Understanding , Experienced , Listening

Female , 62

I am a professional therapist and fitness trainer, married for 37 years with 2 grown up children and 4 grand children. For the last ten years I have been working as a professional therapist and latterly as a fully trained counsellor.

I also have a part time job as a yoga teacher at the local gyms in my town. I am a Christian and don't feel there is any conflict with yoga. In fact in a chat with the priest at my church he told me that there is no conflict. He believes that God sees our heart and knows our minds and he won't reject anybody who has a good heart and works from an attitude of love.

I am also a free lance journalist with an e-magazine where I write about anything and everything.

I have a simple philosophy on life; keep it simple and enjoy every second that God gives us. There is no time like the present and no present like the time. Oh and don't believe the bullshit

Relationship Problems

At one stage my marriage was quite shaky due to our rather unsuccessful business. I left home and went to live in a Buddhist centre. However this helped me because I learned a lot about what makes people tick and how many of our assumptions and thought processes can be unhelpful and damaging. I learned how worries and materialism can blind us to the really important stuff in life.

As a result of this "re-education period" I became a stronger person and eventually called my husband and we got back together. The business folded, and we got on with other things and life eventually started to pick up. I am really pleased that we got back together as I feel that marital breakdown might have robbed us of many happy experiences that we have had with our family.

Abusive situations

Through my work as a counsellor I became aware of the extent of abuse in our society and how damaging it can be on the individual and on society. People who have been abused have usually been "brainwashed" to some extent, and then they lose confidence in themselves. I want to help people to overcome those lies so that they can see themselves as the wonderful beings they really are.

Depression

I am a mature person (some of the youngsters would probably just say old!) which means I have had a lot of life experiences.
I've experienced depression when I was a teenager and when I had just given birth to my second child.
I've had bereavements that knocked me for six.
I nearly had a marital break up, but we managed to patch that up thank Goodness.
What I am saying is that over the years I have experienced life and that gives one a bit of perspective.
I believe we can all learn to adapt and make the best of life. Its been great to be able to help people to do that.

I have always thought that the internet would be a great medium for helping people. I used to work for a telephone support charity and at that time computers were just coming into use in the organisation, but they never got to our branch. I am a people person and I believe in making a difference. I couldn't do work where I felt it had no positive contribution to society. We are all on this rudderless ship called Planet Earth together, so what harms you harms me too. I am also a Christian, although I think of it as my spirituality, not a religion. I am not a member of a particular sect. The philosophy that I espouse is a gentle and non judgemental one. However I do feel that one needs to use the internet wisely. The printed word doesn't automatically convey the emotions well, and so internet communication needs to be done, I feel, with a light touch and a great deal of care so as not to convey the wrong messages

Groups you have created.