Andrea Sowden, Psychotherapy and Counselling Services

30/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14RoYmsuKSt/

21/12/2025

Each and every day!

17/12/2025

Many of you will soon gather around tables with friends and family. Some will have watched you grow up, others you have only just met. Each holds a surface-level understanding of who you are. Some celebrate your success, while others are unsettled by the confidence you have earned. But no one can fully grasp everything you have lived through to become who you are today. And while many versions of you exist in their minds, you hold a depth and essence that surpasses them all. That is the nature of authenticity.

Authenticity is often mischaracterized as a bold declaration of individuality. Something loud, defiant, or performative. In truth, living authentically has little to do with how you are perceived, judged or misunderstood. It is not about being praised for standing your ground or criticized for moving differently. Authenticity is about your relationship with yourself. It is an inner alignment, not an outer performance.

When you choose to stay rooted in the best within you, other people’s negativity loses power. When you prioritize common ground, disagreements no longer shake your centre. And when you hold genuine intentions for others, their reactions no longer dictate how you show up. Authenticity says, “I remain myself, regardless of how you see me.”

This is not closed-mindedness. It is freedom. You are not being stubborn or stuck in your ways. You are simply refusing to shrink into the emotional limitations of others. As the heart expands, the world’s noise loses its grip. Instead of being loyal to the ego that takes offence, personalizes everything, and clings to expectations, you move from spirit. And when you follow that spirit with courage, the opinions of others begin to dissolve in significance.

By choosing authenticity, you learn to observe life without absorbing every projection. The need for validation fades as self-acceptance deepens. And the good energy you carry becomes easier to maintain, because you no longer hand over your peace to people who were never meant to understand you in the first place.

13/12/2025

15/11/2025

14/11/2025

14/11/2025

08/10/2025

What expectations are you holding onto?

and are so often closely linked.

Illustration from "It's not always black and white. A colourful take on life's grey areas." (2008) By Kate Knapp

08/10/2025

This is my wish for you... May your inner voice be the kindest voice you know.

Illustration from "The Art of Kindness" (2018) by Meredith Gaston

02/09/2025

Let's the we have with ourselves...
What old are we hanging onto that our progress?
What -limiting could we remove?
Would you speak with a the way you speak to yourself?
What is it that we would give to a friend, but not give to ourselves?
How is it that we ourselves in a way that we would never judge a friend?

Repost from Thank you!

❤️

30/08/2025

Hiding parts of yourself you think are unlovable?




Thank you,

25/08/2025

Never An Ordinary Moment

There are tiny gestures,
almost invisible,
that stitch our days together,
sounds, touches, routines.
We rarely notice them,
until their absence.

We sometimes take for granted
the smallest things:

a voice calling our name,
footsteps in the hallway,
the warmth of a hand reaching for ours,
laughter drifting from another room,
a light left on for us,
the ritual of goodbye at the door,
shoes by the bed,
breath beside us in sleep.

Ordinary, until they are gone,
and then we see
they were never ordinary at all.

~ 'Never An Ordinary Moment' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Sam Toft