Understanding emotions and feelings is a fundamental part of mental and physical health and wellbeing.
An emotion or a feeling, is a mental state that is spontaneous and does not come from conscious effort. The classical view assumes that emotions happen to you. Something happens, neurons get triggered, and you make these stereotypical expressions you can’t control. The theorem suggests that people scowl when they’re angry and pout when they’re sad. Effectively, saying everyone around the world makes the same expressions and that we’re born with the capacity to recognize them automatically.
Recently, neuroscientists discovered our approaches to emotion are not universal. People do smile when they’re happy or frown when they’re sad. However, expressions are not universal and they don’t seem to be objective. That is to say, we learn to express emotions and our brains construct them.
Early in life, we learn about emotions and feelings from our parents and guardians. You don’t have to teach a child to have feelings. Babies can feel distressed, they can feel pleasure and they do, they can certainly be aroused or calm. But emotion concepts, for example, sadness, are taught. Moreover, that teaching is not always explicit. In fact, we continue to collect data about emotions throughout our lives. Our brain can combine past experience in novel ways to create new representations, experience something new that we’ve never seen or heard or felt before.
In the field of NLP, we know just how powerful emotions are. What’s interesting about the latest research is the importance of emotional expression using words. If we learn new words to express our emotions this allows us to feel more subtle emotions. Hence we can regulate our emotions and responses more easily. Additionally, this may be the reason why mindfulness and meditation provide relief to people with chronic pain. In NLP and Time Line Therapy® we use the ‘Pain Paradigm’ to separate distress from response.
Embracing Boundaries: The Power of Filling Your Own Space In our mind-wandering, embracing boundaries (or asserting them) often takes centre stage as an essential tool for self-care and well-being. Frequently, we’re encouraged to assert our boundaries firmly, almost defensively, to protect ourselves from perceived threats or intrusions. But what if there’s another way? What if, … Read more
To Get The Best Out Of NLP Coaching And Training You Have To Own Everything! In the journey of personal development and growth, we must embrace a fundamental truth: we are the architects of our reality. Mine is different to yours and yours is different to the next person. This realisation forms the cornerstone of … Read more
Navigating the Sun’s Dance with a Powerful Mindset 2024 promises to be a celestial spectacle, with the Sun blazing towards its peak activity in solar cycle 25. This translates to an increased chance of solar flares – bursts of high-energy radiation that can dance across the cosmic stage, potentially impacting our planet. It’s natural to … Read more
Magnesium Threonate May Spark Your Brainpower and Supercharge Your Growth Do you ever feel like your mind is stuck in molasses? Foggy thinking, scattered focus, and sluggish motivation – these are all too familiar roadblocks on the path to self-mastery. But what if there was a hidden key, a tiny brain-boosting wonder, waiting to unlock … Read more
Unravelling the PTSD and Cortisol Connection: Understanding Trauma, Mental Resilience, and the Path to Healing In the intricate tapestry of human physiology, cortisol plays a pivotal role as the body’s primary stress hormone. While cortisol is essential for survival, its excessive release can have profound consequences on mental health and resilience. Recent research, including a groundbreaking … Read more
Unravelling the Mystery and Navigating Environmental Factors In the busy metropolis of the human brain, a neurotransmitter named glutamate reigns supreme. This universal molecule, often called the brain’s fuel, plays a pivotal role in learning, memory, and, most notably, our emotional well-being. However, when glutamate levels go awry, it can lead to a cascade of … Read more
Enjoy this bedtime story and encourage yourself to be emotionally authentic. In the quiet town of Willowbrook, lived a young woman named Elara. Elara was known for her warm smile, compassionate heart, and boundless energy. She had a way of making everyone around her feel better with her positivity. But beneath that cheerful exterior, Elara … Read more
Oxytocin: The Kindness Hormone and Its Role in Stress Reduction Did you know that FEELINGS of kindness trigger the release of Oxytocin and can reduce stress levels? In the context of human emotions and social bonding, oxytocin has emerged as a fundamental player, often referred to as the “kindness hormone” due to its profound influence … Read more
In most societies, when we reach a certain age we can get married, drive a car, drink alcohol and vote. We’re considered an adult. However, adulting takes a great deal more work. It’s not until the moment we begin to behave in a way that demonstrates we’re ready to take responsibility for our own happiness, … Read more
When we befriend our emotions, we create a headspace where it’s safe to feel rather than distract ourselves with thoughts or external stimuli. When you feel emotions without judgement, you can develop a healthy relationship with them and learn to understand and manage them. If you choose this approach, you can benefit from improved emotional … Read more
Instant gratification may offer short-term benefits however, if we give into our desires to feel the ‘hit’ of getting what we want fast, it can also lead to a lack of patience, diminished resilience, and an inability to sustain efforts toward long-term goals. Instant gratification is a weapon of self-destruction. It kills your motivation, relationships … Read more
OCD: The Unmasking of a Complex Psychological Compulsion When you hear the term OCD what happens in your mind? Does it conjure up an image of someone washing their hands repeatedly, constantly checking if a door is locked, or lining up their belongings on a table? In this article, I’ll be discussing the many faces … Read more
Do You Struggle With Brain fog, Memory loss Or A Short Attention Span Brain fog, memory loss, and a short attention span are common symptoms triggered by various factors, including stress, lack of sleep, and poor nutrition. However, you may not be aware that the health of your liver can also play a significant role … Read more
When we make a commitment, we promise to fully engage in the experience, to be fully present now, and to trust that we can achieve what we want. Whether we’re making a commitment to another person, a job, our own business, or something else, our ability to follow through is dependent on the outcome we’re … Read more
The positive impact of mental rehearsal on performance is well-documented. Mental rehearsal is a technique used in many fields of psychology and coaching. It is based on the idea that if we imagine ourselves performing a task well, we will perform better when actually doing it. This is because our brains are hardwired to respond … Read more
Are you making your decisions in TAUT or SLACK Mode? The moment we seek to be a certain way, think a certain way, do a specific thing, or feel misaligned or uncomfortable with who we are or the way we are now, we create sensations of TAUTNESS in our bodies. Are you making your decisions … Read more
The victim mindset is an archetype or energy present in all of us. Think of it as a mini-personality that may present as a coping mechanism when times get tough. When life goes the way we want it to, it sleeps in our unconscious. When we face a challenge, overwhelm, loss, disappointment, or missed expectations, … Read more
Personal Learning Journey: How To Make It Work for You Your Personal Learning Journey is precisely that: PERSONAL. You will find the framework of your journey in your unique blueprint of emotional, physical, and experiential DNA. Only you can decide how to make it work for you. There’s an ugly reality out there. Society discourages … Read more
In Japan, every school child is taught the phrase 病気は気から, pronounced byoukiwakikara which translates to ‘Every disease starts from your emotion’, or more simply, ‘Disease is of the mind.” This idea comes as no surprise. When I learned to teach the Japanese art of energy healing (Reiki) 20 years ago, I discovered the Japanese kanji for Reiki … Read more
How much of your time and energy do you dedicate to memories or past events? Does it serve you? If you indulge in spending time in your memories, remember with purpose and make them work FOR the present moment rather than against it. In Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), we work with memories in specific ways. We … Read more
Bast, originally known as Pasht, was said to be the daughter of Ra the Sun god. She defended her father against Apep, the Serpent representing the evil forces of darkness. The archetype of Egyptian Goddess Bast is a useful one to learn about if you’re working with consciousness. As a reward for protecting her father … Read more
Are We Entering The First Platinum Age? We do love to categorise eras using metals, don’t we? I cannot help but wonder if we are entering the first platinum age in the history of humanity. This idea amuses me since it could represent the first-ever balancing between our masculine and feminine energy (represented by gold … Read more
Cognitive dissonance is the phrase used to describe the state derived from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. Most frequently, when discussed, this concept links with ideas of conflict or feelings of uneasiness. What would happen if we started to perceive cognitive dissonance as a process of growth and development? For example, if we … Read more
Could Optimum Health & Healing Be Simpler Than We Think? A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon this interesting article [1]. It questions whether the philosophy of modern medicine prioritises profit over human health. Now is an excellent time to ask whether we can develop a happy and healthy global population by applying simpler … Read more
Hang On To Your Hats I have a sneaking suspicion that the next three months will be, quite literally, mind-blowing for human awareness. We are in transition and expanding rapidly, so hang on to your hats! Now (and daily over the next few months) is the time to make a purposeful choice about the reality … Read more
It’s pretty clear to every human being on the planet that something’s not quite well with our lovely little world. The last two years have taken their emotional toll on all of us. When we feel as if we’ve been through a tumble drier, the idea of trying to work things out or think for … Read more
Mass Mesmerizm In Action In November 1920, the “one to many” communication era began with the advent of the radio, ‘the wireless’ as my grandmother used to call it. You may imagine that it happened long before the twentieth century, following the invention of the printing press. You’d be correct. What I’m referring to is … Read more
We Hear So Much About Ego We hear so much about the ego in everyday life, let alone if we’re engaged in any field of psychology or therapy. Some suggest we must overcome or release the ego. Others say it’s a critical element of who we are. In reality, it’s unlikely we can delete the … Read more
100 years from now, if someone gathered together all the media from the last two years and read it, would they be able to write a history book giving a balanced representation of the truth? I believe it’s unlikely. The media, whether mainstream, social or non-traditional, reflects only a snapshot of our multidimensional reality. What … Read more
Every single one of us experiences feelings of anger and from a very young age. We may allow our conscious mind to perceive that the ‘terrible twos’ temper tantrums are the first manifestation of rage in our lives. However, it’s likely our first feelings of anger occur when we are babies. When we appreciate what … Read more
Blinded By Status Like it or not, status is prevalent in every society, in every country across the globe. In reality, status is a powerful method of control and separation. What you may not have considered is that an over-attachment to status impacts our ability to receive. We inject ourselves at an early age with … Read more
When you see the word, ‘alchemy’ it may conjure images of people hovering over hot pans and stoves, intending to transform base metals into gold. Or perhaps you’ve heard the term used more recently regarding secret organisations and conspiracy theories. We humans do love a good story! So what is spiritual alchemy and, why might … Read more
Everyone Experiences The Feeling of Being A Victim At Some Point Anyone who embraces life with an open heart will sometimes feel like a victim. We all go through different aspects of being a victim in our life. It begins in childhood when we feel vulnerable and dependent upon others. Later, it follows us into … Read more
Isn’t It Time We Removed The Fear And Stigma Associated With Suicidal Thoughts? If your mindset enjoys a clear delineation between right and wrong, or you’re prone to fearful thoughts, I recommend you STOP reading now. Conversely, if you’re flexible in mind and fascinated by mind exploration you’re going to find this really interesting. In … Read more
Destination Training Is Now More Important Than Ever We live in a world where online training is becoming increasingly available. In fact, the last 12 months have expedited growth within the E-learning industry. According to this research study, the global E-learning Market is expected to reach USD 374.3 Billion by 2026, with a compound annual … Read more
Clean Language Tools Get Better Results And Better Communication Whether you’re a coach, manager or leader, clean language tools get better results when you’re communicating your ideas. These simple techniques will increase your engagement and impact on those around you. When we learn to listen so attentively that our awareness of the words, vocal tone … Read more
There Are Many Dimensions Beyond The Three Most Familiar As you read this, you can increase your awareness of height by raising your hand above your head. You can notice width by stretching your hands to either side. Extend your arms front and back and you are appreciating the three-dimensional space in which you currently … Read more
If You’re Going To Journal – You Need To Set Clear Intentions To Get The Benefit Do you journal? I do, and yet not in the way you might expect. It’s fair to say that journaling is a super-hot topic right now. Nearly every personal growth and self-help website tells us to keep a journal … Read more
How To Build Your Confidence And Find More Balance Through The Black Jaguar When we work with the Black Jaguar as a guide, this energy rapidly expedites our personal and spiritual growth. This powerful feline energy expands our consciousness in such a way that we can face our fears and overcome them from a place … Read more
Animal Spirit Guides Birds of Prey Represent Vision And Freedom All birds of prey have incredibly sharp eyesight to help them locate and catch their prey. What’s more, they fly high and free, taking a broad perspective and seeing the ‘big picture’. Therefore, the core message when we work with animal spirit guides birds of … Read more
Wondering How To Get Happy And Shine Your Lighter Personality On The World? Think Brain Chemistry! When your Crown Chakra is in balance, your Pineal Gland is working as it should and you have the capacity to transmit and receive information from higher frequencies. What’s more, you’re connected to your intuition and you feel totally … Read more
Trusting Your Gut Involves A Fully Functional Pituitary Gland, Emotional Intelligence & A Broad Perspective Intuition is that ‘inner knowing’ or a feeling in your gut when you instinctively know that something you are doing is either appropriate for you or inappropriate for you. Specifically, it’s our ability to understand something instinctively, without the need … Read more
We Continue To Separate From Our Body – Is It Time To Reconnect? Human health is in a challenging place. According to the WHO, Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally.[1] Moreover, in 2020 we’re experiencing a global pandemic and stress-related illnesses is prevalent. [2] In … Read more
Can A Focus On Connection Reduce A Need For Defence & Futile Competition? When we focus on connection we have the ability to see similarity. In addition, we can find compassion and we’re able to feel empathy. Conversely, when our focus is on difference and separation we often reject people, ideas and behaviour. Indeed, this … Read more
The Internal Battle With Belonging Belonging is a powerful driver in our core values and belief system, and subsequently, our behaviour. A feeling of whether we believe we belong or don’t belong to a specific group or clique, community or family can create an internal battle that doesn’t always feel great. Our sense of belonging … Read more
Once We Categorise Negative Feelings We Create Depression As A Stuck State The WHO website [1] states that “depression is a common mental disorder affecting almost 264 million people, of all ages, globally. That’s pretty significant. However, are ALL cases of what we term as ‘depression’ really a stuck state? Personally, I don’t align with … Read more
Mastering Acceptance Takes Patience & Practice Acceptance seems to be out of fashion in the media these days. This is unfortunate because finding your way to mastering acceptance is the beginning of a rather wonderful journey. In fact, mastering acceptance revolutionises our connection with the world and transforms our creativity; giving us the ability to … Read more
If you want to present the best version of yourself, it’s time to polish your tesseract. Actually, we all have one. In fact, understanding and caring for our personal energy core is the key to successful creation, in every area of life. ‘Manipura’ is the Sanskrit name for the third chakra or energy centre. In … Read more
Loneliness Relates To Our Sense of Belonging Loneliness can grip your heart just as tightly when you’re surrounded by a bustling crowd as it can in the solitude of your own company. It’s a deep-rooted yearning to belong, to connect, or a sense of disconnection that’s at play. Instead of evading these unsettling emotions, consider … Read more
Teach Me How To Be Strong “I want to know how to be strong?” said the young man to the old hermit, breathless from climbing the mountain to reach the damp cave. “For what purpose do you want to know how to be strong?” asked the old hermit. “If I know how to be strong … Read more
You Were Born With Tear Ducts For A Reason Everyone cries, it’s not a gender-specific activity. Moreover, I’m going to give you nine reasons why crying is good for your health and how it can benefit you in a multitude of ways. It’s an important part of processing emotions and healing from traumatic experiences. Whether … Read more
Laughter And Happiness Improve Health – It’s That Simple! When Is The Last Time You Laughed Really Hard? In recent years we’ve spent a great deal of time talking about happiness. We hunt it down, try to maintain it, and worry about losing it. However, did you know that laughter and happiness improve health? If … Read more
When you’re governed by doing the right thing, it’s hard to change your mind Today, I was having a chat with one of my friends. She’s been looking for a Jack Russell to add to her family and we’ve been discussing this for several weeks. She called me today to say that she’d put down … Read more
Everyone Feels Lost Sometimes. Is There An Elephant Sitting On Your Truth? Sometimes, you may feel like you’re lost and don’t know who you are or what you want anymore. It’s almost like you have an elephant sitting on our emotions! If that’s how you’re feeling, keep reading these 5 tips to align with your … Read more
As The Root Becomes Binary The Sacral Chakra relates to our balance of the masculine and feminine energies inside our energy field. The features of masculine and feminine energy have nothing to do with our physical appearance or manifestation. These energies present in our emotions, beliefs, values and behaviour. As the root chakra splits in … Read more
What Is A Chakra? Quite simply a chakra is an energy centre or vortex in your body. The word ‘chakra’ comes from the Sanskrit word for wheel or disk. Even thought new chakras are being discovered all the time, the Hindu system refers to seven. This article will tell you everything you need to know … Read more
How Our Communication Improves When Our Throat Chakra (Vishuddha) Is Balanced Mastering balance in the throat chakra helps us to release unneccesary thinking or over-analysis in our conscious minds. When we truly know how we feel and what we believe, that truth shows us how to communicate better with ourselves and others. Experience In Childhood … Read more
Disconnection From Others Absolves Us From Responsibility and Facing Our Emotions Facing our emotions can often be disconcerting and frightening, until we practice. Melvin Lerner was a Social Psychologist and pioneer in the study of Social Justice, who developed the “Just World” hypothesis. He suggested that people are most comfortable when they have a sense … Read more
Can we inherit the essence of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions from our forefathers? Furthermore, can they pass down through DNA like physical characteristics? That is to say, is there a relationship between epigenetics and trauma; either emotional or physical? In the last 100 years, the world population experienced vast amounts of emotional and physical … Read more
Needing to Know Is Prevalent In Culture Everywhere Before our obsession with reality TV and contrived celebrity, our Saturday night television viewing used to involve at least one quiz show or game show. These shows present questions to the contestants. If the answer the contestant gives matches the answer on the card in the hand … Read more
A Phrase From My Childhood “I want it to be perfect!” A phrase I’ve said to myself and other people so many times. In fact, I used to think that striving for perfection was something of value to be upheld. Specifically, I believed it supported me in holding a certain standard, and an intention that … Read more
“To be human is to feel inferior.” Alfred Adler Alfred Adler And Self-Esteem Alfred Adler was one of the first psychoanalysts suggesting that a person’s psychology is influenced by present and conscious forces. Additionally, he was curious about the influence of the social realm and environment as equally important to an individual’s past. So, where … Read more
When I run Emotional intelligence training I use a variety of questionnaires to support people in gaining self-awareness. I thought I’d share this on with you. It’s taken from the book “Self-Scoring Emotional Intelligence Tests” by Mark Daniel. Actually, this test is designed to assess whether your self-image is positive or negative. A Positive Perception … Read more
Even talking about vulnerability can seem a little exposing, even today, some 10 years after the lovely Brené Brown brought it out on the table. Actually, our connection to our strength comes from the ability to accept and acknowledge our vulnerability. Observations From A Reality TV Show I was watching the UK talent show “X … Read more
As a child, I was a huge fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. OK so I had a crush on Harrison Ford, and yet the concept of the movie is incredibly powerful. In fact, it teaches that your feelings are your power. Films Follow The Human Psyche It always amazes me how much the … Read more
Diving Into The Unknown Enjoying or not enjoying your first dive is all in your head. In fact, whenever we dive into the unknown, our self-talk makes or breaks our experiences. That little voice inside our head can determine how we feel and how we react to situations. It Begins With Our Projections Allow me … Read more
The Source of Inspiration We can all find inspiration in any life experience, conversation or activity. Actually, this one, by Theodore Forstmann is an inspiring letter for me. Specifically, it allows me to think of wisdom as a treasure. In fact, that experience where we delve into knowledge and then allow our self-reflection to deliver … Read more
Quite simply, cognitive dissonance works both for and against our success. When we choose what we to do we are committed. When we do what we HAVE to do we are compliant. Cognitive Dissonance And Success One of the key mindset differences of people who are truly successful and those who aren’t is that they … Read more
The first instance of a depressive feeling happens in flow or in the moment. In fact, maintaining depression takes effort. It requires a repetition of the same emotions, thoughts and body language. Moreover, it requires us to go against the natural flow of those things to recreate it on a daily basis. The Mindset Master … Read more
Everyone on the planet faces challenges at some point in their life or another. In fact, facing challenges is a fundamental part of our growth and development. Since we can’t always prevent stumbling blocks in life, it’s important to know that challenging times require resilience. What’s more, we all have an abundance of resilience deep … Read more
