Is counselling for you? Small steps for lifting the mood.
We can find ourselves in a dip and not sure why. Post-holiday blues, the menopause, children leaving home, family worries, ageing parents.
It can make a big difference to use some of the strategies mentioned in other blogs and places on my website, I thought it would be useful to bring them together here.
Feelings of accomplishment (FOAs – Pellin Institute) can be found in little things. This can be as simple as getting out of bed making a coffee and starting your day or having some small task to do such as potting a plant or admiring a flower in bud.
Certain music can lift the mood – this can be different for us all.
‘Changing the environment’ is a key strategy for mood lifting. This could be as simple as leaving the house and walking around the block or sitting in a different room with a different view or perspective. It is important to notice, how do I feel now, what do I need right now?
It can be really helpful to have some reminders when journaling, remembering that feelings pass, nothing stays the same in the ebb and flow of our lives.
Getting stuck in feelings can be tough or feeling stuck in patterns of behaviour, perhaps feeling cut off and isolated.
It is important to give ourselves permission to be where and how we are.
We can ask ourselves questions such as ‘where am I on the pendulum right now?’ Perhaps feeling low, depleted, and in need of true rest. True rest can be different things for different people, perhaps a walk in nature, a therapeutic swim, reading a book, unplanned time to 'be'.
Whatever works for you to help get back into the body, connecting body and mind.
The window of tolerance is useful for noticing if we are experiencing racing thoughts, finding it hard to think and feel at the same time. What do you need right now? Some space alone perhaps. If you are sensitive to the feelings of others and can pick up on what’s going on for them quite easily this can be quite hard to be, with especially amongst a group of people. It is good to give yourself permission to have time out or time alone to regroup with yourself.
Through counselling we can explore the kind of patterns that emerge in your life and the strategies that can help navigate this. We are all unique and different things work for each of us. It can be effective often to separate everything out and look at the different layers as separate and differentiated from each other, hopefully making it all a bit more manageable.
If you are wondering if counselling is for you why not think of it as a place to explore the known and the unknown. It is also a place where we can feel vulnerable and strong at the same time.
Branded as the opposite of triggers, Deb Dana, LCSW, psychotherapist and author, coined the term 'glimmers', and says that they’re tiny micro-moments of joy that allow us to feel calm and give us a sense of inner peace. While we’re more aware of our joy during the big moments, it’s also up to us to look to the small moments for signs of happiness — you might be surprised at what you find.
If you'd like to find out more, then do get in touch and we can have an initial chat free of charge.
