Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year can be difficult times for many people. We spend the holiday with family in a more intense way than normal and this can reveal strains, tensions and ruptures that we normally overlook or don’t like to admit in our daily lives....
Making Time For Creativity
The Art of Self-soothing 4: Using Our Senses
Using Our Senses This final post in my series is about using our bodily senses to self-soothe. There are lots of ways that we can self-sooth by looking. Sight Natural Vistas As I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, nature and landscapes are very calming. For...
The Art of Self-soothing 3: Creativity
Creativity is a sure way to self-soothe. People have lost themselves in creative pursuits since time began. Getting in touch with our creativity is a way of reaching something within ourselves. By allowing this to develop we can usually make something bigger than...
The Art of Self-Soothing 2: Nature
This month’s way to self soothe is by being in nature. It’s long been known and proven that being outside and preferably in nature can improve our mental health. Take a Short Walk The simplest ways are often the most effective. Such as going for a short walk from your...
The Art of Self Soothing
There is so much going on in the world now. It’s hard watching the news, in fact I am more likely to just quickly check a news ap than I am to watch the news in real time. Many people I speak to are unable to watch the news at all because they struggle to think of the...
Interpreting Dreams
In the last of my series on dreaming we look at common images and symbols in dream interpretation. I love working with the unconscious and find dreams fascinating. We can think of them as metaphors for what might be going on in the dreamer’s life and/or the...
Nightmares and Night terrors
It seems difficult for people to talk about their nightmares. Even if the person has told me during their assessment that they suffer from nightmares, I often find people don’t talk about them in any detail until we have been working together for a while. Maybe by...
Types of dreams
Types of Dreams Every dream is as unique as the dreamer, but there are specific types of dreamsthat most commonly find their way into my consulting room. These are daydreams, vivid dreams, recurring dreams, lucid dreams, nightmares and night terrors. This month, I...
Dream Journaling
How To Remember Your Dreams I often work with people who dream frequently and are interested in their dreams. Many suffer from nightmares and night terrors which they remember vividly. I will be exploring these in a later post. But a lot of people don’t remember...
Dreaming
Photography by Gregory Pappas on UnsplashPsychotherapy and Dreams During an initial consultation with a potential client, I often ask about their dreams. Do they dream regularly? Do they have significant dreams from childhood? Do they have recurring dreams? This is...
Time for a Mindset Spring Clean
March is a hopeful month. Officially the first month of spring with emerging colour, bulbs bravely shooting through the ground and trees starting to sprout buds. A couple of years ago in the UK we had a mini heatwave in March. With the unpredictability of the climate,...
Time is the most precious resource we have. Our values are reflected in how we choose to spend it. Our lives can become so busy and filled with day to day tasks that we can squeeze out important aspects. One area which can be easily neglected is our creativity. Undoubtedly, creativity is a vital part of our life and our internal world is all the richer for it.
what does creativity mean to you?
Do you have any hobbies which you have always wanted to try but just never got round to taking up or maybe started but gave up due to time pressures?
For example are you interested in:
- photography
- music
- film
- writing
- dancing
- painting
- sculpture
- gardening
- baking
Spending time appreciating and/or creating something artistic can feel very precious and fulfilling. Furthermore the process of creating is good for our minds and our souls.
Active imagination
In the early 1900s, Carl Gustav Jung developed a therapeutic method which was directly related to this. He called it active imagination. This is where you sit silently with an artistic medium of your choice for a few minutes and clear your mind of everything which is currently concerning you. Then without thinking about what you are doing, you use the medium to create something. Not only can the results be fascinating, but also enlightening as our imagination naturally works to heal what may be concerning us.
If this sounds too abstract and challenging then why not start with a clear focus, such as what your ideal holiday could be and see what your unconscious brings forth. Find some playdough or crayons and give it a go…
Alternatively, you could enlist in that photography course you have always wanted to or work your way through a self-help book which encourages creativity such as The Artist’s Way.