Welcome to the Resting Tree blog, where we delve into the intricacies of mental health, healing, and personal growth. As a private practice specializing in trauma-informed, compassion-focused, and humanistic approaches, we are dedicated to providing insightful and empowering content to support your journey towards holistic well-being.
Our blog is a safe space for exploring the complexities of the human experience, offering valuable resources, and fostering a sense of community. Join us as we navigate the path to healing and self-discovery, one blog post at a time.
Living Your Own Pace: Overcoming the Pressure of Falling Behind in Life
In today's fast-paced world, many of us struggle with feelings of inadequacy as they compare themselves to others. This article underscores the importance of setting personal goals, dedicating effort to self-improvement, and resisting societal pressures related to success. By recognizing our emotions, engaging in mindfulness, cultivating gratitude, and skillfully navigating challenges, we can move towards our aspirations and savor life's experiences at a pace that aligns with our individual needs and values.
Creating a Nurturing Mental Space at Home
Creating a nurturing mental space at home is essential for fostering overall well-being and mental health. The aim of this article is to guide you in cultivating your own mental headspace at home, supporting mindfulness and well-being. We'll explore steps for simplifying and decluttering, introducing nature, using sensory elements for comfort, and personalizing your surroundings to create a mental safe space.
New Year, True You: Setting Intentions for Authentic Living
With the arrival of a new year, many of us feel a renewed sense of motivation and a desire to make positive changes in our lives. We set goals, make resolutions, and set out on a journey of self-improvement. But what if, instead of focusing on external achievements, we shifted our focus inward? What if, instead of striving for perfection, we focused on living authentically and nurturing our mental well-being?
In this article, we explore the idea of embracing a new year, true you. We delve into the power of setting intentions and how they can guide us towards leading a more authentic and fulfilling life. By setting intentions, we establish a clear direction for our thoughts and actions, allowing us to align our choices with our true values and desires.
Coping with Loneliness During the Holiday Season: Finding Comfort and Connection
The holiday season is often portrayed as a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. However, for many people, it can be a time of increased loneliness and isolation. It's important to remember that feeling lonely during the holidays is common and does not mean there is something wrong with you. In fact, it is an opportunity to practice self-care, seek connection, and find comfort in various ways.
Why is it Hard to Love Myself? The Impact of Trauma on Self-Love
The impact of trauma on self-love is complex and multifaceted. It alters our self-worth, self-esteem, and self-confidence, often leading to fear and shame. However, understanding this relationship between trauma and self-love is the first step towards healing and reclaiming our self-worth.
Navigating Trauma: Steps for Self-Care in the Face of Guilt
In this article, we delve into the challenges of navigating trauma and the additional burden of guilt. We understand that these weights can feel overwhelming, and we want to provide guidance on the importance of self-care as a lifeline for survival. While this article may not serve as definitive therapy, it serves as an initial step towards comprehending and restoring emotional balance, offering support and insights to help you navigate the path towards self-care and release feelings of guilt.
The Search for Self-Identity: Understanding Who You Are
Have you ever found yourself questioning who you truly are? Feeling uncertain about your identity is a common experience that many people go through at some point in their lives. It can be a confusing and unsettling journey, but understanding the factors that shape our sense of self and developing strategies to strengthen our identity can lead to a more fulfilling and authentic life.
Understanding Self-Compassion: What it is and What it is not
Many people struggle to understand the true meaning of self-compassion. Some individuals mistakenly believe that self-compassion involves shirking responsibility or being self-centered and indulgent. However, this is far from the truth. Explore the true definition of self-compassion and its significance in managing trauma and suffering caused by past experiences.
Codependency Crisis: Recognizing the Signs and Finding Healing in Family Relationships
In this blog post, we dive deep into helping you recognise the signs of codependency and offer practical ways to find healing. We will walk you through real-life scenarios and help you recognise if codependency is at play in your own family. We will also share powerful strategies and therapeutic approaches that can lead to positive change. Join us on this journey of self-discovery and transformation as we navigate the path towards healthier, more fulfilling family connections.
Of Love & Scars (1) : Understanding the Chaos of Toxic Family Dynamics
Many individuals face toxic family dynamics and childhood trauma, which can cause emotional, psychological, and physical scars. Toxic family dynamics consist of unhealthy behaviors like manipulation, control, emotional abuse, and neglect, leading to a negative impact on family members' well-being. These environments are marked by an absence of support, affection, and empathy, resulting in isolation, invalidation, and emotional exhaustion. Addressing these issues is vital for promoting healing, growth, and a more fulfilling life.
Of Love & Scars (2) : Healing from the Chaos of Toxic Family Dynamics
Toxic family dynamics, which can include emotional and physical abuse, neglect, manipulation, and constant criticism, often cause deep pain and confusion, impacting mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Healing from childhood trauma and toxic family dynamics is a non-linear, complex, and personal journey, requiring courage, patience, and self-compassion as we confront our past and work towards wholeness.
Let’s get this over with: Impatience and what it’s trying to teach us
Impatience is a complex emotion that can hold valuable lessons for us, if we’re willing to listen. While it can be frustrating and overwhelming, it can also be seen as a sign that something deeper is going on.
When Grief Becomes Complicated
The walk of grief is a well-known human experience. Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, job, sense of identity or health, loss stirs up pain within that can leave us feeling hopeless and empty. When do we know when grief has become complicated or has extended past the initial deep pain from grieving? Complicated grief carries some of the same symptoms as ‘typical’ grief, making it raise the question as to when we know we have crossed the line from typical grieving to complicated grieving.
Is this too Good to be True? What to do when Fear steals your Joy
Joy can be a complex emotion. On the one hand, it can elicit great pleasure and make your heart swell with warmth. But for many people, joy can also bring up feelings of fear—fear that joy will be taken away. Are you afraid to feel joy because of how you’re doubtful and scared that it may be gone? Learn about what Foreboding Joy is and how you can let go of it.
Is it Guilt or Shame? How to tell the difference and work through it
Many of us tend to use the words “guilt” and “shame” interchangeably. Sometimes we might experience both feelings at the same time after we have felt as though we have done something wrong. However, they refer to different experiences because these feelings come from different understanding of ourselves and others. Understanding the differences between them can help us work through self judgments, self-criticism and low self-worth.
What Makes A Good Friend? 7 Green Flags to Look For
A friend is someone who you can count on and who can count on you. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that needs to work for both sides of it. To be able to see these things in our friends is important because it can help to realize who really has our best interest at heart. These can be big actions or small that pull the friendship in one direction, and while it is important to think about and realize these “red flags” it is even more important to be able to view and identify the “green flags” these points that make our friends indispensable. These are the actions that make us feel safe and comfortable in the presence of others. Read on to see some of the more common green flags that are easily identifiable in our close friends.
Are you in An Abusive Relationship? Here are 10 signs to look out for
Abusive relationships rarely start out with blatantly severe acts of abuse. More often than not, abusive relationships begin with weird “Red Flags” that may at first appear to be acts of love. It is not uncommon for manipulative behaviours, words, and actions to be initially disguised with seemingly good intentions, but make no mistake. These red flags indicate dangerous behaviour is likely, and whenever these red flags appear, overt acts of dominance and control tend to follow soon after.
People Pleasing (2): How does it Help or Hinder us?
People-pleasing involves adjusting our words and actions for the sake of another individual. Typically, they can be considered very helpful and kind people who will drop everything to come to your aid. However on the other end, some people may even think of them as manipulative or hypocritical as they try to win the praise of those around them. Therefore there are pros and cons to people-pleasing. On the positive side, people-pleasing can help you be adaptable and open to situations and different personalities. However, on the negative side, people-pleasing can have an extraordinarily hard toll on your emotional wellbeing as you are constantly putting your own needs on a back burner for those of others.
People-Pleasing (1): Why do we People-Please?
People-pleasing is a term you may have heard of in different lights. It might not sound bad at all, because, what’s the problem with trying to make other people happy. Nothing right? However, people-pleasing usually comes at the expense of our own wants or needs. It involves changing or adjusting our words and actions for the sake of another individuals' feelings or reactions. By doing this, we are putting other people's wants, needs, and happiness, ahead of our own. One may not even notice that they are a people-pleaser in the bad sense, as it is a very subtle response to diffusing conflict that had to have been developed at an early age.
Understanding Anger and How to Deal with it
Whether we are dealing with our own anger or that of those around us it is a good idea to try and understand what anger is and where this specific anger is coming from. Within you can find a few helpful tips and strategies to express your anger in a healthy way so that you will reduce tension and can help build better relationships. Take a minute to step back and look from the outside.