Mental Health Training

Apology accepted by Stephanie Lam. Saying sorry can be a powerful plea for forgiveness, a humble act and a virtue. But when used too often or without thinking, it might not be such a good thing. The word 'sorry', when used appropriately, can be packed with power. It can heal wounds and bridge divisions. Admitting you made a mistake and taking responsibility for it is not a mark of weakness, but a...

Isolation is the “silent killer” affecting an estimated 8 million elders in the U.S., but it is an epidemic that often goes unnoticed and untreated. On average, 40% of seniors are impacted by the isolation that comes with living alone and the resulting feelings of loneliness, increasing their risk for depression, dementia, and premature death. What is isolation? Isolation is the experience of bein...

Mindfulness, No-Mind and Choiceless Awareness Imagine what it might be like to be an animal such as a squirrel. A squirrel doesn’t have worries about the dynamics of their workplace, about debt or about their relationships. Squirrels don’t have their head in the clouds daydreaming about what might be… They don’t have regrets, and they don’t have delusions. Instead, a squirrel simply experiences th...

How to Use Mindfulness With CBT Mindfulness is the practice of ‘getting out of your own head’ and of simply being rather than constantly thinking, worrying and stressing. While mindfulness is a common part of many meditative practices, it is also an integral part of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). More specifically, mindfulness is used for ‘cognitive restructuring’ which is an aspect of CBT c...

Why Mindfulness is the Perfect Antidote to Modern Living As much as many of us choose to overlook it, there is a lot of wrong with the way most of us currently live our lives. We evolved in an environment completely foreign to the world we live in now and adapted to gain abilities and traits that in many ways leave us unsuited for our current environment. We sit in chairs all day long gaining weig...

Meditation is something that we’re constantly being encouraged to use. Every self-help guru, every highly successful individual and even many athletes trumpet its many benefits and the research too seems to back up its value. So why don’t more people practice it? The main problem for most of us is that it’s really rather daunting, obtuse and complicated. Meditation is ultimately about reaching enl...

Mindfulness is a term that gets thrown around a lot at the moment, and which is often hailed as some kind of ‘solve all’ for every kind of problem under the sun. Mindfulness is part self-help technique, part clinical tool and has lately grown to spawn countless e-books, courses and evening classes. But what precisely is it, and how do you define it? Mindfulness: An Explanation Boiled down to its e...

Submissive behaviour is the tendency towards being passive and willing to yield to others. It involves being overly obedient and quick to give way to the demands of others, letting them make decisions for you.  Most of us are submis­sive at times, depending on the behaviour of other people, or the particular circumstances in which we find ourselves. We accept we cannot always have our own way, and...

There’s more pressure than ever before to get things right in every part of your life, to be perfect. Gadgets, apps, and advice on how to be your very best all the time surround us. But that’s such an illusion. No one can be perfect; it just isn’t humanly possible. It’s great to set the bar high, to go after challenges and stretch yourself. But you can’t expect to win at everything all the time. S...

Have you ever thought about having a mentor? Mentors can be useful for many people; students, employees, entrepreneurs, or even just in your personal lives. Below are some of the main benefits of having a mentor. They’ll Give You Advice As you work towards achieving your goals, chances are your mentor will have some advice for you. And when selecting a mentor, you should choose one who has been on...

Did you know, nature can be advantageous for our emotional health and well-being? For example, when healthy adults view nature scenes rich in vegetation, areas of the brain associated with emotional stability, empathy, and love are more active. These same pathways are activated when a person looks at pictures of a loved one … These findings support previous investigations showing that nature scene...

When you imagine someone who is mentally ill, how do you picture them? Your response can help you determine if you are feeding into the stigma of mental health. According to the American Psychiatric Association, this stigma can stem from misconstrued stereotypes and prejudices that indicate that people with mental illness are dangerous or unpredictable. This type of public shame can lead to self-s...

Hacks to Boost Your Memory Have you started finding it difficult to remember certain things? Does your memory seem to be failing you? If this sounds familiar, then it's time to boost your memory using these four easy hacks. 1. Do Memory Task It may sound a bit strange, but your memory is like a muscle, and the best way to make it stronger is by working it! Numerous phone apps on the market can hel...

Do you ever wake up in the morning, and the last thing you want to do is get out of bed? How about the mornings when you wake up, hop out of bed ready to take on the world? What's the difference between those two scenarios?  Motivation. Motivation is what compels us to set goals, and more importantly - drives us towards them. If you want to know how to tap into the power of motivation, then read t...

Imposter Syndrome at work is especially damaging. It’s what holding you back from promotions. It’s the reason no one gives you additional responsibility. Furthermore, it’s also the cause of too much stress, too many lost weekends where you put in hours upon hours while no one else does. It’s also the reason you micromanage and can’t let go of mistakes. Especially your own. So how do you deal with...

The term gaslighting has existed for decades now, but its usage seems to have spiked in recent years. Gaslighting is when someone makes someone else question their sanity, perception, or memories. It seems like people finally realize how serious and manipulative the behaviour is. One of the most nefarious aspects of gaslighting is that it often happens so gradually, the victim doesn't even notice....

Mental health may be considered an umbrella term for a continuum – with mental illness at one end and mental wellbeing at the other. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdown has aggravated mental health issues worldwide. Equally, more people acknowledge the fundamental need to improve their mental health, increasing the need for more support schemes. Interestingly, most individuals still ass...

If you look up self-reliance in the dictionary, it will tell you that it means that you can follow your capabilities, judgment, or resources to be independent. To do that, you’ll need to learn to accept responsibility for everything you do without depending on what someone else says, does or thinks. Solutions Over Problems  – A self-reliant person will look for answers to any problems instead of f...

You’ve probably been disciplined for breaking a rule in the past. It may have been a rule your parents made to keep you safe, and you learned a lesson from breaking it. There are risks to every rule you choose to break, and you may be the type who loves to break them. Adrenaline rushes from rule-breaking become addictive to some people. If you don’t agree with specific rules of society and plan to...

Most of our lives are occupied with interpreting the past and planning for the future. Because of this, most of us don’t even know what’s happening right now. Often, we go through the motions in our daily life without fully experiencing them. However, if you want more happiness and success, now it will help you to become more mindful.  Fully Experiencing What is Happening Right Now As you listen,...

We tend to expect perfection from every situation in this day and age, and nothing else will do. But the key to getting off the perfection roller coaster is to unchain yourself from the shackles of expectation completely. Sometimes the very idea of lowering expectations can be a trigger for a perfectionist, believing that anything less than perfection is judged a failure. Perfectionism is a scourg...

You’ve probably heard at some point in your life that being mindful is an essential part of a healthy and happy life. But you may be wondering just why this is. And this is because being mindful has the power to change many aspects of your life. Mindfulness Helps With Mental Health When you spend your entire life running around, worrying about all the things which may be happening in your life at...

If we sit down and think about it, most of us have goals. The problem is, they are often undefined thoughts just sitting in our subconscious. In reality, these are more daydreams than goals. If you are ready to set a goal that can change your life, then follow these tips: Figure Out What You Want to Change If you could change one aspect of your life, what would it be? Would you focus on your caree...

Long-term over-sensitivity can lead to intermittent tearfulness, tension, nervousness, and social anxiety because they get overwhelmed when they have too much “people time.” and  overthinking . Sufferers may fear being observed by others or worry that others may be talking about them behind their backs. They may be over-sensitive to innocent comments or questions and become withdrawn. These types...

Meditation is something that we’re constantly being encouraged to use. Every self-help guru, every highly successful individual and even many athletes trumpet its many benefits and the research too seems to back up its value. So why don’t more people practice it? The main problem for most of us is that it’s really rather daunting, obtuse and complicated. Meditation is ultimately about reaching enl...