Your comfort zone is just that – comfortable. A place your brain has defined as known, measurable and safe. The brain likes familiar. It likes to operate its autopilot mode and fulfil as many tasks as it can with as much ease as possible. But the autopilot can be a […]
Painful thoughts – none of us are immune. They pop into our head and go round and round like a bunch of chattering monkeys on a merry go round at the fair. It’s well and good when the thoughts are enjoyable and helpful but what if they’re not? Everybody […]
Many people who enter my counselling room are in a state of chronic stress. Often this is a result of ongoing effects from a traumatic event, or from long term anxiety, unhelpful thinking patterns, or because they live a chronically stressful lifestyle. All of the stress we do in the […]
To live a full human life is to experience the full range of human emotions. Somewhere along the way though we got the idea that only “good” and “positive” emotions are acceptable to feel. When difficult and painful emotions surface, we often suppress them – bottling them up or putting […]
We all have them. We notice them flowing through our minds. We share them with others. Some are pleasant and some are not. They help to shape our view of the world and others. So how do we put our finger on just what a thought is? Thoughts can be […]
Critic or Coach. Which one are you listening to? It is easy to distinguish between the two – one leads you towards the life you want and the other leads you away from it. The critic will tell you: “I always stuff up”; “Nobody loves me”; “I’m worthless/stupid/useless/a failure”; “I’m […]
Mental toughness is not a trait that we either have or don’t have. We can all learn and develop skills to increase our ability to thrive. The first step to growing mental toughness is to cultivate awareness of our thoughts. To understand awareness it is important that you know about […]
New Year is the most common time for setting goals. It is also the most common time for being fixated on our failure to achieve them. It seems to me that New Years Resolutions now walk with connotations of failure. Who wants to start their year riding on the coat […]
Latest thoughts on cultivating happiness at Christmas