Anna Dabas | Psychologist
Anna Dabas
Phone: +61 405 051 414
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25.01.2022 Before falling asleep, we can make an agreement with our dreams. Similar to a contract. We don’t need to write it down, but we can if it helps. It is a beautiful technique from Jungian analyst, Robert Johnson. The purpose of this is to help create an opening between the subconscious and conscious mind the dream world and the waking world. The dream’s end of the agreement is to reveal everything that it has to tell us. Our part of the agreement is simply this: I am listenin...g. Peaceful and purposeful dreaming x Art | Unknown
25.01.2022 There are times, and perhaps now is one of them, when we find ourselves falling into a rut. Maybe you are already there. Losing routine and having too much free time can indeed be accompanied by a sense of guilt or lack of achievement, which itself deepens the lull. Tomorrow is another day? But then tomorrow becomes more of today. ... An interesting thing about these ruts or lulls, is that our perception of them can dictate what they become and how long we remain there. Maybe, in this very moment, the lull does not actually exist as we think it does. Only the potential for it. The memory of it. The belief that it has a hold on us. And yes, our external circumstances and our bodies with hormones and chemicals and memories can weigh upon us and make us feel stagnant and bound to particular experiences. But do we not also hold the power to see something else in this moment? This very moment is, after all, never bound or stagnant, but absolutely alive with freedom and potential. Photo Paul Matheson
24.01.2022 Life is challenging; it calls us to unravel ourselves. It is perplexing and beautiful and calls us to wonder. is for anyone seeking more depth in their self-help journey. As a psychologist, I am passionate about the process of transformation. My work draws on the mechanisms of the brain to the symbolic stories of ancient peoples. I am continually inspired by the intricacies and interconnectedness of all things, and the power that we hold ...within. I am based in North Brisbane, however my programs will also be run online, so your connection to the community is not limited by how far we live from each other. I am invested in helping you find new life.
23.01.2022 Best way to work.
22.01.2022 ‘You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.’ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth Art | Norman Rockwell
22.01.2022 Words have power. When it comes to self-talk, try switching your adjectives for nouns and see if it makes a difference. Close your eyes and be present in the moment. Recite each of these sentences separately, whether out loud or in your mind: I am peaceful. I am present.... I am peace. I am presence. The first version is like telling ourselves what to do or how to be. We may not actually believe what we are asking of ourselves, and therefore are resistant to it. The second version works much better in my opinion because we are speaking from within, rather than speaking down to ourselves. Art I Unknown
22.01.2022 Edward F. Edinger, from The Eternal Drama: "Myths are not simple tales of happenings in the remote past but eternal dramas that are living themselves out repeatedly in our own personal lives and in what we see all around us. To be aware of this adds a dimension to existence that is usually reserved for the poets. To the extent that we can cultivate awareness of this transpersonal dimension, life is enlarged and broadened. Just as Moses is eternally bringing down the law and... Jesus is forever being crucified and resurrected, so Heracles is eternally performing his labours, Perseus is confronting Medusa, and Theseus is forever stalking the Minotaur. All these dramas are happening in us and around us constantly. They are eternal patterns of the way life happens below the surface, if only we can see it." Image Nelson Carpenter
16.01.2022 Artwork Celestial Dance, Rassouli https://rassouli.com/home.html
16.01.2022 Late night musings... Completely unrelated to psychology, but why not put it out there and see if my fellow ponderers have contemplated the same thing. If we wash a brand new red shirt with a white shirt, the white one will go pink. But if we wash a brand new white and red striped shirt, why don't the white parts of the shirt go pink? It's not a trick question. Genuinely curious.... On a more serious note, here is a tip for accessing the creative solutions of the subconscious, as promised in my last post: In the morning, allow yourself time to drift in and out of sleep. As you're halfway between sleep and wake, focus on one current problem. You aren't thinking of solutions or forcing your thoughts; just holding the one problem in mind. Allow it to be there. Stay focused on it without worrying about answers. The key is to be semi-sleeping. Keeping our bodies very still can help suspend us here. You may experience a flash of inspiration. ArtTithi Luadthong
14.01.2022 The brain has its own rhythm. Much of an adult’s time is spent in Beta state, a brainwave frequency between 12 and 40 cycles per second. Beta waves enable us to focus and think critically. Children spend much of their time in Theta state, which has a much slower rhythm between 4 and 8 cycles per second. Children in Theta state dwell in the realms of imagination, connection and creativity. ... As adults, we revisit the slower rhythm of Theta states when we in very deep meditation. We also experience the peaceful waves of Theta when we are drifting between wake and sleep; when we float in that liminal space where we aren’t quite sure who we are or where we are. It is the plane where our conscious and subconscious worlds meet, and our daily troubles begin to transfigure. It is in Theta state that our mind is most creative, intuitive, and free. As our brainwaves slow down, so does the busyness of our minds as we are released into the realm of childhood again. We have much to lose and much to gain here. Art Bruno Vergauwen
12.01.2022 Thomas Edison was known to use power napping as a means to solve problems and come up with creative ideas. He would sit in his rocking chair with a rock in his hand and his arm dangled over the edge of the chair. He would place a tin on the ground beneath his arm. Every time he verged on sleep, the rock would slip out of his hand and into the tin, waking him. He would then pick the rock up again and repeat. In this manner, Edison suspended himself in a place between wake and... sleep, where Theta brainwaves are prominent. As discussed in an earlier post, this state of consciousness allows us to access the spontaneous creativity of the subconscious mind, while also being conscious enough to grasp our ideas logically. We can experience light bulb moments (pun intended!) like Edison in this state. I might follow up with some tips for how we can practice this ourselves. ArtUnknown
10.01.2022 ‘Life without a tale is like sea without salt.’ Saltheart Foamfollower, Giant, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant... A dear friend of mine told me about a book series she read as a child. The characters would journey across the seas in boats that were captained by giants. As they journeyed, the giants would tell stories. The giants were very slow in their story-telling, and sometimes it took them two whole days to finish one short tale. As archetypal characters, giants are usually kind and loyal. We often hear the term ‘Gentle Giant’. We can turn to them as true protectors. Although somewhat foolish or clumsy, they carry their own wisdom, and we find security in both their grandness and simplicity. Our modern minds, with our pressures and expectations, our addictions and stresses, may find a journey across the seas with a story-telling giant quite difficult; as peaceful as we imagine it to be. We don’t seek innocence or slowness or simplicity. We instead learn to trust the anxieties before us. Large things appear small, and small things appear large. Imagine for a moment, that you have an invitation to take a journey with a wise, old giant across an adventurous sea. Their aura of grandness, of protection, of kindness summons. What wondrous tales would they tell you? What do you need to hear right now? Art | Benjamin Borst
09.01.2022 I dreamed I was driving up a steep bridge, but my car kept rolling backwards. I couldn’t get traction or power to make the climb. I soon discovered that all I needed to do was let some water out of one of my tyres. After doing so, the car gently drifted down a stream and around the bridge, reaching my intended destination. The 'path of least resistance' is about finding new and easier ways to get through the day. In nature we see lightning striking the closest object and tre...es growing toward the sun. Energy is only put into those things which come most easily and naturally. It is referred to as ‘perfect action’. Taking the easy path in life might be seen as a cop-out. However, we may be in the habit of mentally pushing in the wrong direction. We may hold the subconscious belief that everything must be an uphill battle, and then we experience life as such. It's okay to move about the day with ease. We can test this out with a to-do list. Commence at the action which feels most natural, with no planning or ordering in mind. Allow flow and momentum to reveal its own order. We may very well achieve what we set out to achieve along the way, with just a fraction of the usual resistance. ArtKim Novak, The Tides of Humanity
08.01.2022 A good friend of mine dreamed and interesting dream some years ago. He has allowed me to share some of it with you. He was standing on a long bridge late at night. On either end of the bridge were police, as if he was in some sort of stand-off, exposed for the wider world to see. Kneeling before him was a man. He held this man tightly hostage and had bound him in green Christmas lights. He could feel his anger building as he threatened to throw this ma...n off the bridge and into dark water some way down. Soon after, my friend recalled memories of childhood. He retold the story of being a young boy and driving through the neighbourhood with his family to see the Christmas lights. Many houses were enticing and extravagant and stirred feelings of excitement and wonder. However, one particular house stood out strongly in his memory for a different reason. It was wrapped in only a single string of green lights. He reminisced: I remember how dull the house was. Every year I was overcome with a feeling of dread as we approached it. I would think to myself, ‘Not this boring house again’. We’d go in circles; always coming back to that same old place. I found this dream particularly intriguing. In light of ancient and modern theories, we can suppose that all dream characters represent parts of ourselves. And furthermore, that dreams communicate only in symbols. Instead of using words to convey, say, dullness and drudgery or ‘going in circles and coming back to the same old place’, they will instead reach deep into the psyche and find the memory or symbol that most clearly brings that thought or feeling to our awareness, for whatever purpose it has. Dreams are unimaginably precise in their communication. I will leave it to you to ponder the meaning of my friend’s dream. I have my own ideas, but at the end of the day, we all speak our own language.
08.01.2022 There was an interesting (albeit heart-breaking) experiment conducted in the 1960s on ‘learned helplessness’. On day one of the experiment, dogs were given inescapable and repetitive electric shocks. On the second day of the experiment, the dogs were again administered shocks but were also given the opportunity to jump over a barrier to escape. Sadly, two-thirds of the dogs stayed where they were. When we find ourselves overcome with helplessness, when life doesn’t seem to o...ffer a way forward, we might imagine the dogs. We might consider how much of our experience is not because we are truly stuck, but because we have not yet discovered, harnessed and honoured our power. We don't see what is before us. It is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Art Daniel Eskridge
08.01.2022 Core beliefs feed into anxiety. Some of the well known beliefs are The world is a dangerous place or I must meet all of my responsibilities all of the time. A less acknowledged undercurrent of anxiety is the pervasive feeling of I’ve done something wrong. This unwarranted belief exacerbates one of the most intrinsic human fears: the fear of exposure. We may find relief in identifying and acknowledging its presence. Seeing it for what it is. Perhaps it is misplaced guil...t from many moons ago. You haven’t done anything wrong, and yet it feels so. It seems as though life is going to catch you out. Perhaps you dream of situations where you are exposed. Separating your true self - your existence in this very moment - from the fear that lurks beneath the surface, is the first step in absolving it. It is a beautiful gift to recognise that not everything that lives within you is true. ArtDawn Waters Baker
07.01.2022 Our beliefs about ourselves are usually shaped in our early years. When it comes to our minds and our hearts, first impressions last. This is both a beauty and a tragedy. Because as children, we will believe anything. Art Olga Bulakhovska
05.01.2022 As a child I was terribly homesick whenever I was away from my parents. When I was seven, with typical childish lack of foresight, I travelled to Sydney to stay with my grandparents for a week on my own. Not long after arriving, I was overcome with sadness and wanted to go home. I recall my grandmother being very angry with me throughout the week. She would tease me and would even cry herself, telling me that it wasn’t fair that I was sad. I felt horribly guilty for wanting ...to go home and for causing her so much difficulty. One day she came into the room and gave me a jar filled with $100 worth of gold coins. I remember feeling ashamed as she handed it to me. Here she was giving me this treasure, and I had been a great pain to her in return. I was completely undeserving. I have never been great with money since. I tell this story because it’s a good example of how early experiences, particularly highly emotionally charged ones, set the stage for how we see ourselves and how we relate to what’s around us. The birthing of these early beliefs is out of our control. They seem to just become part of us and then they grow with us into adulthood. But we can be freed from them. I encourage you to identify an area in your life where you are resistant to receiving. ArtUnknown
05.01.2022 In case anyone is struggling with procrastination, here’s a shortened version of an exercise from a course I’m developing: . ’ Choose a task that isn’t too big. If you do choose your biggest task, try break it into parts, e.g. instead of the whole essay just choose the introduction. ... . Close your eyes and spend 5-10 minutes imagining that you are the task. Take on the task’s perspective. Don’t force it too much - just let it flow. Allow it to reveal its own personality: name, face, quirks etc. If it has a rather demanding or anxious energy, slowly shift it into a more gentle or quirky one. . Continuing as if you are the task, ask the real you if you could pop over later that day for a cuppa as you need a little help with something. Remain in the perspective of the task and spend a good few minutes holding your request in mind, imagining all parts of it. It feels rather simple and straight forward really. Wait for a response from the real you. It might be something like Yeah, sure. Pop over after lunch and I’ll see what I can do. . Returning to the real you, go turn the kettle on (I’m serious). You don’t need to focus on the specifics of the task just yet. You’re just allowing space in your afternoon for an old friend to drop in and you’ll go from there. The purpose of this exercise is to shift the dynamics between you and your ‘to-do list’. We move from feeling burdened or pressured, and subsequently avoidant; to being at ease, empowered and in sync with the activities that we invite in throughout the day. They really aren’t so scary once we get to know them. Art Jonelle Summerfield
01.01.2022 From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Noah’s Ark, ancient flood myths show us that there is a common theme embedded deep in our collective psyche. Renewal. Back in 2014 I was writing an essay on the Genesis flood myth. During that time, I became immersed in the symbology of washing away and how life, with its magnificent capacity to re-create itself, is carried forth to start over. ... In the very week that I spent writing and delving deep, I won tickets to see ‘Noah’ at the movies. Although I found that the movie missed the mark of the original myth, it still drew me further in. I was perhaps desiring for, or in need of, my own flood. Funnily enough, the next morning I woke to find my house half flooded. I find that the world around us is certainly in tune with the lively journeys within us. Feel free to share similar experiences. Art Diane Romanello
