Archives June 2020

In this time of working from home and Zoom meetings how do we know if the other people in the meeting are going? When we have a face to face meeting we can clearly see the person’s body language and see if they are okay. But where people can turn off cameras or we can only see part of the other person, how do we know if the other person is okay?

What can we look for, what signs? If the person is in tears that is easy to see but can we look at their behaviour, mood, talk, etc. Have they lost interest in things which they loved before.

We can still hold a discussion with others we just need to be more vigilant and continue ask if they are ok.

I was very fortunate this week in attending a Webinar conducted by Kirsten Peterson a sport and performance psychologist who discussed self-compassion. Kirsten better known as KP referred to Dr Kristin Neff’s work in self-compassion skills in daily life.

What is Self-Compassion? We find it easy to sit a comfort our family, friends, work mates and others. But when it comes to ourselves, we easy criticise ourselves and believe we don’t need/deserve the same understanding we show to others. Self-Compassion is just that. Being kind to ourselves.

We all make mistakes but instead of being hard on ourselves maybe we should be gentle. Yes we need to acknowledge our mistakes and make amends if required but we should forgive ourselves. Yes definitely, we need to learn from our mistakes and become better people though it.

If we can practice Self-Compassion, I believe is can only but help us with our mental health.

Why would I start a blog about mental health? I am not a expert in this area. We all have mental health like we all have physical health. Depending on how we are feeling will reflect on both. If we are feeling down we may not get the exercise we should and also our self-esteem may be down. If things are going well exercise seems easier and our thoughts about ourselves are positive.

In the past we have kept any thoughts of mental health to ourselves as it was not the thing to talk about. In this changing world with COVID-19 (Coronavirus) affecting all of us with things like lock downs, etc. and protests demanding better treatment of people regardless of who they are, I believe there has been no better time to talk about how day to day living is affecting our mental health.

This blog will attempt to allow people to discuss their mental health in a friendly non-judgement forum. There is also links to social media to allow people to access up to date information from such organisations like Beyond Blue , Black Dog Institute, Lifeline etc.

So lets start the discussion. Wouldn’t be good if we could talk about mental health like we talk about football or the weather.