Holiday Hassles

So the school holidays have now started, and it feels like us adults also deserve a holiday. In offices all around the country, people are taking off on their annual break, where work becomes a distant memory, while colleagues jealously wait for their turn in the sun. However, I read an interesting article in the Daily Mail the other day – all about holidays and anxiety – which suggests that this holiday dream is not a reality.  According to the article, nearly half of managers claim a holiday leaves them feeling ‘more anxious’ than before they left the office, according to a survey from the Institute of Leadership and Management, which polled nearly 2500 managers.

So what is causing this problem? Why can we not relax when we are on holiday? Well first of all, more and more workers are taking devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone away with them, meaning they never switch off from the office and their onslaught of emails. Of the third of those polled who work while on holiday, 80 per cent ‘frequently’ respond to emails, nearly 50 per cent take phone calls and 10 per cent go into the office.  More than two-thirds of people who own a BlackBerry or a smart-phone say they check it ‘at least once a day, if not more’. A shocking 40% of all managers told researchers that they return to work feeling ‘more anxious’ than before they left especially because of the number of emails they will face on their return.

Professor Cary Cooper, from the Lancaster University Management School, said the problem has been worsened because employees are so worried about losing their job that they are falling victim to the culture of ‘presenteeism’. This involves arriving early and staying late, as well as staying in touch while on holiday as a way of showing commitment to your employer.

Around 40 per cent of managers are already working more than 50 hours a week, while around 10 per cent do more than 60 hours.

So what are some recommended tips to reduce anxiety on your holiday? If you have to check emails, limit this checking to once per day. Other tips are to inform key contacts that you are away in order to cut down the number of messages you will receive on your return, and leave a clear plan for your absence so that colleagues can get things done before your return. 

However, we would say that there is more to do than that, to make sure you enjoy your holiday and are relaxed and refreshed when you return. In this situation, people are anxious when returning to work, because they are expecting the worst. But 99% of the time anxiety is based on assumptions. So we would say just make sure that you get everything sorted out as much as possible before you go, and then be confident in your ability that you have done everything that you need to do, and what you haven’t done can wait until your return.

Let us know how that works for you!

Counselling and Mental Physical Rehabilitation

While most of the media talk at the moment seems to be about the World Cup, a lot of you have been talking about something very different in our Mind Central poll. So now you have spoken – thanks for voting. Here are the results of the poll to find out which therapy service interests you most. Interestingly the results were tied, with 50% of the votes for counselling and 50% of the votes for mental physical rehabilitation.

Here at the Mind Clinic we have to say that we completely agree with you. Both counselling and mental-physical rehabilitation are important to provide a completely holistic way to overcome any complication in life. However, one thing we would also point out is the importance of relative or carer support and management. This is something that is not often thought about – no one voted for it on the poll – but it is actually very important to ensure that everyone understands each other and that there is no room for miscommunication. To find out more about how these different types of therapy work together, you can check out the mind clinic. When you put these things together, and instruct your mind, you can accomplish anything.

If you have any questions about these different types of therapy, you can ask them in the comments box below.

Look out for the next poll coming soon!

Where do depressions take us?

 There are some widespread common conditions that in recent years have escalated out of control. There is no known medical cure for the majority of these conditions and as the medical professionals try desperately to find a cure, individuals are left facing uncertainty.

When all of these conditions are analysed, and having worked with numerous cases at The Mind Clinic, I am fully aware that depression can initiate a physical restriction. When we suffer any kind of physical weakness we develop the inner belief that the body has become restricted. Depression is the initial trigger to all of these physical symptoms that go on to be indentified through medical diagnosis as one of the many labelled conditions.

One condition that many young people are diagnosed with is ME . ME doesn’t have any noticeable physical weaknesses, but when the minds perception of the self is a weakness the instinct that controls every part of our body begins to dissipate.  The physical restriction becomes increasingly debilitating where the energy is completely drained from the mind and the body where the body refuses to comply naturally (instinctively) as the body’s conscious reaction has been influenced by weakness. Due to the lack of willpower this makes it extremely difficult for any individual to find a way out. 

The power of suggestion is in its extreme in these situations because these conditions are perceived to be a disease that grows and manifests from within. This of course causes further weakness.

Yet looking at it overall the whole idea of this condition is an emotional reaction to situations. Focus is lost to reopen the mind, to bring the natural freedom back to where it belongs.  Our natural instinct can be restored and activated when we apply willpower and refuse to accept any weaknesses.

These weaknesses derive from thought processes and manifest according to our imagination, they can become as restricting and as paralysing as the thought itself. 

 When we are in a negative place our negativity takes us further into the darkness or the unknown and magnifies. ME is simply cured by reaching an understanding and understanding the reasons for it and ways of overcoming it.

 Self-belief returns and the reversal of a behaviour or a belief will allow you to explore and utilise the opportunity to recover from any form of suggestion given by the medical profession or other Alternative therapists.

Depression Series #4: Moderate to severe depression

The next level of depression takes us deeper into the unconscious mind and is usually due to our discontentment with the status quo.

 Some depressions can become more serious. We develop an addictive pattern that makes us journey to the same place, churning the same thoughts over and over again.  This behaviour can become as severe and as deep as our emotions dictate. The deeper the imagination the deeper the depression becomes.

 There is another very important element to these kinds of depressions, which relate to the mind.  The mind stores the past up to date, which holds our instinct and makes life possible. Routinely we will enter into the mind and journey, but when we become involved in our emotions it becomes extremely difficult to detach.

 Although we are aware that we cannot resolve the past, we develop this desperate urge to keep trying. We go aimlessly searching without a serious objective, just repeating the same.

This form of addiction can easily manifest as we are always in need of emotional explosions and reactions, by magnifying and manifesting events of the past, every thought fuels our addiction. We become alienated, we will feel that none of our present life makes any sense, as if ones sanity is being lost and there is no way out.

 Like a revolving door we can get off at any moment that we choose, but regardless, we keep on going on the same cycle continuing the ride.

Of course in this situation we do not think about what we are doing to the physical self, nevertheless we will notice and complain about minor discomforts such as stomach ache and back pain. 

When a situation becomes deeply embedded it naturally alters our behaviour.  To release our sadness or anger we traumatise the self as a form of self-punishment.  This affects our health and it is through our beliefs that we allow it to spread.

Naturally with all these forms of behaviour we can trigger or initiate an altered state, which on the long term can manifest into some form of condition or another.

All of this is preventable.

 It is extremely important that when we journey into the mind that we make use of the situation and try to learn and understand the way in which our mind is working.

 Always make the effort to question whether your thoughts are imaginary, unreachable, or unrealistic.  Always look at your imagination, what is it creating? Where is it taking you? And why?

 Wait for the answers. In time you will differentiate whether your thoughts are mental processes or based only on emotion.

How to deal with work depression

Read this interesting article about dealing with work depression, and I thought I would share some of it with you.

The word ‘depression’ especially when associated with work is often considered something of a taboo subject – you don’t even want to admit to being depressed in case it impacts on your future job prospects.

Here are some suggested techniques to manage that depression about your work:

• Consider if you really need to leave your job, without a new job to go to, or whether you can use the power of your mind and the hints below to overcome your depression. Why? Not working may add to your depression because of the acute anxiety you feel when you think about how you are going to pay off your next phone, electric, and mortgage bill without a regular salary.
• Relaxation techniques? When you feel yourself getting stressed at work, or the amount of work you have left to do threatens to overwhelm you, make sure you relax your shoulders to relieve some of that tension. Take deep breaths: counting to four as you inhale and to four again as you exhale.
• Commit to some time (at the very least the weekends) where you don’t check your emails. In a recent survey commissioned by Support.com 40 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds said they couldn’t cope without their cell phone, yet the same students reported less stress when they stopped using them for three days.
•  Consider making your office environment, whether it is at home or in the office, a nicer place  to work. If at all possible, it is important to have access to natural light. You could also try putting a nice plant on your desk, or some personal photos (a recent study says that looking at pictures of loved ones reduced pain).  And I know it is easier said than done, but keeping your desk clean and tidy will really help too
• Make sure you take holidays from work. Now that is a good recommendation! And it doesn’t mean you need to take expensive holidays abroad, you can even just stay at home and enjoy pottering in the garden or going for walks in the countryside. The important thing is to have that break from work. Vacations protect us from job burnout. Often times we emerge from a break with a new perspective that can help us navigate through the maze of impending deadlines. At the Mind Clinic, we can help you use the power of your mind, your own willpower, to overcome depression. Here at the Mind Clinic we say, you should not feel worried or guilty for feeling depressed about work. Depression is a normal cycle in human nature.

   Rather than worry about the label ‘depression at work’ you should understand it. We teach about depression through a combination of guidance and counselling. Unlike what it is perceived to be, depression is not a mental illness. Depression is a situation where balance needs to be restored to your emotions.

   So we would say that if you are feeling depressed at work, the first thing is to understand what your depression is, and why you are feeling it. Then you can use the power of your mind, and the steps above, to overcome it.

Let your mind go and your body will follow

This quote in the title is from the movie LA Story (1991). And it is very appropriate for the work that is done at the Mind Clinic. I just wanted to let you know a little more information with you about what the Mind Clinic does, by sharing some of our mental physical rehabilitation success stories with you.

 The most important thing to remember is that if you want to overcome your mental physical conditions with the help of the Mind Clinic, the responsbility is yours – you need to unlock the power of your mind, and then keep at it. The Mind Clinic can only help you to help yourself. Training your mind is a rigorous task and needs to be employed with discipline in order to halt and reverse a condition – the thought of recovery must always be at the forefront of your mind. I know that sounds like hard work but mind instruction is a way of life, but once you have learnt it, and stick with it, you can use it to overcome any problem.

 At the Mind Clinic, we believe that no matter your injury or illness, be it severe head injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, or Alzheimer’s disease, the consciousness is always whole and complete, and possesses the blueprint memories of our able-bodied selves that can be accessed for healing. However, all the negative attitudes and emotions that people pick up interfere with accessing these healing blueprints. For example, when learning that they have only six months to live, cancer patients often die within that time period because an authority figure has imprinted that expectation in their consciousness. This is where you need to use the power of your mind.

Ok so mind instruction is hard work, but there are plenty of people who have managed it. And you can check out these videos and stories below to see people who have achieved just this….

 For example, Guy Harris suffered from a spinal injury, when he was knocked over by a lorry crossing a road in Sheffield. He visited the Mind Clinic and started to undertake both mental and physical training. I have already explained the mental effort involved, but don’t underestimate the physical effort too  – think of your hardest workout in the gym, and then multiply it by at least 10.

But the hard work pays off, Guy is now noticing progress every day – more tension in the legs, more muscle mass, exercises that were hard becoming easy. According to Guy, key to this is understanding that to control our bodies we must first learn to control our emotions. Only through greater self-awareness can we achieve this.

 In October 2009, Guy learnt to control his legs and knees by stepping up and down. He builds up tension through mind instructions allowing the up-down action.  Check out the video here

And then, amazingly, in February 2010, he was able to walk, after being told that he would never walk again. He is now working on putting the heel down as part of the natural step. Here is the video

For full information on Guy’s recovery see www.myscirecovery.com

But it may not be about paralysis, it may be that pain is more the problem. For example, Alexandra fell off a horse playing polo and injured her back in 2002. She was in too much pain to walk for the next 6 weeks, and used a wheelchair, but gradually recovered. However, over the next five years she would get flare-ups of intense pain in her lower back, and down both of her legs. These flare-ups got worse and worse, and each doctor would put her on stronger painkillers. Alexandra became physically dependent on her painkillers and suffered severe withdrawal symptoms when she tried to stop taking them. 

She then decided to use mind instruction to take control of her own life. It took two weeks for Alexandra to get off all painkillers, become free from pain, and even to get a job. Coming from a scientific and medical background, Alexandra liked to have explanations for problems, and logical ways to fix them. But through mind instruction, she gained a deeper understanding of how the body works, and how to use the power of the mind.

 You can find out more patient stories here.

 If you have any questions about any of the work, or any thoughts, please put them in the comments box below. We would love to hear what you think.

The Mind’s duty

Throughout time the mind has been portrayed as something of a trickster. We blame the mind for our pitfalls and misbehaviour, as if it’s playing games with us. Yet on the other hand, we make positive statements about the mind and profess to its power.

We have the ability of thought and the power of will.  We make our own decisions and choose our own path.  Yet, it is the path of our “mind” that we should really be following.

The mind behaves in the most natural way.  The mind’s sensitivity, communication and knowledge are in tune with nature. We are a part of nature. We function within the laws of nature. Our mind is there to serve a purpose in its environment.  The control of our emotions and the understanding of our mind are central to avoiding our destructive nature.

The duty of the mind is to create the necessary reaction towards all issues that we encounter in our daily life for us to progress. The mind contains our ultimate source of knowledge where moment-by-moment experiences are recorded and stored. Our creativity, imagination, and source of power derive from the mind.

Our natural process is to use our imagination to create, based on the knowledge that the mind has accumulated.

The mind controls our instinct, which in its deepest form is the mechanics of our brain and body. We do not think how to see, but we see. We do not think how we move our limbs, but we move them.  This same process continues in everything that we do, as a matter of course.

We are also given a willpower that can influence the mind to create what is needed to fulfil the stages of our journey.  The mind holds the power and is the creator of all that we are and all that we do.  By utilising the power and strength of our mind we are able to achieve all our objectives.