Category Archives: Psychology

December 31, 2013 · 6:24 am

New Year and Stress Free Resolutions

Fireworks

Fireworks

New Years day itself, the 1st of January, begins tomorrow for some of us. For others, in different parts of the world, it has already started. It is a day and a date. The New Year of the Gregorian calendar is very similar to the Roman calendar. In 1751, England and Wales had changed the New Year from the 25th March to the 1st January. Can you imagine if it were still celebrated on the 25th of March? Would it make a difference? Would we be having Easter eggs and New Years day within the same time frame?

Meanwhile, I shall celebrate the New Years Eve this evening as New Years day has not changed again and is still set for the 1st of January.

Research on New Years resolutions show that New Year Resolutions often fail.  Why is that? Continue reading →

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December 1, 2013 · 11:29 am

Expressing Silence

I recently spoke to a sound engineer on producing audios. The world of audio and sound is really that of a another world. When tracks do not flow from one song to another, it is not just about sound fading in and out from one to the other but also it is about recorded sounds. When silence is on the outside it sounds different from the silence which is produced in the recording booth. The silence produced in a recording booth are more compatible with the sounds produced in a recording booth. The silent sounds from outside the recording booth would be jarring and discordant to the sounds produced in the recording booth. The expression – what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas also applies here ; What is produced and mixed in the recording studio really does belong in the recording studio – sounds and silence.

There are courses and workshops galore on expressing your true self, finding your authentic self, whole processes of expressing anger and feelings. The problem is not just the voice but also the silence. Often the voice and the silence are mass marketed. We are often socialized to express the acceptable sounds and silence. Our true voice and our true happiness comes from the sounds and the silence that have to mix and interplay not just with ourselves but also with the people and the world we live in. The world has so many sounds and silences. The constant chitter chatter that goes on. No wonder it can be tough to voice ourselves – we also have to consider the silence too. To be with ourselves and our own silence is where we truly find peace.

©2013 Yasmin

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January 31, 2013 · 5:48 pm

Surfing Life

surfingI was watching surfers in San Diego. This was the first time I could see people do it ‘live’. I had often imagined surfers as seeming to go up and down constantly on a board and never spending much time in the water. An imagined wave after wave of thrills and rides. The truth is really something different. A great deal of time is spent in the water, bobbing around, waiting astride their boards for a wave to come along. Continue reading →

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December 31, 2012 · 6:30 pm

New Years Wisdom

wisdomSo here we are. Another New Years Eve and a New Year coming upon us. Older and wiser? That is always a hard one to tell. Wisdom is not something we can touch and see but we know it when we ‘see’ it. So many people view success as having money, even collecting friends on Facebook, a new car, possessions, and even titles. I often think of it in terms of awareness and wisdom. There have been years that I have had the cars, the house and the money but felt very empty and other times when I really learned so much and felt so much more awake and alive with what the year brought and I brought to the year. Now why not also have the two? Wisdom and awareness does not only belong to those in poverty, spirituality and pain but it can be there for everyone. I wish you a Wise, Happy and Prosperous New Year for 2013……

©2012 Yasmin

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June 30, 2012 · 9:53 pm

Cruise and Holmes impending divorce news and How to Have a Happy Marriage

I was so sad to hear today of Tom Cruise’s and Katie Holmes’s impending divorce. Someone I know was working at a recent film premier of his in London and said how he spent hours talking and taking pictures with his fans. She said he seemed to really care for people and was very professional. Their divorce though made me think a little.

I am always sad when people divorce because I believe in doing as much as possible by planning ahead – even before the marriage. If you have been divorced before or never married then plan well ahead and read on….if you have been divorced before…learn to forgive yourself. If you are married to someone you feel is not right for you…also forgive yourself. Just being married does not mean all is well. Learning lessons is always difficult when we do not forgive ourselves. It is always easy to make errors. Continue reading →

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March 31, 2012 · 6:22 am

Giving up chocolate for Lent; Easter, Baumeister and Willpower

Easter EggsEaster is coming and the Easter eggs are in the stores, lines and lines of them. It is a very British tradition. Around 80 million eggs are eaten in the UK each year. There are an estimated 63 million people in the UK and that means some people are eating more than one egg. Even the Queen on her jubilee year may be tucking into a few of them.

Lent lasts for fourty days. It is based on the time Jesus spent fourty days and fourty nights in the desert. 40 days and 40 nights. The number fourty seems to have significance in many areas. The flood which Noah built his ark for was for fourty days, Jonah gave the people of Nivenah fourty days to repent. Then this idea of fasting or avoiding the thing you love to eat developed. It is odd; it is about giving up something and not taking up something. Someone I know is giving up takeaways for Lent, another chocolate and crisps. Chocolate seems a common one.

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September 6, 2011 · 2:51 pm

Looking at Positive Reactions to the Riots

There were some positive reactions to the riots by those who were involved and affected by them. These are behaviours and thoughts we can all learn from.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/10/london-riots-youtube-victim-malaysian. A young man named Asyraf Haziq from Malaysia who had been mugged twice. The first time he had been knocked off his bicycle and had it stolen. His jaw had been broken by the punch. He then sat dazed on the pavement. In the video you can see him being brought to his feet and in a display that sinks so low, those ‘good samaritans’ hang about to mug him (his second time experience of being mugged in such a short space of time) of the contents of his back-pack.

It was his reaction that was interesting. He was not angry, nor did he feel aggrieved. His ‘explanatory style’ was far more positive. He had said after the double mugging how he was sorry for the muggers and had been surprised as to how young they were. He seemed to be genuinely sorry for the people that mugged him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FGfZ2ommI0  A positive explanatory style has more positive outcomes for recovery in terms of mental and physical health. Continue reading →

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May 23, 2011 · 7:58 am

Dominique-Strauss Kahn, The IMF ; Does Sex Addiction come into it?

It damages and affects more then we realiseDominique Strauss-Kahn was the managing director of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and was reputed to have attacked a chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel in New York. He was due to return to Europe to work on the monetary problems in the European Union but was instead arrested whilst waiting for the plane to take off. I am not sure what the trial will bring up but what has not been mentioned is that Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) could possibly be a sex-addict. The need to have sex with so many people and in different situations is one of the signs. It has not been a recent habit and he has a history of  being referred to as a ‘great seducer’. Continue reading →

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April 26, 2011 · 1:54 pm

The Royal Wedding and Relational Happiness

Royal Wedding - Wills and Kate

We have a Royal wedding coming up. The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton. There might be a few out there who know nothing about it and have no access to the press or media but it is estimated a billion people will watch it.

Alexa at the Photoshoot

Last weekend, I was at a photo shoot of someone wearing a wedding dress. It was eerie seeing someone dressed in a wedding dress with deer in the background, sun streaming and no groom in sight. I expected people to be stand-offish but instead found people really friendly with the ‘bride’. There does seem to be happiness around weddings and what they promise. A wedding dress seems to have brought a smile to some of the people there.


 Continue reading →

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January 4, 2011 · 12:28 pm

How thinking can be in our genes – 5-HTT gene, depression and anxiety

Whether people become depressed after stressful or traumatic experiences can be influenced by their genes. Genetics plays its part in our lives from day one. The 5-HTT gene helps to control levels of serotonin, a brain chemical which passes messages between brain cells and affects mood . The 5-HTT gene comes in the short and the long form and everyone has the two versions. Those who have the two copies of short version and who have also mistreated as children, bullied, and in people who have certain medical conditions are more likely to suffer from depression. Continue reading →

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