Wellbeing - mental keep fit.

My practice includes 'wellbeing' as well as counselling services. There may be people who don't feel counselling is appropriate for them; however perhaps they would like to have an opportunity to focus on their wellbeing. You could think of it a bit like going to the gym. You exercise in order to improve your physical wellbeing. There may also be things you could do for your psychological wellbeing too.

Mindfulness can be something that might appeal to those looking for some kind of training for their minds. These mindfulness techniques and ideas can help with mental wellbeing and maybe improving concentration, helping manage stress and reducing levels of anxiety. It can also help you feel better physically.

The mind can affect our physical health in so many ways from an upset stomach, a bad back, headaches, insomnia, reduced resistance to infections... and so on. So wouldn't you want to keep fit mentally as well as physically? I'm not saying that mental wellbeing is a cure all but it can certainly make a difference, be beneficial, just as working on our physical fitness can be beneficial. Isn't that worthwhile?

It doesn't have to be about mindfulness. There could be particular things you would like to focus on that are not working as well in your life as you would wish. It can be a kind of life coaching. The difference here between wellbeing and counselling, as I'm presenting it, is that counselling deals with emotions in depth. It needs to have a regular structure generally to be effective and feel safe. Wellbeing is more focused on the practical side of things and as such does not necessarily need such a regular regime to be safe and effective help.

What both wellbeing and counselling services can provide is a space to explore and work on your concerns in a safe and creative way. As a counsellor, I feel that it is worthwhile offering both services, giving people the opportunity to find the approach best suited to them.

Lin Travis Counselling Services

Be mindful...have a cup of tea.

There are so many ways of being mindful but often it's the simple things that are the most effective. One of my favourites is 'have a cup of tea'.

The idea is to focus totally on what you are doing - the complete opposite of multi-tasking! Pour the tea into your favourite cup, notice the colour, the warmth of the cup in your hands, the weight of the cup. Sip it slowly and notice how the tea tastes and feels in your mouth.  Enjoy each sip and concentrate on just that.

If you find your mind wandering, then notice that this is happening. Then gently bring your attention back to the cup of tea. That's it!

It's that easy and that difficult. Generally we do several things at once and our minds flit about - planning, (or is it worrying about), the future and looking back on, (or fretting about), the past. The cup of tea gives you something physical to focus on and it only takes a few minutes of your time.

It may seem difficult to keep your mind focused but think of it as a kind of mind training. If you went to the gym for the first time, you wouldn't expect to perform as well as if you'd been training for a while.

Of course it doesn't have to be tea. It does help though to keep it quite simple. You can then observe yourself and how your mind reacts to this exercise. You can see how it wants to drift off into random thoughts or keeps returning to a particular worry. You have a chance to take a step back and observe your mind in action, gently returning it to the task in hand each time it wanders off.

Learning to focus your mind in this way can have both calming and energising effects - unlike multi-tasking...

Lin Travis Counselling Services

Why don't we do what's good for us?

There are all kinds of things we can do to look after ourselves. We can try to have a healthy diet, take exercise, get enough sleep, do things we feel are worthwhile and good for our wellbeing...We all know this but sometimes we just don't do it.....

 

Looking care of ourselves is an obvious thing to do. What stops us? There may be a variety of reasons why this is the case, and some beyond our control. We may not have much money. We may have busy and demanding lives. It may therefore seem that there is nothing we can do..... Perhaps though there are some things that are in our control or could be.

I'm thinking about our attitude towards ourselves. How much we value and care for ourselves, or how little. In our society, we are taught to think of others and that's great, but we are important too. In looking after ourselves, we can be good role models for our children and others around us. Setting a good example seems to have more effect than saying 'do what I say, not what I do'. It also seems much more authentic!

This is still however about the welfare of others. What about valuing ourselves for our own sake? We can sometimes find this so difficult. I feel this in itself can stop us from eating the 'five-a day' or taking exercise or getting round to giving up smoking, or whatever else we know would be good for us. We need to think we're worth it.

When we can believe that we are worth it, we will take care of ourselves, eat healthier, exercise etc. It won't be a problem then. We've known all along that those are good things. It's just that perhaps we couldn't apply them to us. Having a good opinion of ourselves or 'good enough' opinion can make such a difference.

Of course it's not easy. We can't just flick a switch and change our attitudes. However we can begin to challenge them. We may feel it's the right thing to do to challenge attitudes in society that are judgemental, overly critical and discriminating. Yet as long as we continue to devalue ourselves, these judgemental attitudes remain and are perpetuated in our culture.

No human being is perfect. We may all have things that we think of as our 'faults' , but does this make us unworthy of compassion? Valuing ourselves, having compassion for ourselves, being just plain kinder to ourselves, don't we all deserve this as human beings? If we would want this for others, perhaps we can learn to want it for ourselves.

Lin Travis Counselling Services