“The mind is its own place – it can make heaven out of hell or hell out of heaven”.

We are thinking beings. The first thing we do when we wake up is have our first thought of the day. The last thing we do before we fall asleep is have our final thought of the day. We know from brain imaging that the part of our brain associated with thinking is sometimes even more active while we sleep. We are constantly thinking -making sense of ourselves, others and the world around us. Most of our thoughts are never expressed. We think a lot to ourselves! Often we conclude about things without having the evidence. Sometimes we make decisions without the voice of reason being in the room with us. We become know-alls!!

The danger is that we often join the dots about things without really knowing all the facts. All of us are vulnerable to irrational, unhelpful and illogical thinking. It’s important to work at being more rational and compassionate. Often it is not the things that happen to us but rather the meaning that we attach to those things that makes the difference. John Milton, the poet, was more of a psychologist than he probably meant to be when he said “The mind is its own place – it can make heaven out of hell or hell out of heaven”. I think that he is right. The same things do not affect people in the same way. Often our wellness or happiness is very much interlinked with the sense we make of ourselves. It’s important to become our own best friend rather than own worse enemy in times of challenge!