It is said ‘charity is a virtue’. By virtue they mean, a behavior exercised that is good.

Charity is good for the person receiving it, and it is also fantastic for the person giving in charity.

In giving we do receive. This may not be our intention, as in by giving we get back, but it is what happens whether we like it or not.

The latest ‘happiness’ research suggests that when we ‘give’ of ourselves, our time, our money or share our skills with another human being, we get happier.

I often recommend to people to get involved in community work or volunteering your time to help others.

There are so many benefits to be had in doing this.

-       Meeting other people and developing connections

-       Gaining perspective on your situation as you encounter other people’s lives and being able to put your problems in perspective.

-       You may even get a job

-       Satisfaction felt by helping other people or advocating for a cause you feel passionate about.

When we combine using our character or intellectual strengths to exercise the virtue of charity then we experience even greater levels of happiness.

So if you want to get happy – give, listen, support, help, assist, act & do good.

FOCUS – every task has an unpleasant side………but you must focus on the end results you are producing.

What sort of mindset must one have to finish what one has started? It is all too common the experience of feelings of excitement when we start something new and then boredom or frustration when those new ideas, face challenges or obstacles.

Developing the ‘right’ mindset that goes along with success is about cultivating a set of thoughts that support us to keep going and persist even when things are not easy.

Thoughts such as the following can be very powerful. Try It.

“I can do it.”  – I had this thought in childbirth.

“This is important to me to see completed, not half finished.”

“I may not experience joy in this task, but it won’t be as bad as I am making out in my mind. “

“Just do it!” borrowed from the NIKE motto. There is more pain associated with procrastinating and intellectually beating yourself up about it in your head for not doing the task than actually doing the task.

Develop a very clear image or vision of how achieving the goal will look like, smell like, taste like and sound like can help you to get through the boring or challenging parts of the task.  E.g. To have a clean house, one must clean the toilet. It isn’t pleasant, but someone’s go to do it.

FOCUS on the end product.

Are you or somebody you know feeling depressed? If so then you are not alone, in fact 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will suffer from depression at some time. It can have many symptoms but a good way of separating depression from a normal stressful and emotional period is if the symptoms have persisted everyday for two weeks or more (a medical professional should determine if it depression). Feeling down and not taking pleasure in tasks that used to make you happy are two main symptoms. Other symptoms can include severe weight-loss or weight-gain, sleeping too much or sleeping too little, losing motivation to live and being forgetful. It can affect your day-to-day life and have major effects on your brain. Depression is a medical condition that can be linked to low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin and it CAN be treated. There is plenty of help available and the first point of call should always be your GP. They will then determine what specialists need to be called in and often a psychologist, like those at Nasihah Consulting, can be contacted to help you.  Simply looking after your physical health and exercising can also help you feel better, this makes sense when about 80% of serotonin production is in the gastro-intestinal tract. Don’t hesitate to get help. It may feel hopeless but depression can go away and you can feel better.

I am a 20 year old Lebanese Muslim girl and I am lucky to come from a family that is fairly open-minded and have some understanding of psychology. But being an Arab Muslim girl and wanting to pursue a career in psychology hasn’t always been easy. I often hear things like “oh you want to work with crazy people” or “so what am I thinking right now? You can read my mind right?”-wrong!!! Psychologists cannot read peoples’ minds nor do they work with “crazy people”. They are qualified practitioners who have had to undergo a minimum of 6yrs education and training in the study of the mind, brain and behaviour. There aren’t many females in the Muslim and the Arab communities that work in the field of psychology so when I first discovered Nasihah consulting it was a breath of fresh air. They understood the stigma that is associated with psychology and they specialise in working with people from communities where the stigma is particularly strong. There aren’t many Muslim psychologists in Melbourne and working at Nasihah Consulting has shown me that psychology and Islam can work hand in hand. With people from all different backgrounds, Nasihah Consulting is breaking down the stereotypes and eliminating the stigma associated with psychology.

Since VCE I have always known that I want to become a psychologist, I love the idea of helping people through their problems, enjoy listening to people and was absolutely fascinated by the subject. Wow, studying something as complex as the mind, brain and behaviour and potentially being able to ease somebody’s suffering or help them cope with everyday life. How could I resist? Mental health problems are on the rise and although we openly take care of our physical health, our mental health is often neglected so I want to pursue a career in psychology to change that. The only issue is: the information given to students is often ambiguous and discouraging. Before beginning my undergraduate degree at university it was my understanding that you simply complete your degree and then you can easily move on to honours and masters if you choose to continue. I also thought that I would complete some form of placement so that I could gain an understanding of what it’s like to work in the workforce. But the road to becoming a psychologist is not so glamorous; you will often be asked why you want to become a psychologist and told that there aren’t many jobs available and you probably won’t be told that you can undergo two years of trained supervision after completing your fourth year studies, instead of masters (although this is often discouraged by universities). Oh and undergraduate studies have zero placements. But here is the icing on the cake, you might even be told “Don’t bother” to apply for honours because it is so competitive and has been described as the “year from hell”.  Whatever you do, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. Do not listen to people who discourage you, do not fully trust what a university has told you. Do your own research, ask people who have completed their studies or are still studying. There are great job prospects and WE NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU in this profession.

I’ll admit it upfront. I’m a straight up, hard core chocoholic. I eat chocolate twice a day, every single day and have been for years. That being said, I’m a little picky. It’s got to be dark chocolate and as dark as possible at that. Lucky for me, dark chocolate comes with a whole slew of health benefits so I can feel a little better about my “addiction”.

Most dark chocolate bars contain antioxidants as well as the compound called epicatechin, which is a member of the plant flavoniods group. These flavoniods keep cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduce the risk of blood clots, and slow down the immune responses that lead to clogged arteries.So, by eating a small amount of dark chocolate daily, you may actually be reducing your risk of a heart attack. Milk chocolate, on the other hand, has been found to have the lowest amount of both epicatechin and antioxidants.

However, not all chocolate is equal. In order to reap the benefits, you have to seek out the chocolate with the highest percentage of cocoa and make sure that the flavoniods have not been destroyed in the manufacturing process, as they sometimes are. Interestingly enough, consuming dark chocolate while drinking milk has also been shown to counteract the positive benefits, just like milk chocolate. And remember, also, that chocolate still is high in calories so be sure to portion a small amount for yourself rather than consuming the whole bar on one sitting (tough, but doable).

But does CHOCOLATE make you happy?

The answer is, in the Short-term Yes (until you’ve swallowed it, so by my calculations about 20-30 seconds), but in the long term, unfortunately NO, but you knew that right? What would happen to pharmaceutical companies if chocolate was essentially an anti-depressant? Hmm.

I’ll let you know if we come across any research that tells you the opposite.

Chocolate is a shortcut to Happiness, but it is not long lasting authentic happiness.

Everyone has a happiness threshold, a lower and upper limit and we typically sit somewhere in the middle of our threshold.

Authentic happiness is achieved by……

a. Eating chocolate

b. Typing about chocolate

c. Using your strengths & virtues to pursue and achieve your goals. Setting goals with meaning is also important.

Nasihah Consulting are working away on a new website which will provide even greater access to people seeking psychological services, project management and creative resources. Stay tuned for further updates as they come in.