Mindfulness
Hearing Voices In Your Head Hearing voices is conventially bound up with the notion of “craziness” or losing your mind. Our resident psychologist speaks to Debra Lampshire, who is a long-time hearer of voices, in an effort to understand and correct some of the prevalent myths. When we hear that someone has “gone mad”, we…
Inequality plagues many societies. Our resident psychologist looks at how putting others down, or being put down ourselves, contributes to society’s malaise. When we think of inequality, we might tend to think of “big” examples such as the fight for civil rights in the United States, apartheid in South Africa, or the subjugation of…
“Well, I just feel confused. I’m not sure where to go from here. Last week we had such a hopeful session and this week has left me feeling stuck.” This is a direct quote from a client at the end of a session with me in the last couple of months. I used to be…
Websites: A site for “Mindfulness: finding peace in a frantic world” including free meditations you can download. My favourite is the chocolate meditation. A UK site that has a program and an app (headspace) and the first 10 mindfulness exercises are free Helpful podcasts on meditation and relaxation can be found at Computer assisted learning for the…
Keeping love alive Desire in relationships is increasingly a hot topic, as many of us struggle to balance work, children and romance. What makes a good relationship? Is it more important to have passion and fireworks or companionate love and friendship? Can you have both? How do you make sense of being married and reasonably…
How to change your habits Routine, ingrained actions can have a powerful impact on our lives. Psychologist Mary Grogan explains how to take control and change your habits. Around this time of year (December), people start reflecting on the year that was and making plans for the coming year. Many articles start appearing in popular…
The psychology of boredom In adulthood, boredom can signal a lack of meaning in your life. But we show you how that frustrating feeling can be used to spark creativity and act as a catalyst for growth and change. Who has had this experience? Wandering into the kitchen, starting to do the dishes, leaving them…
We are often asked about which meditation exercises we recommend. One meditation that has been studied and found to be of benefit is Loving Kindness meditation. A world renowned positive psychology researcher named Barbara Fredrickson found that practicing loving-kindness meditation resulted in small daily increases in nine positive emotions – amusement, awe, contentment, gratitude, hope,…
Mindfulness means paying attention to life in a particular way: -Just as it is, -On purpose, -In the present moment, -Without judgement. (Jon Kabat-Zin) Another definition of mindfulness is “learning to be in control of your mind, instead of letting your mind be in control of you.” Mindfulness is about experiencing the world in the…
How much does your mind wander? An ongoing study into the nature of what makes us happy was reported in the Harvard Business Review (Jan-Feb 2012). The findings so far suggest that the more our minds wander, the less happy we are, or put another way, a focussed mind is a happy mind. Some interesting…