The Spark Blog
Category: tips
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How to Cope with the Winter Blues – Part 3
In the final part of The Spark’s ‘How to cope with the winter blues’ series, we’re offering a few more tips on keeping your mood up when the sun is going down. You can catch up with part 1 and part 2 where we looked at how a ‘sexy raincoat’, not being Gordon Gekko and…
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How to Cope with the Winter Blues – Part 2
Welcome to part 2 of The Spark’s ‘How to cope with the winter blues’ series offering our tips on ways to defeat the winter blues. Catch up on part 1 of ‘How to cope with the winter blues’ where we looked at how embracing the winter season, taking up a new indoor pastime and ignoring…
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How to Cope with the Winter Blues – Part 1
When the days start getting shorter and the nights longer, many people start to feel their mood drop. Unlike Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – a form of clinical depression – the ‘winter blues’ is a general term for the feelings of sadness and lethargy we can all experience as the temperature drops and the memories…
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The Midlife Crisis: Fact or Fiction?
Our society has evolved to make light of and trivialise the midlife crisis; the middle-aged man in his red sports car is lampooned, the middle-aged woman with a much younger partner is frowned upon and neither is offered a sympathetic ear. We have come to assume it is just a flimsy excuse for erratic or…
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Coping with a midlife crisis
In part 2 of our series looking at coping with a midlife crisis, Counsellor Janet Balcombe examines the features of this midlife transition and some techniques we can employ to deal with the mental and emotional impact. Catch up on part 1 which looked at whether the midlife crisis is just an excuse for erratic…
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Adolescence: 4 Truths Adults Need to Know
Adolescence can be one of the most emotionally turbulent times in a person’s life; hormones, changing responsibilities, the rewiring of the prefrontal cortex of the brain and difficult social and emotional situations can all take a toll on the emotional wellbeing of even the healthiest teen. In this article, Counsellor Joanna Herman-Waddell shares her experience of working with…
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6 Ways to Keep a New Year Resolution
January is probably most famous for New Year resolutions. It is also famous for something else: the complete failure of New Year resolutions before the end of the month. No matter whether your New Year resolution is to lose weight, keep date night with your spouse sacred or actually take a lunch hour, here are…
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Anxiety: 6 Self-care Tips From a Psychotherapist
Anxiety can be described as “distress or uneasiness of the mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.” In some situations, it can be very helpful and even life-saving. As John-Roger and Peter McWilliams explained in their seminal book ‘You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought’, an element of anxiety was essential to…
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How to support your relationship in retirement
Most couples look forward to retirement, eager to spend more quality time together. Free from the constraints and pressures of work it is a chance to relax and, especially if the nest is empty, an opportunity to embrace hobbies new and old. The reality of this major life transition can, however, be very different. Couples…
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