Relaxation & Reflection: Blog
As we move into December, our theme changes to “Relaxation and Reflection”. It’s the end of the year, when often our energy is a little bit lower. The shorter days can affect mood, motivation and even our health. What’s needed at this time of year is increased stillness, and for us to give ourselves permission to relax and to slow down.
Picture from our Isle of Mull Retreat 2021
Relaxation:
Relaxation is a little different from rest – it has a more active component. We can relax by doing things, whereas with rest we are simply being. Knowing what activities help you to relax is so beneficial (of course, actually doing them is even more beneficial!). I know for me my favourite ways are either by settling down with a good book, or by going for a walk in nature.
Photo taken in Canada Woods, Falkirk - this was a planning meeting with Morag from Sound Balance Scotland a few weeks ago. We worked as we walked - but it was still relaxing!
It's interesting to note that your ways to relax might change over time – and if we don’t take note of that, we might be utilising something that is no longer working for us. I used to love cooking, and being in the kitchen was one of my favourite places to be. For some reason – maybe because I had a business that was all about cooking for 4 years – it no longer is. If I hadn’t got other ways of relaxing, I’d feel a little lost.
A little like coping strategies, we need to have more than one way of relaxing. If something changes and we can no longer relax in our favourite way, we need to have back-ups in place. It’s worth taking a moment to consider, what are the ways that you like to relax?
Reflection:
Our other theme this month, and they very much intertwine, is reflection. As we come to the end of the year, it’s the perfect time to pause and look back. I have to say that being reflective is not my forte – I have a tendency to always be looking to the future, making plans. But I’ve learnt that it’s so useful to look back – to celebrate the wins, and learn from the difficulties.
When I did my training to be a Probation Officer it was all about being a reflective practitioner – reviewing cases and the way that we’d dealt with clients to learn from this and move forwards. What I realised then was that reflection tended to focus on the negatives – what went wrong, and how we can learn from it, so we don’t make the same mistakes again. I saw less celebration of the things that went well. I now realise that reflections need to focus on both.
My main way of reflecting now, particularly as we come to the end of the year, is to reflect back on the good times. The bad times tend to be fairly well etched in our memories anyway – as Rick Hanson says, our good memories are likely Teflon in the mind – they slide out whereas our more difficult memories are like Velcro – they stick tight! Our good memories need a little more work to cement them in. So I remember that walk in the beautiful sunshine with friends and their dogs in the local country park, the time me and Phil went for a swim in Pittenweem Tidal Pool, our visit to Germany to see Phil’s grandson, seeing my parents again after nearly a year due to covid restrictions. And more – so much more!
Susie & Phil at Pittenween Tidal Pool
What memories will you be reflecting on as we move into the last month of 2021?
To celebrate our themes this month, we have lots of wonderful sessions on offer. Between Christmas and New Year we’re opening up our sessions to our whole community, so they can all have some much needed relaxation before the next year starts. If you’d like to join our free community, click here.
You can also see what we have on by going to our events page.
Hope you have a relaxing and reflective December,
Susie xx