© 2020 All rights reserved
Please contact me for counselling information and to access my counselling service. I am available for counselling by appointment only. You can make an appointment with me by telephoning and leaving a message or by sending me an email. Please provide your name, contact number and any information you wish me to know. I will return your call or email as soon as possible. I don’t answer the telephone when I am with a person or couple, so please leave a voicemail or text.
This service is a private counselling practice so please contact me, Wen Gibson, for any specific information you require. I will endeavour to return your call or email as soon as possible.
I have counselling appointments available Monday to Thursday with some after hours spaces. Please get in touch to ask me what sessions are available and when is the earliest time available for you.
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, right now. Alive and conscious and aware of who we are and where we are. When we are mindful we can catch the stories our minds are running in our heads. It allows us to appreciate life more fully as we are not allowing our minds to dictate how we are.
Many of us are constantly worrying about the future, or rerunning past events. Most of us don’t even realise these thoughts are just that: thoughts! Most of these thoughts are not even true, yet we behave as if they are. It is very common to run the ‘what if’ story – what if this happens – and before we know it we are behaving as if it is happening right now. These ‘what if’ stories often trigger anxiety and depression.
Learning how to be more aware allows us to be more fully here, just now, present in our body and senses. When we are present, our mind slows down. Sometimes it even feels like it pauses. It gives us a rest from the constant chit chat and stories and thoughts and rumination that most minds are continually producing. I can teach you how to use mindfulness techniques to calm your mind and enjoy life more fully.
Meditation is the ability to train our mind so we are more aware, centered, calm and focused. Most spiritual traditions have some form of meditation practice, be it prayer, or chanting or a formal sitting practice. But it doesn’t have to be tied to a religious or spiritual belief system. Very simply, meditation is mind training – putting our mind where we want it to go.
Using mindfulness to help learn to meditate we can calm our mind. Many people have what’s termed a ‘monkey mind‘ – it wants to jump around all over the place. Other people have a mind that often bullies them, telling them what a terrible person they are, ‘if only you did this or that…people would like you etc’.
Meditation can involve sitting for a short period of time. Or it can be odd minutes over the course of the day – paying attention while we hang out the washing, or feeling the water on our skin as we shower, feeling our feet as we walk. Its short periods where we put our mind on an object, usually our breath to start with. Our breath is used as this is always with us. By focusing softly on our in and out breath, we learn to put our mind where we want it. These skills of mindfulness and meditation are added benefits of learning to enjoy your relationships with others and with yourself. Ask me if you want to know more.
© 2020 All rights reserved