Tag Lifestyle

4 Tips of Self-Reflection During the Holidays – While the Christmas season is often associated with joy and anticipation, it can also be a stressful or even depressing time for some. With the hustle and bustle of shopping and visiting family, it can be easy to get caught up in all the activity and forget about taking care of your mental health. Here are four tips for self-reflection during Christmas that can help you find balance and peace during this holiday season.

1). Take Time For Yourself – 4 Tips of Self-Reflection During the Holidays

The holidays should not be a time of overworking yourself, but rather a time to relax, reflect, and enjoy the little things. Taking breaks throughout the day to meditate or just take a few moments to clear your head can help you maintain your mental wellbeing during this hectic season. Even if you only have five minutes to spare each day, making sure you’re taking quality time for yourself is essential for maintaining balance in your life.

2). Be Mindful of Your Surroundings – 4 Tips of Self-Reflection During the Holidays

It’s important to remember that while some people may love being around large groups of people during the holidays, others may not feel as comfortable in these situations. Make sure to be mindful of both your own needs as well as those around you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed in social settings, try stepping out for a few moments to take a break from the chaos or suggest an activity that allows everyone to unwind together like playing board games or watching movies.

3). Express Gratitude

It’s so easy to get caught up in what we don’t have that we sometimes forget about all that we do have in our lives! Taking time each day to express gratitude for what we have—even if it’s something small—can help us remember how blessed we truly are and bring more positivity into our lives. Writing down three things every day that you’re thankful for is an excellent way to practice gratitude!

4). Get Outside – 4 Tips of Self-Reflection During the Holidays

Spending some time outdoors can do wonders for our mental wellbeing! Whether it’s going on a walk through nature or just sitting outside on your patio or balcony enjoying some fresh air, getting out into nature helps us reset mentally and emotionally so that when we come back inside we feel refreshed and ready to tackle anything! Plus, wintertime offers its own unique beauty with snow falling on trees and rooftops—so make sure to take advantage of this tranquil season by getting outside whenever possible!

Self-reflection during Christmas is an important part of making sure you stay sane throughout this hectic season! Taking some extra time each day for yourself (whether it be meditating, practicing gratitude, or getting outside) will help keep your spirits high while still allowing you enough energy to enjoy all that this festive season has to offer! So don’t forget make sure you’re taking proper care of yourself during this holiday season so that when January rolls around you’ll be feeling healthy both physically and mentally!

Therapy in Brandon

If you find that you’re feeling stuck more than often, or you’re noticing that your anxiety is especially high during the fall season, know that you’re not alone, we encourage you to reach out. Our counsellor here at Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre have experience working with anxiety, stress, grief, trauma, depression, and so much more. We offer both in-person and online services. To learn more, reach out to us at 431-302-8803, or go here and fill out an online form!

About the Author
Emem Iniobong, is a Brandon MB, Canadian Certified Counsellor who is an EMDR trained and helps children, teens, young adults, parents, and families in dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, parenting support to live a more fulfilled and bliss-full life.

6 Self-Care Activities – Every now and again, it’s important we spend time to take care of ourselves in order to lower stress levels and maintain healthy lives. Many times we get so caught up in meeting everyone else’s needs that we neglect the most important person in our lives–ourselves!

So here are six easy self-care activities you can try (that won’t cost you anything):

Go for a Walk

Thirty minutes of walking does wonders to improve a person’s well-being. You can take a quick lap or two around the neighborhood during lunch, or you can explore your favorite park on a rainy day. Either way, exercise is a tried and true self-care technique and comes with the added bonus of health benefits.

Read a Book | 6 Self-Care Activities | Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre

Reading books is another great way to decompress and relieve stress. Local libraries have plenty of reading areas to enjoy your favorite topics. And, unlike television or radio, reading requires your full attention, meaning you can minimize distractions more easily and become fully focused on the topic at hand.

Isolate Yourself

Sometimes it’s helpful to be in a quiet location to gather your thoughts. Isolation can help you do this: for thirty minutes, find an empty room at your home or workplace that’s free from distractions or other people. Don’t do anything for the thirty minutes; just contemplate everything on your mind. By spending time with yourself you may find it easier to get answers to your most pressing questions at hand.

Write it Down | 6 Self-Care Activities | Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre

Have you ever considered keeping a journal? Writing down your thoughts and feelings on a regular basis is another great self-care technique that allows you to vent in a creative manner. You can even come back to old writings and learn about yourself at a particular moment in time.

In addition to writing, drawing also does wonders for self-care. Take some paper and sketch what’s on your mind–you might be surprised at what comes out!

Take a Warm Shower | 6 Self-Care Activities | Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre

Another self-care technique you can try is a nice, long shower. There’s something therapeutic about taking a shower: feeling the warm water against your skin, hearing the water hit the tub, smelling the soap…and knowing you’ll be clean at the end of it! Spend thirty minutes with the suds and refresh your mind while you’re there.

Listen to Music

Got a favorite song you like to listen to? Then put on some headphones and have at it! Listening to music is another free self-care activity that can get you through the day. Music has a way of evoking emotions we try to keep hidden in ourselves. But by letting them come to the forefront, we can actually detox and feel better afterwards.

People need outlets for channeling whatever they’re feeling at a particular time in order to remain balanced. But sometimes we aren’t always able to make use of these outlets due to money, time constraints, or obligations to others.

The best way to take care of others is to take care of yourself. So, the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, give these six self-care activities a try or, better yet, take a day to combine them all. Small actions often make the biggest impacts.

Therapy in Brandon

If you find that you’re feeling stuck more than often, or you’re noticing that your anxiety is especially high during the fall season, know that you’re not alone, we encourage you to reach out. Our counsellor here at Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre have experience working with anxiety, stress, grief, trauma, depression, and so much more. We offer both in-person and online services. To learn more, reach out to us at 431-302-8803, or go here and fill out an online form!

About the Author
Emem Iniobong, is a Brandon MB, Canadian Certified Counsellor who is an EMDR trained and helps children, teens, young adults, parents, and families in dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, parenting support to live a more fulfilled and bliss-full life.

How Self-Reflection Can Improve Your Mental Health – Self-reflection is an important part of mental health. It is the act of taking a step back and evaluating your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Taking time to self-reflect can help you gain a better understanding of yourself, as well as how your actions may be impacting those around you. It allows you to gain perspective on difficult situations and make informed decisions about your life. Here are three ways that self-reflection can improve your mental health.

Enhances Your Emotional Intelligence

Self-reflection helps build emotional intelligence by allowing you to understand how your emotions affect your behavior and decision making. With this understanding, you can gain insight into why you feel the way you do in certain situations, how those emotions are impacting others around you, and how to manage them in an effective manner. This increased emotional intelligence will help you be more aware of yourself and others in the future, which can have a positive impact on your relationships with family, friends, and colleagues alike.

Identifies Areas for Improvement | How Self-Reflection Can Improve Your Mental Health

Self-reflection also gives us insight into areas we can improve upon or change our behavior in order to become better versions of ourselves. By analyzing our thoughts and actions from an objective point of view, we can identify patterns that may be causing stress or negative consequences in our lives – such as overworking or procrastinating – and then come up with solutions for these issues that will benefit us long term. Through self-reflection we can also discover new interests or passions that might lead us down a different path than we thought was possible before.                                                                                                    

 Increases Self-Awareness | How Self-Reflection Can Improve Your Mental Health                         

Finally, self-reflection helps increase our level of self-awareness by teaching us more about who we are as individuals and what our personal values are. This understanding will help us make decisions based on what is important to us instead of simply going with the flow or following someone else’s lead without truly considering its effects on our own lives first — leading to more positive outcomes overall. Increased self-awareness also gives us the opportunity to recognize potential triggers that could cause stress in the future — such as certain people or places — so that we can avoid them when necessary in order to keep ourselves safe mentally and physically. 

Overall, taking the time for regular self-reflection is essential for any individual who wants to improve their mental health long term — especially parents, caregivers, teens, youth, children! Not only does it enhance emotional intelligence but it also identifies areas for improvement while increasing our levels of self-awareness overall — all key elements necessary for taking control over our lives and achieving true happiness within ourselves! So take some time today for introspection — it just might be one of the best things you ever do!

Therapy in Brandon

If you find that you’re feeling stuck more than often, or you’re noticing that your anxiety is especially high during the fall season, know that you’re not alone, we encourage you to reach out. Our counsellor here at Bliss Counselling & Wellness Centre have experience working with anxiety, stress, grief, trauma, depression, and so much more. We offer both in-person and online services. To learn more, reach out to us at 431-302-8803, or go here and fill out an online form!

About the Author
Emem Iniobong, is a Brandon MB, Canadian Certified Counsellor who is an EMDR trained and helps children, teens, young adults, parents, and families in dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, parenting support to live a more fulfilled and bliss-full life.