Kate Motaung

Does your mood seem to shift with the calendar, causing you to feel “down” more than usual during the winter months? Do shorter days and gloomy weather seem to zap your energy and make you feel blue? If so, you may be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. What is Seasonal Affective Disorder? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression characterized by a recurring seasonal pattern that comes and goes at the same time each year. Symptoms usually

As women, our sense of self-worth can be tied to our sense of beauty. Beauty is an undercurrent of desire that most of us just can’t get our hands on. Fleeting it is. Why does beauty flee? Run away? Refuse to stay? And why do we keep purchasing and purchasing and purchasing – begging beauty to stay – and it does not? Let’s see if we can use beauty to expand our sense of self-worth, and expand our sense

Caregiving is one of the most important roles we will ever fill as members of a family and of society. The honor and responsibility of caring for an older generation, possibly those who raised us, or caring for an ill child, makes caregiving a crucial privilege. Yet, caregiving is an emotional and physically draining job. Long-term stress can take its toll on a caregiver’s health and cause problems in other areas of their life. Knowing the cause and symptoms

Stress has a deceptive way of masquerading. It lurks behind fatigue. It shadows symptoms of illness. It merges with anxiety and the inability to quell panic. We all struggle with stressors in life, but not all stressors have to win the war of our spiritual, mental, or physical health. If you're looking for healthy ways to manage stress, this article is for you. Developing healthy coping mechanisms for stress is how we expose it for what it is –

Are you a peacekeeper or peacemaker, and which one has codependent behavior? You may not have considered the difference before, but it is important. Understanding this difference can show you what to do to be free from codependency. Peacekeeping vs. Peacemaking Many people believe that keeping the peace is the “Christian” thing to do. They think it’s worth any cost. But this is not what the Bible teaches. Jesus tells us what responsibility we have for preserving peace. We

If you want to accomplish something meaningful, especially if it’s complicated, it takes time, planning, dedication, and a whole lot of effort. Having personal development goals can help you to set a direction for your life; they allow you to know how to apply your energy and talents. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis If you don't set any goals, that doesn't mean that things won't happen in

I'm not sure how it happened. It was a slow drift. The drift of distractions. And I awoke to find myself lost in a sea of useless doing. It wasn't because "life just happened" – it was because my unawareness of distractions happened. Distractions took me away from life; away from that which gives me life. Grabbing this, grabbing that – hoping to find some safety in my desires, all the while, finding myself holding all that I desire

Being able to communicate better will help you improve your relationships immeasurably. Not only does great communication allow people to understand your needs and know how to meet them, but it also allows you to know them in turn. There are very few gifts you can give someone that are better than them knowing that you really see, hear, and know them. That is something we all yearn for, but it is sadly in short supply. Unfortunately, we tend

A cursory glance at the world around us will show us there are many things to fear - conflicts, violence, persecution, crime, natural disasters, terrorism, economic upheavals, unemployment, discrimination, broken politics, rampant disease, and death. All this can generate an intense feeling of insecurity and fear. We carry fear for our children’s futures, our other loved ones and their safety and health, our financial situations, and our own safety and well-being. There are many ways we can try to

Anxiety can present itself in a wide variety of ways. One person may experience insomnia while another tends to pull the covers over their head and sleep all day. One person may tend toward impatient outbursts while another becomes quiet and withdrawn. Even within one person, you can see a variety of manifestations of anxiety, sometimes linked to different situations and sometimes seemingly random. Some level of anxiety can actually be helpful. As a reaction to stress or dangerous

We plan to go on dates, but a child gets sick, or something comes up at work. We plan to make communication a priority, but it can be easy to adopt a “we will do it later” attitude, which can quickly put your marriage on the back burner. We plan to make intimacy a priority, but it gets easy to say “Later when things settle down” or “We are just too tired.” If your marriage is struggling, please read

Divorce is a painful event, bringing with it enormous change, transition, and emotional upheaval. And that doesn’t just apply to parents, but children as well. Here are some ways that children of divorce may feel and how parents can help them through it. Ways to Help Children of Divorce Taking sides Children of divorce may defend one parent or another. Particularly when a child is old enough to understand some of what has happened to cause the divorce, he