Time for reflection

Its cold outside, pop the kettle on and sit yourself down for a well deserved break.  

Welcome all to this months article. Its winter, it is getting cold so more than ever we need to take care of our bodies and minds so settle yourself down with something nice to drink and take a break. The articles wont take you long to read here in the membership area so please don’t rush off, sit a while and relax and reflect, which funnily enough is what this article is all about. 

 

I did my own little bit of reflection today as I looked back over the past year of content I have shared with you all here in the membership and this time last year we were about to face a Christmas with lockdown restrictions and there was a lot of upset being felt in many homes over the thought of a different sort of Christmas perhaps without the loved ones we were already missing so much. 

 

I think that Christmas always jolts our minds into refection because it is quite a big deal in most of our lives and we tend to use Christmas day especially as a reference point for our lives. 

 

How old was I when this happened, well I remember that was the year I got the Lego for Christmas from aunty Julie…or I remember I was in this house that year we forgot to defrost the turkey so that must have been the time we had all my cousins to stay … 

 

The events of course are attached to emotions which can bring up the positive as well as the negative. As a hypnotherapist this is primarily what I am working with. Emotions and how they impact the way you feel and the way you chose to live your life. 

 

Refection has many benefits. Its allows us to notice how things in our life have improved or changed positively. 

 

It allows us to recall positive emotions which our mind enjoys. 

 

It allows us to take a good look at things in our lives that might be causing us harm or unhappiness, and while this isn’t always enjoyable, the truth allows us to think about how we could make positive changes. 

 

It can of course take us back to negative events and emotions. The danger here is that we stay here for longer than we need. We might reflect to a bad experience and straight away all the emotion attached to it comes flooding back to our minds. 

 

Reflection therefore, is it actually quite unhelpful ? Living in the moment, being present is definitely something that helps us to manage our emotions and see and feel what is right here right now…as opposed to what has happened or might happen in the future. Mental ill health often leads us to ruminate and overthink past and future events and in that add all of that uncomfortable emotion which stands in the way of us feeling well. 

 

I heard something recently that I will share with you which really sums this us for me. 

“The past is something that we can glance at but we no longer have to stare.” 

 

If you find that your periods of reflection are making you stare at the past and you don’t like what you are looking at and it isn’t helpful to you today….. in this present moment, then look away. Do anything you can to distract your mind away from looking any longer than you have to or want to. 

 

If your find that your periods of reflection are reminding you of your strengths and accomplishments then grab those positive feelings and bring them to the present moment and enjoy. With this strength what more can you bring into your life? 

 

If you find that your periods of reflection are reminding you of happy times and making you feel full of positive emotions stay a little while and enjoy and then again bring this happy emotion to the present moment and look forward to making many more of those amazing memories in the future. 

This year take control of your reflection. 

Questions, or comments? I'm here to help. You can leave a comment or query below, or contact us if you want a confidential conversation.