These are confusing and dangerous times. Whatever our circumstances, we try to plan our work, family and social lives but we are bombarded 24 hours a day with “news” of political turmoil, economic failures, international conflicts and natural occurrences, which sometimes have a nasty habit of knocking those plans off course. For the most part many such things are existential and outside our control and, although we may stress and worry about the future for ourselves and our loved ones, we resign ourselves to accept them. However if they are overlaid with personal problems, be they medical, relationship or financial, they can be overwhelming tipping a person over the edge into mental breakdown.
I frequently see clients who are in a state of high anxiety arising from non-controllable causes and I compare them to a spider believing itself to be threatened and scuttling frantically across the floor in every direction in its efforts to escape. If the spider stops to take stock of its situation, it may see – sometimes at least – that the bearer of the newspaper or the glass that is chasing it, only wants to pick it up and return it to its natural habitat.
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Of course, as a psychotherapist, I believe that talking through a client’s anxieties can bring them calm, enable them to compartmentalise the issues and help them take a good look around and find their escape route. However, I also tell them to “take five” – five (or more) minutes out from directionless panic to doing something that distracts the brain from oppressive thoughts and, ideally,diverts them to an activity that requires little or no thought. It could be any hobby they have always enjoyed or something entirely new. And it doesn’t matter how good or bad it is done – it is just a matter of doing it. For me it is swimming – no gold medalist I, but just the buoyancy of the water and the freedom of movement with no strain on my body clears the cobwebs of my mind. If after “taking five” your cobwebs haven’t cleared, you are still overwhelmed and you haven’t yet been picked up and returned to a more comfortable place, then please give me a call or drop me a line and we can have that chat..
As an aside, some of you may remember the famous jazz number “Take Five” by the masterly American pianist and composer, Dave Brubeck. Whilst it has a complex melody line, the underlying swaying 5/4 rhythm structure is repetitive throughout and performed almost “unthinkingly ”. A very good piece of music to take five with or just listen to as your “take five” activity.
I frequently see clients who are in a state of high anxiety arising from non-controllable causes and I compare them to a spider believing itself to be threatened and scuttling frantically across the floor in every direction in its efforts to escape. If the spider stops to take stock of its situation, it may see – sometimes at least – that the bearer of the newspaper or the glass that is chasing it, only wants to pick it up and return it to its natural habitat.
[image: image.png]
Of course, as a psychotherapist, I believe that talking through a client’s anxieties can bring them calm, enable them to compartmentalise the issues and help them take a good look around and find their escape route. However, I also tell them to “take five” – five (or more) minutes out from directionless panic to doing something that distracts the brain from oppressive thoughts and, ideally,diverts them to an activity that requires little or no thought. It could be any hobby they have always enjoyed or something entirely new. And it doesn’t matter how good or bad it is done – it is just a matter of doing it. For me it is swimming – no gold medalist I, but just the buoyancy of the water and the freedom of movement with no strain on my body clears the cobwebs of my mind. If after “taking five” your cobwebs haven’t cleared, you are still overwhelmed and you haven’t yet been picked up and returned to a more comfortable place, then please give me a call or drop me a line and we can have that chat..
As an aside, some of you may remember the famous jazz number “Take Five” by the masterly American pianist and composer, Dave Brubeck. Whilst it has a complex melody line, the underlying swaying 5/4 rhythm structure is repetitive throughout and performed almost “unthinkingly ”. A very good piece of music to take five with or just listen to as your “take five” activity.
