Anxiety treatment in pregnancy

Feeling Lonely After Moving Abroad?

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:09:45 GMT

The first difficult moment is often not the flight, the paperwork, or the unpacking. It is the quiet. The moment when the day ends, your mobile phone is still, and the people who know you best are in another country, another time zone, and carrying on without you. If you are feeling lonely after moving abroad, it does not mean you made the wrong decision. It means you are adjusting to a major life change that affects far more than your address.

For many women, relocation is presented as an exciting chapter. Sometimes it is. But even welcome change can bring loss, disorientation, and emotional strain. You may have moved for work, a relationship, family reasons, or a fresh start. You may have gained opportunities while also losing familiarity, routine, and the version of yourself that felt more anchored.

Why feeling lonely after moving abroad can hit so hard

Loneliness after relocation is not simply about being physically alone. It often comes from the sudden absence of ease. At home, everyday life usually requires less effort. You know how to make conversation, where to go when you need help, how systems work, and which relationships feel safe and reliable. Abroad, even small tasks can become draining. Over time, that constant effort can leave you feeling emotionally exposed.

There is also a particular kind of loneliness that comes from not being fully witnessed. The people around you in your new environment may only know the practical version of you - your job title, your accent, your role as a partner or mother. They may not know your history, your humour, your usual confidence, or the context behind your struggles. That gap can create a deep sense of invisibility.

For women, this experience can be layered further by caregiving, fertility concerns, pregnancy, early motherhood , menopause, or career pressure. Relocation rarely happens in isolation. It often arrives alongside other transitions, and each one can intensify the others.

The loneliness of expat life is not always obvious

One of the reasons this kind of loneliness can feel confusing is that it does not always look dramatic from the outside. You may be functioning well. You may be working, parenting, attending social events, or speaking positively about your move. Yet internally, you may feel flat, disconnected, tearful, or unlike yourself.

This is especially common in the first months, but it can also emerge much later. Some women cope by staying busy at first, then struggle once the practical demands settle. Others only notice the emotional impact after a later trigger, such as pregnancy, a family illness back home, relationship strain, or a visit from loved ones that ends too quickly.

It can also be difficult to speak about loneliness when you believe you should be grateful. If your move was planned, chosen, or linked to privilege, you may judge yourself for finding it hard. But emotional pain does not disappear because a decision was rational or fortunate. Both things can be true at once: the move may have made sense, and it may still feel lonely.

What loneliness abroad can do to your mental health

Persistent loneliness can affect more than mood. It can make anxiety louder , sleep more fragile, and stress harder to regulate. Without your usual support network, small setbacks can feel larger. You may begin to overthink social interactions, withdraw from opportunities, or feel increasingly unsure of yourself.

For some women, loneliness gradually shifts into low mood or depression . For others, it shows up as irritability, emotional numbness, homesickness that does not ease, or a constant feeling of being unsettled. If you have a history of anxiety, trauma, or earlier experiences of exclusion, moving abroad can stir those patterns in powerful ways.

This does not mean something is wrong with you. It means your nervous system may be responding to prolonged uncertainty, separation, and change. Understanding that can bring some relief. The goal is not to criticise yourself into coping better. It is to recognise what you are carrying and respond with appropriate support.

What helps when you are feeling lonely after moving abroad

The first step is to take your experience seriously. Many women minimise loneliness because it feels less legitimate than anxiety, burnout, or relationship problems. In reality, loneliness can sit underneath all of them. Naming it clearly often reduces shame and helps you respond more effectively.

It can help to look at your week honestly rather than idealistically. Are there moments of genuine connection in it, or only practical contact? Speaking to colleagues, other parents, or neighbours is not the same as feeling emotionally held. Most people need both casual contact and deeper connection. If your life abroad contains only one of those, loneliness often persists.

Routine matters more than many people expect. When life feels unfamiliar, consistent anchors can reduce emotional drift. That may include regular meal times, movement, scheduled calls home, language classes, a weekly walk, or one activity that belongs only to you. These habits do not remove loneliness overnight, but they create steadiness, and steadiness makes connection easier.

It also helps to widen your idea of support. Friendship is important, but it is not the only answer. Practical communities can be deeply regulating at first. A local class, a professional group, a mothers' circle, a faith community, or a volunteering role can all provide rhythm and familiarity before close relationships naturally grow. The aim is not to force intimacy. It is to reduce isolation.

At the same time, it is worth being gentle about expectations. Building a meaningful life abroad usually takes longer than people admit. Chemistry cannot be rushed, and not every social effort will lead somewhere. That can feel discouraging, particularly if you are already tired. But repeated, manageable contact tends to work better than intense attempts to recreate home quickly.

When loneliness is really grief, identity strain, or overwhelm

Sometimes loneliness is only part of the picture. You may also be grieving your old life, even if you wanted this move. Grief can show up as longing for ordinary things - a familiar supermarket, spontaneous visits, speaking without translating yourself, knowing where you belong. These losses are easy to dismiss because they seem small, but together they can feel profound.

Identity strain is also common. Abroad, your competence may not transfer neatly. You may have been confident and independent in one country, then become hesitant and reliant in another. If you are parenting outside your home culture, living in your partner's country, or unable to work in the same way as before, that strain can become sharper.

In these moments, advice such as get out more or make new friends may feel thin. Practical steps matter, but they are not always enough. Sometimes the deeper work is about rebuilding your internal sense of self, making space for ambivalence, and processing what the move has stirred emotionally.

How therapy can support women living abroad

Therapy can offer something that well-meaning advice often cannot: a confidential, steady space where your experience does not need to be simplified. If you are feeling lonely after moving abroad, therapy can help you understand whether the loneliness is situational, linked to anxiety or low mood, connected to earlier wounds, or tangled with identity, relationship, or life-stage pressures.

This matters because the right support depends on what is underneath. One woman may need help creating structure and confidence in a new environment. Another may need space to process grief, panic, or emotional exhaustion. Another may be coping with relocation alongside pregnancy, fertility treatment, motherhood, or menopause, and needs support that sees the whole picture rather than a single symptom.

Working with a therapist who understands expat life can be especially helpful. Cultural adjustment, distance from family, language fatigue, and the invisible pressure to keep coping all shape mental health in specific ways. At Pszichobutik.online, this kind of support is offered online for women abroad in English and Hungarian, with a focus on both emotional understanding and practical change.

Signs it may be time to reach out

You do not need to wait until things feel unbearable. Support can be useful much earlier than that. If your loneliness is becoming persistent, affecting sleep, increasing anxiety, putting strain on your relationship, or making daily life feel heavier than it should, that is enough reason to seek help.

It is also worth reaching out if you notice that you no longer recognise yourself. Perhaps you are withdrawing, crying often, overthinking social contact, or feeling detached from life in your new country. These are not signs of failure. They are signs that you may need more support than your current environment can provide.

Moving abroad asks a great deal of a person. It asks you to adapt, function, and often care for others while your own sense of ground is shifting. If you feel lonely, that response is human. You are not behind, and you are not too sensitive. Sometimes the most stabilising step is not trying harder to cope alone, but allowing yourself to be supported with care, clarity, and patience.

Pregnancy Anxiety Therapy Online That Helps

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:48:53 GMT

Some women expect pregnancy to feel reassuring once the test is positive. Instead, they find themselves lying awake at 3 am, checking symptoms, worrying about scans, fearing bad news, or feeling unsettled by how far they are from familiar support. Pregnancy anxiety therapy online can offer a calm, confidential space to understand what is happening emotionally and to feel steadier during a time that may look joyful from the outside but feel intensely vulnerable from within.

For women living abroad, this can be even more complex. Pregnancy often brings practical questions about healthcare systems, language barriers, family distance, and where home really is. If you are already carrying the emotional strain of relocation, a pregnancy can amplify uncertainty rather than soothe it. That does not mean anything is wrong with you. It means you may need support that takes both pregnancy and your wider life context seriously.

When pregnancy anxiety becomes more than an everyday worry

Many pregnant women worry. A degree of concern is natural when your body is changing and so much feels important. But anxiety tends to become more disruptive when the mind struggles to switch off, when reassurance only helps for a moment, or when fear starts shaping daily life.

You might notice constant checking of symptoms, repeated internet searching, dread before appointments, difficulty sleeping, irritability, tearfulness, or a heavy sense of alertness in your body. Some women become preoccupied with miscarriage, birth complications, the baby’s health, or whether they will cope as a mother. Others feel ashamed because they expected to feel grateful and excited, yet instead feel frightened, detached, or emotionally overwhelmed.

For women abroad, there may also be anxiety around navigating maternity care in another country , communicating with professionals in a second language, being far from family, or making decisions without the support network they imagined. In these situations, anxiety is rarely just about pregnancy. It may be connected to a loss of familiarity, identity strain, past difficult experiences, or the pressure to hold everything together.

Why pregnancy anxiety therapy online can work well

Online therapy is not a lesser version of support. For many pregnant women, it is the most realistic and effective format. If you are exhausted, nauseous, working long hours, caring for other children, or living somewhere with limited access to English- or Hungarian-speaking support, attending sessions from home can reduce a significant layer of stress.

Pregnancy anxiety therapy online also creates continuity. If you move country, travel, or split your time between locations, therapy does not have to stop each time your circumstances shift. That consistency matters when anxiety is fuelled by instability.

There is also something important about privacy. Many women feel pressure to present as coping well, especially in professional or international settings where they are used to being capable. Online sessions can make it easier to ask for help without adding another complicated journey, waiting room, or public step. The therapeutic work remains serious, structured, and confidential, but it becomes more accessible.

What therapy for pregnancy anxiety actually involves

A common fear is that therapy will simply mean being told to relax. Good therapy is more thoughtful than that. It starts by understanding your specific pattern of anxiety. What triggers it, what keeps it going, what meaning it has for you, and what kind of support helps you feel safer rather than dismissed.

Understanding the roots of the anxiety

Sometimes the anxiety is closely linked to pregnancy itself - fear of loss, medical uncertainty, body changes, or labour. Sometimes pregnancy activates older experiences, such as previous miscarriage, fertility treatment, health anxiety, family trauma, or a long history of feeling responsible for everyone else. If you are living abroad, it may also bring up questions about belonging, support, or whether you can manage without your usual anchors.

Therapy gives these layers space. Rather than treating anxiety as a flaw to eliminate, it helps make sense of why your mind and body are responding this way.

Learning how to calm the nervous system

Insight matters, but so do practical tools. Many women benefit from learning grounding methods, breathing techniques, relaxation practices, and mindfulness-based strategies that reduce physical arousal. These approaches can help when thoughts are racing, when panic rises before an appointment, or when your body feels permanently tense.

Used carefully, these techniques are not about suppressing emotion. They are about helping your system come out of a constant state of alarm so that you can think more clearly and feel more present.

Working with thoughts without becoming trapped by them

Pregnancy anxiety often involves catastrophic thinking. A normal sensation becomes evidence that something is wrong. A delayed message from a clinic turns into an imagined disaster. Therapy can help you recognise these patterns, respond to them with more balance, and reduce behaviours that intensify anxiety, such as repeated checking or compulsive searching for reassurance.

This does not mean pretending risk does not exist. Pregnancy always involves uncertainty. The aim is to help you live with that uncertainty in a steadier, less punishing way.

Pregnancy anxiety therapy online for women living abroad

For expatriate and internationally mobile women, the emotional picture is often more layered than standard pregnancy advice acknowledges. You may be building a life in one country while your emotional reference points remain somewhere else. You may be deciding where to give birth, which traditions to follow, which language to speak to your child, or whether your current support system is enough.

Therapy that understands this context can feel markedly different. Instead of reducing your distress to hormones or telling you to be positive, it can hold the full reality of your situation. That may include loneliness, culture shock, distance from family, relationship strain, grief for the version of pregnancy you imagined, or anxiety made worse by constant practical adaptation.

This is where specialised online support can be especially valuable. A therapist who works with women abroad is more likely to recognise how relocation, identity, and motherhood can intersect. The work becomes not just about reducing symptoms, but about helping you feel more rooted in yourself while so much around you may feel in flux.

How to know if online therapy is the right step

You do not have to wait until you are in crisis. Therapy can be helpful if anxiety is persistent, if you feel emotionally alone with it, or if it is starting to affect sleep, work, relationships, eating, or your sense of connection to the pregnancy. It can also help if people around you are minimising your experience and you need a professional space where your concerns are taken seriously.

It is worth being realistic as well. Online therapy works best when you have a private space, a reasonably stable connection, and a willingness to engage regularly. Some women prefer face-to-face support, particularly if they feel very disconnected or need more intensive care. And if anxiety is accompanied by severe depression, thoughts of self-harm, or urgent mental health risk, a higher level of support may be needed alongside counselling.

Still, for many women, online therapy offers the right combination of emotional depth and practical flexibility. It can fit around work, medical appointments, travel, and the fatigue that often comes with pregnancy.

Choosing the right online therapist during pregnancy

The relationship matters. You are looking for someone who is not only qualified, but also calm, experienced, and able to work with both anxiety and the specific emotional demands of pregnancy. It helps if the therapist can offer structure without being rigid, warmth without becoming overly informal, and approaches that support both immediate coping and deeper understanding.

If you are living abroad, cultural sensitivity also matters. You may not want to spend half the session explaining the emotional realities of relocation, mixed identity, or what it is like to navigate a major life transition far from home. A therapist who already understands those pressures can meet you more quickly where you are.

At Pszichobutik.online, this kind of work is centred on women facing emotionally demanding life stages across borders, with confidential online support in English or Hungarian.

Pregnancy can bring tenderness, hope, fear, grief, ambivalence, and joy, sometimes all in the same week. You do not need to earn support by becoming more unwell first. If anxiety is narrowing your world, the right therapeutic space can help you breathe again, think more clearly, and move through this chapter with greater steadiness.

In between

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:53:26 GMT

My journey

So my journey began when I first started travelling alone in my twenties. I say alone because I had travelled a lot with my parents to the bigger cities of Europe before, but then I started to enjoy the sweet taste of independence and, to put it mildly, I got it. At the age of 22, I stayed in Wales for a more extended period and was fascinated by the landscape, the small community of which I temporarily became a member. The sheep and goats were grazing at the end of the garden, the little stream was babbling across the road, and I walked daily on the rocky forest paths. I fell in love with this tranquillity, the kind, helpful, smiling people, my new acquaintances from the language school, and the traditional simplicity of how the people there lived their lives. Later, I also had a part in this in Scotland, with a slightly different community and landscapes, but I always felt that I was at home, as if this ancient landscape was part of me. So, this path of the heart lured me back occasionally and constantly flooded me with new experiences and warmth.

The same feeling called me to Bournemouth 8 years ago, where I was completely captivated by the ocean's proximity and the New Forest's ancient trees. Indeed, my decisions were strongly influenced by the path of consciousness at that time since I, like most Eastern Europeans, was looking for a simpler, cleaner, better livelihood; we were looking for it anywhere in the world. Actually, I found this too, and I still stand by it today because it is now so much a part of me that it would be painful to part with it. And in this, the influence of the mind and the heart on each other is strongly mixed, perhaps a conflict, because sometimes we have to make a decision based on reason, sometimes we want to do something, feel something, just like that with all our heart.

The problem is that our origins and our present are often in conflict. After all, we cannot cut off, eliminate, or nullify our roots, which is, of course, not a problem in itself; in fact, it is especially necessary. However, with this very strong emotional attachment, which most often lies in attachment to family and childhood, we can never detach 100 percent, so there will always be a tug of the heart there as well.

Anxiety relief

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 14:37:13 GMT

2020 rewrote the way we are coping. The level of collective anxiety has deepened every mental problem, and the apparent solution is online counselling. If you are struggling with isolation, fear, grief, or having panic attacks, I'm here to help. You may feel a strong urge to change but don't know how or where to start; online counselling can be your first step. You may be suffering deeply from a loss, have very low self-esteem, struggle with childhood traumas still shadowing you every day, or have strengthened lately. Perhaps you feel things are just not right and should be better. You may have recognised the problem and acknowledged you need someone to lead you through this. Let me show you something.

I usually use Autogenic training to mitigate the pressure of stress, as it is the leading cause of anxiety. It has to be taught by a licenced therapist for 10-12 consecutive sessions, but for stress-releasing reasons, anyone can use it for themselves. Here is the transcript of the version I applied in my sessions.

Before you start your regular practice, always remember to get as comfortable as possible, whether it sitting or lying down. You may want to loosen any tight clothing a bit or remove your glasses, any jewellery, or anything that is in contact with your body and restricts your comfort. Place your arms in your lap or at your sides and keep your legs uncrossed and slightly apart. Should your feet flat on the floor. Keep your back straight and try to find the most pleasant posture. Then, take a deep breath, exhale slowly, like you are breathing out everything that has come before this moment. Do this a few more times to achieve a general relaxation of the body, and then slowly repeat to yourself the sentences below (following).

As you say each phrase, focus on that part of your body, visualize it, and then try to feel what you are suggesting. Leave all your expectation behind; let the process unfold spontaneously.

I'm calm and relaxed. Let all the inner worries and external noises fade away. I surrender to peace, I surrender to the desire to create my physical and mental harmony. In my mind, I relax each part of my body one by one. My shoulders and arms are loose and relaxed. My back and hips are loose and relaxed. My legs, tights are loose and relaxed, my feet flat on the floor, grounding me. My head and face are loose and relaxed, every tiny muscle is at ease. My jaw is loose and relaxed, my tongue rests lightly on the roof of my mouth. My eyes rest.

I'm peaceful and relaxed.

Both my arms are becoming heavy. Both my arms are becoming heavy.

Both my arms are heavy. Both my arms are heavy.

Both my arms are very heavy. Both my arms are very heavy.

Both my legs are becoming heavy. Both my legs are becoming heavy.

Both my legs are heavy. Both my legs are heavy.

Both my legs are very heavy. Both my legs are very heavy.

My whole body is heavy. My whole body is heavy. My whole body is heavy.

My whole body is very heavy and relaxed.

Both my arms are becoming warm. Both my arms are becoming warm.

Both my arms are warm. Both my arms are warm. Both my arms are warm. Both my arms are warm.

Both my legs are becoming warm. Both my legs are becoming warm.

Both my legs are warm. Both my legs are warm. Both my legs are warm. Both my legs are warm.

My whole body is warm. My whole body is warm. My whole body is warm.

My whole body is warm and relaxed.

My whole body is heavy, warm and rests.

My heartbeat is calm and regular. My heartbeat is calm and regular. My heartbeat is calm and regular

My whole body is breathing.

The warmth is spreading from my naval to all over my abdomen.

My forehead is smooth and cool, my thoughts are clear and flowing freely.

I'm calm and peaceful.

I'm calm and relaxed. Now I reawaken my body and mind, I am becoming more alert; I tense and stretch my arms, take a deep breath and open my eyes.

What kind of psychological challenges you have to face if you decide to live abroad

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 10:37:14 GMT

Being in the dream can be sweet and soft but less realistic than setting a goal and achieving it step by step. When you decide to leave your place for a new one, maybe a new country, a new culture, or a new adventure, you have to be the most focused and undoubtedly the most real version of yourself. No dreams any more, just the bleak reality that can be as joyful as harsh. So buckle up; your new challenge is about to begin!

These challenges can vary depending on individual factors such as personality, previous experiences, and the specific circumstances of the move.

Culture Shock: Culture

shock is a well-documented psychological phenomenon that can affect anyone

living in a foreign country. It involves feelings of disorientation,

frustration, and anxiety as individuals try to adapt to a new culture,

language, and way of life.

Loneliness and Isolation: Moving to a

new country often means leaving behind a support network of family and friends.

This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, especially if it's

difficult to make new connections in the host country.

Identity and Self-Esteem Issues: Living in a

new culture can challenge one's sense of identity. Individuals may struggle

with questions about who they are and where they belong, which can affect

self-esteem and self-confidence.

Language Barriers: Difficulty in communicating due to language barriers can be a

significant stressor. It can lead to frustration and feelings of incompetence,

making it harder to navigate everyday life and build relationships.

Stress and Anxiety: The process

of adapting to a new environment, including finding housing, employment, and

understanding local customs, can be extremely stressful. This stress can lead

to anxiety and, in some cases, even panic attacks.

Depression:

Prolonged feelings of homesickness, isolation, or frustration

can contribute to depression. Adjusting to a new culture and lifestyle may take

time, and this transition can be emotionally taxing.

Cultural Adjustment: Different

people go through different phases of cultural adjustment, which include the

honeymoon phase (initial excitement), the culture shock phase (disorientation

and frustration), the adjustment phase (gradual adaptation), and the acceptance

phase (feeling comfortable in the new culture). Moving through these phases can

be challenging and may involve periods of emotion

Career and Financial Concerns: Career and

financial stability can be jeopardized when living abroad, especially if one is

unable to secure meaningful employment. Financial stress can contribute to

psychological issues.

Relationship Strain: Living

abroad can strain relationships with family and friends back home.

Additionally, forming and maintaining relationships in a new culture can be

challenging, and this can lead to relationship issues and feelings of isolation.

Cultural Misunderstandings: Misunderstandings

or conflicts arising from differences in cultural norms and values can be

frustrating and lead to interpersonal problems.

To cope with these psychological challenges, individuals living

abroad often seek support. So you are one of many who need special counselling

for some time. Of course, other sources include local support networks,

expatriate communities, and online community resources. It's essential to

recognize that experiencing psychological difficulty when living abroad is

normal, and seeking help and support is a healthy response to these challenges.

Developing cultural sensitivity and resilience can help individuals adapt more

effectively to their new environment.

And remember, every challenge is a seed of growth.

What is Consciousness?

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:52:47 GMT

Just think about our most ordinary activities, such as alternating sleep and wakefulness, when we are more tired, the state of daydreaming, or those activities we do in automatic mode. Still, we can also have peak experiences, for example, as a result of making love or some cathartic experience. So, some degrees exist between fully attentive conscious awareness and the most profound meditative state, or trance.

THE HARD PROBLEM

What is "consciousness"? To formulate what consciousness is, we must first turn to those philosophical studies of consciousness, which also question the knowability of consciousness, and the decision of which is called a "difficult problem". A fundamental question is whether something can exist that can only be seen by itself, from the inside, through the subjective observer.

We all experience our feelings from the inside; our experiences are organized in a unique pattern, the network of our thoughts and the imprints of our perception in a complex order (or disorder:)) form the internal system that connects us to the outside world. Can this completely subjective system be approached objectively? Several schools of thought are trying to find an answer to the question, and all of them are somewhat right. It is also possible that consciousness in itself cannot be known objectively. That is why the changes in the state of consciousness are so important, during which some similarity or identity can be found in the changes of consciousness that are different at the level of the subject, from which it is possible to infer its functioning.

THE PHYSIQUE

The other direction of consciousness research, starting from the direction of physical reality, the body, and the brain, examines the traceable signs of changes in consciousness with various medical devices. EEG, MRI, and PET all measure some physical quantity, either the essential electrical activity or a change generated by some physical influence. These tools are generally used to map sleep and meditative states, which are more difficult to separate but still altered states of consciousness.

What is the basis on which these states can be distinguished? They differ in different modalities of perception and self-perception, i.e. we perceive space and time, visual and auditory stimuli, our own body, and our identity differently, and we leave different bandwidths for the presence of the outside world, which also changes our attention capacity. Based on these, we can separate sleep from being awake, dreaming consciousness, or lucid dreaming. These parameters change in hypnosis or trance and in different stages of meditation.

STATES OF MIND

Why is it important to know these? Ken Wilber writes in his book The Integral View (Ursus Libris, 2008) that "the three natural states of consciousness - waking, dream and deep formless sleep - can be a small treasure chest of spiritual wisdom - if we know how to use them correctly." trans. Bence Gánti) According to Wilber, these states of consciousness can contain the entire spectrum of spiritual enlightenment. If we look at its everyday, practical usefulness, of course, it is not the fact of enlightenment itself that can help us but the path leading to it, which can illuminate the dark spots behind our problems that have been going on for years. So, knowing the states of our consciousness can be very useful in acquiring knowledge with which we can "consciously" migrate from one to another.

How can a state of consciousness become healing? "Trance is a natural, everyday experience. Allow yourself to see what you don't allow yourself to notice." (M.H.Ericson) So the process in which we make efforts to modify the conscious mind (and here I do not mean taking pills, liquids and smokes), i.e. we do not only benefit from the changes that occur spontaneously (the Freudian dream work of the dream, the contents suppressed in the unconscious meaning the process of its processing here), can already have healing power in itself, since we are actively doing something with ourselves, for ourselves. The bonus is that by moving away from the awake state and paying attention to our inner self, we can tune in to our deepest wisdom, get answers to our questions, find the root of our physical or mental ailments, uncover their cause, and create the most effective remedy available at the moment. Somehow, in this process, we can change, whether it is self-made meditation or therapist-led hypnotherapy.

The Spirit, The Psyche and The Science

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 12:57:40 GMT

Spirituality, a timeless aspect of human existence, transcends cultures and is a part of everyday life for many. It is a universal force that has shaped specific cultures and is deeply ingrained in people and ethnic groups close to nature.

In recent decades, it has become increasingly "fashionable" to deal with spiritual things, to "become one", and unfortunately, the content of the word has become more and more colourful and confusing. Some people specifically reject it because they think it is a collective name for unacceptably single-minded, demonic religious sects. On the other hand, some people fervently believe that they are deeply spiritual because they go to church, wear rosaries or Malas, or know the content of scriptures belonging to a religion. They think they know the higher meaning and reason for human existence, the role of the forces of the invisible world in our lives.

According to today's general position, spirituality is a form of worldview or form that believes in the existence of supernatural forces. In this sense, all religions are spiritual, but at the same time, people outside of all religions believe in the above principles. The word itself comes from the Latin word spiritus, which means breath. In her book "Exploring the Meaning of Spirituality", Sharon Janis points out how similar the word "spiritual" sounds to the words "inspire" and "expire". In her view, it is very appropriate since when the soul is filled with spiritual energy, we experience deep inspiration. We leave the earthly world when the spiritual energy leaves our body for good. There is no doubt that the concept of spirituality is closely related to air, which is light, invisible, volatile, and simultaneously indispensable.

The spiritual SELF exists universally in all people and is not dependent on religion. It has much more to do with today's rapidly developing quantum physics, energy system theories, and scientific research into consciousness than with gurus pretending to be religious or churches using mass manipulation. What makes us different is the extent to which we use, develop, and nurture this spiritual self of ours.

Of course, understanding it is more accessible through helpers, groups, and traditions, but the essence always happens deep inside, within us.

Of course, the "innermost" can only be achieved by looking inward, for which meditation is the most natural and always available method. I know that many people have already started some meditation practice, but I also know that many people cannot even imagine it. There are countless reasons, partly social, economic, and geographical. Still, there are many internal barriers and resistance behind the fact that we reject this most intimate coexistence with ourselves. Because meditation is nothing more than turning the constantly outward focus inward, withdrawing into our innermost selves, feeling and understanding what we see there, and then - if necessary - percolating our experiences towards the alert consciousness, somehow, in this process, our self-aware, self-aware, self-healing self can be born.

Spiritual psychology or psychospirituality?

Our first set is the more significant, ancient, intangible spirituality; the other is the fresher, younger, less, but much more concrete, science-focused psychology. A trend or attitude began to develop at the intersection of the two sets. It became more widespread, giving space to spirituality within psychology in varying proportions and depth, depending on the culture. My formulation shows that the primary field of activity is psychology, i.e., research in this direction takes place, and spiritual elements appear in psychological counselling and therapies. (Spirituality does not need the presence of psychology, which, with its existence, offers an area of investigation, systems of comparison, and tools for scientific investigation and use.)

Their relationship is similar to that of master and student. The ancient wisdom of spirituality inscrutably conveys new questions, paths, and teachings, which the excellent student tries to integrate into the current scientific paradigm with appropriate humility and thorough knowledge.

This thing is not new at all. The emergence of psychology as a science is closely related to psychoanalysis, and we are already there with Jung, whose conceptual system is still influential today and is increasingly popular among most scientific thinkers. Just think about the collective unconscious, or synchronicity, which is starting to become completely ordinary. Otherwise, we might not even be able to understand our lives today. This is precisely the essence of the modern hand-in-hand between spirituality and science: to be able to provide accessible and understandable answers and instructions to the increasingly chaotic, physically dull, emotionally and intellectually overwhelming world.

Mindful Mindfulness

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 13:52:47 GMT

"Feelings, whether compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, accepted and treated equally because both are ourselves. The tangerine I eat is me. The cabbage I plant is me. With all my heart and soul, I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I could use to bathe the baby Buddha or Jesus. In mindfulness and compassion, the cabbage plant all become holy."/Thich Nhat Hanh/

The word "conscious presence" is most often used as the equivalent of mindfulness, but to clarify what it is, I will try to clarify it through a few examples:

Have you ever noticed that many times when you do your everyday activities, e.g., go shopping, your mind is entirely different? You either think about what happened at work that day or what tasks await you when you get home. So you are not present but somewhere in the past or the future.
Has it ever happened that when you were in a position of attention, whether you were just learning something, calculating, or driving in a strange place, your attention slipped, and you lost the thread because your mind was again on a trip to the past or the future?
Does it happen that when you are listening to a performance or watching a movie, sitting in a theatre, you suddenly switch to "dreaming" mode because the play does not engage your mind and, therefore, starts producing another one, which of course is about YOU, but not about your present, but again about your PAST or your FUTURE?
Have you ever had the experience of arriving somewhere without having any idea how you got there? If someone were to ask you what you saw on the way, would you be able to recall much?

Suppose you answered yes to the above questions. In that case, you know how wandering our minds can be; perhaps you have already experienced how dangerous it can be in a given situation. And I'll go further: if this foggy, inattentive state persists for a long time (as, for example, it is unfortunately common after experiencing trauma and in crises), then your physical health can suffer as well. However, suppose you learn to build awareness and conscious attention through mindfulness and practice it regularly. In that case, you will not only enter a state of non-judgmental full attention, but you can achieve much greater physical and mental health than you could have ever imagined.

This, your best version of yourself is not as unattainable as it seems at first. You must return to the original state of being because being in the present is our primary state, so it's much more comfortable for your mind and soul than you think. Countless scientific research proves that it is the most effective way to reduce stress and protect you from relapse after all kinds of therapy. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the most well-known researchers on the topic, put together the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which is taught, researched and developed at the world's best medical universities and health institutions. An improved version of this is the version expanded with cognitive therapy, MBCT, which will slowly become a basic requirement for psychologists and professionals in the health sector.

Living with fears means you are anxious, you are not efficient at your work, you are often in a bad mood, and you don't feel that you can control your life, then maybe a mindfulness-focused online consultation would help you a lot, which you can sign up for here:

Short checklist to organize yourself

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:52:47 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.