Annaliese Rix Psychosocial Services

17/11/2025

Being With, Not Just Around

I am witnessing so much hurt and destruction in families on a regular basis. Therefore, my wish for all this week:
May “presence” become our most intentional form of love.

Presence is not fixing.
Not convincing.
Not defending.
Not rescuing.
Not advising.

Presence is choosing to stay open, curious, compassionate, and available, even when the past feels heavy and differences feel sharp.

So many relationships fracture not because of a lack of love, but because old hurts are still running today’s conversations. We cannot rewrite history, but we can choose how we show up in the present moment.

Imagine what could change if we paused long enough to say:
“I’m here. I’m listening. I want to understand.”

This is how healing begins, not by erasing what was,
but by creating a new experience of what is.

💬 Practical Presence Prompts for the Week

Try one per day:

1️⃣ “What does this person need right now : comfort, silence, safety, or clarity?”
2️⃣ “Can I give them a response instead of a reaction?”
3️⃣ “How can I communicate with kindness, even if boundaries are needed?”
4️⃣ “Can I replace assumptions with curiosity?”
5️⃣ “Where can I slow down instead of speed up?”
6️⃣ “Can I offer empathy without needing to take sides or solve?”
7️⃣ “Am I listening to understand or listening to reply?”

Consider the following affirmation as an intention for this week: “I choose to show up with presence, compassion, and curiosity. My presence can be healing, while I hold space for others and also honour my own emotional capacity.”

11/11/2025

Presence is a daily practice, not something we wait for.
Eckhart Tolle reminds us that when we believe the next moment is more important than the one we are living, we miss our whole life.

Cognitive distortions, overthinking, people-pleasing, fear, and negative self-talk all pull us into imagined futures or old stories.
But presence invites us back into the only place where life actually happens: this breath, this sensation, this moment.

A gentle reminder for November:
You can return to yourself at any moment.
Your life is happening now, not later.

07/11/2025

As we step into the weekend, remind yourself that presence becomes both an invitation and a soft place to land.
Presence is not something we force, it’s something we return to.
Again and again.

Presence asks us to notice:
• Where we are — in our bodies, our breath, our energy.
• What we carry — the emotions, hopes, and small aches we’ve tucked away.
• Who we are with — the people, animals, landscapes, or quiet company that nourish us.
• What matters right now , not yesterday, not next week, but in this moment.
• How we want to show up — gently, honestly, slowly, or with renewed courage.

This weekend, may presence feel like a soft exhale.
A moment to reconnect with what anchors you.
A reminder that slowing down is not falling behind, it’s returning to yourself.

With this in mind:
May your weekend hold pockets of stillness,
tiny joys you didn’t rush past,
and a renewed sense of being at home within yourself.
Let presence meet you gently,
in the morning light,
in the quiet moments,
in the company you keep,
and in the tenderness you offer yourself.

You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to be here.
You are allowed to simply be.

06/11/2025

Rather late than never.
November arrived quicker than expected, but here is our calendar — a soft reminder to stay present this month. Let’s make it a mindful season of reflection, gratitude, and renewal.

This is an invitation to move through November with intention and grace.
Each day offers a quiet moment to slow down, notice what is unfolding, and stay grounded in presence.

May these affirmations guide you toward gentle reflection, deeper gratitude, and a sense of renewal as the year draws to a close.

03/11/2025

How Gratitude Builds Resilience

A quote that embraces the result of gratitude to bring new hope and life is that of Henry Ward Beecher:
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”

🌿 Gratitude isn’t just a nice feeling — it changes your brain.

Everyday moments of appreciation help your brain tune into what’s working, what’s supportive ,and what’s helping you stay steady through it all.

Neuroscience shows that practising gratitude activates brain networks tied to value, connection, and emotional regulation which means you build the neural muscles of resilience.

In the face of overwhelm, big feelings, or unexpected turns, this matters: your brain begins to see resources, not just threats. It starts to help you bounce back more quickly.

💭Try this simple practice:
1. At the end of your day, write down one thing you’re grateful for, no matter how small.
2. Notice how saying it (silently or aloud) makes you feel in your body and mind.
3. When a challenge surfaces, let your brain cue the memory of that support or strength and say, “I have received. I can respond.”

May your week be filled with moments of gratitude.

27/10/2025

Resilience Begins with Regulation

Resilience isn’t about pushing through, it’s about tuning in.
Your body is always speaking through your nervous system, guiding you between safety, connection, and protection.

When the dorsal vagus nerve takes over, you may feel heavy, numb, or far away, your body’s way of saying, “It’s too much right now.”
But through gentle awareness, you can invite safety back by activating the ventral vagus nerve, the pathway that restores calm, connection, and curiosity.

🫁 Every slow breath, every moment of stillness, every return to presence expands your capacity for life.

Resilience is not the absence of struggle, it’s the ability to come home to yourself, again and again.

25/10/2025

24/10/2025

Resilience, Continued: The Quiet Step Forward

Yesterday was about the stillness that heals, the quiet return of the tide, the rhythm of resilience that restores what was worn away.

Today is about the step that follows:
the movement born of rest,
the courage that rises softly and says,
“I will try again.”

The bird’s lifted foot reminds us that resilience is not a single moment of strength,
it’s the continuous act of showing up, one gentle step at a time.

There is wisdom and encouragement in the quote of Steve Maraboli:

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient.”

23/10/2025

Today is dedicated to all the people who keep showing up,
those who return despite the pain, the weariness, or the setbacks;
those who continue to embody the quiet tenacity of the human spirit.

You are proof that resilience doesn’t need to shout to be strong.
It simply needs to return.
Resilience: The Art of Returning

The tide doesn’t ask permission to return.
It simply does, again and again.

Resilience isn’t loud or perfect; it’s the quiet act of showing up when the world feels heavy.
Like the bird tracing gentle steps across wet sand, we move forward, not because the path is easy, but because something within us still believes in tomorrow.

Every return, every breath, every moment of choosing to begin again, that’s resilience.

A quote to make your own:

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.”
— Mary Anne Radmacher

15/10/2025

Just as our bodies need nourishing food, our minds need a healthy mental diet.
In an age of constant media exposure, it’s easy to become saturated with fear, tragedy, and conflict — until the world starts to look bleak.

In my practice, I often see how this overload fuels anxiety, depression, and even existential despair — the sense that nothing good remains, that humanity is lost. But when we curate what we consume emotionally, something shifts. Our vision clears. We begin to notice life’s quieter goodness again — kindness, beauty, courage, community.

13/10/2025

The Patchwork of Resilience

By October, the light begins to shift.
In some parts of the world, it softens toward autumn’s gold.
Here, it brightens into spring , new buds unfurling even as we carry the quiet fatigue of a long winter within.

It’s a strange, beautiful in-between,
where endings and beginnings meet in the same breath.
Where the soul still feels the weight of what has been,
even as life calls us gently forward.

Resilience isn’t a single piece of unbroken cloth.
It’s a quilt, stitched together from all the moments that tested and taught us.
Each patch holds a story: a heartbreak survived, a boundary learned, a joy rediscovered.
Some pieces are frayed, others vivid with new colour,
but together they tell the truth of our becoming.

You are not meant to be seamless.
You are meant to be whole, in all your mending, making, and remaking.

🌻Mindset for the Week:
Let this be a week of gentle restoration.
Notice the threads that have held you.
Add one small patch of care, a moment of rest, a breath of gratitude, a quiet “enough for today.”

🌻 Affirmation:
My resilience transforms struggles into the fabric of my reality.

💬 A Quote to carry with you:

“Every patch in my life tells a story. Together, they make me whole.”
~ ProfCounselling

So whether you are leaning into autumn’s soft descent
or awakening to spring’s tender renewal,
may you remember that even the weary are beautiful,
stitched with grace, layered with hope,
and held together by love. 🤍

10/10/2025

Resilience and Gentleness

Resilience isn’t about being unbreakable or endlessly strong. It isn’t about “bouncing back” when life feels impossible.

Sometimes resilience is simply surviving this moment, one breath at a time. It’s the quiet choice to keep going, even when you feel you have nothing left.

🌻 We tend to blame from a victim mentality — and it makes sense if you feel stuck there after what you’ve been through.
🌻We tend to want to control from a fear mentality — and it makes sense if safety was taken from you.
🌻Love grows gently through acceptance — not by forcing it, but by softening toward yourself, by saying: “I am allowed to be exactly where I am.”

Resilience doesn’t mean you have to leap forward. It can mean allowing yourself to rest, to weep, to feel broken , and still being here.

It may be kind to reflect and ask yourself:” how In this hard moment, can I offer myself a tiny drop of acceptance , even if it’s just allowing myself to be as I am, without judgment?

A quote to bear in mind and ponder on in any given circumstance is: “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
— William Jame

🤗 A Gentle Affirmation for Today

“I do not need to be strong all at once.
Even in my fragility, I am still here.
Each small breath, each small step,
is resilience enough for today.”