Anxiety and sleeping problems

If you’re an anxious person, chances are you also experience sleeping problems from time to time. Depending on individual anxiety levels and environmental stressors in your life, the natural sleep process can be easily disturbed by stressful events which, in turn, lead to further stress and fatigue. Where stress is chronic, sleep disorders may occur. Problems with the wake-sleep cycle are common both among anxious people and those undergoing long periods of periods of stress or depression. When we are stressed, serotonin, a neurotransmitter which performs important roles in the processing of messages in the brain, can affect melatonin levels. … Continue reading →

Stop talking dirty to yourself!

In Do you indulge in Stinkin’ Thinking, we looked at all the ways we tie ourselves up in knots by the way we think. Today we look at how to go about untying those knots, so that we can let go of self-limiting thoughts and behaviors and get on with our lives. • Identify negative thoughts Write them down so that you get them out of your head and down on paper where you can actually scrutinize them more carefully. Just seeing your thoughts written down can be the first step in recognizing them for what they mostly are: lies … Continue reading →

Do you indulge in “Stinkin’ Thinking”?

Stinkin’ Thinkin’, otherwise known as thinking negative thoughts, is a common but unhelpful pastime. Imagine all the extra energy and creativity we could muster if we weren’t bogged down by thoughts of doom and gloom. Let’s have a look at some of the most common forms of “Stinkin’ Thinking.” • Black-and-white thinking In this form of self torture, everything is either black or white, good or bad. Common examples include: “It’s really bad that we didn’t get that house at auction.” Yes, it might be disappointing that you couldn’t afford the house, but another house will come up, and it … Continue reading →

Dealing with your own negativity

In Dealing with negative people, we looked at strategies for coping with negative friends, family and co-workers. Negative people can really sap your happiness levels and over time really bring you down. But what if you are the negative one? How can you change yourself so that you attract people to yourself rather than repel them with your constant moaning and criticizing? The first step in any sort of change is recognizing that you have a problem. If you realize that you are a negative person, congratulations! You have made the most important step in changing yourself into a more … Continue reading →

Dealing with negative people

Do you know someone who never has a good thing to say about anything or anybody? Nothing ever seems right for these people; the weather is either too hot or too cold, or they complain that others are never doing the right thing. Over time these people can really bring you down. Yet we may be forced to deal with them on a regular basis. They may be friends, work colleagues, or family members. What can we do to reduce the impact that interactions with these people can have on us? Ethel was known by all her neighbors as “Mrs. … Continue reading →

The Power of Friendship

In the recent blogs, Who is your best friend? and Be your own best friend, we looked at the importance of befriending yourself and genuinely liking what you see when you look in the mirror. However, having a good set of supporting friends that we can share good times and bad with is also important to our mental wellbeing. Let’s take a look at what sages and wits through the ages have said about the importance of friends in our lives. Some of these are just great: A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the … Continue reading →

Smash those irrational beliefs (2)

Today we continue on from Smashing those irrational beliefs (1) and look at more limiting ways in which the things we think about ourselves and the world around us work to our disadvantage. In the last blog, we looked at a host of irrational beliefs and the truths that lie behind them. Today we’ll look at more: Irrational belief: My life should be a happy one without any major problems or worries. I am angry, disappointed and/or depressed when things go wrong. Truth: Unfortunate events can happen at any time, to any one. No-one is immune from life’s traumas, including … Continue reading →

Smash those irrational beliefs (1)

Many of us lead limited lives, never reaching our full potential because of irrational beliefs. Somewhere during the course of our early life, we have picked up these beliefs and made them our own. But we can change the way we think about ourselves. We can actively replace these self-limiting beliefs with a whole new set of ideas that, in time, will help us to accept ourselves and lead more fulfilling lives. Most, if not all irrational beliefs are lies, and replacing them with the truth can help us see the world and ourselves in a far more realistic light. … Continue reading →

Just what is stress anyway?

Stress is definitely the pop disease of the 21st century. Just a few years ago, the condition was simply known as “stress.” Today it has many common subcategories such as road rage, telephone rage, image stress, technostress, mid-life crisis, early mid-life crisis: the list goes on. However, stress is really the same condition that has always plagued humans throughout time. There just seems to be an epidemic happening at present. Why is this? To answer this question, we must look at what stress actually is. Those common feelings of stress that most of us are familiar with: churning stomach, tension … Continue reading →

Do you suffer from Mondayitis?

Do those Monday morning blues descend with monotonous regularity at the start of every week? Are you blaming your job, or the fact that everyone goes back to work and school and a week of household drudgery awaits? Well, maybe the famous Mondayitis is not all psychological in origin. Scientists at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia have found that the familiar “down” feeling associated with Mondays may be related more to sleeping patterns than thought processes. Not only have they discovered the reason for feeling depressed at the start of each week, but they also have a cure. And it’s … Continue reading →