Gratitude List

This month I'm grateful for:

An Arabic dance workshop with Katie Holland
A Regency dance workshop with my group BD4U
Getting a charger for my new toothbrush that I got last month!
Beautiful autumn leaves and colours
October roses and sunny, golden days
Meetup events
Still the Hallowe'en chocolate (and doughnuts too!)
Hallowe'en/Samhain this week!

Bonus: Getting a new coat for winter.


And for a change, here are a couple of autumn pics:

Tree at Shoreham Library

Feeling Your Emotions- Fear and Anxiety (Part 1)

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introductory post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html


Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


I've previously covered Anger and Sadness and Depression.  Now I'm moving onto fear and anxiety. Like I did with sadness and depression, I'll address fear and anxiety as two separate things. As with my previous posts I'll divide it into two parts; this part will look at fear and anxiety in general and the 2nd one will be about dealing with fear and worry, and healing anxiety/feeling better.

In my understanding, fear and anxiety are a bit different, but it is confusing. "Anxiety" is these days termed as a mental health disorder. I myself have what's called "health anxiety", also known as hypochondria. My type of anxiety has also been termed "phobic anxiety". I would say I have generalised anxiety (GAD) and social anxiety (although to a lesser extent). I don't believe I've been officially diagnosed with the last two though. Let's look more closely at the differences between fear and anxiety.

Some people believe that fear relates to a specific threat whereas anxiety is more a vague unease.
Hilary Jacobs Hendel, author of It's Not Always Depression which I recently read, defines fear as a "core emotion". The core emotions are sadness, fear, anger, joy, excitement, sexual excitement and disgust. For more on this and the Change Triangle, a healing process and guide to feeling better, visit this link: https://www.hilaryjacobshendel.com/what-is-the-change-triangle-c18dd

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Claire Baker's September Celebration
New kettle
Radox Feel Blissful bubble bath
South Coast Shimmy
Early Hallowe'en choocolates!
Getting a new electric toothbrush (although I need a new adaptor to charge it!)
Madron/the Autumn Equinox
Early autumn sunshine


And because Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox, is a time of thanksgiving, I'm going to write an extra list of 10 things I'm grateful for in general:

1. Books
2. Music
3. Chocolate
4. Sunshine
5. Family, friends and pets. :)
6. Living by the sea
7. Living near the country too
8. The internet
9. Sunsets
10. Notebooks

Feeling Your Emotions- Sadness and Depression (Part 2)

This is the latest post in my Feeling Your Emotions series. So far I've looked at Anger and Sadness and Depression. You can read the Introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

I split Sadness and Depression into two parts. Last month I did the first part which you'll find at this link: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/07/feeling-your-emotions-sadness-and.html

Now here is Part 2. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

Last time I looked at sadness and depression in general. In this post I'm going to be focusing on feeling better and healing. As I mentioned in Part 1, the focus is on healing depression, since sadness is a natural state that we all feel at some point. But I'm also talking about feeling better in general as well.


Self harm and suicide

Note: I'm discussing quite sensitive subjects, so please read with caution if you feel you may be triggered. :)

Important: If you are feeling suicidal here are some links to where you can find people qualified to help you right now:

http://lostallhope.com/help-me


UK/UK and Ireland specific:

Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us

NHS links (UK based): https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/ 

Childline (for children and young people): https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/mental-health/suicide/


Australia and New Zealand:  https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/getting-help/emergency

US and UK: https://psychcentral.com/lib/telephone-hotlines-and-help-lines/


International:

http://ibpf.org/resource/list-international-suicide-hotlines

https://www.befrienders.org/other-helpline-organisations

https://www.nowmattersnow.org/help-line

https://metanoia.org/suicide/

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Lammas
Last full month of summer
Hot weather
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley- currently re-reading it
The return of the sunshine after the rainy spell!
Inspiring websites like Spiritually Empowered and The Whimsical Wildling*
Katie Holland's free Awakened Bellydance course- taking it at the moment
The strawberry cream milkshake I had at Buckingham Park cafe



*11/9/18: Now Eternally Elle.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The hot weather (although I have struggled a bit adjusting to the heatwave!)
Summer!
Ice cream at the park and beach
Going to the Black Rabbit pub in Arundel
New series/season of Bring It! showing in the UK (Mondays at 9pm on Lifetime)
New penpals
Skin-on fries (have had them while out and at home recently)
Having a meeting at Alcampo Lounge in Brighton with my belly dance group

Feeling Your Emotions- Sadness and Depression (Part 1)

This is the next post in my Feeling Your Emotions series. It follows on from Anger- Part 1 and Anger- Part 2. You can read the Introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

Note: It's taken me a while to write this, I think like with anger, it's not a particularly easy subject. As with the Anger posts, I've decided to break it into two parts. This post will focus on sadness and depression in general, and the 2nd part will look into healing and what you can do to feel better in general.

I've titled this post "Sadness and Depression" because I believe they're different in the way that sadness is a natural state that everyone feels at some point in their life, whereas depression is more of an intense, prolonged sadness and it's classed as a mental health condition. I've also heard depression described as "anger turned inwards". So I'm looking at them both. For more on the differences you can read these articles:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201510/the-important-difference-between-sadness-and-depression

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/depression-vs-sadness#symptoms