ARTICLES – Page 2 – Spirit of Wellbeing

Is work making us mentally ill ?

February 2012

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure, It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. As you let your light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same, Liberated from your fear, your presence liberates others. Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech 1994

Looking at our emotional health at work, I was intrigued by a recent UK study by Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD)

on supporting mental health in the workplace. In 2011, they commissioned YouGov to survey over 2000 employees to identify their experiences & attitudes about the degree of mental health at work. 26% reported mental health difficulties, with women higher than men. Rates were also higher in the 35 to 44 year age group.

CIPD also cite the CAUSES of mental health problems

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26/02/2012PamelaPositive Psychology, Wellbeing, Workplace Wellbeingemotion, employee engagement, feeling blue, health, inspiration, lifting depression, wellbeing

4 simple steps to remind yourself to self-nurture – you deserve it!

Isn’t it time – for you?

January 2012

I was enjoying walking by the ocean, golden sands, gentle lapping waves, emerald-azure waters, I could be feeling absolutely amazing or I could be lost within my dark thoughts. Then I was contemplating what does the internal landscape really look like & how do we take care of ourselves. Maintaining a feel-good factor is quite an art, even an ongoing okayness can be tricky. Our runaway thoughts are compelling & addictive as they fuel the epic 3D stories & tales – current & past.

Before we can say Jack Robinson (and who the hell was he anyway?) we have entered the dragon’s lair, fears, anxieties, self-recriminations, resentments emerge from the dragon’s fire & we spiral down. So many of our feelings especially anxieties, reside in the gut /sacral centre, yet somewhere within us we have the capacity to ease this fire & nurture ourselves, when we start to feel bad.

4 easy steps to self-nurture cont’d

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24/01/2012PamelaInspiration, Positive Psychology, Wellbeing

Bridging the gap between Wellbeing and Distress

For my beachside holiday reading over Christmas & New Year I enjoyed perusing Dr Russ Harris’ new book The Reality Slap – How to find fulfillment when life hurts (see www.actmindfully.com.au) which looks at how events in life such as crisis & disasters shock us, causing a huge slap in our reality awareness, especially events like death, divorce, bankruptcy, redundancy, disability, serious illness or injury. The recent earthquake & aftershocks in Christchurch is a prime example, following on from the previous shakes. These life events can affect us to such a degree that the gap between what is happening/happened & what we desire or need in order to feel OK looks like a huge gulf. Even Christmas & New Year experiences of family dramas or feeling alone can trigger so much distress in us, that we find it hard to engage with everyday life. In these troubled times, Russ’s book helps us to develop self-compassion. He uses ACT (acceptance & commitment therapy) – ACT mindfulness to deal with these major losses. I was then reflecting on how exactly do we manage this reality slap.
How can we bridge the gap between feeling normally OK with inner WELLBEING & dealing with the distress of having our world turned upside down?
The 2 worlds can seem to be universes apart.

Here are 7 ways to bridge the gap…

10/01/2012Pamela1 CommentHappiness, Inspiration, Therapy trends, Wellbeing, Workplace Wellbeing

Developing Inner Super-Vision at Work

Have you ever wondered why it is that some work interactions and events can trigger big emotional responses such as over-reactions, misunderstandings, injustices, defensiveness or emotional shut down, retaliations? From my client work through EAP schemes over the years I am amazed at the amount of bullying that exists in organisations – hierarchical, horizontal, group peer pressure & so on. I wonder why it is becoming so common place when we all have the right to a nurturing and supportive organisational culture instead of one which is harmful & anxious.

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11/12/2011PamelaPositive Psychology, Workplace Wellbeing

Using technology to enable dreaming

Has our technology — our cell phones and iPods and cameras — stopped us from dreaming? Young artist Shilo Shiv Suleman says no, as she demos “Khoya,” her new storybook for iPad, which floats us through a magical world in 7 minutes of pure creativity. I was mesmerised by the interactive storytelling on the iPad…

05/04/2009PamelaInspiration, Positive Psychologycompassion, creativity, emotion, employee engagement, lifting depression, marketing, social media, wellbeing, workplace

Active empathic resonance – playing with brain waves

ACTIVE EMPATHIC RESONANCE presentation by Pamela Harland excerpts from the workshop presented at Mind Body Conference Auckland 2004 Playing with brain waves From my work with cancer clients at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre in the UK (now known as the Penny Brohn Centre after the founder), I found that connecting with patients using a technique called active empathic resonance, many…

17/03/2006PamelaEnergy Psychology, Therapy trends, Wellbeing

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