Balance - Sarah Barr

Are you a highly sensitive person?

Do you feel like you reflect on things more than everyone else? Do you often worry about how other people feel? And do you …
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Being positive will impact your life in so many ways. Your relationships with others will improve as people are drawn to positive people and your stress levels will decrease helping …
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Social anxiety, put simply, is the fear of social situations.

Living with social anxiety can be frustrating and overwhelming. Your mind is constantly jumping to the worst case scenario. …
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Negative thoughts can spontaneously pop into our heads, sometimes in an intrusive and critical way.

It can happen whilst you’re having a coffee with a friend. When suddenly a negative …
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Why is it so difficult to say “no”?

Having people think negatively of you is the ultimate rejection. This is a reason many people find it difficult to say “no”. …
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If you received your Leaving Cert results today, please do not let them dictate your future and the person who you are.

I cried when I received mine, and not …
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The benefits of a tidy and organised home are obvious.

Cleaning can be an outlet for energy and negative emotions. Removing dust, dirt and clutter from our environment provides you …
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Life can be hectic, chaotic, noisy…

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by it all, no matter who you are or what your social media feed or stories say.

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Social anxiety can impact on people in different ways. Some people will find that all social situations are stressful, while others will only feel the fear when they have to …
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Statistics often say one thing about postpartum mood disorders and social media says another. Many new mums feel like they can’t identify with the happy messages being shared on social …
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Your self-talk is one of the major factors in helping to shape your identity.

Studies show that self-talk can improve your memory, confidence and focus.

Show yourself some kindness

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Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts April 29th – May 3rd. Maternal Mental Health Day is May 1st.

As many as 1 in 5 mothers experience some type of perinatal …
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Visiting a counsellor for the first time is incredibly daunting and it can be really difficult. Many people will often think about making that first appointment for months before they …
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Confidence is something that (mostly) everyone will struggle with, at least once in their lives. Whether it is your confidence in work, in college, as a mum, as a …
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‘Minding Me’ is all about minding yourself.

The 5 week wellness workshop will focus on learning and developing self-care practices and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) techniques. This workshop is delivered …
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Positive affirmations release you from anxiety, negativity, guilt, fear and pain. Here are some examples:

Affirmations are simple messages. Repeated over-and-over, they begin to worm their way into your mind. Slowly changing …
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Social anxiety is more than just being shy.

• Social anxiety is all-consuming, slowly stealing your confidence and identity.

It is making you feel lost, unsure of …
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Valentine’s Day puts the emphasis on love for someone special in your life.

Yet YOU are the most important person in your life.

Why not make this day about loving yourself?

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Whether you get physical panic attacks or mental mayhem, heart palpitations or cognitive chaos. If you feel isolated or watched,  terrified of a crowd or of interacting with one person …
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Living with a mental illness this time of year can be hard. There is so much pressure pouring in from social media, society etc to “start over” or change how …
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Habits, we all have them, good ones and bad ones.

Firstly let’s define habits. Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. According to research …
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Being a mum in today’s world is no easy task, as amazing as it is, it is hard. With all the ‘normal’ duties of motherhood, mums today also have to …
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Anxiety is a part of everyday life for many people. Yet you may be completely unaware, as so many people put in a lot of energy and time in hiding …
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It can be so hard to practice any type of self-care when you’re not feeling yourself. Yet this is exactly when you need it the most.

On days …
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What is OCD?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental illness that creates negative thoughts. These thoughts lead you to believe that if you do not carry out a certain …
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Working in a stressful, high-pressured or demanding job can negatively impact on your mental health. This, coupled with issues at home, arranging child care throughout the summer holidays …
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Researchers found that most mums experience a significant dip in self-esteem after having a baby that can last up to three years.

This is regardless of the mother’s relationship …
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We all know how important self-care is for our mind and body. However it is very difficult to practice self-care if we are stressed and do not recognise that we …
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We all have anxious thoughts from time to time but sometimes these thoughts can be all we think about. They are intrusive, frightening, repetitive and hard to stop.

It …
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Today is World Maternal Mental Health Day, May is Maternal Mental Health Month.

This is a serious health matter, that needs more awareness and acceptance. We need to be …
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By personalising other people’s negative thoughts or opinions we are allowing them to control how we feel.

Q. So how can we stop this?

A. By changing the way we …
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We grow up with labels that are used to define us. These labels can be attached by other people and even by ourself at times. Society, family, social media, work …
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Rejection is hard for most people. Since childhood, we have looked for acceptance from our friends in school to our parents at home. Sometimes doing whatever we can and …
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“You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head, be kind to yourself”

When we are living with low self-esteem, it …
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Let’s do a thought experiment:

• Close your eyes.
• Imagine a pink elephant
• What shade of pink is it?
• Is it happy/sad/indifferent?
• Think about the pink elephant for 60 …
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Weekend Depression: It can start to sneak up on you without you knowing it. During the week you’re busy with work, children, schedules and activities. Yet when Friday or Saturday …
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So yesterday was ‘Blue Monday’ supposedly the most depressing day of the year.

We look forward to winter, the cosy nights and the lead up to Christmas. The parties, the …
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• What are worries?

Worries are just thoughts and thoughts are not fact. They have no reality. Worries begin when we ask, “What if…” then the mental …
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As we all know from experience, making a New Year’s resolution is easy. Sticking with it and actually achieving your goal is not so easy.

New Year’s resolutions is …
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Any special occasion, like Christmas or any ‘first’ can be so difficult when you are bereaved, with each occasion such as a birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Christmas bringing …
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With Christmas getting closer, many of us will feel a mixture of excitement and worry. However, for those of you who live with social anxiety, Christmas can be a very …
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How many times a day do you allow yourself to stop, take stock and breathe?

Or do you carry on, listening to all those ‘mustabations’ (I should be doing this, …
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“There once was a girl whose happiness was tied to the sun. As it rose, so did she, and her smile was like beams of light. As it …
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“Fear is nothing more than an obstacle that stands in the way of progress. In overcoming our fears we can move forward, stronger and wiser within ourselves.”

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How are you?

“I’m grand, yeah fine, I’m good”.

How many times a day do we tell ourselves this, do we tell other people this?

Have you perfected your mask?

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“Mindfulness, being present in each moment, without judgement”

So mindfulness is quite the buzz word at the minute, but what exactly is mindfulness?

It is defined as being …
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Today is World Mental Health Day. The 10th of October each year is dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and bringing together efforts which support …
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“October is about trees revealing colours they’ve hidden all year. People have an October as well” – Jm Storm.

Autumn is the season of letting go. I absolutely …
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Positive thinking focuses on the positive side of life.

To use positive thinking in your life, it is more than being aware of it, it is about adopting it …
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We live in a social media frenzied world.

So creating and maintaining an online presence is now a priority for many of us, whether it is for social or …
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