Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Category: Anxiety Self-Help

  • Busy or Simply Overwhelmed? Find Time to Allow Your Mind Some Downtime

    Busy or Simply Overwhelmed? Find Time to Allow Your Mind Some Downtime

    These last few weeks have been a busy time for me. I get up in the morning and think of the things I need to do, and then realise that I didn’t do everything that I meant to do yesterday. Each morning, as I start to plan the day, I feel that there is a level of stress and tension in my body. As a professional who works in the area of stress and anxiety, I know that this stress is necessary in order to keep me motivated to get things done, but if I allow it to run free, it will lead to anxiety.

    A bit of stress gets you to focus on the tasks you need to do. If there is too much stress, the overwhelming feeling prevents you from focusing on the tasks as you mind is distracted by being overwhelmed. The trick is to get the balance right.

    Another problem with having too much to do is that you don’t spend time looking after yourself. You need to spend some time each day in self-care – you need to have some sort of mental health hygiene built into your daily routine. Everyone (well, almost everyone) manages to clean their teeth each day as part of their dental health hygiene regime – a sensible person will not skip cleaning their teeth just because they are busy. So what is your mental health hygiene regime?

    For me, I sit down each morning with a cup of tea and read a page or two from something that inspires me. I have trained myself over the years to focus entirely on what I am reading, and to put aside any other thoughts during this time. I spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation of what I have read. This is only interrupted as my thoughts turn to the warmth of the cup in my hands as I take another sip of tea.

    These few minutes of quietness and contemplation are what I need to start the day with a clear head. Other people take on different practices to allow their head to be clear – going for a walk, doing craftwork or art, lifting weights in the gym, meditation, listening to music … anything really – so long as it clears the mind of all the stuff that is usually there, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

    Our minds need time to rest from what they usually think about. This is particularly needed if you suffer from anxiety. Anxiety tends to absorb your mind and produce negative feelings. Giving it a break from all that – even if it’s just for a few minutes – will to you the world of good.

    So find something that you enjoy. You may not be able to dissociate from negative thoughts and feelings immediately, but the mind is like a muscle – you need to exercise it in the right way in order for it to develop.

    And Finally …

    If you have difficulty with your stress and anxiety, if you feel you cannot manage to control it by yourself, then you may like to seek professional help. I help people with anxiety by using hypnotherapy to allow them to regain control of their mind and return to normal. If you want to ask questions about it, Contact Me and I will be happy to have a chat.

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Peter Cooper

  • Anxiety, Lifestyle and the Choices We Make

    Anxiety, Lifestyle and the Choices We Make

    Our lifestyle choices will have a direct bearing on the levels of stress and anxiety that we experience. There are some anxiety-triggers that happen in our lives over which we have no control, but I want to discuss today how our lifestyle choices impact our levels of anxiety.

    Arts and Crafts

    Involving yourself in some creative activity – making music, pottery, painting, photography … or any of the creative arts and crafts will calm levels of anxiety. Engaging the creative part of the brain focuses attention away from your stress bucket and allows your subconscious to process some of that stress, outside of your consciousness.

    Exercise

    We all know that exercise is good at keeping our bodies in good shape, but it also helps keep our minds well balanced. Our ancestors spent a lot more time moving their bodies, and so our brains are built to expect the chemicals that come with a lot of movement. When we lead a sedentary life, the brain chemistry suffers.

    Healthy Diet

    The way your gut works has a direct impact on the levels of stress and anxiety that you suffer from. Choosing a diet that contains a wide variety of plants and reduces the amount of ultra-processed foods seems to be the way to go.

    A Good Night’s Sleep

    Sleep is the time that our brain gets to process all that stress we are under, so getting a good night’s sleep will diminish the content of that stress bucket that we all carry with us. It largely happens when we are dreaming – our memories of stressful events and anticipated stresses that might happen in the future are consolidated. Some are thrown out and we will never remember them again; others are simply calmed down a bit.

    And the Proof?

    This is not simply wishful thinking. There is scientific evidence that supports these lifestyle choices and links them to a change in anxiety levels (see references below).

    And Finally …

    If you find difficulty controlling your levels of anxiety and would like some help, please Contact Me. I use hypnotherapy to help my clients get back in control of their lives. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, as well as online.

    References

    Pathways linking organ and brain health, and impacts to mental health revealed
    https://mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/pathways-linking-organ-and-brain-health,-and-impacts-to-mental-health-revealed/_recache

    Arts and crafts boost mental wellbeing – study
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Steve Somerset

  • Overthinking, Anxiety & Table Tennis

    Overthinking, Anxiety & Table Tennis

    Overthinking is both a cause and a result of anxiety. We overthink things we are anxious about, and that overthinking creates more anxiety. You want to know how table tennis is involved? … Then read on.

    Overthinking means being caught in that state of mind where you are going over and over the same thing in your head. Maybe something happened that you did not like, and you go through what happened time after time, trying somehow to square it all away. Or maybe you are concerned about something that is coming up, and think about what might happen over and over again. This is overthinking.

    What Is Wrong With Overthinking?

    The problem with overthinking is that no matter how many times you go over something that has already happened – you cannot change it. It is gone … learn from it and then move one. Thinking about it again and again will not change what happened and will not change how you think about it.

    If you are overthinking something that is coming up – something you are worried about – it does not change the fact that it is going to happen. Worrying about a work meeting, say, doesn’t stop the meeting happening – it just gets you more stressed about it.

    How Does Overthinking Effect the Brain?

    All the overthinking adds stress to your “stress bucket” – and more stress means that the fight-or-flight centre (the amygdala and other parts of the brain’s limbic system) are more likely to be triggered.

    The amygdala is not an intelligent part of the brain – it is quite primitive. It is not capable of thinking up new ideas. So when the amygdala starts to take control of your thinking, it will simply repeat patterns that it already knows. If you have thought through a situation a couple of times, the amygdala learns this as an “appropriate” response, and so it encourages you to repeat it. The more you repeat it, the more embedded the response gets … and so the vicious cycle repeats.

    How Do You Overcome Overthinking?

    Overthinking is all about repeating patterns of thinking. So you have to practice changing those patterns. When you catch yourself out overthinking, force yourself to think something else. This is a basic distraction technique.

    Simply doing something else that absorbs your thinking, like playing table tennis, will do it. Playing table tennis is something you have to concentrate on. You cannot play table tennis while you are overthinking something else.

    Of course, it doesn’t have to be table tennis. You can read a book, talk to someone (about something other than what you are overthinking), browse the Internet, bake a cake … anything that will absorb your mind into something else.

    And Finally …

    I help people who are only just coping with stress and anxiety. I use hypnotherapy to help them regain control of their lives and return to a state of normality. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online. Contact me if you would like a chat about it.

    Photo courtesy of the Mental Health Foundation / Catherine Williams

  • Walking Away After Injustice Strikes

    Walking Away After Injustice Strikes

    We all have an inbuilt sense of justice and we feel aggrieved or angry when we see injustice. It could be something small like the person that jumps ahead of you in the queue at the local shop. Or it could be something large like the person that walks out on a relationship to be with someone else.

    These injustices are things that cannot be resolved simply. You cannot make the queue-jumper go to the back of the queue, and even if you could, you would still feel the anger towards them. You cannot make your partner come back to you and remove all memory of them being with someone else.

    We cannot undo injustice, but we can leave it in the past and not allow it to continue to cause us stress and anger – which feeds our anxiety. It is not easy to let go of injustice – to say to ourselves, “That was wrong, but it’s all gone now, so now I can start looking forward to making a better future.” Nevertheless, that is exactly what you have to do to avoid feeding the anxiety.

    If someone does an injustice towards you, then it was their choice to behave like that – not yours. Your choice is whether to let them annoy you or not. You have the ability to simply walk away.

    And Finally …

    If you feel anxiety as a result of someone doing you an injustice, or for any other reason, then I can help you get through it. I use the power of hypnotherapy to help people with anxiety get back in control of their lives and move on. I work from my clinic here in Fleet, Hampshire and also online. Contact me if you would like to discuss things.

    Photo courtesy of the Mental Health Foundation

  • Anxiety Control: Letting Nature Lend a Hand

    Anxiety Control: Letting Nature Lend a Hand

    The natural world has an ability to sooth the anxious mind. Simply being in “nature” helps sooth away the stresses of the day, leaving us less anxious and more in control of our lives. Going for a walk in the natural world has an even greater effect.

    The Science Behind Anxiety and Nature

    Many people experience the soothing effect of walking through the countryside, in a forest or along the beach. And guess what … there is some real science behind it. There have been numerous experiments that now support this.

    Trials have shown that, after doing a task that increases stress, recovery occurs more quickly in a room with views of trees through the windows, as compared with a windowless room. Another test showed that stress recovery was better if a person goes for a walk in a natural environment, as compared to going for the same length of walk in an urban environment.

    There is a growing amount of scientific evidence that supports the idea that being in a natural environment is good for both your physical health and mental well-being. A few references to scientific papers are provided at the end of this article.

    Why Does Being in Nature Helps Mental Health and, In Particular, Anxiety?

    Think about the history of humankind. For thousands of years, men and women have lived together on this Earth. Most of that time, we have lived close to nature. Our brains are more attuned to living in a natural environment than they are to living in a city. It is only comparatively recently that so many people live in an urban environment.

    That is not to say that cities are in any way a bad thing. On the contrary, they are a fundamental part of civilisation. However, we need to be aware that getting out into nature can be one factor that helps stem our stresses and anxiety.

    Putting it into Practice

    I am lucky enough to live within a short walk of woodland with plenty of scope for getting out for a walk on a regular basis. Not everyone is so lucky. You need to ask yourself, what is the closest to a natural environment that I can get to? It might be a beach or a local park – even in a city like London, there are many small green spaces set aside for people to wander through.

    One of the studies I have looked at suggests that you should aim to spend 120 minutes a week in nature. This may not be practical for everyone – so just do what you can.

    And Finally …

    I often write about things that you can do yourself to help your anxiety. However, if you need help, then I am very happy to talk to you about the possibilities that hypnotherapy can give you. Contact me when you are ready to take things forward. I work in my clinic here in Fleet, Hampshire, and I also work online.

    References

    Spending at least 120  minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3

    Tracking restoration in natural and urban field settings
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494402001093

    Restorative Effects of Natural Environment Experiences
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916591231001

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Image Library

  • How to Stay Mentally Fit – the Mental Health Hygiene Triangle

    How to Stay Mentally Fit – the Mental Health Hygiene Triangle

    I spend a lot of time talking about anxiety and what happens when things go wrong, why it happens and what to do about it. Today, I want to take a different approach.

    We brush our teeth each day even when our teeth are healthy. It’s just a dental hygiene habit. But what is the equivalent mental hygiene habit? This article looks at the mental health hygiene triangle.

    Mental Health Hygiene

    The mental health hygiene triangle covers body, mind and attitude. There are things we can do in each of these areas that will support our mental health. I have divided each of the three areas (body, mind and attitude) into three categories, making nine in all.

    Body

    1. Sleep Well – When we are asleep, particularly during the dreaming phase, our brains sort out all the stresses of the day. If we don’t get enough sleep, ours brains do not have time to sort it all out and so we wake up with stress that still needs to be sorted out.
    2. Eat Well – There is growing scientific evidence that eating poorly effects our mental health. In particular, eating a wide variety of plants (vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains and so on) has a positive impact on the gut biome, which in turn gives us a better mental outlook.
    3. Exercise Well – We don’t have to go down to the gym for hours each day (unless you really want to). Even going for a short walk round the block has a positive impact on our mental health.

    I know that not everyone can do all these things, but the more you can make changes to keep the body in shape, the better mental health you will have.

    Mind

    1. Mindfulness – Mindfulness is about focusing one the here and now. Focus your attention on everything you are experiencing right now – for example, the feelings of your arm moving as you raise a cup of coffee to your lips, the change in temperature of your face as the hot air from the coffee hits your face, the light reflected in the surface of the coffee, the taste of the coffee as it hits your tongue and so on. Just practicing mindfulness for a few minutes each day trains your brain to be able to focus on the here and now.
    2. Focus – Train your brain to be able to focus on one thing at a time – get absorbed into watching a film or reading a book, or playing a sport or whatever you like to do. If you notice the odd stray thought enter your mind, just notice it and bring your attention gently back to whatever you are doing.
    3. Reflection – Spend a few minutes each day reflecting on how things are going for you. In particular, notice the things you have experienced that have been good for you, things you have enjoyed – because those are the things you should do more of.

    You need to set aside time each day to practice these things. For me, it’s first thing in the morning over a cup of tea. For you it may be something different.

    Attitude

    1. Positive Thinking – We have a natural tendency to focus our thinking on the stuff that is going wrong in our lives – and this just creates a little bit more stress. So change the balance of your thinking – notice the good things in life when they occur – things that give you those little nuggets of joy in your life – things you are grateful for.
    2. Positive Action – Ask yourself, “What small thing could I do to make my life a bit better?” Then get out and do it – no matter how small. Small positive actions may seem to be trivial in comparison with whatever else is going on in your life, but those actions have a direct impact on your mental health.
    3. Positive Interaction – Spending time interacting with other people in a positive manner has a big positive impact on mental health. It could be chatting with the person at the checkout in the supermarket, a good chat with your friends over a cup of tea, or simply being with others going for a walk.

    Keeping your body healthy; training your mind so that it can be mindful, focused and reflective when you need it to be; and adopting a more positive attitude to life are three major tools you can start using today to improve and then maintain a good state of mental health.

    And Finally …

    If this is not enough for you to get your anxiety under control, and get you into a good mentally healthy state, you may need help. I help people with anxiety get their lives back in control using hypnotherapy from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire. I can also serve people online. Give me a call or contact me if you want a chat.