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...
Making Time For Creativity
Time for a Mindset Spring Clean
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Cyber Bullying
Cyber Bullying When researching this subject, I was shocked to see the number of people who had taken their lives due to cyber bullying and sextortion. Between March 2019 and March 2020 19% or one in five children between the age of 10 and 15 in England and Wales...
Male Influencers
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Phone Addiction – Are We Losing the Art of Being Able to be With Ourselves?
At a comedy show recently I sat in my seat during the interval and studied the art deco theatre. I was admiring the intricate ceiling and the décor and looked across from where I was sitting to see three people engrossed in their phones. They seemed oblivious to the...
Social Media Anxiety and How To Manage It
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Social Media Anxiety
This is the first in a series I’m writing about social media. Over recent years, and especially since the pandemic social media has become more prevalent in our lives. Benefits of Social Media There are fantastic sides to social media like the ability to keep in touch...
Your First Therapy Session
This is the time of year when it’s common for people to think about starting therapy. You may have decided that you want to approach a therapist and may have contacted someone and made a date for an initial consultation. But then the reality of having the first...
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.