11. Widow's brain and the healing power of self-love and self-kindness - Pauline Skeates

Widow's brain is a real thing, but it's not necessarily a bad
thing. When we suffer a trauma such as the death of our person,
our amazing brains respond to the immediate trauma and the
consequent grief in intricate ways. One of the them is to shut
down areas that are not immediate crucial for survival and fire
up our danger instincts: fight, flight, freeze or collapse. In
this episode we explore what can happen to our brain and our
capacity to think when we are grieving, and we also talk about
ways in which we can make our own minds a safe space where we
learn to give ourselves self-kindness and self-love. We dive into
a bit of neuroscience, which affirms that Love is the super
emotion that can help us heal and build resilience, and why
validating our own experiences is crucial for our
wellbeing. 


Pauline Skeates has been a therapist for several years. She has
created and developed a model of therapy - Insight Focused
Neurotherapy (IFnT)- which she applies with her clients (*ahem*
me as one of them) to help them develop a new and more positive
way to see themselves, to train how to re-focus, and to find
purpose for their lives amidst the circumstances they are facing.
 She sees clients on her private practice in Auckland, New
Zealand, and through online sessions. She also provides training
for professionals in this method, mainly in Europe and NZ.


Through her private practice Pauline also teaches courses on
 "Introduction to Mindfulness" and "Mindfulness in
Practice".  You can find out more about Pauline's courses
and therapy sessions through her website
https://insight-international.org/


Together with her colleague Sandy Fabrin, Pauline has co-authored
three books "From Distress to De-stress", "In Pursuit of
Awareness" and "Walking into Grace". Hard copies and downloadable
e-book versions are available here:
https://insight-international.org/shop/


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Light and peace,





Tatiana xo