Wellness Wednesdays

This week I am sharing a post by my good friend and relationship coach  Angharad Owen . I think her words are really important as we move through this challenging lockdown situation - it's okay to be feeling down and frustrated at the same as being grateful for what you do have. Angharad writes: "When I am asking people how are they right now, many are responding with: 👉"I’m ok, you know I have a job, I should be grateful’’. 👉 "People are worse off than me, I shouldn’t complain’’. 👉 "I feel bad saying I’m down, I should be happy really’’. I look at their face…..and they are in this stiff, stuck, expressionless mode. And I say..... ‘’You know it’s ok,  you can be grateful and annoyed or angry. You can be happy with how life is right now as well as frustrated. You can be grieving your old life and be happy coming to terms with this new one.‘’ . ..And there is this HUGE relief that comes over their face and then they tell me how they really are. The majority ...

Positive affirmations     In previous posts, I have talked about the power of thought in triggering emotional and stress responses.  Mindfulness  approaches teach us that we have the power to control our thoughts, through first of all bringing our attention to them, secondly acknowledging that unhelpful thoughts are not reality, and thirdly through meditation, learning to let go of unhelpful thoughts and focusing on the reality of what is happening in the present moment.      Positive affirmations are another tool that we can use to benefit our mental health. A positive affirmation is a powerful, positive statement or judgment believed to be true. We make unconscious affirmations constantly throughout the day, and they will not always be positive. These can become limiting beliefs and these thoughts are exactly what we are trying to address through a mindfulness approach.     Positive affirmations are a powerful way to begin to shift these li...

This week my colleague Eilleen Cunningham has written a piece on regrets and a fabulous book by Matt Haig called  The Midnight Library . No regrets? I have always recognised that regretting things in life that w e do (or don’t do) is wasted energy. However, knowing it (logically) and actually stopping it are two different things. As humans we have this wonderful ability to be conscious, not only of the present moment but also to be able to reflect on past memories and actions. Wondering how our lives might be different ‘if only…’ may be a source of relief, amusement or frustration. Even the smallest decision we made years ago may have created our life as we know it today. For example, I can still remember the split-second decision to buy a local paper from a street vendor twenty-five years ago in which I found a tiny advert for a job which then led to another job then another, meeting people who are still my good friends now and influencing my house moves. As well as being able to ...