Hey guys, I wanted to share a really cool aspect of the brain I learnt about while studying psychology at uni. The brain was for a long time thought to be unchangeable after childhood and fixed as such for the rest of our lives. This, we now know, is not the case. The brain is ever changing and always has the ability to change. I'll try and explain this the best I can. Essentially, when you do a behaviour, act in a certain way or even think in a certain way, the action is reinforced over time through pathways in the brain. But here comes the cool bit. Those pathways can also be weakened and changed over time. So here's an example to try and make sense of this. Let's say I have the thought that people are always looking at me in social settings. If I was to challenge and change this belief, and ultimately feel more comfortable in those situations, I would literally be rewiring my brain to act in a different way. When I learnt about this it was a bit of an eye opener because it means there is always a chance to change, no matter who you are or what you have experienced. Hope this makes sense xoxo  ... View more

Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well in this wacky time. I wanted to write about the importance of understanding lapses and relapses when trying to change a behaviour or start a new routine or activity. For those who are unsure of the differences between these phrases: a lapse is a momentary return to a previously undesired behaviour, whereas a relapse is a full return to a previously undesired behaviour. For instance let's say I want to exercise for 30 minutes a day and for two days in a row I don't do exercise but the next day I do. We could consider this a lapse. If, however, I was to abstain from exercising all-together we could call that a relapse. Such terms tend to be associated with a form of addiction. Although it is true that such lapses and relapses are common in addiction, it is also the case when trying to make virtually any sort of major behavioural change. I think before trying to make a change in our lives it can be super helpful to create a sort of preparation list for if or when a lapse occurs. By doing this we can try and alleviate the possibility of a full-blown relapse occurring and help us stay on the right track . Just like buying running shoes before taking up jogging creating oneself a relapse prevention plan can help you run those extra miles. I've got a couple of sample questions that may be worth considering before creating a major change  1. Why did I start the activity in the first place, what do I want to achieve? 2. Who are some people I can talk to if I slip back into old habits? 3. Who are some people who can encourage me? 3. What are the benefits of sticking with this activity? 4. How do I feel when I have completed this activity? 5. What are the pros and cons of continuing this activity or routine? ... View more

Hey everyone, I learnt a lot of interesting things when I studied psychology and wanted to share something we learnt known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT is mostly based around mindfulness practice and living your life according to your values. I find its a really good way to understanding anxiety and the cycle of how anxiety about anxiety builds and leads to more anxiety. In ACT, there is a concept called the struggle switch. The idea is that when people struggle with there anxiety they may think  "why won't this go away", "I hate this anxiety". For a lot of people, myself included, this is a little familiar and this is the struggle switch turned on. When the switch is turned off, it's more like we're acknowledging and accepting the presence of anxiety but putting our investment into areas that lineup with our values. I put a little video below that explains it much better than I can and I think it can be really helpful for y'all :).       ... View more