I’ve felt all of those at some point or another and certainly when I was feeling really poorly most of the time. You can’t help but feel sad, fearful and negative when every day seems to be a struggle, can you? We’re only human.
What I learned was the the brain can easily get stuck in a negative-thinking loop; you think negative things and it becomes a deep neuroplasticity groove and you just become more and more sad, upset and fearful. It’s a fact of life that our brains can do that; we are primed to look for danger, but when it goes too far, you need to know you can stop that subconscious habitual loop and break the circuit. When I learned that – which, trust me, took a while! – it gave me such hope. I had something to focus on and do practically to help myself. I immediately became less of a victim.
Sure, it’s not as easy as taking a pill and it takes time and commitment but ultimately you end up as a much happier, more joyful, positive, strong and grounded person able to withstand life’s wobbles much more than you ever could before. I know because the latest ‘life wobble’ for me has only served to show me how strong at my core I really am now. That sounds so trite, I know, so forgive me, but ’tis true, so there 😉
Anyway, today I have updated the Stress, Anxiety and Depression Factsheet in the A-Z for you. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages. I’ve essentially recommended a two-step programme for you to follow to turn yourself around, much like I did.
The reason I’ve been spurred on to do it now is that I see the programme is on a really good offer until 5th December so save some money whilst you can!
Here’s a bit of what I’ve written on that – now pretty long! – Factsheet:
Two Steps To Happiness
My recommendation for you is two-fold. I found this kind of combination therapy is the best approach as they work in different ways.
First, seek out therapists who will help you, such as ‘our Julie’ on the Support Team, who helped me enormously. Preferably find someone who will do a mix of CBT and clinical hypnotherapy so you are really getting to the nub of what’s going on and can release any underlying subconscious and therefore hidden keys.
Have a free session with Julie and/or go the DIY route to start with at least until you feel ready for more. Download one of her self-hypnosis audios and do it every day for a month, then see where you go from there.
Next, I also recommend this Foundations of Wellbeing Programme. It’s written by Dr Rick Hanson, who actually wrote Hardwiring Happiness and the Buddha Brain. I don’t actually like his written stuff that much, but this programme is fantastic. Click on the image for more about it.
It’s essentially a year-long programme that you work through to help un-do habitual ways of thinking and, most importantly, develop strength, joy and resilience instead of the negative bias our brains are primed for.
I know you think you’re not doing that: that’s what I thought! But, trust me, the subconscious has you by the short and curlies and part of the process is that you don’t know it – it’s subconscious, not at the conscious level, so why would you?! Took me ages to admit it.
Anyway, it is a brain science-based programme with talks and lectures from some of the best in the field, exercises for you to do and loads of stuff. I did it and found it excellent. I recall actually being astounded and crying at some of the content even in the first talk. I thought: blimey, these people have just described me. It made me feel less alone with it.
In essence, if you feel sad, anxious, flat, wobbly, lost or out of control in any area of your life, do this. It works.
Read all about it here. Rick is definitely NOT in this for the money; he actually refunded mine as a gift for the work I do to help others, which he really didn’t need to do. That is a kind person.
OK, so this is for people who feel sad, negative, fearful, lost or basically unhappy mainly. Don’t continue feeling like that, please.
Do one or preferably both of these steps and think how much better you could be feeling in a few weeks but certainly by the start of 2018! You simply couldn’t give yourself a better start to 2017, so sort it out, treat yourself and feel better step by step.
Good luck x