Blog
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Why is Christmas so bloody hard?
Bah, humbug! A friend tagged me on a Facebook post – a video of Fascinating Aida performing their song which goes “Try not to be a c*nt at Christmas” (their asterisk). My response was that my own song would be more along the lines of “Why doesn’t Christmas just fuck off?” ……….so what is about …
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How I put my needs first! (on one day of the year)
November is my birthday month and for as long as I can remember – or at least for as long as it’s been an option – I’ve always taken a day’s leave for my birthday. Now that I’m self-employed, that feels more significant than it did when I was taking a day of paid holiday …
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Counselling for counsellors
The therapist as human being A while ago I read an article in a therapy magazine which referred to the reluctance of therapists to undertake personal therapy. Then I saw a question on an online forum along the lines of “Should you be working as a therapist before you’ve got all your shit together?” This …
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Changing behaviours – what I learned (part 2)
Part 2: How to make changes In the first part of this blog I talked about setting myself a challenge of using my bike every day for a week, in order to change my ‘transport habits’, and what I learned from that experiment. Now I’m going to explore what makes changing behaviour hard, and offer …
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Changing behaviours – what I learned
Part 1: A self-experiment Saturday 8 June was the start of National Bike Week 2019. What a great opportunity for a post on my Facebook page encouraging people to get out on their bikes, I thought. I’ll say that I’m planning to use my bike every day this week. That gave me pause, though …
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Walk yourself happier: 7 ways in which walking can help your mental health
Pause for a minute. Imagine that you’re in a wood. It’s quite light and open, with space between the trees……those beautiful, spreading oak trees, with great branches like arms that reach out as if to enfold you in a safe embrace. The sun filters through the leaves, dappling the ground below, and playing on your …
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10 Stress Management tips: go easy on yourself with some simple ideas
Getting stressed about stress management? Searching online for ‘stress management’ brings up A LOT of advice and tips. Sometimes in itself that can be stress-inducing – “Oh bloody hell all the things I should be doing / need to do before I’ll feel better!” – which can add to the sense of pressure we feel. …
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Permission to be wobbly
In telling yourself something isn’t worth getting upset about, there’s an implicit message that by being upset, there’s something wrong with you.
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Therapist heal thyself
What does self-care look like for counsellors? This week I’ve been fighting a bug. (You don’t need to feel sorry for me, I’m doing a great job at that.) As I decided each day whether to go ahead with client appointments I’ve been reflecting on what was The Best Thing To Do – for me …