How exciting it is to receive a formal invitation to a special occasion! These are communications of great personal value, where someone has honoured us by having included us within his or her chosen relationships.
In the days before the convenience of the phone or the speed of email, invitations of this kind generally arrived in the post and were easily distinguishable from the usual flurry of accounts payable. Read more
Mental illness or mental health? What if I hadn’t recovered from agoraphobia?
A lifetime reflection
When life crippling fear has become a constant companion, it’s not difficult to imagine a future of limitation, negotiation and masquerade. And a lifetime of mental ‘illness’. What if I hadn’t recovered from the constraints of fear? What if the hesitancy, the headaches, the churning, the avoidance and depression and all the hideous symptoms of anxiety had continued to rule my life? Read more
I used to look forward to reading the morning paper over breakfast, an easy, informative and recreational start to the day. But things have changed. The paper I used to enjoy has lost its noble restraint. Now in tabloid form with too much colour this paper is filled with dramatic and revealing photographs ranging from local football angst to the horrors of war in other lands.
Words that carry foreboding abound: threat, arms, step up, deal, break trust, fixation, jailed, extremists, fears, detainees, activist, deceptive, banned, militant, nude, fails, suspended, victim, forces, abuse, blasts, ice, famine, serious, split … and more. Read more
Personal peace for world peace – Within the family, between friends, across cultures
My thoughts in this blog are especially with the Maslin family of Western Australia who lost their beautiful, treasured children and their children’s much loved grandfather in the recent horrific attack on flight MH17. I have never read anything that moved me as greatly as the message from that family to the world. That these wonderful people could so profoundly express graciousness, resilience and the power of love despite such unbearable pain; that they can still access their ability to pray; and that they are able to find some measure of solace within the care and company of others is the most poignant of all love stories.
My prayer for them is that they may perhaps, at a time still distant, be able to reclaim the gift of hope, that powerful presence that sustains the spirit and eventually restores personal peace. Read more
With an engaging smile, one of our regular clients said to me recently, “I like to keep coming here often – this is my brain gym”! What a great way to summarize meditation, a regular fitness skill, just made for our brain.
And why do we need that regular brain gym? To manage stress of course, because no life ever escapes the influence of stress – and here’s the how and why of it all. Stress, if not managed, is a trigger for fear; fear then converts to anxiety, anxiety leads to raised tension levels and tension in turn, raises anxiety further. These combined influences produce the debilitating symptoms we hear of so often today … those negative mental disturbances that fill the daily news, the many physical illnesses related to stress and, very significantly, the current epidemic of depression. Read more
When someone has lived with anxiety for a long time, it is often difficult to imagine a life without it. The desire for change however is strong along with eagerness and impatience. “How long will it take” or “how many sessions do I need to do” are very common questions, to which there is no simple answer.
Stillness Meditation Therapy is a very personal process – it can be slow or fast; it can be easy for some, more challenging for others. Even one individual can experience these differences at various times. And almost inevitably, everyone will experience a setback of some description. This will differ from person to person depending on what he or she is dealing with; a common response for some however is to lose heart, to be disappointed, to become doubtful of one’s ability to overcome anxiety, or perhaps even to revert to old patterns.
These setbacks are understandable responses to change; the old part of ourself, who is used to anxious feelings and reactions is suddenly feeling ‘different’, even better. The only way it knows how to respond is the ‘old way’ – tension, panic, stress – the very things we set out to overcome in the first place. To this, there is a simple answer: patience and perseverance.
Trust yourself, believe in your desire for change and ability to overcome anxiety, persevere with your practice and seek support from your Stillness Meditation Therapy facilitator. Understand that setbacks are OK. You can overcome them and get back on track. Imagine if you were planting a vegetable garden; you would take every care to prepare the soil, select the best seeds and seedlings and start your planting; before soon you will be watching with joy little shoots coming through, fragile green leaves with the promise of a rich harvest; but suddenly an unexpected frost, or wild winds, or garden pests, interfere with all your good work, and you have suffered a setback. But you don’t abandon your garden; you safeguard against these setbacks and you start again – patiently.
Get in Touch with one of our Stillness Meditation Therapy facilitators
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy*
Let’s get some balance in life? The old proverb gives us a hint that it’s not a bad idea to do just that, yet sometimes it’s a bit tricky to get the balance just right. We all must work in one way or another and while we all need play for recreation and refreshment, we can’t rely on play for life satisfaction. However and unfortunately for many, our desire for ambition and independence, our easy access to international travel and all that entails and our ready access to technology of many kinds can mean that work can become far too constant.
That’s when burnout begins to make its presence felt. Read more
This blog begins with a short Youtube video on homeostasis, which I hope will bring some laughter to an otherwise serious subject:
Now let’s get a little more real!
Homeostasis probably does mean all those things Dr Sheldon Cooper described. But, to put its meaning slightly less technically, homeostasis means equilibrium – the aim to achieve existential balance – so that living is relatively comfortable, spontaneous motion is easy and a sense of flow, as opposed to tension, is generally experienced. Equilibrium applies to our body and to our mind … in fact our entire being. Read more
Have you ever considered that in any ordinary day, your guardian angel just might be taking care of you?
I’m a great believer in Destiny and so therefore there simply must be an angel nearby to ensure that Destiny is fulfilled. You might like to find a moment right now to recall and consider the many ‘near miss’ incidents that have touched your life from which you have lived to tell the tale. How remarkable.
Some might put these occurrences down to fluke or luck or even their own good thinking. On the downside of course, there is the mystery of ill health, accident or misfortune as and when it does occur – a topic that has been pondered for time immemorial. Why did this happen to him or her … why to that small child … why to that very young and decent person … so many questions that can never really be answered. Unless of course, we believe in Destiny, in which case perhaps a glimmer of hope can shine through the darkness to bring acceptance and a sense of trust that sometimes bad things do happen to good people and there simply must be a purpose to it all. Read more
Recently I had reason to reiterate to a new client an outline of the effect of anxiety, panic and the outcomes of these reactions. Since there seems to be quite a deal of ignorance about the physiology surrounding anxiety, I decided to talk about it again.
Anxiety is part of our survival. Yet anxiety levels can creep out of control when, via the brain, emergency messages arrive at the nervous system creating distressing symptoms. It is this sequence of events within our body that creates panic to the extent that people may begin to live a life of compromise, founded on fear. Read more
SMT assists the natural regulation of the nervous system through deep mental rest. At our facilitated sessions you will learn this practice correctly and benefit from our extensive experience ... we aim to help you change your life!
