By Natalie BennettMonday 19 Jun 2023Salt 106.5 WeekendsRelationshipsReading Time: 2 minutes

Relationship expert and neuropsychotherapist Joanne Wilson has the privilege of teaching people about developing healthy relationships, managing mental health and having great strategies to overcome depression and anxiety.

Simply put, Joanne shares that “depression is ruminating over the past and anxiousness is using unhelpful thoughts that are looking at the future, that usually aren’t true and don’t happen. So how we approach that [good mental health] is using the power of our mind creatively to ensure that our thought life is healthy, nurturing, Godly and right.”

One great strategy is using cognitive diffusion

Using the power of your mind to think about an analogy – a stream. So, you’ve got bits of dead wood that are moldy and yucky and they’re floating down and they’re clunky, going down your beautiful stream, look at those pieces of deadwood… that represents an unhelpful thought.

You want to just let that one go past. You don’t pick it up, you don’t want to focus on that too much.

However, you come across some beautiful bright green leaves that are flowing down the stream. They’ve just dropped off of a tree and they’ve got little gold flex on them. They’re the ones that you want to stop and admire and embrace, and they represent nurturing, helpful thoughts. They’re the ones that you want to focus on.

It’s just being mindful of what you’re thinking to yourself. A lot of the time without realizing it.

Another one is deep parasympathetic breathing

Put your right hand on your heart. Your left hand on your stomach… fill up your lungs and your tummy with air.

Deep breathing in for a five count and out to five really, really slowly so that you can really feel the oxygen going into your lungs, and then expanding all the way through to your abdomen.

These are my [Joanne’s] two hot tips as to how you can help self-regulate, and to combat any challenging experiences you have, if you need to calm yourself down and get back to what is nurturing right and healthy for your day.

Listen to the full conversation in the player above. 

For more from Joanne Wilson tune in each Saturday from 12pm or find more from The Relationship Rejuvenator online.