Mental Health Awareness

May 16, 2012 by

For some people, the launch of Mental Health Awareness week (23-30 May 2012) is about an awareness of the difficulties and experiences of other people; those who may be suffering from serious mental health issues, possibly even the institutionalised.

Others of us may take it as an opportunity to examine our own condition of ease or dis-ease.

Mental health issues are not just about other people.  Each of us is likely to experience some level of mental or emotional difficulty at certain times in our lives. These difficulties can range from temporary or limited states of anxiety or worry, through to more enduring states of depression, or worse.  The most important thing to be aware of is how to manage.  Unresolved or badly managed stresses and worries will very often lead to those more prolonged mental health issues.

Because of the way that the brain is designed, when stress levels are high we become more emotional which means that common sense and clear thinking are low (emotional hijacking) which makes it harder to cope and to resolve the stress.

 

Many people are finding these changing times to be worrying and difficult.  Small traders going out of business, redundancies as industry cuts back on costs, rising cost of living, government cuts to vital services and even news stories from other parts of the world take their toll on our perception of the kind of world we live in. Life can feel stressful.

 

At times like these, we need our best coping skills to avoid becoming overwhelmed and too emotionally charged. We need to be able to think clearly and logically so that we can plan how to manage.

 

You may well have good reason to feel stressed. Perhaps you are worried about paying bills, or have health issues, or there is uncertainty about your future employment.  Lowering stress won’t make these issues go away but it will help you to manage the situation with less emotion and more clarity.

 

We can’t always change the events or situations that are contributing to the stress, but we can manage the way that we respond to those things.

Firstly, it’s important to recognise what you can influence and what you can’t.  If you throw your emotional attention at things you have no power to change, you will feel more powerless and the stress will grow.

 

You can gain a lot of coping capacity by doing things that help to reduce the amount of stress hormones that are in the blood stream so that you can engage the part of your brain that helps you to get calmer perspectives and think logically, without excessive emotion.

 

  • Set aside regular intervals during the day when you breathe deeply. Take a good deep breath in for a count of 7, and breathe out to a count of 11.  Each time you exhale, imagine and allow your body to relax bit by bit.
  • Set aside a specific time for worry.  A small amount of worrying is ok because it is an attempt at problem solving, but 30 minutes a day is long enough. Constant unproductive worrying will just raise the emotional stress levels.
  • Take breaks – let your body relax for 5 minutes and let your mind wander to imagining better times ahead or simply daydream about something that feels good when you think about it.  Imagine that things will work out just fine.  You don’t have to fully believe it in order to imagine it.
  • Meditate.  Join a meditation group or get a download that you can listen to.
  • Get exercise – try to do a twenty minute walk each day.  It is especially helpful to get out into the daylight.
  • Eat healthily. Reduce caffeine, alcohol and sugars.  Drink water regularly throughout the day.
  • Make regular contact with friends and family, even if it’s just a five minute chat.
  • Pay attention to your basic needs. Keep doing the things you enjoy, be creative, make plans etc.
  • Say ‘no’ when you need to and ask for help when you need to.
  • Get some physical therapy, such as massage as this will help to release physical symptoms of tension – plus it feels great!

 

If you have been feeling highly stressed or over emotional for a while, these suggestions may feel too difficult to manage. You may find that you are experiencing anxiety or anxiety conditions such as panic attacks. You may be caught in a cycle of excessive worry, poor sleep or may even be starting to feel withdrawn and depressed as you feel you are running out of ways to cope.

 

All of us have times when we need to ask for a little help to find our way back on track.

Solution Focused Psychotherapy with deep relaxation Hypnotherapy can help you to lower stress and find the perspective and coping skills that you need.

Life Coaching is a bit like adding an extra brain to the problem so that you can seek out realistic solutions to those old problems.

If you would like to ask more about how Psychotherapy can help you, please call or email.

 

Filed Under: Brighton Hypnotherapy, change my patterns, Fears and Phobias, feeling good, improve your life, life coaching, lift depression, positive psychology, reduce anxiety, Uncategorized, well being

Go out of your mind to improve your life.

April 18, 2012 by

This week I attended the funeral of a youngish man who, although had not really treated his body as a temple, was still too young to have shuffled off his mortal coil.  Funerals generally provide moments for reflection and the readings reminded us all that we should be putting aside the pettiness of life and taking the opportunity to resolve to be the best that we can be.  I looked around the chapel and saw contemplative faces nodding with agreement and understanding, as though each of us was indeed making a new resolution.

Predictably though, after the service we all shuffled out into the garden and within no time at all it was obvious that the contemplative resolves were slowly melting away like snow in the rain.

There’s no judgement to this; just an observation that it is a human condition.  Our conscious minds tell us that we would like to be different, express ourselves differently or behave differently but our patterns of behaviour have other ideas!  This is because those patterns do not exist in our conscious attention. It is the unconscious mind that actually drives all of those things and it takes a good deal of attention, dedication and resolve if we are determined to change the things that make us less than our best.

The patterns that drive how we represent ourselves in the world are an auto-programme that is running beneath the surface of conscious attention or intention.  If we are to be able to change them, we must first become aware of them.

This puts me in mind of an excellent five minute meditation exercise that I came across recently – one that I would like to share with you. (This will shortly be available as an audio disc/download, so watch this space).

Most people find that as they do this exercise, thoughts will start wandering to memories, tasks that are waiting, problems that need solving – or just the regular run of the mill chit-chat that happens in the mind.  When you become aware that you are having that thought just gently bring your attention back to where you were before you drifted off.

Sit upright in a comfortable chair.  Allow your shoulders and arms to release surface tension and relax. Let the elbows and forearms feel heavy. Take 3 deeper breaths and as you let the last breath go, close your eyes.

Bring your attention to your feet.  There’s no need to have thoughts about them just notice sensations like the textures of socks or shoes, or warmth or coolness, tensions or comfort. Notice differences between the feelings of each foot.

After a few breaths move the attention to your calves and focus in the same way.  Continue the process travelling up through your body, lingering on each part for just a few breaths.  Notice the way your bottom feels as you sit in the chair. Try to get a sense of the internal organs of your body and how they may be feeling. Notice the parts of your back that can feel the chair. Let yourself be aware of any place that you might be holding tension.  Continue all the way to the top of your skull, paying attention to lips, tongue, ears and eyes. Finally, pay attention to your whole body while you breathe.

At any point during this process that you become aware of a thought, ask yourself “who is deciding that I should think this thought?”  Then ask yourself “If I could choose my thought at this time, would I be choosing this one?

There is a great benefit to us all in learning how to be aware of the value of our thoughts and how they impact on our daily lives.  You can learn how to break out of the self-hypnosis that runs your daily patterns, using Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Meditation or any other activity that brings you into your awareness.

If you would like help to develop helpful strategies for change, and would like support through the process, call me to discuss how I can help you.

 

Filed Under: Brighton Hypnotherapy, change my patterns, feeling good, improve your life, life coaching, positive psychology, well being

Life is supposed to feel good. If it doesn’t, you might not be doing it right.

March 5, 2012 by

Is it true to say that the most important thing for all of us, is to be able to feel as good as we can in every given moment?
Think about it. The material things that we desire, the experiences that we dream of having, the relationships we long for, the car, the job, the status, the perfect body, the health… we aspire to these things because we believe that having them will make us feel good.

It’s wonderful to aspire to making things better for yourself. When you are in a good frame of mind, it feels like fun to plan a trip or take up a new hobby or save up for a treat. Having goals and aspirations are basic needs and they are essential ingredients of emotional nutrition. However, when life gets you down, goals and aspirations often come from a deprivation or desperation state of mind.

It’s common that people inadvertently reduce their own ability to experience contentment or happiness because they become overly focused on their suffering. They pay too much attention to what is missing from their lives or to what isn’t working.

When people feel bad they look for something to help them change the feeling – so they focus on all the external factors that might be making them feel bad. The effort goes on trying to change what’s not right about their partner, job, finances, neighbours, possessions – but if these things can’t be changed, all they get for their effort is to feel cranky, depressed, frustrated, thwarted, victimised, deprived…. or even anxious.

Herein lays a trap because if you allow yourself to believe that you can only feel better if the external factors are changed, then you are putting your effort into changing the things that you have very little control over.

Often this approach to life is simply an habitual default pattern that can be changed. It is possible for people to learn ways of thinking, feeling and responding that can allow them to experience life with more ease and pleasure, regardless of their circumstances. When you create a healthier pattern of responding you will feel more in control of life.

We are each blessed with an ability to respond – a response-ability. When you are able to take responsibility for your response-ability, it ceases to be an autonomic reflex and becomes a tool for empowerment.

If you would like help to get you started, call me to discuss your situation. Let’s make a plan so that you can achieve a life that’s worth waking up for.

If my office is not near you, we can skype.

 

 

Filed Under: Brighton Hypnotherapy, change my patterns, feeling good, Healing past wounds, Health Tips, improve your life, life coaching, lift depression, positive psychology, reduce anxiety, well being Tagged With: , , , , , , ,