Golowhe Therapy

15/11/2025

With longer darker nights and winter drawing closer, this time of year can be an opportune moment in the seasons to review and refresh self-care habits… ✨ Why? Because as nature is already showing us, slowing down and allowing for rest, repair and recharge is so vital in order to prepare and sustain for the days ahead… ❄️

So what are you self-care habits (or not at all)…? What can you begin to introduce or improve upon to support you through the coming seasons…?
- and always start small to make this more achievable and realistic for you!

Thanks to Carly Wicks Fitness & Nutrition and Wellbeing with Julie for hosting another wonderful wellbeing workshop, and with the particular focus of sleep 💤 - something that I am sure many others will identify can be tricky sometimes when heads can become full and changes in daylight hours still testing us! The essential oils smelt delicious to create our own foot bath salts - which after trying out this evening are going to become part of my winter self-care sustenance 🙏 🫧
Here’s to healthy sleep habits including switching off, stretching out and celebrating sleep… 😴 🌙 ✨

10/11/2025

November… a month that reminds us and invites us to practice saying ‘no’…

No-vember: be okay with saying no if it means you're protecting your peace, boundaries, energy, space, and mind… 🌙 ✨

08/11/2025

Another beautiful day 😊💛🌙✨

08/11/2025

So looking forward to this next weekend! 👇 and this time to be going as a participant instead ☺️ This time of year is a reminder of balance, of caring for self and preparing for the oncoming winter, and of remembering ‘cannot give from an empty cup’… 🙏 🧘 There’s a few spaces left available if you think this is for you too (info on poster 👇). See you there! 🌙 ✨

08/11/2025

“…growing concern that AI chatbots may foster intense and unhealthy relationships with vulnerable users and validate dangerous impulses…”

ChatGPT wrote a woman a su***de note and another AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with children, BBC finds.

05/11/2025

It’s International Stress Awareness Week (and today is National Stress Awareness Day!)… Stress can be defined as ‘the body’s response to feeling under pressure or threatened’ - little bit can be useful, a lot (or sustained) can be detrimental… ⚠️

So what do you do to de-stress? Unwind? Switch off? Relax? Or maybe this feels too far out of your reach at the moment… 🫧 🧘

One that I frequently use (perhaps unsurprisingly to read for some) is being in and with nature… 🍂 In particular it is to take a walk in the outdoors… and even more so if my dog joins me - dogs are great teachers of being ‘in the moment’, remaining present and responding to the here and now… 🐶

A great technique to reduce stress (and anxieties) is the ‘5-4-3-2-1’ which enables grounding, connecting the mind to the body through simple mindfulness - it’s effective because it tells the brain that YOU are in charge (rather than it charging off at 100mph full of thoughts and perhaps overreactions), telling it to focus and calm…

5 - things you can see
4 - things you can feel
3 - things you can hear
2 - things you can smell
1 - thing you can taste

It’s so versatile in that it can be used in the outdoors or indoors… briefly during a commute for example, or in more detail over longer period of time…

Stress. There’s sometimes no avoiding it, however it can be managed for our benefit 🌙✨

03/11/2025

“A professional therapist needs to learn how to manage their own emotional responses in the consulting room; they need to become practised at noticing when and how the patient is avoiding sensitive topics, and critically they need to learn what not to say. Psychotherapy is sometimes dismissed as nothing more than a sort of paid-for friendship, but there is more to it than that…” 👇 🌙 ✨

From psychoanalysis to existential therapy, there’s a bewildering variety of approaches – with one thing in common

01/11/2025

Entering November… ✨ 💀 The beginning of this month has long been associated with remembering the dead (such as Allhallowtide, Dia De Los Mu***os (Day of the Dead), Festival de Barriletes Gigantes)… 🕯️ Regardless of faith or culture, this time of year encourages us to take a moment to reflect or celebrate loved ones lost, perhaps to think or pray about those recently departed, show some form of respect or understanding, and share a memory or experiences of those who have died… ✨

For some, talking about those who have died can feel uncomfortable or unnatural… worried of ‘saying something wrong’ or feeling awkward at what emotions might arise, rather preferring to ignore the ‘elephant in the room’… 🐘 However learning from these festivals (and more recent theories also show this) that by supporting and maintaining healthy and meaningful connections with those who have died is far more supportive in the grieving process, including aiding in acceptance and adjustment… ✨
-it was once common to think bereavement had an end point, closure or time frame. This isn’t actually the case… instead we learn to grow, accommodate or adapt to the grief and those that have died… 🤍🕯️

Entering November when the darkness and stillness is increasing, there can be greater opportunity to pause and remember… to acknowledge how these makes us feel (both then and now)… and to make space for reminiscing of those who are gone and not forgotten… 🌙 ✨

31/10/2025

“Life can be so tricky… treat yourself (and everyone else) with kindness…” 🎃 🌙 ✨

Life can be so tricky. Treat yourself (and everyone else) with kindness 🎃

Image: https://www.instagram.com/murphys_sketches

30/10/2025

“…When feelings become too much to handle, dissociation offers immediate relief. But overuse of dissociation to cope can disrupt learning, relationships and daily life.…”

Dissociation is the brain’s way of protecting itself from overwhelming stress or emotion

27/10/2025

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons 🍂 The changing colours, textures, nature revealing itself in ways that can easily go unnoticed for those who forget or are too busy to observe…

There can be so many lessons from nature at this time of year too. The most common one that does the rounds is along the line of “the trees are showing us how beautiful it is to let go” 🍂 Yet there are subtleties as well, such as this leaf this morning - a jewel of red in the rising sun - and the only one left on the vine… clinging on despite the wind. It shows resilience, of not giving in when others around have, of hope, of providing a momentary glimmer of joy to those who notice…

This week (and onwards) as the days of October draw to a close and we continue further into autumn, what will you be noticing? Reminder to take a moment… and be… let nature reveal herself to you and take from that what you will… perhaps go against the expectation to stay indoors and see what the weather or darkness brings? 🌙 ✨

24/10/2025

Reminder that this weekend the traditional ‘daylight saving’ time change will be happening… 🕰️ 💤 🍂 The clocks will be going back an hour, which means gaining additional daylight in the morning (for a short while at least) and welcoming in the darker evenings once again as we continue to move through Autumn… ✨

For some of us, this shift is challenging to our circadian rhythms (that’s our internal ‘body clock’ letting us know when to be asleep or awake) and can cause considerable discomfort to our bodies and minds… So here’s a few reminders…

🕰️ It is normal for there to be a period of adjustment to this daylight saving time shift.
🕰️ It is normal to find the darker days more difficult, making us feel less motivated and sometimes less productive.
🕰️ It is normal to feel the need to slow down, crave comforting foods and rest (think how wildlife is preparing for winter - remember, we are nature).
🕰️ It is normal to experience lower moods, sometimes sadness and a sense of loss.
🕰️ It is normal to have periods of reflection and/or introspection.

So often in western society we can continue to busy ourselves and go against the grain of what is happening in nature…. 🍂 As the darker days begin to take hold, give yourself time to adjust, to rest, to quieten down, to listen to yourself, and to say no if you want to… ✨

Keeping some sort of routine can be helpful as is getting daily dose of daylight (even if it’s not sunny!) to ensure we get our serotonin and melatonin boost! 🍂 Seek ways to have positive or meaningful connections and interests if you can, and if low moods do persist consider getting additional support in place for the winter ahead… 🌙 ✨