Anxiety Resources

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

As well as depression I also have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety, in particular health anxiety. I know that many people have similar problems and it can be hard to deal with. Sometimes I feel better than others but the anxiety is pretty much constant. I've been interested in self help techniques for years and have been looking more up lately, so I thought I'd share some resources here. :)


General help for anxiety and related disorders


No More Panic

No More Panic is a website that has articles, a forum and chat room for people who have anxiety, depression, OCD, panic disorders and phobias and their carers as well. I've often used this when I've been in a panic about something.

IMPORTANT: If you have health anxiety and you are panicked about a symptom, try not to Google it because you can put a symptom in and it can come up with all sorts of diseases associated with it that you probably don't have. If you're really worried about something try doing a search on No More Panic or a similar forum rather than just doing a random search because you're more likely to get helpful advice. :)

Update 14/10/18: Just want to add that your first port of call should be a doctor if you're worried about any symptoms/medical conditions. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for:

Yule coming up
Christmas coming up
New slippers
Chocolate advent calendars!
Christmas decorations, lights and trees
Belly dancing
Starbucks gingerbread coffee- I'm looking forward to having one again this year
Sunny days- although it's cold it's nice when it's still sunny

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Leftover Hallowe'en chocolate!
Fireworks
Bonfire Night
Chocolate coins- they're already in the shops! lol.
Bourneville cocoa
Quantum Leap being on again
Visiting a friend
Having a Starbucks iced frappucino

Raising Your Vibration (Or Feeling Better)

I've been reading a lot lately about raising your vibration. It's something that's talked about in relation to the Law of Attraction. A basic explanation of the Law of Attraction (also known as LOA) is that it's a universal law that means you attract everything in your life, good and bad as a result of the things you've been thinking, the beliefs behind those thoughts and the "vibrations" you're giving out. And if you change your thoughts and beliefs from negative to positive you can raise your vibration, which will lead to you feeling better and manifesting the things you want to have in your life.

So you raise your vibration so you feel happier and once you feel good then the things you want will come to you. I did a post last year about LOA which you can read if you're interested: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

Also here's another one about manifestation methods: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2014/09/manifestation-methods.html#more

The idea of raising your vibration is about doing things that you enjoy and make you feel good. Once you're in a "better feeling place" as it's called, then you can manifest the things you want. But I think that regardless of whether you want to manifest stuff or not, it's a good idea to do things that make you feel better. For a more in depth look at what raising your vibration means, check out these posts on Deliberate Receiving:

Update 28/2/19: Now MelodyFletcher.com

https://melodyfletcher.com/law-of-attraction/law-of-attraction-articles/how-to-raise-your-vibration/#axzz3Gbf9pzTP (This explains the basics)

https://melodyfletcher.com/2011/09/25/how-to-be-happy-all-the-damn-time/

https://melodyfletcher.com/2013/11/11/tips-to-drastically-raise-your-vibration-without-having-to-hire-a-coach/


And here's another post about feeling good from Life Made To Order: http://www.livelifemadetoorder.com/blog/law-attraction-friendly-vibration/


I wrote about something similar to this in my post Healing Tools. The things that I use to raise my vibration are similar to my "healing tools" because it's all about feeling better. My main methods are music, LOA, writing and Pinterest. I'm also going to add more things to the list in this post though and talk about actively using methods for raising your vibration. :)


Music

As I mentioned in the My Healing Tools post, I really love music. I listen to it a lot. I like CDs best (although they're becoming outdated now, lol) and also really like my iPod Shuffle. So if I'm feeling down I often listen to a CD or my iPod. I also visit YouTube and Spotify a lot. Music can really affect your mood. If you feel like something really upbeat you can listen to pop or if you feel like something melancholy you can listen to gothic metal/rock, lol. (Or whatever fits your mood). You can make a playlist of songs to help you chill out or cheer up. I have both a Chillout and a Pick Me Up CD.


Reading

I love reading as well. I like different types of books but my favourites are horror, short stories and books set in Asian countries (like India, China and Japan). A few years ago I got into teen supernatural fiction, lol. Books are good because if you're feeling anxious you can distract yourself by reading. I find it comforting sometimes to re-read a favourite book. With the library it's easy to access free books. When I was younger you used to be restricted to 4 a ticket but now it's something like 21! lol.


Self Help

I've been reading self help books and websites since I was a teenager. I started out looking for help with depression and OCD but then I got into personal development. If you're feeling low it can help you to find books and sites that suggest solutions and different ways of thinking.

Here's a list of my Top 10 Self Help/Personal Development blogs: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/05/top-10-self-helppersonal-development.html

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Autumn
Hallowe'en/Samhain coming up
BANKS' album GODDESS
Life Made To Order
Pintrest- I've been spending a lot of time on there lately
Amazon vouchers from GFK
Pumpkins in the shops
Trying a Harris & Hoole iced coffee

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The start of autumn
Caffe Nero
My belly dance group's hafla (dance party)
Chocolate cake
Re-reading favourite books
The roses still blooming in my garden
New album releases
Madron/Mabon (the Autumn Equinox) coming up

Manifestation Methods

Yellow Mini! :)

I've had a couple of discussions about Law of Attraction/manifestation methods over the last few months, about which are the most effective. There are quite a few techniques including visualisation/Vision Boards, gratitude, affirmations, wishlists and intentions. For more on some of these techniques you can read my post on the Law of Attraction (LOA): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

I've had the most success with lists/writing things down. In 2009 I wrote a Life List (inspired by Celestine Chua's Bucket List article). One of the things I wrote down was "Try root beer". I didn't think I would get to try it till I went to America (I'd like to visit America one day) because I didn't think they did it in the UK. But a few days after I wrote it on the list, one of my friends on Facebook wrote that she had some and it was from a shop near me, so I got to try it! I ended up not liking it very much but at least now I know what it tastes like! lol.

Then in 2012 I wrote a list of 10 things I wanted to manifest in a week. It was a suggestion on the Live A Life You Love site (www.livealifeyoulove.com). One of the things I chose was a yellow Mini because Minis are my favourite cars and I decided to pick a yellow one because I didn't see them very often. Within a few hours of writing it down I had seen one and I went through a phase of seeing quite a lot, sometimes 2 or 3 a day! On my list I wrote "x4" next to "A yellow Mini", so I think I ended up seeing 4 during that week. I still sometimes see 1 or 2 a day now. I took the picture above the other week as part of the I Believe in Magic Summer Sampler session.

I manifested one other thing off that list in the week, an iced coffee. But I think I just went and got it, it wasn't free or anything, so not sure if that really counted! lol. And two other things manifested eventually. So it was 2 out of 10 during the week and 4 out of 10 altogether.

Your Courageous Life post on depression

I've been feeling very down lately and I just got this email with the latest post from Your Courageous Life, which happens to be about depression. I found it a bit helpful, so I thought I'd share it here: http://www.yourcourageouslife.com/2014/08/24/your-courage-is-for-us/

I hope it helps someone else to feel a bit (or a lot) better too. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Lammas
Gingerbread
New notebooks
Going to a Bollywood dance workshop
The second I Believe in Magic Summer Sampler
The Night Circus book by Erin Morgenstern- I'm reading it at the moment
Coffee cake
The last proper month of summer

I Believe in Magic *Free* Summer Sampler

I'm taking part in a free sample session of I Believe in Magic, which is run by Joy Holland from  Facets of Joy. What happens is that you receive a daily email prompt and then you can go and take a picture relating to the prompt and share it in a Flickr group (specially created for I Believe in Magic) if you want to. The session lasts two weeks (from 13th July to the 26th) and registration is open until tomorrow (15th July). Here's the link: http://facetsofjoy.com/i-believe-in-magic-free-summer-sampler/

We're on the second day today. If you want to post your photos you'll need to create a Flickr account, which won't take long and if you already have a Yahoo account you can join really easily (it must be linked to Flickr).

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The lovely summer weather and sunshine
Hearing new music
Free music. :)
Lemonade
Facets of Joy
The beach
The fact that I have a camera in my BlackBerry I can use because my digital camera's broken
Jennifer Lopez's  new album AKA

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Summer
The hot weather
Salt and sweet popcorn
McDonald's new chocolate chip iced frappe 
Living near the country
The Map book by Boni Lonnsburry- I've been re-reading it. (See this post for more on it: http://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html#more)
The honeysuckle and rose hand cream I bought at Roundstone
Dance Moms starting again

Depression Resources

I have been feeling more depressed lately, it comes and goes. Sometimes I feel better than others. I'm signed up to Strong Inside Out's newsletter and I recently received an email with the latest post which is about depression triggers. I thought I would post it here in case it's helpful to anyone: http://stronginsideout.com/5-depression-triggers/

The triggers on the list for me would probably be 4. Lack of sleep (I go through phases of having trouble sleeping) and 5. Refusal to Look at the Bright Side (I can be very negative at times!). I don't drink much or do high intensity workouts. I don't eat breakfast very often but I think No 5 is the biggest trigger for me.


Another good resource about recovering from depression is this article on Danny Baker's site*:
 http://www.depressionisnotdestiny.com/dear-depression-sufferers-unfortunately-youre-probably-not-seeking-the-right-help/**


I think No 3 which mentions reading self help books and doing online therapy is a good suggestion. I've read a lot of self help books. I did use to do exercises on MoodGYM (it was suggested to me by a therapist) but I haven't for ages. It might be time to go on there again.

Danny also has a free memoir about his recovery from depression that you can download.

Hope those links are helpful and I may do another post in the future with more resources. :)



Photo: Worthing Beach. Copyright Moonsparkle 2010.






*Not the British journalist DJ and presenter (like I thought originally) but a different one! lol.

**Site now gone (as of June '18).

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The hotter weather
Roses
Living close to the countryside
The last of the Easter chocolate I'm finishing up!
Adventures in Manifesting Love and Oneness e-book that I got as a bonus for buying Sarah Prout's MANIFEST course
Being able to buy it when she had a pay what you want offer
Having a free cup of coffee at Mayberry Garden Centre
Lovely smelling candles

My Healing Tools

I've had depression since I was about 14, also OCD and anxiety since around the same time. I got into self help when I was in my late teens/early 20s because I wanted to feel better. I go through phases of feeling better than others and I do feel better now than I did a few years ago. I still struggle though, with having good days and bad days and I'm not at the point where I'd like to be. But some days I feel happier than I did, so that's a positive.


I thought I'd share a few of the things that have helped me, my "healing tools". I hope that someone else will find them useful. :)


Music

I love music. I've been really into it since I was about 12. (Before then I did like it but I didn't listen as much). I think the first single I got was Belinda Carlisle's Love In The Key of C (cassette tape) and the first album I bought was Mariah Carey's Butterfly (tape). The first CD single I bought was Solid HarmoniE's I Wanna Love You. I like different types but my favourites are pop, R'n'B, rap and foreign language like Hindi, J-pop and K-pop. I enjoy listening to music and getting lost in it.

Lots of people recommend meditation as a spiritual tool and to help you relax but I've never been that keen on it. I do meditate occasionally (I recently followed the May Cause Miracles course and meditation was a big part of that) and sometimes I enjoy it more than others but I find it much more relaxing to listen to music.

If you're into music and want to hear some relaxing pieces, I'd recommend Ivo Sedlacek's violin music. Here's Dance of Autumn Lights: Ivo Sedlack- Dance of Autumn Lights

I often post that about music on my  blog Star Sparkle Blog, so check that out if you're interested: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Spring
Blossom trees
May Cause Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein
My new BlackBerry Curve
Personal Alchemy e-book that I heard about through Facets of Joy
Easter
Easter eggs
Easter themed chocolate!

The Love Project- Romantic Love

So now it's time to move on to Romantic Love. :)

I'd suggest starting with Celestine Chua's soulmate series. She wrote several posts about how she found her soulmate Ken Soh and has some tips for you to find your soulmate.She starts out writing about her journey in love so far, then moves onto how Ken came into her life (or rather back into her life!), the issues she had to work through before being in a relationship, how she realised Ken is the one for her, how Ken realised she is the one for him and then ends with a guide to love and how to know when you've found the one. I found her series very inspiring.:)

Stat here with the first post and you can work your way through: http://personalexcellence.co/blog/love/

Or if you just want to read the tips for attracting authentic love into your life, go here: http://personalexcellence.co/blog/finding-love/

Here is a post on Facets of Joy about letting love in, which I think is hard for a lot of people to do, (me included): http://facetsofjoy.com/2013/10/if-youd-like-to-let-love-in/**

And an article on how it's ok to want and look for love. A lot of the time we're told that we should be complete by ourselves and while I think it's a good thing to be complete by yourself, it's also natural to want to connect with and find love with others. (The same can apply to wanting friends or love and connection with your family). We don't need to feel guilty about it. I found this article helpful: http://www.gaiamtv.com/blog/why-we-shouldn-t-feel-guilty-looking-love**



And finally another good post is on Gentle Living*, it's about Liz and her husband Jaime's love story. Liz writes about the things Jaime has taught her about love and also shares their wedding photos. :) Check it out here: http://strongsensitivesouls.com/my-love-story-everything-i-know-about-love/

Hope you find these helpful. :)


*9/3/18: Now Strong Sensitive Souls. Link is updated.

** 18/5/20: Links redirect/no longer work.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

My birthday presents
Birthday cards and wishes
Red Velvet cake
The daffodils coming up
Sunnier, slightly warmer weather
The Black Rabbit pub
Beautiful sunsets
My new CD player

The Love Project- Self Love/Romantic Love

I was going to move on to Romantic Love next but I found a couple of  sites about liking and loving yourself and since a lot of what I read says that you need to like and love yourself before you can love someone else, I thought I'd include them.

This one is all about liking yourself: http://effervescence.me/  (Site currently down)

And this one is about self love and peace of mind: www.vironika.org


Also here is an article that's good for another "crossover" post (before I move on to Romantic Love fully):

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/3-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-enter-a-relationship/

It's about questions you can ask yourself before you get into a relationship. You can ask what the relationship is for (what do you want to experience in it?), are there any limiting beliefs blocking you from connecting with others and are you more focused on someone's looks/body or their mind and whether they're truly right for you? It has some good advice and is worth checking out.

 If you have some limiting beliefs that you want to shift, here are a couple of  links to help you do that:

http://www.deliberatereceiving.com/releasing-negative-beliefs.html#axzz2uAXnKSvt

https://livealifeyoulove.com/want-to-rock-your-world-change-your-core-beliefs/

 http://livealifeyoulove.com/its-easier-than-you-think-how-to-change-a-core-belief/


These are good resources for changing beliefs, especially Live A Life You Love. Hope you find them helpful. :)


P.S. This isn't really related to love but I thought I'd mention it anyway- I'm signed up to a free 14 Day Money and Abundance Challenge that starts tomorrow  (24th February). So if you're interested in manifesting more money and/or abundance check it out here: http://rhodajordan.com/manifest-like-boss/

If you shift in one area of your life, it may help you shift in others, so it's worth having a look at. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Tesco magazine- I made the tomato soup recipe for lunch the other day
Sonia Choquette's book Your Heart's Desire
Effervescence- a site about liking yourself
The song I bought on iTunes- This Is What It Feels Like by BANKS
My neck muffler. :)
Buses
Finally making Coca-Cola chocolate cake!
Costa Coffee



P.S. I'm currently signed up to the 7th series of free global telesummit From Heartache to Joy, which contains live calls (and replays) from healers and spiritual people. The first one was good and this one goes on until May. Check it out here: http://fromheartachetojoy.com/series7/

The Love Project- Self Love/Romantic Love

I've got really behind with this, sorry about that! Here is the next post. This one is a crossover from Self Love to Romantic Love.

First up a couple of posts focusing on self love.

On being happy with who you are:

http://alifeofperfectdays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/5-ways-to-become-truly-happy-with-who.html

Here's another about becoming the person you want to be:

http://alifeofperfectdays.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/secret-to-becoming-person-you-want-to.html

And then here is a post about whether you're looking for a relationship to complete yourself.  I've often heard it said that you should be complete by yourself and not rely on someone else to complete you. So the idea is that rather than being two halves of a whole with someone else, you're two wholes coming together.

Some people say that you don't need a relationship at all but my personal opinion is that it's a perfectly natural to want a romantic relationship, just like it's natural to want friends and good relationships with your family. As humans we want to connect with others and obviously the human race relies on people getting together to keep going! But I prefer the idea of two complete people coming together as a whole because if you think you're incomplete on your own, then it makes you a bit desperate and that's not a good thing because it can make you miserable. I believe it's important to be whole and comfortable with yourself because you can't always rely on other people.

Check out the article here: http://personalexcellence.co/blog/are-you-looking-for-a-relationship-to-complete-yourself/

Here is a post on Twin Flames (a Twin Flame is a person said to be the other half of your soul but this site has a different view): http://www.soulevolution.org/twinflames/twinflames.htm


Also I recently finished the Connection, Possibly and YOU program with Adrienne Martin. It's the second one I've done (the first was last September and lasted 30 days, this was a 10 day program that ran during this month) and I enjoyed it. I found it really helpful. The course was about deepening your connection to yourself, the world around you and your Divine (whatever that is- God, Allah, gods and goddesses, the universe etc). One of the main messages I took from it is that there's nothing to fix, you're not broken, you are enough and as you continue along the path you become more of who you are.

Adrienne posted daily videos and also did visualisations and meditations, along with a blessing. There is a movement called the Oneness Awakening and the blessing is part of that, it's called a Deeksha Blessing. Learn more about it here: http://adriennemartin.com/oneness/*



So many of us struggle with not feeling good enough, not attractive enough or rich enough or thin enough etc. I think we all need to know: You are enough.

I hope that was helpful. :) I can't really write about any of these things with authority, I'm just sharing what I've learnt and hopefully it will help someone, now or in the future. :)


* Update 25/10/16: The Oneness page isn't there anymore but I'll update if it comes back. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The presents I got for Christmas and the nice Christmas dinner
The Christmas vanilla roll cake I made
Christmas lights and decorations
The Asian Music Awards being on British TV!
The Connection, Possibility and YOU free program I'm doing currently (2nd one I've done)
Hero by Rhonda Byrne (author of The Secret)
The £25 iTunes voucher I got with my points from Maximiles! :)
My new top