Peaceful Heart Centre - Psyche Therapeia

26/08/2021

There is so much talk in ’spiritual’ circles about growth, moving on, letting go, rebirthing, maturing and expanding horizons, but we also need to offer kindness and gratitude to the past, to our old, dying self who’s been our faithful companion and given birth to who we are now.

~ Maureen B. Roberts, PhD www.psychiatrywithsoul.com
Artwork by Sherry Cook

14/07/2021

It feels good to be back for face-to-face sessions co-creating embodied presence.
Sessions available Wednesday day time.

An absolute pleasure to welcome back Mindfulness Core Process Psychotherapist (CPP), Spiritual Counsellor and Supervisor ~ Silvia M Smet MA. DIP.PR(CAM).

Silvia is a highly experienced counsellor of more than twenty years and has worked from the Centre for the last four years. She offers a talking therapy that Is a unique blend of Eastern and Western psychology. CPP integrates aspects of humanistic person centred, relational, somatic and transpersonal approaches, balanced with mindfulness.
She is happy to work short, long or open term depending on what difficulties you wish to bring and explore. Sometimes we are not sure what troubles us, but it’s more a feeling of something is 'not right', or 'missing'. Sometimes it is the sense that 'history is repeating itself', or we find ourselves 'going around in circles'.
If you want to explore receiving support from Silvia, contact her on 0115 960 2713 , or if you prefer to email: peacefulheartcentre@gmail.com

For more information, please visit her website: https://peacefulheartcentre.wordpress.com

09/07/2021

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN LEARN FROM MINDFULNESS 🧠

After dedicating Thursdays to Mindfulness, we have wrapped up what you can take from our tips and tricks so far…

Slow down - it’s good for you! 🧘‍♂️
Sometimes we feel like we can’t slow down. But when we practice mindfulness consistently, we can actually slow down and get more done in the same period of time -
What does this mean in practice? This means allowing yourself to get a good night’s sleep, take breaks during work, and to fully rest when you aren’t working - You’ll be surprised by just how much this increases your productivity, not to mention your mood!

Focusing on the present ⏰
It’s of course important to remember the past and plan for the future at times, but mindfulness reminds us that keeping rooted in the present brings a sense of peace and calm - One moment at a time, one day at a time!

Appreciating the little things 💙
We’re always so occupied with our plans and responsibilities that we rarely notice what’s going on around us. But in each moment, there are tons of tiny little events that can bring us joy and that we easily ignore.

Self awareness 🗣
How can we become better at something unless we’re clearly aware of what we’re doing wrong? We need to know what’s wrong before we can fix it. Without enough self-awareness, we can’t clearly identify the issue - mindfulness boosts our self-awareness massively.

Perspective changes everything 🔍
By heightening your awareness with mindfulness, you gain an entirely new perspective on life - this in turn changes everything, as regardless of what’s going on in your life in that moment, you can control your response - this trick is invaluable!

29/06/2021

Perinatal mental disorders are common and affect around 20% of women (PHE, 2017). However, this statistic does not account for those women who, due to stigma and shame, remain silent and do not come forward for treatment. These disorders are the leading cause of morbidity in pregnancy and a problem....

22/05/2021

At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it? A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books: To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Co. Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

16/05/2021

CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Sometimes you find yourself close to the edge.

The old existence, the one that yesterday seemed so solid, so fixed like a billion year-old stellar constellation, has shattered. No way of getting back to the way things were, it seems. No way of rewinding the movie and you ache to rewind. A terrible nostalgia for “back then” and its happy obliviousness to each tomorrow.

A painful sense of regret in your belly and chest.

And because the past has disintegrated the future has too. No way of knowing “what’s next” anymore. Everything feels out of sync, out of your hands, out of balance and out of control. Your plans have collapsed into the sounds of morning traffic. Your hopes and dreams have reduced to the raindrops pitter-pattering on your window. All you have left… is the present moment.

And even that doesn’t feel a safe place to be anymore. The body does not understand life in the abstract. You are in time but out of it, on solid ground but it feels so groundless now. Like you are living in someone else’s dream. Like you cannot recognize yourself here. Like you are being asked to begin again but you don’t know where everything ended. Like your life is over, but it carries on.

And the visitors come. Age-old reverberations of helplessness. A deep and dreadful anxiety that doesn’t feel like it’s yours. A terrible grief that would destroy or save the entire world if it could. A lostness, a sense of abandonment, like a child without protection, like light without its star.

A heart that beats in unfamiliar ways. Breathing that feels more constricted, tense. A discomfort throughout the body. You don’t feel at home in your own home.

(“Come to me”, the Universe cries.)

What do you do, here, close to the edge of things?

Well, you breathe, as well as you can. You prepare some tea. You speak with a friend, or join with them in a silence that understands.

You do the next thing, or it does you, or you sit for a while, despairing under an unfamiliar sky.

Homeless, scared, intimate with a painful truth -

Yes, sometimes,
close to the edge,
you find
yourself.

- Jeff Foster

11/05/2021

Repost from
•
🌟It is common that survivors do not have clear memories of their trauma, but they DO experience symptoms that reflect what they’ve been through. It is so important that survivors learn about their symptoms as ways in which trauma has been encoded into the mind and the body.

❗️As you look at this chart, bear in mind that these are all trauma symptoms that survivors can experience, EVEN if they have no clear memory of what happened.

➡️I think that trauma symptoms tell the trauma story even better than the story itself. The trauma symptoms depicted in this chart represent the way a person may have coped and adapted to the trauma that they went through. Take numbness, for example. At the time of the trauma, feeling numb was protective because it prevented the person from feeling pain - it functioned like an emotional anesthetic.

➡️When the trauma is over but the symptoms persist, they are no longer serving that person. They might start to negatively impact a persons quality of life or relationships — and that is when therapy can be helpful.

Many trauma therapists start their work by understanding the symptoms first. They let the symptoms tell the story of how a person survived. (This graphic is adapted from Dr. Janina Fisher’s well-known psychoeducational flip chart)


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29/01/2021

05/12/2020

Find your courage, and prepare for the long haul to escape.

If you find yourself in the abominable position of divorcing a Narcissist, my first words to you are: Good luck and may God be with you. This is not a fight for the faint of heart, and you must be braver than you’ve ever been.