Recent studies have uncovered a link between childhood shyness and anxiety later in life .

These findings highlight the importance of helping our children increase their sense of self, understand their world of feelings and gain knowledge and experience managing their worry.

If you notice your child shying away from social activities like play dates or birthday parties, isolating themselves and other changes in their normal behaviour, they need help. Introduce them to a counsellor like myself who is trained in cognitive (conscious thinking mind) and mind/body ( subconscious feeling mind) techniques. Helping your child overcome their shyness can prevent them from suffering from future anxiety.

It’s approaching bedtime and you are starting to get nervous, worrying if you are going to be able to get to sleep. You check your phone for messages and a few last emails, finish watching the news and then get into bed. Your mind is racing and you are thinking about all of the important things that you have to do tomorrow and you need to be able to think. Throughout the night you keep looking at your clock counting the hours of sleep you can get if only you fall asleep now! In the morning you are tired, cranky and feeling less than resilient.

Does this sound like you?

A good night sleep I essential for allowing both your body and your mind to heal. Lack of sleep is correlated to decreased immunity, mood issues, poor concentration and relationship challenges.

Depriving humans of sleep is often used as an interrogation technique, a means of torture and “brainwashing”. It is very difficult to feel sharp, oriented and capable when you just want to cry because you are so exhausted.

After a short time of being in this cycle, not sleeping and the expectation of not sleeping can actually become a habit formed through repetition.

Through a combination of sleep hygiene, cognitive and mind body work we can release the pattern that has kept you awake and relearn a healthy process of going to sleep and sleeping well.