Deb Does Therapy

Hello again my friends! In our first session of Writing Therapy you’ll recall we explored living your ideal life - a broad visioning exercise. The goal was to get us thinking about goals - not just material goals, or external achievements, but how you want to feel more of the time. It was about visualising and feeling into your greatest sense of ease and contentment, whatever that is for you.

Isn’t normal everyday life a wild ride? I mean in our heads, inside. Much of outer life can be quite same-same, no dramas thankfully, most days. I like it that way, the comfort of routine, the calm of plans confirmed, a sense of certainty - as much as that is ever possible. But inside, it’s a different story right? Surprises guaranteed every day, if you’re paying attention to your mind! Yesterday I was walking the dogs in the park and a lone bagpiper began to practice nearby.

Image Mike Tinnion on Unsplash Welcome back! Thanks for your emails and sharing about how you’re doing with the exercises so far. I’m glad to hear that you’re getting valuable insights from them.

Hello Friends, Welcome to the second session of our online therapeutic writing retreat. In this session we’re continuing on directly from our first exercise with a new writing prompt. Then we’ll begin writing a highly personal emotional management ‘manual’ for ourselves that can be a real eye-opener. It’s an evolving document that we’ll work on throughout these sessions and I think you’ll find it fascinating personally, plus beneficial for improving communication in your relationships.

Trigger Warning. If this is a topic that is difficult for you, you do not have to read it. I have plenty of other articles that will not distress you. Go there instead if you are likely to be distressed because I want these articles to support, not upset. Nothing about writing or reading on this topic is easy. I do however, believe I have a duty to write some kind of imperfect answer here about one of the most frequently discussed issues in therapy.

Hello Friends, Here’s this week’s question. It’s about leisure sickness, a term to describe the the falling apart or getting sick, that often happens when we stop or take a break following a big push or a great achievement. Dear Deb, I recently achieved some really big goals in my work and my uni course, but now I’ve come down with a virus that’s been really hard to shake and has sent me to the couch when I should be celebrating. Can we talk about how that happens and how much it sucks? Yes.

Writing as Therapy 1: The 3 Loves drdebracampbell.substack.com

Hello Friends, In my last piece I wrote about the power of being able to communicate effectively and how struggling to communicate, for example, in a second language, is humbling and can feel disempowering. Words can be the tools for emotional freedom, and often they are the most powerful and the most personal of our tools, especially the words we speak to ourselves in our own heads.

Hello, I hope life is treating you well. So, here’s an interesting thing. I studied French at school for 6 years way back in the 1800s (OK the eighties) and I even attempted an ill-fated first year of studying said romance language at uni. It was there I learned that, mind-blowingly, I could barely speak French when actual French people addressed me, even regarding simple, everyday things. This was despite me doing OK in Year 12 French.

Hello, Although I fear I may come across a little simplistic in this piece, there’s a good reason for that. I feel it’s really helpful to call a spade a spade sometimes, rather than staying lost in complexity, especially when it comes to creating healthy, lasting relationships. So, here goes. One word Kimmy: Defences (or defenses, if you prefer!) Yup.