Positive Reflections on the Year gone by 2023 {+FREE Printable}

On December 12, 2023December 16, 2024 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection6 Comments

“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” ~ Rumi

❤ Read and get the 2024 Reflections FREE Worksheets HERE ❤

As a practice for many years now, I love to end the year by reflecting on the year that has gone by. Its a practice that has helped me deepen my relationship with myself, it helps me learn from the experiences I’ve had this year and in general makes me more appreciative of the year that was.

For me to even begin reflecting on the year that has gone by, I have to sit with my journal. I have to look at all that I added to it in the past year and really notice where it is that I spent my energy.

Its such a great practice honestly. To really reflect on the year, I had to bring to mind everything about the year. Here’s how I did it:

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Positive Steps to Start Regulating Your Emotions

On November 20, 2023 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, Mind, Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health7 Comments

As humans, we’re emotional creatures. The career path we take, the films we enjoy, the art we’re drawn to is all influenced by our emotions. Emotions help us choose our friends, those whom we fall in love and stay with for our entire lives…also those whom we’ll leave behind.

Yes, our emotions have power. Emotional intelligence is the ability to harness that power–to understand and manage emotions, so that you can make decisions that are in harmony with your core values and principles.

But we can’t attain true emotional intelligence till we learn to regulate our emotions.

Regulating your emotions is the ability to control your behavior, emotions, and thoughts in the pursuit of long-term goals. More specifically, emotional self-regulation refers to the ability to manage difficult emotions and impulses—in other words, to think before acting.

Regulating your emotions also involves the ability to bounce back from disappointment and to act in a way consistent with your core values.

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6 Signs You are Stuck in a People-Pleasing cycle& How to Heal from it

On November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn healing, Mind, Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing9 Comments

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. ~ Lao Tzu

People-pleasing is a common coping mechanism humans use to fit in to their surroundings. Most of the time we develop the habit of people pleasing because of our need to protect ourselves from negative emotions. It shows up in a pattern of behaviours that, on the surface, make us seem ‘nice, sweet, flexible, very understanding and agreeable’.

Confession: I am a reforming people-pleaser myself. So, I know first hand that Empaths and Sensitive souls suffer from people-pleasing the most.

While being kind and helpful is generally a good thing, going too far to please others can leave you feeling emotionally depleted, stressed, and anxious.

We really want people’s approval and to stay in their good books, which often results in us neglecting or not even being aware of our own needs.

Because of our need to please others, we struggle to set boundaries and tend to overcommit, leading to overwhelm, anxiety and burnout.

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