Naomi Pauling
Therapy
Good Riddance to 2020
I can’t believe it’s the end of 2020 (finally!).
This is a brief piece I wrote mostly to help myself as we say Goodbye and Good Riddance to 2020. But many of the challenges we’ve faced this year have been shared by all of us. So I hope some of my reflections, and attempts to make sense of my feelings, and feel hopeful about the future, can be helpful to you too.
Read MoreAutumn Reflection
My intention was for this article to be a bit of a guide on non-judgemental reflection. It’s ended up being a bit of a hodgepodge, but hopefully still relevant to the theme…
Autumn is traditionally a time of harvest and feasts, a time to reap the benefits of the seeds that were sewn at the start of the year and tended to over the months. It’s a time to take stock and prepare for the winter.
Autumn is a transition; from the growth and warmth of the summer to the cold, damp, dark silence of the winter. It can feel like a transition inside as well as out; from energy to lethargy, from activity to rest.
Read MoreCoronatiredness
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found the lockdown and social distancing measures to be challenging in ways that I didn’t really expect. I anticipated the limitations on social life being a struggle. It’s natural when we aren’t able to see the people we care about, the people who support us, and make us feel like ourselves.
What I didn’t expect was how depleted I would feel. I feel so tired... What is that about?
Why do I feel exhausted when I appear to be doing far less than I used to?
Read MoreOut with the old, in with the new: using the coronavirus lockdown to change your habits
Times of significant change; like moving, shifting from study to work or vice versa, starting a family, or indeed the lockdown and social distancing measures we’re experiencing due to the coronavirus outbreak, mark periods in which our way of life, routines and patterns of behaviour are likely to shift.
These periods of change are the perfect time to leave old habits behind and start to develop new ones.
Read MoreSociety values vs Personal values
What are values?
Values are:
- Principles, standards, qualities, or activities that you consider worthwhile
- Things that are important to you
- Things that bring meaning to your life
- What you want your life to be about
It’s important to think about values because they shape what we pursue in life. They motivate our goals, guide our choices and priorities, and give us purpose. When our goals align with our values, they tend to be more stimulating and more achievable. Values also influence how we evaluate or judge others, as well as how we evaluate ourselves – our self-esteem. When our way of life reflects our values, we feel content and fulfilled.
Read MoreEmotions – part 1: What are emotions, and how do we experience and interpret them?
People are, for the most part, pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidant. We aim to experience more of the so-called “positive” emotions, like happiness, excitement, and love, and less of the “negative” emotions, like anger, sadness, or fear.
We value, seek out, and share “positive” feelings, whereas we tend to try to suppress, criticise, and medicate “negative” feelings.
Read MoreStaying hopeful when confronted with incessant negative news
I meet many people who have lost hope – lost hope for themselves, for their lives, their families, their communities, for humanity itself.
And I empathise. People are confronted with so much adversity and trauma, inequality and injustice. Not to forget the systematic breaking down of many of the services that support and benefit people. Or the relentless destruction of Mother Nature and ruthless exploitation of her resources and people.
In the media; climate crisis, poverty, violence, war, suffering, fear… we are incessantly and aggressively bombarded with the things going wrong in our world.
It’s a lot to worry about, and it can be completely and utterly disheartening.
Read MoreWhat is mental health?
We all know what mental health problems are – depression, anxiety, psychosis, PTSD, and so on. Many of us experience symptoms of mental health problems at some point in our life. Most of us know what poor mental health feels like or looks like. Mental health affects everyone.
But what does it mean to be mentally healthy? What is good or positive mental health?
Read More
Naomi Pauling 