Now, what else is there?
What we hope for the future may or may not happen.
What we place our hope in now in the present, and building upon that is the hope that matters.
Don’t wishfully just hope that someday it will all be alright.
Use today to build a better tomorrow.
Is Christmas good for you?
Many people just don’t like Christmas. It’s not that they are Ba Hum Bug, they just don’t care.
There can be genuinely understandable reasons for this. So can a person who is just not into Christmas enjoy Christmas?
How do you have a happy time over Christmas when you’d rather it just didn’t exist?
Happy Anniversary?
Should we mark, let alone celebrate, a negative anniversary?
If so, how?
It is a matter of personal choice how a person should remember an anniversary. It can be a celebration of thankfulness for survival.
It can be a time to take stock and allow yourself to be reconciled with what you may have lost, but also to be grateful for what you have, the increased significance it has for you.
Suicide: Can Counselling help?
How therapy can help a suicidal person. First assessment of risk. Help the client identify reasons to live.
Developing long-term skills in wanting to stay alive. Four therapeutic approaches that may be used are highlighted.
Small Picture Big Picture
About halfway through my chemotherapy, which I was on for 5 months in total, I was really struggling with accepting what was happening.
I accepted that my survival prospects were good, but I was angry with the life I was losing. Simply put, I just felt it was unfair. Additionally, I had lost my spacious, bright room, which had an access space before entering, making it very private.
I was now in a dark, poky room which looked straight onto the main corridor.
I had a long way to go, and things seemed to be getting worse.
I took solace that the moment I was caught in was just that. A day would come when I would re-enter the fullness of life, I believed. I wanted to see the big picture.
On being Diagnosed with Cancer
This blog was written when I was in the early stages of being in hospital, being treated for cancer, the 2nd half of 2020.
In many ways, this reads as a diary entry where I outline the events of my illness, starting with pre-diagnosis and ending somewhere after my first of six rounds of chemotherapy.
I delve into the emotional and physical trauma of that time. What gave me strength and what made me weak. Relational and spiritual issues are highlighted.
This is all in the context of the initial 2020 lockdown, which meant I had to experience this painful medical world alone.
Anxiety; Where fear takes over
Anxiety is one of the most common topics raised in therapy. It is a debilitating condition that prevents a person from engaging with life.
It is closely associated with depression and often co-exists.
There is a strong medical connection with anxiety; medication is often the first stage of treatment.
Medication, however, can become a near-permanent part of persons ’s life. Many people do not want this and will prefer to resolve their anxiety through psychological work.
Such work identifies the triggers and helps to develop coping mechanisms to lessen their impact.
Hope
Hope is perceived as being essential but also as elusive. The hope for a better future plays a large part in motivating us to work through difficult situations.
Some may also say that being driven to achieve by a hope unfounded in reality can result in a destructive end.
Whatever your views on the helpfulness of hope, we all strive to have hope.