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Goal setting & Remove your old blocks

This time of year many people suffer from Seasonal Depression (see SAD below) or low moods, lack of energy. Maybe waiting for longer days and signs that Spring has arrived.  But what we miss is the opportunity to reflect on the past year and build our future.  By taking control, each little step can help you towards your life goals (Personal and Business) and can give your life purpose and direction, boost your motivation, focus, energy and self- confidence.  So if you lacking energy, feeling depressed or just not sure how to boost your motivation I’ve got some suggestions…

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern. SAD is sometimes known as “winter depression” because the symptoms are more apparent and tend to be more severe during the winter. The symptoms often begin in the autumn as the days start getting shorter. If you think you suffer from SAD you can take a test at www.sad.co.uk/en-UK/do-i-suffer/

Between October and March, the sunlight in Britain is not strong enough to make enough vitamin D (Vitamin D3) and up to a quarter of the population has low levels of it in their blood.  Vitamin D is naturally found in oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel and sardines, eggs, fortified fat spreads, fortified breakfast cereals and powdered milk. However, it is hard to get enough of it just from food alone.

Signs you may have a vitamin D deficiency include: Being over 50, having darker skin, obesity, achy bones, feeling blue, head sweating, and gut trouble.  Increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year.  By optimizing your vitamin D levels it may help you prevent cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, infections, mental health conditions, and so much more.

Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

  • Feeling low, depressed?  Serotonin, the brain hormone associated with mood elevation, rises with exposure to bright light and falls with decreased sun exposure.
  • You’re 50 or Older?  As you get older your skin doesn’t make as much vitamin D in response to sun exposure. At the same time, your kidneys become less efficient at converting vitamin D into the form used by your body and older adults tend to spend more time indoors.
  • You’re Overweight or Obese (or Have a Higher Muscle Mass)?  Vitamin D is a fat-soluble, hormone-like vitamin, which means body fat acts as a “sink” by collecting it. If you’re overweight or obese, you’re therefore likely going to need more vitamin D than a slimmer person — and the same holds true for people with higher body weights due to muscle mass.
  • Your bones ache?  Aches and pains, especially in combination with fatigue, can end up being misdiagnosed as having fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.
  • Head Sweating?
  • You Have Gut Trouble?  Remember that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means if you have a gastrointestinal condition that affects your ability to absorb fat, you may have lower absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin D as well. This includes gut conditions like Crohn’s, celiac and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Quick Goal Setting Exercise

Reflect on what happened last year. How has your year been?

·      Did you achieve your goals?

·      What worked well & what do you need to repeat this year?

·      What didn’t go well & need to ditch this year?

·      What surprised you this year?

What were your last year’s biggest achievements?

Goals

1.

2.

3.

To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be SMART:

  • Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
  • Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
  • Achievable (agreed, attainable).
  • Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
  • Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Want to do more?  There are many free templates for goal setting however I can recommend this website from Brain Mayne.

Applied EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique

I am always looking for effective therapeutic tools to assist my clients to cope with life’s challenges.  I recently went on an EFT practitioners training course, Emotional Freedom Technique which was originally developed by Gary Craig based on the work of Professor Roger Callahan.

Professor Callahan was interested in combining techniques based on the ‘Meridian Points’ of acupuncture with psycho-therapeutic processes.  Instead of using needles as in acupuncture or massaging the actual acupuncture or ‘meridian points’ Professor Callahan utilised a ‘tapping process’.  The results were and are spectacularly effective.

EFT is incredibly effective for emotional issues such as Fears, Phobias, Stress, Anxiety, Trauma, PTSD, Grief, Confidence, Self worth and physical issues such as Chronic Pain.  What I really like about EFT is that its effects are amazingly rapid and in some cases only taking minutes to resolve.  If you would like to know more about this effective tool or to book an appointment please call me on 07734104421.

Sokalmia a method for working with Trauma

SokalmiaI have just completed my training on the Sokalmia® method which stands for Sensory Overloaded Kinesthetic Auditory Linguistic Mindfulness In Action. Malika Stephenson has created this wonderful therapeutic method that evolved through years of healing experience with hundreds of clients including many veterans.

Her unique Colour Calm Therapy is particularly helpful to use with clients that have suffered literally unspeakable trauma, or suffer from PTSD. As it is a non disclosure technique, clients don’t have to verbalise or even re-live their traumatic experiences.

IMG_1284

Very exciting becoming a practitioner & using it with my clients…. This method is used alongside
other therapeutic techniques like Hypnotherapy, Havening Technique® to elicit fast, permanent change using language, metaphor and swift resolution for clients issues for example: PTSD, phobias, fear responses, dissociation, chronic pain, relationships, loss, grief, bereavement and anxiety.

Self Havening – Do It Yourself!

Self Havening

 

Arm SH Face SH Palm SH

 

 

 

 

The following process is given as a guide for Self Havening:

  • Activate the specific emotional event that you want to work on by thinking about it as if it is happening to you at that moment. Once you have accessed the memory, rate your subjective unit of distress (SUD) level on a scale of 1-10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is extreme.
  • Now clear your mind and begin self-Havening by applying Havening touch on the face, arms or palms with repetitive circular movements as shown in the diagram about once per second.  At the same time, with your eyes closed, visualize walking up a flight of stairs counting out loud from 1-20 with each step. As you climb, imagine yourself becoming more calm and peaceful diminishing the distressing feelings exponentially.
  • On reaching the count of 20, begin to hum a familiar tune such as twinkle, twinkle little star or happy birthday for a two rounds.
  • As you continue applying the Havening touch on arms, face or palms take a deep breath in and then keep your head straight with your eyes look to the left and then to the right.
  • Close your eyes again, inhale deeply and breath out on the count of 5 whilst still applying Havening touch and then rate your SUD to track how much the emotion has reduced.
  • Repeat 2-4 times with a different Havening surface (beach, meadow, forest, swimming, running etc), or choose the same visualization and counting from 1-20 and hum your tune, or you can choose a different tune. Continue repeating Havening rounds until your SUD is at 0.

Havening is a powerful technique that some people may be left feeling a little ‘lost’ as they become accustomed to their new way of being. It can be necessary to help the client adjust to their new way of being and it is therefore recommended you seek further help as necessary. Havening is often used to complements many other methods of healing and personal development.

If you would like to find out more about practitioner training please visit www.havening.org.

References and Further Reading
Ruden.R. Dr. When the Past is Always Present. Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. United States of America. ISBN 978-0-415-87564-6. 2011.

Havening Techniques

The Past is always presentIn April I attended the first of three stages to training in Havening Techniques (2 days) on a quest to become fully certified practitioner I’ve only got two more stages to complete but the standard of certification you will be pleased to know is very high.

The Havening Technique is a revolutionary approach being used to help people who are suffering from trauma, PTSD, phobias, anxieties, stress responses and many other issues.

The Havening techniques were developed by New York neuroscientist Dr Ronald Ruden a forward thinking medical doctor with a PhD in neuropharmacology (the study of brain chemistry), together with his brother Dr Steven Ruden and is also championed by Paul McKenna. See the website for more information and a list of fully certified practitioners www.havening.org

This method is designed to change the brain, to de-traumatise the memory and permanently remove its negative effects from both our psyche and body. Part of its protocol The Havening Technique uses the sensory input of human touch.  The practitioner (or the clients themselves) makes particular sweeps over the client’s arms and areas of the face and hands which triggers the delta waves in the brain. The delta waves in turn prompt helpful chemical chain-reactions in the amygdala. This removes specific AMPA Receptors from the surface of neurons in the amygdala where the traumatic event is ‘stored’. For some Craving Brainparticular uses of Havening there are also some distraction techniques used so that as the work is being done, the area of the brain storing the trauma is not constantly being re-activated.

The key is finding the original encoding event and to remove the trauma then use Event Havening (most commonly known), and a mix of other Havening techniques including: Transpirational Havening, Affirmational Havening, Outcome Havening and Role Havening. As extensive research continues and the ongoing use by practitioners the techniques will envitably evolve as our understanding grows.

Havening is very helpful to treat:

Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Abandonment Issues, Fears, Phobias, Distressing Memories, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anger, Grief, Guilt, Cravings, Compulsions, Emotional Eating, Depression, Stress, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Confidence Issues, Chronic Pain and more.

Once you’ve learnt how & when to do self-Havening, it is highly effective for everyone but particularly for those working in stressful situations (police, fire, ambulance, medical, lifeguard, forces etc). Havening is also having amazing results in emergency situations, particularly where traumatisation can potentially occur.

There is lots more information on the Havening website and videos www.havening.org.
Watch Dr Ron Ruden on Vimeo video… https://player.vimeo.com/video/57277747
Dr Ronald Ruden, creator of The Havening Techniques™ explains:
“When an event or experience is perceived as traumatic, inescapable or very stressful, it becomes immutably encoded, often with life-altering consequences. However, recent research from the field of Neuroscience has shown us how it’s possible to modify this encoding. The Havening Techniques™ are methods which are designed to change the brain to de-traumatize the memory and permanently remove its negative effects from both our psyche and body.”

Paul McKenna, international best selling author and ‘one of the world’s most important self-help gurus’ (The Times of London’) Paul McKenna.Paul McKenna

‘Havening, also known as Amygdala Depotentiation Therapy (ADT) is going to change the face of therapy across the world. What used to take months to cure can now be done in minutes in most cases: PTSD, trauma, pain, depression and many more disorders. The initial study recently completed by King’s College London shows the remarkable effectiveness of this extraordinary set of processes. This is not to be confused with other psycho-sensory techniques, TFT, EMDR, etc. Whilst they are very good, Havening is light years ahead. If you want to be an excellent therapist, you can’t afford not to learn this breakthrough approach.’  Paul McKenna, Ph.D

Everyone needs to know their personality type….

After studing and writing an essay on Carl Jung’s personality types recently for my counselling diploma course, I became very curious about Talent Dynamics personality system. Talent Dynamics is a profiling system for business development, improving communication and enhancing team performance.

I’ve been ‘profiled’ in the past in my corporate life, using systems such as Myres Briggs (MBTI) amongst others and had found them of limited use.  My TD profile come out as a ‘Star’ my core strengths being: Creative; outgoing; able to motivate and inspire others; quick to connect; holds the stage; high energy and knows how to have fun.  It was also a relief that it describes my best activities in the workplace to be: Marketing, promotion, sales leadership, presenting, leading out of crisis, motivation, starting new projects. It was very enlightening, enabling me to understand my strengths and also my weaknesses as individual and how to work best with others and in teams.

Last week I went on a one-day Talent Dynamics workshop with Sylvia Baldock. We learnt how to understand the TD Square and all its components, including the eight Talent profiles. Looking at the profiles strengths and weaknesses and about our secondary profiles also which best complement our own and identifying skills/expertise that we may need to help us or aid us in our various businesses.  An extremely useful part was learning about adding ‘value’ to my services and how to ‘leverage’ that value. Particularly relevant as I have been developing a number of strategic alliances this year.  Sylvia got us all so motivated and focused by getting us to work on identifying our goals and recognising any personal or business related blocks –  it feels so easy once you know how!  It doesn’t stop there as the TD learning journey continues…..

I can highly recommend Sylvia Baldock who is an inspirational Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant – her training is legendary in Athena Networking circles.  I found the workshop to be fun, stimulating and informative, working closely with inspiring, talented people it makes you face what you need to do to get yourself into the peak of ‘Flow’ for maximum performance.  Look out 2013…..