first understand what boundaries are.

Boundaries differ from person to person and are mediated by variations in culture, personality, and social context. Boundaries appropriate in a business meeting would seem irrelevant in a nightclub with old friends!

Setting boundaries defines our expectations of ourselves and others in different kinds of relationships.

https://positivepsychology.com/great-self-care-setting-healthy-boundaries/

09/01/2025

The Drug Enforcement Administration recognizes September as Su***de Prevention and Awareness Month by providing resources to educate yourself and others about su***de prevention.

https://www.dea.gov
Su***de Prevention Month - DEA.gov

08/29/2025

A new survey finds that 77% of workers have experienced burnout. What can organizations do about it? Encourage real weekends and holidays so employees can rest and recharge. Expand wellness benefits to include stress management training and “mental health” days. And create a culture where contri...

08/29/2025

5 Healthy Communication Skills For Couples

Learning healthy communication skills for couples can dramatically shift your relationship, increasing trust with your partner and helping you feel more bonded. Feeling heard, understood, and seen by your partner in a new way also increases the good stuff, such as joy and intimacy.

However, improving communication requires much more than the stereotypical tips such as using “I” statements and saying one positive for every negative. It’s not as easy as picking up a self-help book and vowing to remember those tips in the next disagreement. We have to go a little deeper and understand that we all have automatic reactions that we can learn to shift with a little patience.

All couples get caught in their own unique “cycle of conflict”, if you start paying attention, you’ll see your arguments play out pretty much the same way, whether about big things or little things.

https://www.therapywithstephanie.com/communication-skills-for-couples/blog/

08/26/2025

Can music improve our health and quality of life?

Music boosts our mood and well-being, and music therapy may help during treatments for certain health conditions.

Times are hard. For many people, music can play a role in making that shift, even incrementally.

How can music impact our quality of life?

Recently, researchers looked at the impact of music interventions on health-related quality of life, and tried to answer the question about the best way to help make that shift toward release, relaxation, and rehabilitation.

This recent systematic review and meta-analysis (a study of studies) showed that the use of music interventions (listening to music, singing, and music therapy) can create significant improvements in mental health, and smaller improvements in physical health–related quality of life. While the researchers found a positive impact on the psychological quality of life, they found no one best intervention or "dose" of music that works best for all people.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-music-improve-our-health-and-quality-of-life-202207252786

08/25/2025

Five Tips to Manage Back-to-School Anxiety (Parents' that is!)

It’s fairly easy to recognize the back-to-school jitters that emerge in children come autumn, but what’s less commonly understood are the anxieties that parents exhibit during this stressful transition period.

Here are the top five ways you can ease your child’s worries while ensuring your own peace of mind.

1. Prepare early for a drastic schedule change.
Summer is the time for leisure, relaxed schedules, and sleeping in. Typically, the start of the school year signifies a more rigid agenda, between school itself, homework, and clubs or sports. To make this transition a little less difficult, start easing into a more structured schedule one to two weeks before the first day of school. Enforce a regular bedtime, select clothes and meals the night before and have breakfast together as a family.

Click the link to read more...

https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/five-tips-manage-back-school-anxiety-parents

08/22/2025

Loving Yourself and Others: The Impact of Compassion on Mental Health and Wellness
Cultivating compassion for yourself and others can lead to healthier relationships.

Love isn't easy. Sometimes it's hard.

What does it mean to have a self-love practice? And what does this look like in someone's daily life?

There can be a more formal practice of self-love and then there are more informal day-to-day habits that allow us to love ourselves. A more formal practice of self-compassion might be taking some time out of the day to practice types of meditation focused on cultivating loving-kindness, also called metta meditation, as well as other exercises to build daily mindfulness practices. We can practice paying attention to the inner critic in our thoughts and replacing that harsh inner voice with kinder, more compassionate words.

On a day-to-day basis, we can engage in self-care activities rather than just focusing on taking care of other people, our jobs and responsibilities. We can take some time out of our day to do small things just because we like to do them, whether that's going for a walk, listening to our favorite music or taking a longer bath than is necessary.

Self-love can also be self-advocacy such as speaking up for ourselves, advocating for our needs and wants in personal and professional relationships, which can be difficult and vulnerable.

https://www.vcuhealth.org/news/loving-yourself-and-others-the-impact-of-compassion-on-mental-health-and-wellness/