A glorious grounding and empowerment session with my good friend @nicki.leocadia.ursu - some stones and items and chose to help ground me today.

#womensempowerment #grounding #empowerment #women #power #innerpeace #innerwork #stability ...

I share a photo from our family celebrations yesterday, but beneath the fancy dress, I am always conscious of the other meanings around this time of year - a memorial to those we have loved and lost, remembering who matters to us.

Some of us are hoping that the thinner veil will allow us contact with a world or state that none of us here in our present life states really understands. As a family, we have lost three people close to us in the last quarter, and each one brings up the sadnesses that went before, and each old loss sifts down into integration a little further, with each new loss that comes to us.

So here is to all those we have loved and lost, those that have passed on, those we miss, those we experience relief around their passing – not all relationships we have lost were positive, and that can bring up other feelings too. Thinking of you all, especially those that have recent losses.

#LovedAndLost #Remembering #Family #GriefAndLove #AllSouls #InMemory ...

✨ Rethinking empathy and eye contact in supervision and therapy ✨

I’ve been reading IDM Supervision (Cal D. Stoltenberg & Brian W. McNeill) as part of my training. In the “Nuts and Bolts” chapter on skills development, there’s a section highlighting empathy and the importance of eye contact.

I felt a strong reaction reading this. For many people – including autistic or blind therapists, those from cultures where eye contact is less common, or anyone who doesn’t find it natural – this emphasis can feel exclusive or unrealistic. It also doesn’t fit how therapy often happens today: via audio, text, or asynchronous connection.

For me, “seeing” others is deeply important, but not necessarily through eye contact. Some clients rarely make eye contact in person or on video; others work entirely via voice or text. Yet I can still feel their presence and attune to them fully. My way of seeing is through sensing, imagining, and feeling – through my mind’s eye. 👁️

Empathy doesn’t depend on sight. It’s a felt connection – through resonance, emotion, and presence. 💫

It reminded me how easily professional texts, often written from neurotypical or Western perspectives, can unintentionally exclude other ways of perceiving and connecting. Using inclusive, neuroaffirming language helps us broaden what empathy means – recognising that connection can take many forms. 🌿

#Therapy #Supervision #ClinicalSupervision #Neurodiversity #NeuroaffirmingPractice #Empathy #InclusivePractice #TherapistDevelopment #Counselling #Psychotherapy #ProfessionalGrowth #Neuroinclusion #ReflectivePractice ...

I love this explanation of transference - what do you think?

#transference #therapy #therapist #counsellor #therapeuticprocess

[Image wording: “During transference, people turn into a biological time machine. A nerve is struck when someone says or does something that reminds you of your past. This creates the emotional time warp that transfers your emotional past and your psychological need into the present.”] ...

“Today, I am choosing happiness.”

After my Uncle’s deeply moving funeral yesterday, including some of the challenges he suffered with illness, and the ways in which he found joy in life, I was left in a state of reflection.

Despite getting far too little sleep last night and feeling overwhelmed with homework deadlines, I woke up this morning and made a conscious decision: today, I would choose happiness. To my surprise – or maybe not – it turned out to be a truly fulfilling and beautiful day.

Later, while working on that same homework, I came across a profound teaching by Buddha:

🔅 Physical suffering is inevitable, but mental suffering is optional.

Buddha taught that while the body may endure physical pain – the first arrow – an untrained mind often clings to that pain, creating secondary pain, a mental anguish – the second arrow. In doing so, we end up, unnecessarily, suffering twice.

This idea resonated deeply with me today. I was reminded that while we may not always have control over our circumstances, we can train our minds to respond to even difficult situations with compassion, awareness, and yes, even joy.

So for today, and hopefully for many days to come: I am choosing happiness.

#ChooseHappiness #MentalHealthAwareness #MindfulnessMatters #EmotionalWellbeing #HealingJourney #GriefAndGrowth #BuddhistWisdom #TheTwoArrows #InnerPeace #SpiritualReflection #ConsciousLiving

* (A line from a TV show I am currently enjoying - Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, on Netflix) ...

If anyone is trying to get hold of me through LinkedIn, unfortunately my account is currently unavailable. Hopefully I`ll regain access within a week. 😊 #linkedin #accountrestoration #linkedinprison ...

Here I sit in my cabin, surrounded by paintings created by my dad, my grandad, my granny – memories of them present in the brushstrokes made by their hands many decades ago. I feel the heat of the electric fire on my skin, reminding me of visits to my granny and grandad, at the end of our garden, sitting by their fire and melting the chocolate off biscuits.

The tears flowed first when their son – my dad’s big brother was mentioned by name – then when his sister was called by name, now left without either of her brothers on this Earth – then his parents and his brother – my dad, Colin – who had gone before him. His nieces and nephews around the world and his daughter, my dear cousin, watching on the livestream – we were all acknowledged. I felt so included in the circle of love present at my uncle’s funeral.

The description of my uncle could’ve been of my dad, but of a dad that managed to find his joy before he went, rather than one that didn’t seem to fully find himself, and continued to fracture. I realised how much overlap there had been in their interests and joys. It was like rewatching my dad’s funeral all over again – but the one I wished he’d had, instead of the one he did have. The memories of the last online funeral I attended rushed into my heart, my dad and uncle’s cousin, a glorious Yorkshire man with healing hands – and the one before that too, my childhood friend, the triplet to our twinship. The loss of my uncle has joined the river of grief and losses from my life, that continues to flow in the landscape of my heart.

It has been so lovely to hear about my uncle’s life, about the paths he chose, his joys, his comforts. Among many others too numerous to list, he was a scientist, engineer, cabinet maker, astronomer, painter, chorist, musician, potter, geologist, and 3D printer. He built two houses, a boat, and a business. He built his own dining table, chairs, and a clock. He had seven children, and a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren. He lived a rich and full life.

I loved one of the lessons spoken to us all at the end: to know one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is success.

Goodnight Uncle Alec. ❤️ ...