In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia says “Lord, we know what we are, but not what we may be.” This quote points to future possibilities and potential being unknown. For Ophelia and Hamlet, whose lives were written by someone else, namely Shakespeare, they didn’t get much say over how things turned out for them. However, we canContinue reading “What we may be”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Enjoying Nature During Lockdown
In last week’s meeting online we discussed where we had been for walks during lockdown and what we had discovered or rediscovered and enjoyed during this time. Some had stayed quite close to home and in doing so discovered a great deal more about their locality than they had previously noticed. People had found newContinue reading “Enjoying Nature During Lockdown”
Black Lives Matter Discussion
As a local group meeting in Edinburgh, separated by Lockdown, we have been delighted these last few weeks to connect again online. This has challenged some to the very edges of their technological abilities but we are very pleased with our achievements to have everyone up and running online. Well done! Facing a computer screenContinue reading “Black Lives Matter Discussion”
Expressing your feelings in a letter
The group had suggested that we could do a session on letter writing to process difficult emotions. We had an outline for a process to follow if this would be helpful: We recognised that each persons situation was very different, some issues are maybe in a current relationship, some may be with people from whomContinue reading “Expressing your feelings in a letter”
Who are my true friends?
The group said that the qualities which made a good friend were loyalty, that means that someone can be trusted to not repeat what was shared in confidence. People enjoyed common interests but also different interests in friendship. A good friend would be understanding, encouraging, and able to tell you hard things even though itsContinue reading “Who are my true friends?”
Expressions through poetry
In this group we talked about poetry. What is a poem? Maybe it rhymes, maybe not but it probably has a rhythmic quality, and perhaps it will use symbolic language; speak to us in metaphors and veiled imagery, maybe it will be able to talk about difficult and taboo subjects in aesthetic and acceptable ways.Continue reading “Expressions through poetry”
How to become more positive
Today the group began talking about some of the stuck places we can find ourselves in. This may be due to circumstances; difficulties with health, finances or repetitive disappointment. We acknowledged these factors but began to acknowledge that the way we speak to ourselves about events could be changed for a different mindset allowing moreContinue reading “How to become more positive”
When relationships with food become unhealthy
Over the years we have done a good number of sessions about our relationships with food; healthy food, how food affects mood-specifically the link between gut health and mental health and changing our eating habits. In this session we looked at what happens when our relationship with food becomes the behaviour through which we tryContinue reading “When relationships with food become unhealthy”
Healing Flames and Gratitude Mandalas
For a more relaxed session today and informal conversation we held an ‘arts and crafts’ session-well loosely anyway. Having started with a mindful breathing exercise we had a couple of sheets to focus on something in particular if that is what people wished. One was ‘the healing flame’ helping individuals track a recovery process. ThisContinue reading “Healing Flames and Gratitude Mandalas”
Body Image and Self-Reflection
This session’s topic was in line with Mental Health Awareness Week’s topic of body image. How we view our bodies can positively or negatively affect our mental health and contribute to eating disorders. It is a rising issue in a social media dominated generation where definition by selfie has become very important. We had aContinue reading “Body Image and Self-Reflection”
