Well Being

There are times when life gets challenging. We all experience difficult events that can be beyond our coping skills. Verbal or physical abuse, viral pandemics, car accidents or being involved in a violent crime are a few examples.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.

Watch the videos below to find out more about how EMDR Therapy can help people improve their health and wellbeing.

This blog post discusses five reasons that may potentially block your ability to get healthier. Click below to read more.

It is not uncommon for people to decide that the time has come for them to get healthier. Sometimes it is an easy process and everything goes smoothly. However, many people find that it is a matter of two steps forward and one step backwards. So what causes it and how can you make the transition to healthier easier?

Here are the top five reasons and what you can do about them:

1. Supplements

“It’s the tablets, pills and powders” seems to be the number one reason that I hear. Sometimes it is, but with hindsight it is the easy thing to blame.  The only accurate way to test this is by stopping everything and seeing if any negative symptoms disappear. Then reintroduce supplements one at a time and observe what happens. NB This is not applicable to pharmaceutical medications as any changes must be supervised by a medical practitioner.

2. Emotional stress

Managing emotions is often a challenge. Work, home, relatives, social clubs and friendships have a way of testing out our values, beliefs, boundaries, guilt and upbringing. Self development and personal growth with the assistance of a qualified psychologist is potentially confronting, but always helpful for those who sincerely want to make positive changes.

Learn more: Practising Gratitude – The Power Of Positive Experiences

3. Food choices

“You can only be as healthy as your digestive system” is a common quotation in natural medicine. Your gut contains 80 per cent of your immune system and neurotransmitters (think brain chemistry) such as Serotonin and Dopamine.  The Gut – Brain connection is well researched and shows the link with a healthy mood. Write a food and symptom diary for four days and bring it into your consultation so I can help you fine tune your choices.

4. Back or neck tightness

A healthy nerve supply is essential for your internal organs to work well. Imagine the problems if your brain, liver or heart lacked a nerve supply! In practice, many people are so focused on their supplements and food choices that they overlook the role of the nervous system to enable optimal bowel function and absorption of nutrients. Osteopathy, myotherapy and chiropractic treatment can help accelerate your progress.

5. Sleep Hygiene

Poor sleep is an obstacle to anyone’s health. Do you have a racing mind or feel that your mind is “working overtime”?  Factors to consider that may be harming the quality of your sleep include erratic sleep patterns, late nights e.g. 2 or 3 am, a lack of fresh air in the bedroom, mobile phones and WiFi upsetting your production of melatonin. Meditation, appropriate exercise and sauna also help  accelerate benefits of the above five foundations of your health.

Optimal health needs a holistic comprehensive program and it does take time to help people reverse years of poor health and wellbeing.

Related topic: Is your home making you more anxious?

Health, wealth and relationships can get complicated,…

What Stories Are You Telling Yourself?

Everyone has a narrative or story that explains or justifies their beliefs, values and actions. These stories can be positive and helpful. They can also be negative and sabotage various areas of your life..

How well do you rate your health, wealth or relationships on a scale from one to ten, where one is the pits and ten is brilliant? What stories do you tell yourself? What is your potential?

Your conscious mind is logical and rational. However it accounts for only five per cent of your brain function. The other 95 per cent of your brain is your subconscious mind and contains beliefs, values and patterns that are hidden beneath the surface.

Three examples based on client experiences:

Getting healthy is often easier said than done. It is the reason that people see me in my clinic! Difficulty in losing weight is a prime example. People tell me they lack time to go for a walk, are too stressed, don’t know how to cook, live in a household where others eat and drink whatever they like,  have a naturally slow metabolism or an underactive thyroid (despite normal blood tests). Measuring waist line and weight gives them the facts. The numbers tell a story. What is blocking them from making changes?

Learn more: Intermittent Fasting – What’s In It For You?

A lady goes from one relationship to another looking for her perfect partner. Each relationship is emotionally abusive. Logical observations from family and friends point out this negative pattern. She does not see what is happening.  Why?

A man loves the excitement of investing in the stock market. He keeps up to date with the finance pages in newspapers and magazines, reads plenty of books and participates in online investment forums. His bank balance shows he is losing money. What stories is he telling himself? Why can’t he see that his activities are destroying his capital and make appropriate changes?

What beliefs do you have about yourself?

Your beliefs are deeply programmed into your subconscious mind. Everyone has a mixture of positive helpful beliefs as well as negative unhelpful beliefs. There are a number of psychological therapies including EMDR therapy  that can help you access and reprocess negative beliefs that may be draining your emotional energy and holding you back.

Which negative beliefs are relevant to the above three examples or possibly to yourself?

  • I am not loveable
  • I am unworthy
  • I am not good enough
  • I am ugly
  • I am stupid
  • I am a failure
  • I am a bad person

Which positive beliefs are more likely to help you achieve your potential?

  • I am healthy
  • I am fine as I am.
  • I am worthy
  • I am loveable
  • I am OK just the way I am.
  • I deserve to be happy
  • I am successful

What This Means To You

Some of the stories that we tell ourselves are actually holding us back from living the life we want. Negative beliefs can be deeply buried in the subconscious mind where they are ignored or over ridden. What do the facts say?

Make a time to see me if you feel that an area of your life is “stuck” so that you can enjoy improved health, wealth and better relationships.