Ultimately we all want to feel “better”, maybe less stressed, happier, loved and accepted etc etc. I think that a big part of our efforts in life are to help each other feel better in some way. I am a Psychotherapist to help people feel better and I write this Blog to help people feel better.
I am so passionate about my work because I know what it is like to struggle, and I like to use my personal lessons to teach examples as much as I can. I learn as I go.
Over the 15 years or so that I have practised Gratitude and Mindfulness I have learned so much.
How Mindfulness Helps
One thing I really understand is that feeling better does not necessarily come from “doing more” but from allowing ourselves to “just be”…thus the wonderful popularity of the Eastern tradition of Mindfulness. With Mindfulness practice we learn more and more about our-self over time. For example, let’s say you notice your thinking has a theme of pushing yourself to work hard even if you are exhausted. Or maybe you notice you have a habit of putting your own needs aside to please others, and then you get resentful. Maybe you notice you cannot accept a compliment. Any troubling patterns that come into our awareness can be held in awareness and “accepted” with a Mindfulness practice. “Then what?” you may ask… if we want to create change it is essential to be mindful first, because we cannot create change if we cannot first “see” what is there.
I will use a personal example that I am having fun with right now. The other day I noticed that I had so many things in my mind, with work and with life in general, and I was feeling overwhelmed and a bit sorry for myself. I noticed my inner dialogue was, “my head is just spinning…” and I noticed that I was saying that to myself over and over as I was getting ready for my day. THEN I noticed my head actually started to get dizzy. Because I was being mindful, and I know that our thoughts create our physical reality, I thought “wow I am creating this dizziness with my thoughts!”, and I decided to play with it. I decided to put effort into stopping that negative thought and replacing it with thoughts to help me slow down in my mind and be present and relaxed in my day. It totally worked! My dizziness subsided completely.
I potentially prevented myself from having an attack of vertigo, like I had several months ago, which was another time I had been feeling overwhelmed. If you look up Vertigo in Louise Hay’s “Body Book” you will see the Probable Psychological Cause as “Flighty, scattered thinking. A refusal to look.” The New Thought Pattern she suggests is “I am deeply centred and peaceful in life. It is safe for me to be alive and joyous”.
Louise Hay was a great proponent is using positive affirmations for vibrant health and well-being. She was a great teacher! (One of my favourite teachers….She recently passed away peacefully at the age of 90. Her greatest book is called, “You Can Heal Your Life”. In that book she shares how she healed her own cancer by forgiving her abuser. The mind is powerful!)
So there is a peek into one way I heal my inner world with Mindfulness and thought stopping/thought replacement (which is a great CBT tool). I hope that my personal sharing helps you learn ways you can feel better too! It all comes down to self care, self awareness and knowing that You are Worth It!
My next Blog will highlight Gratitude and the amazing shifts it can bring.
Cheers to all!
Stacy Bremner, Citizen of the World