Until recently, I had no real idea of what Forest bathing was. I had heard of it in passing, and that was about it. I started thinking about it more when I was looking up at the underside of trees and thinking about how happy it made me. This led to wanting to find out more about Forest bathing, what it was and how I could do it!
Our memories don’t necessarily define us in the way we think they do. They are a narrative we have created over many years based on fragmented elements of events, situations, people and activities we have experienced. As with any narrative, we can change it to help us create a better present and future.
I want to write a blog post in response, or rather as a follow-up to my liberation psychology talk that honours a reply I made at the end of it to the questions: “How can we start getting involved in liberation psychologies?” and “If it feels like a lot to take in, how do we start this work?”.
Creating geometric wood wall art can be a fun and creative project. Just like full-size wood home décor made out of reclaimed wood planks, this one has a similar pattern, but it is much smaller, easier to make, more affordable and suitable for small spaces. It uses wooden coffee stirrers, which you can collect over time after having your coffee, or you can get a bag of them in a craft store.
Brigadeiros are traditional and super delicious Brazilian chocolate truffles that are usually served at parties and all kinds of celebrations. Here’s a classic Brigadeiro recipe plus its coconut variation – Brigadeiros de Coco also called Beijinhos (little kisses).
I feel that, although change is really hard and can be daunting, a lot of the time it is for the best as it makes room for new growth. I have had a lot of big life changes in the past few years that made me feel as if I was at my breaking point. However, each time I have come out of it stronger, wiser, more confident in my abilities and ready to take on the next challenge that life throws my way.
Counselling may also contain signposting: providing information about other services and sources of support. Supported healing may require collaboration between services, counsellors and GP or school, as well as additional tips for learning more about the challenges we may be facing.
Counselling can support recovery from trauma and other life challenges. It can support healing and improve your mental health. Counselling can also support your wellbeing, growth and resilience. Your counsellor may respectfully help you challenge your unhealthy thinking patterns and habits. They will witness and assist the changes you wish to introduce in your life.
Validation is the key to counselling work. We need to feel validated in a relationship with another human. This, of course, is not always the case in all our relationships, so your counsellor will aim to provide this experience for you.
A huge factor in the success of counselling is the quality of your relationship with your counsellor. Thus, you should feel safe, respected, understood and gradually more open to trusting the counselling process. In counselling, we call this “rapport building”.