So much of the pain we go through with loved ones is down to communication failure — to each person assuming that the other speaks and thinks in the same way that they do. I thought of that today as I had a rerun of one of the top ten conflicts I have with my husband…

It’s as if you live in an extremely cluttered room or in your own handbag. You can look at each object and work out where it comes from, who is associated with it, what it means to you and if it is of any use to you now — as in therapy. You can just throw it all away, but you are going to regret that! Or — you can make some kind of temporary space in there in which to work.

Meditation is not about going blank, being emptied of thoughts and desires, and going round with a vacant smile. Meditation is about being aware, awake, being present with your mind.

September Blues — it’s the end of the holidays. Fear of change sets in, fear of losing ourselves once more in the everyday routine. What can we do about it?

My name is Sarah Luczaj, I’m a counsellor/therapist (and also poet and translator) from England. I have been living and working in Poland for ten years — the time for one daughter to grow as tall as she is now, for the other to be born (a year ago), for as many snowy winters and hot thundery summers as can be counted on the fingers of my two hands.

Following the success of Dr Carver’s new column in the ‘Ask the Psychologist’ section, we’ve decided it’s time to add a new voice to the main site blog as well. I’d like to welcome Sarah Luczaj to the site!