Counselling, Psychotherapy, Mental Health & Happiness Blog.

Marathon for Mental Health

11/10/2016

Earlier this year I decided that this would be the year that I finally enter and complete a marathon. It’s something that has long been on my bucket list but I’ve managed to make an excuse not to do it every year up until now.

You know how that goes – it’s easy to make an excuse to not go after something we want, when we’re not prepared to make the needed sacrifices to get it.

The Dublin City Marathon is on in October every year and given the fact that Dublin is my hometown, this is the one I decided to do. So in February of this year I put on my running shoes (or what I thought qualified as running shoes) and began to run. About two weeks later I quit running.

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3 Easy Ways to Feel Better Now

3/1/2016

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Much of the upset that we endure in day to day life can be healed with a little understanding of how our thought affects us. Our minds influence our emotions, which in turn influence our bodies.

When we understand how this connection works it becomes a lot easier to choose how we want to feel, rather than being victim to whatever the day throws at us. I’m going to give you three easy ways that you can stop fear, stress, anxiety or anger from getting in the way of your happiness.

These emotions are typically our bodies’ response to a perceived threat. It’s what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. It would be more accurate to name it the fight-flight-or-freeze response however, as these are the ways that our body adapts to deal with danger. The medical term for this is the sympathetic nervous system.

Historically this response system has served us very well, as our bodies would adapt to face danger. Various physiological changes occur, such as increased blood flow to our arms (for fighting) and legs (for running) and numbing of the pain receptors in our body, and a rush of adrenaline to help us respond faster to whatever threatens us.

When the threat is real this response system works brilliantly, and gives us our best chance of survival. Today though, rather than the threat being real (something like a predatory animal), it is often imagined (judgement or criticism for example).

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Mindful Walking

27/2/2014

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Mindfulness is the deliberate and focused attention on the present moment, without judgement or attachment. The most common way to practise mindfulness is by focusing our attention on the breath as a means to attend to the present moment and our experience of it. But there are others.

Mindful walking is one other way to practise mindfulness. Simply, instead of focusing on the breath as a means to keep our attention on the present moment, we instead focus our attention on the act of walking. We walk, and as we do we pay deliberate and focused attention to our walking and our sensory experiences in the present moment, without judgement or attachment. Just as with mindfulness of the breath, mindful walking is a practise, and as we practice it we will find our minds drawn to thoughts or other things. Our practice then is to notice what has happened, and then to kindly and gently return our attention to the present moment. In this case our walking.

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I am a psychotherapist, trainer, coach and meditation teacher, working with people face to face in Dublin, Ireland, and worldwide via Skype. I blog about mental health, happiness, personal growth & development, spirituality, and other things that interest me.

Disclaimer

The author(s) of this blog express thoughts and opinions based on personal and professional experience. Please note that as there is no established professional relationship between author and reader, that this blog does not constitute therapy or professional advise and should not be taken as such.

Marathon for Mental Health

3 Easy Ways to Feel Better Now

Mindful Walking

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