Jackdaw Wood CIC

Jackdaw Wood CIC Holistic Eco-therapy |Creative Workshops | Integrated Counselling | Well-being Groups & Training | Forest Bathing | Meditation & Mindfulness

Range of quiet meditation � spots & woodland walks

Ego death.one of the most transformative experiences a human being can have.Most people will never have it. Not because ...
03/05/2026

Ego death.
one of the most transformative experiences a human being can have.

Most people will never have it.
Not because it’s inaccessible and requires some spiritual pilgrimage to a mountain in tibet, years in an Ashram or meditative silent retreats in a distant monastery.

We say that because it requires something most people are genuinely not willing to do.
look at themselves honestly.

I’ll get to that.
but first I want to tell you something.

When we are young we have this image in our heads of who we are going to be.

You know the version.
the one that’s sharper,
smarter,
figured out,
respected.

The one that has the answer before the question finishes leaving our mouth.

Financially sorted,
physically built,
mentally solid.
the version that just moves different through every room they walk into.

every teenager has some version of this floating around in their skull.

Don’t let anyone tell you they didn’t.
No matter how humble someone pretends to be,
everybody has imagined a better version of themselves at least once.

it’s human.
it’s actually one of the things I respect about the human spirit,
the relentless belief that tomorrow could be completely different.

And realising, it is 100% attainable as well,
don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

But there was a slight problem I had.
the version of me I had in my head and the version of me that actually existed were having a disagreement.
It’s called cognitive dissonance.

The one losing was generally the real one.

I was attached to a self-concept that wasn’t serving me;
a collection of beliefs about who I was,
how I operated,
what I was capable of,
what I deserved,
that i’d been building since I was a kid.

That self-concept was running my life,
quietly like a piece of software I’d installed a long time ago and forgotten .
It was still running.
Most people never question the software,
they just live in whatever it produces.

i’ve written about subconscious
reprogramming in the past but an ego death is a whole other beast.

The ego death changed everything in me.
It cracked the whole thing open and what was on the other side was both terrifying and the most free i’ve ever felt.

This post is about that process.

What it actually is psychologically and neurologically.

How to do it without a retreat,
or anything more exotic than your own willingness to be honest.

Who you become when you come out the other side.
the version of you that exists right now has limits;
some of those limits are real.

Most of them are stories , beliefs and old coping mechanisms.

Those internal stories are running you whether you know it or not.

So restarting real relational exploration in therapy . 🌳🌈🦋😄🦋

Helps you re-write those stories , rebuild yourself ,
engage your inner sage ,
wisdom keeper & warrior 🌳🪶🌿🍃💚

Is the power of kinshipbetween family, friendscommunity and Naturein need of revival?Nature offers kinshipwith all.Where...
03/05/2026

Is the power of kinship

between family,
friends

community and Nature

in need of revival?

Nature offers kinship

with all.

Where does it sit with you?

Your Thoughts Are Not the Enemy—But They Do Need TrainingAnxiety and depression can make your mind feel like a hostile p...
30/04/2026

Your Thoughts Are Not the Enemy—But They Do Need Training

Anxiety and depression can make your mind feel like a hostile place.

The thoughts come fast:
“Something bad will happen.”
“I’m a failure.”
“Nothing will change.”

When you’re in that state,
advice like “just think positive” feels shallow and invalidating.

What actually helps,
from a therapeutic perspective,
is learning structured ways to work with your mind instead of getting lost inside it.

That’s where CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) techniques become powerful—not as quick fixes,
but as daily practices that slowly change your brain’s pathways.

Some of the most helpful CBT tools:

↳ Cognitive restructuring:
Noticing distortions and gently replacing them with more balanced thoughts

↳ Behavioural activation:
Scheduling small, meaningful activities even when motivation is low

↳ Exposure:
Gradually facing fears in safe, planned steps rather than avoiding them completely

↳ Mindfulness:
Bringing your attention back to the present moment with kindness,
not judgment

↳ Thought journaling:
Tracking triggers, emotions,
and patterns so they become understandable—not mysterious or overwhelming

These skills take practice,
and it’s okay if they don’t feel natural at first.

Your brain has been rehearsing old beliefs for years;
giving it new scripts is an act of patience and courage.

I

Good parents teach their kids how to identify their emotions.GREAT parents teach their kids how to control them!Over the...
30/04/2026

Good parents teach their kids how to identify their emotions.

GREAT parents teach their kids how to control them!

Over the past few years,
there's been a huge and welcome push to help children name their emotions.

You can find tons of books about feelings, in any playground you'll hear parents saying things like,
“I can see you're feeling angry",
and nurseries and schools are increasingly getting on board too.

It's brilliant!
And it's working.

More kids than ever can tell you exactly how they feel.

But I think we've collectively stopped at step 1: identifying the feeling.

Step 2 gets way less airtime.

Teaching kids what to actually DO with those big feelings once they've named them,
is also really important!

What that looks like changes massively depending on the age of your child.

A three-year-old having a meltdown in Tesco needs a completely different approach
to a ten-year-old befuddled by friendship drama.

Good parents teach their kids how to identify their emotions.

GREAT parents teach their kids how to control them!

Over the past few years,
there's been a huge and welcome push to help children name their emotions.

You can find tons of books about feelings, in any playground you'll hear parents saying things like,
“I can see you're feeling angry", and nurseries and schools are increasingly getting on board too.

It's brilliant!
And it's working.
More kids than ever can tell you exactly how they feel.

But I think we've collectively stopped at step

1: identifying the feeling.

Step 2 gets way less airtime.

Teaching kids what to actually DO with those big feelings once they've named them,
is also really important!

What that looks like changes massively depending on the age of your child. 🧒

🌿🍃💚💚🌈🌈🌹🔥🔥🌿🍃💚💚
29/04/2026

🌿🍃💚💚🌈🌈🌹🔥🔥🌿🍃💚💚

Nature pulls us up when we feel down, worked up, and vulnerable. It takes us out of our neurosis, shakes off the cobwebs...
29/04/2026

Nature pulls us up when we feel down, worked up,
and vulnerable.

It takes us out of our neurosis,
shakes off the cobwebs,
and helps us to mentally refresh.

Nature shows us the way of the cycles and impermanence of all things and awakens the heart.

Michele Kambolis 💚🌳🍃🌿🌱🫶🏻🦋🪶

Happy Forest 🌳 Bathing
29/04/2026

Happy Forest 🌳 Bathing

Sunbathing Daze 🌱🍃🌳
29/04/2026

Sunbathing Daze 🌱🍃🌳

Fires 🔥 of Bel in Jackdaw
29/04/2026

Fires 🔥 of Bel in Jackdaw

Some losses don't have funerals.No one brings food.  No one asks how you're doing.But they're still losses. And you sti...
29/04/2026

Some losses don't have funerals.

No one brings food. 
No one asks how you're doing.

But they're still losses.
And you still get to grieve them.💔❤️‍🩹🌈

"In June 1932, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an eleven-year-old boy named Thomas Crain walked six miles alone across open d...
26/04/2026

"In June 1932, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an eleven-year-old boy named Thomas Crain walked six miles alone across open drought-cracked prairie to bury his mother.
She had been the last.

His father had died in 1930 of dust pneumonia.
His sister in 1931, starvation.
His mother in 1932, grief.

He had, that morning,
wrapped her body in the family quilt because the ground was too hard to dig a proper grave and he was too small to dig one anyway.

He was walking to the nearest neighbor — the Henderson farm, six miles east — to ask for help.

He had walked three miles when he saw it, standing on a low rise beside the road.

A coyote.
Adult male.
Approximately forty pounds.
But pure white.
Not grey. Not tan.
White.
Pink nose.
Pale blue eyes.

Albino coyotes occur at an estimated rate of one in one million.
No albino coyote had been documented in Oklahoma in any living farmer's memory.

The coyote did not run.
It sat down.
It watched Thomas Crain walk past.

Thomas Crain later told the story, in a 1976 oral-history interview recorded when he was fifty-five,
that he had stopped walking.

He had sat down in the dirt beside the road.

He had said out loud to the white coyote:
‘I don't have anybody.
I have six miles left.
I can't do it.'

The coyote had stood up.
It had walked approximately thirty feet ahead on the road.
It had sat down again.
Waiting.

Thomas Crain had stood up.
He had walked.
The coyote had walked thirty feet ahead.
It had sat down.
It had waited.
For three miles.
For the remaining two hours of the walk to the Henderson farm.

At the sight of the farmhouse,
the coyote had turned and trotted back the way they had come.

Thomas Crain watched it disappear into the heat shimmer.

The Hendersons took him in.
They raised him alongside their own six children.
He lived to be eighty-two.

He became a soil conservation officer for the USDA — one of the men who,
after the Dust Bowl,
helped rebuild the grasslands that the drought had destroyed.

He never saw the white coyote again.

He told his grandchildren,
always:
‘An animal walked me home when no person could.
I have spent my life trying to walk other things home.'" 🌳🍃💚

When you have an exciting communication style and maybe a little neurospicinessYou can often feel a little ‘different’ a...
25/04/2026

When you have an exciting communication style and maybe a little neurospiciness

You can often feel a little ‘different’ and struggle in relationships & groups
Because you stand out in the greyish world when you are a rainbow scape

But we all need help,
reassurance and compassionate response at times.

Helping people with ADHD
who experience intense emotions ("feeling too much" or emotional dysregulation)

involves validating their experiences,
helping them manage sensory overload,
and fostering calming strategies.

Key approaches include creating a "coping toolkit" (e.g., fidget tools, music, walking away),
breaking tasks into smaller steps, practicing mindfulness (like deep breathing), and offering non-judgmental support.

Practical Ways to Support Someone

Experiencing Overwhelm:

Validate and Listen:
Acknowledge that their feelings are real and intense, even if they seem out of proportion to you.

Identify Triggers:
Help them identify what causes overstimulation, such as loud noises, bright lights, or excessive demands.

Reduce Sensory Overload:
Encourage them to take breaks in a quiet space, use noise-canceling headphones, or leave crowded environments.

Create Routine:
Structure and predictability reduce the cognitive load that leads to emotional outbursts.

Encourage "When-Then" Planning:
Help them create clear action plans for high-stress situations.

Be Patient & Non-Judgmental:
Avoid telling them to "calm down." Instead, encourage them to take a pause before reacting.

Calming & Coping Techniques:

Mindfulness & Breathing:
Deep breathing exercises, such as box breathing, can physically calm the nervous system.

Grounding Exercises:
Encourage activities like walking outside, sitting in nature, or using sensory tools.

Physical Activity:
Regular exercise helps process intense emotional energy.

"Find Your Tribe":
Encourage them to connect with supportive people who appreciate their unique personality rather than trying to fit in.

When to Seek Professional Help:

If the emotional intensity is affecting daily life,
encourage them to seek professional help from a doctor or therapist specialising in ADHD or current understanding.

Therapy (such as Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy - CBT), Integrative counselling , or medication can help improve emotional regulation.

Address

Green Lane, Doncaster
Marr
DN57

Opening Hours

11am - 2pm

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