Mindfulness has been a big part of my healing journey. I first learned to meditate about 22 – 23 years ago, when the research and hype about meditation had not yet landed. I bought a book called ‘Meditation …
Compassion
If you listen long enough, most spiritual teachers will start to talk about the mind as having ‘seeds’. All the ‘seeds’ in the mind have different vibrations. There might be seeds of fear, seeds of self-criticism, seeds of boredom, and …
An Antidote To Consumerism
There are some aspects of Buddhism that are incredibly close to my heart. One of them helps with the human condition of suffering. It’s called “letting go” and is said to bring happiness. You might like to try this little …
7 Communication Skills That Will Change Your Relationship
𝐀 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞: “𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.” I can’t overemphasise how healing it is to hear, “the way you …
Working with Anxiety
I have come to understand feelings as messengers from my years of working on myself and with my clients. I often see them as little children, desperately wanting and needing something from me—the bigger the feeling, the stronger the message. …
What to Say to Someone with Anxiety
When someone is experiencing anxiety it is easy to say something like, ‘I know how you are feeling. I get anxious before interviews.’ For someone with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not just disappear once the event is over. …
What is Reparenting?
When we have experienced neglect, abuse, invalidation, narcissism, conflict or violence as children, as adults, there is still part of us that is expecting the same behaviour from those we love. We learn that love looks and feels like conflict, …
Anxiety Disorder V’s Normal Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal result of stress, which impulses to do something to get to safety. In the right situation, it can save our lives. When we can’t turn the anxiety down, it can lead to a generalised anxiety disorder …
Creativity and the Inner Child
This painting is Claude Monet’s ‘The Artist’s Garden at Vetheuil’. It happened to be hanging in a place we stayed in a few years ago, and I spent a good hour lying on the sofa, drinking chai tea and thinking …
Using the Inner Child to work with Emotions
I like to think of emotions as messengers. They are there to tell me that something is not right. There are LOTS of ways to work with emotions in psychotherapy. One way to do it is with the transactional analysis …