Just a wee reminder for all of us.
Rain and cloudy weather can lower mood, mainly because of reduced sunlight and activity.
• Some people feel no change—or even feel better in the rain.
• Personality, habits, and mental health history matter more than the weather itself.
So to paraphrase a line from “About the weather” by Magazine (1981)
The weather’s variable so are you…But you can’t do a thing about the weather
Focus on what you can do.
A funny take on New Year’s resolutions; In response to; Linda’s One Liner Wednesday and JusJoJan #Keepitalive #JusJoJan
One Liner- Resolutions
How is your New Year’s resolution going?
As we near the end of January this can be a crucial time in the :
Make or break”
Have you already given up or is it that you never really started so it’s not technically giving up?
Or are you still going on making the changes that you said you would? (well done if you are, keep doing what you are doing).
No matter where you are on your journey-
Beginning, middle or end
Now is the time to review where you are at.
Remember little changes, persistently and consistently makes the magic happen.
We are all on the same journey.
Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is much more than shyness.
It is an extreme fear that won’t go away.
It can touch on your:
• Everyday goings-on
• Self-confidence
• Relationships
• Work or school life
Most of us will worry about social situations from time-to-time. However someone with social anxiety feels worried before, during and after events.
I have been dealing with people with anxiety issues for over a decade and I believe that the following 5 steps will be beneficial to anyone with social anxiety / social phobia issues. For more information see anxietyclinicdublin.com
Symptoms of social anxiety:
• Fear meeting strangers, starting discussions, talking on the phone, working or shopping
• Avoid or worry a lot about social activities – group conversations, mixed company, and parties
• Worry about doing something you think is embarrassing – blushing, sweating or appearing useless
• Find it tough to do things when others are watching
• Fear blame, avoid eye contact or have low self-esteem
• Often have symptoms such as feeling sick, sweating, trembling or heart palpitations
• Have panic attacks
How you can overcome social anxiety:
Social anxiety can be difficult to deal with but there are things you can try yourself.
1. Understand your anxiety
Try to appreciate more about your anxiety. Think about what’s on your mind and which social situations you find the most problematic and how you behave in these situations. This will help you get a clearer idea of the specific areas or triggers that are most difficult for you.
2. Beliefs and assumptions
Assess your beliefs and assumptions about a situation. Ask yourself could they be unrealistic ones e.g. when you feel a social situation went poorly. Ask yourself did the whole situation go badly or just a bit of it. Check the facts to support this or if you’re assuming the worst.
3. Move your attention
Try to focus your attention to people, things, sounds, sights around you. Be aware that your anxiety symptoms might not be as evident as you might think and fear.
4. Do activities you would normally avoid
This can be hard at first. Start with small goals and work towards more dreadedevents gradually. Create a list of the circumstances that cause you to experience anxiety. From the most frightening situation to one that causes only a slight anxiety.
5. Hypnotherapy
A trained anxiety therapist can help you manage your thoughts, feelings and behaviour processes. Thus make you aware of how past events can influence the present and impact on your life going forward. By utilising various anxiety interventions techniques the therapist will help you:
➢ Develop acknowledgement of your current anxiety state
➢ Build resilience to the triggers of your anxiety
➢ Construct new powerful ways to deal with your thoughts, feelings and behaviours
➢ Give you the power to live the life you deserve.
For further information about coping with anxiety feel free to contact me:
website/blog: www.anxietyclinicdublin.com
email: anxietyclinic@dublin.com
call: Int. ++353 85 843 5939
Anxietyclinicdublin.com©
For years I had been trying to quit, without success, when I decided to take a new approach. It helped me achieve the previously unthinkable
— Read on www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/20/i-started-smoking-at-14-and-reached-40-a-day-a-single-therapy-session-changed-my-life
A good article on the power of hypnotherapy to help you quit smoking.
Great opportunity if this is what you want. If not for you then feel free to share with someone it could help.
Most hypnotherapist practitioners would be able to help you quit either in person or online.
Check out qualified hypnotherapists at CHPA
Kind regards
David
A great article on the benefits for getting outside and moving. That bright idea that has been alluding you might just be a few steps around the block away.
Give it a go today you might just surprise yourself.
England captain Owen Farrell announces break from international rugby | UK News | Sky News
— Read on news-sky-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/england-captain-owen-farrell-announces-break-from-international-rugby-13018975
Important that this message is well received, for him, his family and those feeling the same way. It’s never easy to make a call like this, as you are well aware, however the more we can spread this information the better for all of us.
Although we are nearing the end of the year and we reflect on the past and look forward to the future; how many of us take the time to be in the present?
We can only be physically in the present so let’s bring our minds there too.
Picture the scene, your in bed, anxiously just lying there,the seconds on the clock becoming minutes which soon become hours. No sleep just thoughts bouncing around your head. This is so common when we are anxious.Worry, stress, rerun conversations going round and round and feeling totally bushwhacked when it’s time to get up.
We never seem to be able to relax, always walking zombie like through life always making mistakes and that no matter how hard we try we always seem to be in trouble or doing things wrong.
Despite our best of intentions of trying to keep helping other people, or to make a positive difference, it all seems to keep going wrong.
Sometimes when we are anxious, we end up trying too hard, or not seeing the problems in what we’re doing, because we’re rushing around not able to focus on what we are doing we end up making a mess of things.
I can think of so many people who just couldn’t stop and kept making things worse even though they had the best of intentions.
When the anxiety systems of the brain are active, we’ll often get that knot in the stomach, or a tight chest, and those physical feelings make everything feel urgent and really strong. We act instinctively trying to do the right thing but time after time it seems like we just keep getting it wrong.
The more you try the worse it seems to get , your anxiety feeding self doubts and feelings of failure. You beat yourself up over the smallest things , you feel alone as if it’s only you going through this constant cycle of anxious failure.
It doesn’t all have to be like this. Little changes can make a big difference. Cutting stress with simple activities like mindfulness, exercise, focused breathing etc can all dial down the strength of that worry reaction.
However, if there’s been a lifelong tendency of anxiety or to always be worrying, or having constant mental reruns , then there’s probably a lot of opportunity to make life better by dealing with those issues. That’s what has completely turned the lives around for many people I have seen.
My honest advice is be true to yourself and make a list of what and how often you are worrying or stressing and see how big an issue it is in life. You can choose to ignore it but if that’s what you have been doing up until now ask yourself how that’s been working out for you.
There are a lot of proven ways to reduce anxiety, worry, fears and phobias – I use a variety of strategies tailored to personal needs.
Recognizing that there’s room for improvement in life is very often the first step that takes us to doing what we need to do to make our life better in the future.
You have lost enough sleep to anxiety now is the time to get the help you need.
David McAllister Contact
I like September.
On an island with the Atlantic to the West and the Irish Sea to the east September brings in many changes. Not only the weather as who can tell the variables of such a potent force? But more than this for us as people. Our lives change back to the normal, back to the routine- school, work, commuting, and so on.
Another year has passed, some people have gone, some have arrived , that unstoppable circle of life that the seasons only provide a marker to what time it is. The Sun’s casting shadow getting longer, if indeed you’re lucky enough to see it (remember it always shines above the clouds) as we tread further into our daily life.
Like I said at the beginning I like September as it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the summer gone, even the year that has passed but more importantly take notice of what’s going on now. A moment to plan for the winter ahead on how we are going to protect ourselves, physically from the elements and mentally from the stresses and anxieties of daily life.
So as the sun sets on summer what are you going to do to protect yourself perhaps some of these tips will help:
Whatever it is you choose remember the sun is going to set anyway, your not alone, the seasons will come and go , we all go through it, but we can go through it together.
For further information feel free to Contact me.
It’s a simple enough question, you would think. However are you feeling anxious just thinking about how to answer?
We all assume that working hard is a good thing and many studies suggest that having a good work ethic enhances your motivation, discipline and encourages continuous skill set improvements.
That may be true however at what cost?
I encounter many hard working people at my anxiety clinic who despite putting in all the effort still feel anxious, stressed and a feeling of being overwhelmed.
So what can be done to reduce these anxious feelings?
Well let’s start by saying working hard is a good thing but in the right way at the right time. So continue to work hard but just enhance it by adding the following suggestions:
1. Grade Tasks in level of importance : Focus your time and energy on what matters the most first and prioritise others accordingly.
2. Be goal specific : Nothing new in this however don’t get hung up if they don’t work out. It’s the journey not the destination that matters.
3. Utilise technology : Embrace the 21st Century’s technology. Such as: productivity apps, automated repetitive tasks and online resources
4. Time Outs : Essential to recharge your batteries. Be guilt free and embrace your breaks. You will feel better for it.
5. See the learning : There are no mistakes, only feedback, acknowledge it and use it to improve.
By letting go of the feeling of having to do everything will give you the ability to get the right thing done at the right time. Do it, you might just surprise yourself.
David McAllister anxietyclinicdublin.com
Some alarming statistics where nearly 20% linked to anxiety based disorders.
Get this quote from the paper :
Anxiety and fear-related disorders were a prevalent condition in our sample; they were also the second highest risk factor for death among the underlying conditions considered in our study.
Of course it doesn’t have to be like this. We as individuals, groups even societies can do something about this.
However we need to be honest with ourselves and take the intelligent first step towards action and seek out the help needed.
I’m sure you will agree it is in all our best interests to do so. Agreed?
Great calendar from the action for happiness crew. Simple daily actions for July that we can all do.
Just having a little moment of gratitude to say thanks to my beautiful family for a great fun weekend of games and laughter.
It’s the simple pleasure of your company that bonds our connection no matter what we do.
Hopefully we can all find the little moments in our lives that may seem trivial yet have profound impact, even without our conscious awareness.
So when it comes to you just let the happiness of gratitude in whichever way you can.
“When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.”
― George Harrison
Feel free to contact me for further information.
David Mcallister
Stress and anxiety are in my experience involved in a great many of the causes for clients coming for hypnotherapy.
People looking for hypnotherapy may present with an issue such as smoking or weight loss however I see stress and anxiety as an underlying cause and can lead to many problems if ignored.
Relaxation exercises, and other stress management techniques can be very useful in overcoming stress and anxiety caused by everyday life. So much so I utilise these frequently.
Due to a variety of socio-economic conditions, stress and anxiety have now become more widely recognised by both individuals and employers. Globally thousands of work days are lost to these conditions .
In addition there is great personal anxiety which can lead to relationship tension , depression, panic attacks and many other problems.
Effective stress and anxiety management means not just dealing with the presenting stress and anxiety but to also help to avoid reaching high stress and anxiety levels in the first place. Hypnosis can help by:
>Creating an understanding about the reasons and factors underlying stress and anxiety.
> Teaching relaxation techniques so you can develop new ways to relax naturally and easily.
>Reframing thinking to help with panic attacks, anxiety and fears.
Remember stress and anxiety can cause problems in very clever and unhelpful ways. But it doesn’t have to be like this, even if you don’t think you have choices- you do.
We might not be able to avoid stress and anxiety and indeed we all need a little edge to keep us alive but let’s take action before it gets too much to handle.
Stay safe and for any further information please feel free to contact me:
Remember we all must die. I’m in my 50s and here I am just listening to some old records(vinyl to those too young to know what a record is) after talking to old friends in the modern communication via Zoom. We are middle aged and beyond, yet I don’t see who we are now but the children we were. To close my eyes, just to listen and it takes me back. Not men, not fathers, not husbands, but just us.
As a student of the social sciences many years ago I discarded the views of ageing as it was put to me then. For youth would of course never die, or at least , have an appreciation of an end. But then those held dear, close, go, gone. It hurts. Perhaps only for a short time and we move on. Youth remains strong. But not forever.
We never can be sure when it happens, when the first cut of age takes it’s quota- a wrinkle, an ache, thoughts of the past more prominent than the future, who can be sure other than to know it just happened beyond our control. Then what?
Do we continue down the path we’ll worn by those who came before us or challenge ourselves to greater glories or wait, just wait for something, anything to change our course?
I come across far too many people who dream and hope that things will improve but like the ancient Romans are willing to leave their fates to the Gods of fortune( Fortuna spinning her wheel of fortune).
This alarms me as I see an abundance of talent and potential just dreaming or wasting their lives away not realising everyone including you has something to offer through being alive.
Sure if you’re content with your life and don’t feel the need to do anything differently, then that’s fine, it’s your choice. You probably don’t need to continue reading but for those who don’t feel that way then please stay with me.
In the long run we are all dead.
John Maynard Keynes
I’m not going to preach, that’s not what’s this is about. I just want you to understand, no mortal being lives forever, not you, not me , not the generations past or indeed yet to come.
We all have to start somewhere, no matter your current age or circumstances, if you want to change where you are then do it and do it now.
Remember:
David McAllister BSc(Hons), ADCHP, MCHPA
Anxiety Clinic Dublin 