People often deny their feelings. They don’t just avoid anger and grief, some avoid excitement, love, joy. This can be due to a false concept of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ emotions. Every emotion has its purpose. We should fear them no more than a sneeze or a fart. They are just consequences of being alive. Unfortunately […]
Three common mistakes people make about emotions Read Post »
Do you ever find yourself saying or behaving in a way that takes you right off track from who you believe you are and want to be? As if you got in your car one morning to go somewhere beautiful and someone held a gun to your head and said, “No, drive straight to hell
“If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing half assed.” (KC Davis) I quoted to my partner as we got back into the car and we laughed. All day, a day of blue skies and glorious sunshine, I had wanted to get to the sea, to lie on the beach, and maybe go into the
Worth Doing Half Assed Read Post »
Let me introduce the 3-2-1 Survival Method©, which I have developed over three decades of working with clients with depression, anxiety, chronic illness, and in emergency situations of overwhelm and stress. While I was in my own situation of illness I was able to put this method into written form so that I could share
My 3- 2- 1 Survival Method Read Post »
Click the picture for the full Guardian article! Oh Gwyneth! What were you thinking! Ha ha Why is it so hard to do the right thing when it comes to losing weight? This is a question that so many of my clients have asked me and this is a partial answer that has taken me
No will power? How psychological shifts can help when nothing else does Read Post »
Often reframed as mindfulness, acceptance, focussing or compassion focused therapy, and having borrowed from buddhism, Zen, Reichian therapy, the Gestalt practice of starting where we are has retained its power for nearly 60 years, for centuries if we acknowledge that this is pre-psychoanalytic. Basic counselling training teaches counsellors how to provide a safe space: on
Here and Now: the timeless, powerful and effective Gestalt teaching Read Post »
It struck me today when I was in a meeting discussing work adjustments for colleagues with childcare responsibilities during lockdown, that maybe we all need ‘reasonable adjustments’ right now. It was an unusual perspective for me as a disabled person to not be the one asking for reasonable adjustment, and to watch as a colleague
Be Reasonable! Reasonable Adjustment and The Middle Ground Read Post »
This article was originally published on Medium in January 2021: click here to view there. There is no doubt about it, the pandemic is different this year to last year, and our psychological responses are different this year to last year. Although we learned many lessons about how to cope well and even thrive in
Blue Monday 2021: Pandemic mental health is different this year Read Post »
CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR MY NEW VIDEO: “The Paradoxical Theory of Change” ..change occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to become what he is not. Change does not take place through a coercive attempt by the individual or by another person to change him, but it does take place
The Paradoxical Theory Of Change 2020 Read Post »
What if Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is not a disorder? And what if winter 2020 is not simply the biggest challenge to mood management, but a great opportunity to address the impact of winter on your mood? Before I get stuck in, I must declare this as my own opinion as a therapist with decades
SAD: should we attribute lower mood in winter to a ‘disorder’? Read Post »