Archive: Balance

Balance, Meditation and Mindfulness, Newsletter

Home is …

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For years, home for me was in my books.  I have hundreds of them … my mysteries and sci-fi for pleasant and relaxing escapes, philosophy for the years I studied it and grew into another person, then psychology – that “practical philosophy” that I moved into and that is now my vocation, the spiritual books and books written by inspirational men and women (mostly women), books on mathematics and economics, practical how-to books, art books, yoga books … classics, poetry … . some books are falling apart from use, some nearly new.  All have been read and cherished.

From my 20’s onward, my book moved with me, no matter how cumbersome. I’ve sold some for almost nothing when I needed money, then bought them back for 10 times as much when I could. Books served as insulation in some of the small rooms I inhabited, lining the walls with their warmth and welcome.

Every lost book was a personal loss to me, like the loss of a friend. The time I felt the need to downsize and give away a third of my books was really difficult; I tried to find good homes for each one, as I would a cherished pet who needed a different place to thrive and grow.

Then about 6 months ago, I suddenly felt a need for space and room. For the first time, my books felt like they were limiting me, enclosing me, suffocating and isolating me.

Within a week of realizing this, I packed them up and put them all in storage!

And now? Now, I have twice the space I once had, for welcoming friends – human friends – into.

My long-term plan is to find a bigger place to live where I can happily co-exist with my books and  friends in collaborative peace. Meantime, home, to me, has become my cherished relationships, and my work.

What is home to you?

Where is home?

 

Quote of the Week 

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ― Anna Quindlen

Announcements 

Need more? At times we need more  – we know the logic, know what to do. And yet something is still blocking us.  I offer both one-on-one consultations and coaching packages.  For more information, visit my website www.thejoyofliving.co/services-and-programs or contact me directly at maryanne@thejoyofliving.co .

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist and Life Coach.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co.

Balance, Meditation and Mindfulness

Home is …

Leave a comment

 

For years, home for me was in my books.  I have hundreds of them … my mysteries and sci-fi for pleasant and relaxing escapes, philosophy for the years I studied it and grew into another person, then psychology – that “practical philosophy” that I moved into and that is now my vocation, the spiritual books and books written by inspirational men and women (mostly women), books on mathematics and economics, practical how-to books, art books, yoga books … classics, poetry … . some books are falling apart from use, some nearly new.  All have been read and cherished.

From my 20’s onward, my book moved with me, no matter how cumbersome. I’ve sold some for almost nothing when I needed money, then bought them back for 10 times as much when I could. Books served as insulation in some of the small rooms I inhabited, lining the walls with their warmth and welcome.

Every lost book was a personal loss to me, like the loss of a friend. The time I felt the need to downsize and give away a third of my books was really difficult; I tried to find good homes for each one, as I would a cherished pet who needed a different place to thrive and grow.

Then about 6 months ago, I suddenly felt a need for space and room. For the first time, my books felt like they were limiting me, enclosing me, suffocating and isolating me.

Within a week of realizing this, I packed them up and put them all in storage!

And now? Now, I have twice the space I once had, for welcoming friends – human friends – into.

My long-term plan is to find a bigger place to live where I can happily co-exist with my books and  friends in collaborative peace. Meantime, home, to me, has become my cherished relationships, and my work.

What is home to you?

 

Announcements 

If you like this blog, you’ll also like my newsletters. It’s written only for my insiders who sign up, and provides weekly insights, not only from me, but from others I admire.

To sign up  for my insider newsletter, click here. If you find it doesn’t work for you, all you have to do to unsubscribe is click on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Looking forward to welcoming you to my growing list of insiders!

Maryanne

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co 

Balance, Events, Newsletter

Change for 2020

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In this new year of 2020, there is a tradition among some of reviewing their past year in order to see what they might do to make the new year better.  What we did, what happened as a result, what was going on for us to make what happened happen; our dreams, how they came to fruition … or not, and the dream we have for this current year.

New Year’s resolutions can be past or future focused – how we want to correct what happened, or change what happened, or go in a new and hopefully better direction this year. I hear all the time about New Years’ resolutions that are doomed to fail – which is a good thing, because they are really instruments of self-flagellation: crash diets, working out till you drop, piling on the meant-to-feel-better-about-ourselves to-do items, that eventually get dropped because they are, in fact, impossible. Besides, I really don’t believe that any kind of self-imposed punishment ever results in something good, and never feels motivating enough to follow through on (in my personal experience).

But there is one New Years’ resolution that might work, and that is to commit to changing our story. This will probably involve spending time on looking at your story of 2019, but doing so with compassion for the person you had to be to be in that story. Then deciding what to let go of so that your 2020 story can be one of more beauty and joy.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, just better than last year’s. Changing something can happen in big leaps, but is more likely to really happen in small steps. (For those of you who get the newsletter version of this blog, watch the video to get a few really good ways of making those changes.)

Wishing you a joyful and hopeful 2020.

How to change your behavior for the better

 

 

Quote of the Week 

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”  ― Albert Einstein

Announcements 

Need more? At times we need more  – we know the logic, know what to do. And yet something is still blocking us.  I offer both one-on-one consultations and coaching packages.  For more information, visit my website www.thejoyofliving.co/services-and-programs or contact me directly at maryanne@thejoyofliving.co . Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist and Life Coach.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

Balance, Events

Change for 2020

Leave a comment

 

In this new year of 2020, there is a tradition among some of reviewing their past year in order to see what they might do to make the new year better.  What we did, what happened as a result, what was going on for us to make what happened happen; our dreams, how they came to fruition … or not, and the dream we have for this current year.

New Year’s resolutions can be past or future focused – how we want to correct what happened, or change what happened, or go in a new and hopefully better direction this year. I hear all the time about New Years’ resolutions that are doomed to fail – which is a good thing, because they are really instruments of self-flagellation: crash diets, working out till you drop, piling on the meant-to-feel-better-about-ourselves to-do items, that eventually get dropped because they are, in fact, impossible. Besides, I really don’t believe that any kind of self-imposed punishment ever results in something good, and never feels motivating enough to follow through on (in my personal experience).

But there is one New Years’ resolution that might work, and that is to commit to changing our story. This will probably involve spending time on looking at your story of 2019, but doing so with compassion for the person you had to be to be in that story. Then deciding what to let go of so that your 2020 story can be one of more beauty and joy.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, just better than last year’s. Changing something can happen in big leaps, but is more likely to really happen in small steps. (For those of you who get the newsletter version of this blog, watch the video to get a few really good ways of making those changes.)

Wishing you a joyful and hopeful 2020.

 

Announcements 

If you like this blog, you’ll also like my newsletters. It’s written only for my insiders who sign up, and provides weekly insights, not only from me, but from others I admire.

To sign up  for my insider newsletter, click here. If you find it doesn’t work for you, all you have to do to unsubscribe is click on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Looking forward to welcoming you to my growing list of insiders!

Maryanne

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co 

 

 

Balance, Holistic Health, Newsletter

Will it matter tomorrow?

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This is a busy time of year for most of us. Business and family parties, finishing off what won’t keep for the New Year, preparing for those few days you plan to relax. Every time I plan a vacation, my to-do list grows, and a lot of things I put off indefinitely seem to gain in urgency, so that by the time I go, I’m exhausted, having been up till 4 in the morning taking care of all those urgent matters.

It’s as if I’m preparing for the possibility of death or extreme change, so that everything becomes urgent. More than important.

A trick I learned a while ago for dealing with my own temporary insanity around sudden urgent tasks is this:  if I feel an overwhelming need to get some task done, even though the need to get this thing done was never that important before, I delete it. Completely.  Then I look at the important tasks, and focus only on them, because when I label something “important”, I’m doing so from a calm, considered place. On the other hand, when I label something “urgent” I’m not at all coming from a place of calm.

I suspect that “urgent” really means “I’ll keep myself so busy that I can’t possibly worry about what might go wrong with this long-awaited event”. I suspect this, because if it happens that the urgent task doesn’t get done, by the time I return, I don’t even think about it.

Is this a habit of yours too? Even with important tasks, some may not be as important as I believe.  The question then is: will it matter tomorrow? How will I feel tomorrow, a month or a year from now if I don’t finish this? Will it really matter in the long run?

Even more revealing is asking: what will matter tomorrow, a month or a year from now? What are you doing now that will help you grow and thrive tomorrow?

Measuring what makes life worthwhile

 

 

Quote of the Week 

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Announcements 

Need more? At times we need more  – we know the logic, know what to do. And yet something is still blocking us.  I offer both one-on-one consultations and coaching packages.  For more information, visit my website www.thejoyofliving.co/services-and-programs or contact me directly at maryanne@thejoyofliving.co . Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist and Life Coach.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Balance, Holistic Health

Will it matter tomorrow?

Leave a comment

 

This is a busy time of year for most of us. Business and family parties, finishing off what won’t keep for the New Year, preparing for those few days you plan to relax. Every time I plan a vacation, my to-do list grows, and a lot of things I put off indefinitely seem to gain in urgency, so that by the time I go, I’m exhausted, having been up till 4 in the morning taking care of all those urgent matters.

It’s as if I’m preparing for the possibility of death or extreme change, so that everything becomes urgent. More than important.

A trick I learned a while ago for dealing with my own temporary insanity around sudden urgent tasks is this:  if I feel an overwhelming need to get some task done, even though the need to get this thing done was never that important before, I delete it. Completely.  Then I look at the important tasks, and focus only on them, because when I label something “important”, I’m doing so from a calm, considered place. On the other hand, when I label something “urgent” I’m not at all coming from a place of calm.

I suspect that “urgent” really means “I’ll keep myself so busy that I can’t possibly worry about what might go wrong with this long-awaited event”. I suspect this, because if it happens that the urgent task doesn’t get done, by the time I return, I don’t even think about it.

Is this a habit of yours too? Even with important tasks, some may not be as important as I believe.  The question then is: will it matter tomorrow? How will I feel tomorrow, a month or a year from now if I don’t finish this? Will it really matter in the long run?

Even more revealing is asking: what will matter tomorrow, a month or a year from now? What are you doing now that will help you grow and thrive tomorrow?

Announcements 

If you like this blog, you’ll also like my newsletters. It’s written only for my insiders who sign up, and provides weekly insights, not only from me, but from others I admire.

To sign up  for my insider newsletter, click here. If you find it doesn’t work for you, all you have to do to unsubscribe is click on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Looking forward to welcoming you to my growing list of insiders!

Maryanne

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Anxiety Stress and Fear, Balance, Newsletter

Here’s to the Journey …

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One sure way to get and stay anxious is to focus on the results you want to happen, the destination you want to arrive at – a coveted job or position, a successful venture, party, or dinner. It doesn’t matter – as long as your focus is on how you want the future to look like, it isn’t at all on what’s happening around you right now.

And that means you are missing out on so much! On how you’re impacting those around you. On the wins and learnings about what you’re in the process of creating. How you feel in your gut about what you’re doing.  Any opportunities that open up during this process of living.

If you’re not present for the process as it unfolds, you miss out big time.

So, as Harry Kim realized in the final episode of the series “Startrek Voyager”, it’s the journey that matters. With that in mind, I raise a glass of something delicious to salute the beauty and power of the process of living. Here’s to the journey!

Alive! Now what?

 

Quote of the Week 

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh

Announcements 

Need more? At times we need more  – we know the logic, know what to do. And yet something is still blocking us.  I offer both one-on-one consultations and coaching packages.  For more information, visit my website www.thejoyofliving.co/services-and-programs or contact me directly at maryanne@thejoyofliving.co . Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist and Life Coach.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

 

Anxiety Stress and Fear, Balance

Here’s to the Journey …

Leave a comment

 

One sure way to get and stay anxious is to focus on the results you want to happen, the destination you want to arrive at – a coveted job or position, a successful venture, party, or dinner. It doesn’t matter – as long as your focus is on how you want the future to look like, it isn’t at all on what’s happening around you right now.

And that means you are missing out on so much! On how you’re impacting those around you. On the wins and learnings about what you’re in the process of creating. How you feel in your gut about what you’re doing.  Any opportunities that open up during this process of living.

If you’re not present for the process as it unfolds, you miss out big time.

So, as Harry Kim realized in the final episode of the series “Startrek Voyager”, it’s the journey that matters. With that in mind, I raise a glass of something delicious to salute the beauty and power of the process of living. Here’s to the journey!

 

Announcements 

If you like this blog, you’ll also like my newsletters. It’s written only for my insiders who sign up, and provides weekly insights, not only from me, but from others I admire.

To sign up  for my insider newsletter, click here. If you find it doesn’t work for you, all you have to do to unsubscribe is click on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Looking forward to welcoming you to my growing list of insiders!

Maryanne

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

Anxiety Stress and Fear, Balance, Newsletter

The power of fear

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Fear only has as much power as we give it space.

This quote from Josh Ritter came in a moment when I was pondering a possibility that made my blood pressure rise. I needed to address something with a contentious colleague, and was occupying my mind with worst case scenarios. In other words, I was giving this imagined fear a lot of power.

Have you ever done that?  Perhaps not, but I can tell you from personal experience that when I give fear that kind of power, I can become paralyzed. Frozen on the spot, as if I had gears as brains, all jammed up.

I’ve found ways to unjam those gears, and for what it’s worth, here’s what I do:

Recognize the physical feeling. There is no way of unjamming without first recognizing that you’re jammed. I know what that feels like: a clenching around my diaphragm, an obsessive urge to eat or blank out in some way. My body is screaming for comfort because it’s scared.

Physically Reframe. I smudge myself, or counter the frozen sensation with one that supports me.  The feeling I can count on is one that I call feeling landed. I can’t explain it all that well, and it doesn’t matter. These feelings and sensations are highly personal and unique to each of us. When I get to feeling landed, the freeze melts away, and the gears begin to move.

Act. Now I can act; I can decide what’s next. I can review the coming discussion from a calm and reasonable place. I can look realistically at both worst- and best-case scenarios, and plan.

Expect the best.  So much better than expecting the worst.  Plan for the worst – yes. But expect the best.

Smash fear, learn anything

 

Quote of the Week 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist  

Announcements 

Need more? At times we need more  – we know the logic, know what to do. And yet something is still blocking us.  I offer both one-on-one consultations and coaching packages.  For more information, visit my website www.thejoyofliving.co/services-and-programs or contact me directly at maryanne@thejoyofliving.co .

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist and Life Coach.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co.

 

Anxiety Stress and Fear, Balance

The power of fear

Leave a comment

 

Fear only has as much power as we give it space.

This quote from Josh Ritter came in a moment when I was pondering a possibility that made my blood pressure rise. I needed to address something with a contentious colleague, and was occupying my mind with worst case scenarios. In other words, I was giving this imagined fear a lot of power.

Have you ever done that?  Perhaps not, but I can tell you from personal experience that when I give fear that kind of power, I can become paralyzed. Frozen on the spot, as if I had gears as brains, all jammed up.

I’ve found ways to unjam those gears, and for what it’s worth, here’s what I do:

Recognize the physical feeling. There is no way of unjamming without first recognizing that you’re jammed. I know what that feels like: a clenching around my diaphragm, an obsessive urge to eat or blank out in some way. My body is screaming for comfort because it’s scared.

Physically Reframe. I smudge myself, or counter the frozen sensation with one that supports me.  The feeling I can count on is one that I call feeling landed. I can’t explain it all that well, and it doesn’t matter. These feelings and sensations are highly personal and unique to each of us. When I get to feeling landed, the freeze melts away, and the gears begin to move.

Act. Now I can act; I can decide what’s next. I can review the coming discussion from a calm and reasonable place. I can look realistically at both worst- and best-case scenarios, and plan.

Expect the best.  So much better than expecting the worst.  Plan for the worst – yes. But expect the best.

 

Announcements 

If you like this blog, you’ll also like my newsletters. It’s written only for my insiders who sign up, and provides weekly insights, not only from me, but from others I admire.

To sign up  for my insider newsletter, click here. If you find it doesn’t work for you, all you have to do to unsubscribe is click on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Looking forward to welcoming you to my growing list of insiders!

Maryanne

 

Maryanne Nicholls is a Registered Psychotherapist.  To find out more, gain access to her weekly newsletter, meditations and programmes, sign up at www.thejoyofliving.co .

 

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