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One Word, Many Meanings
As humans, we are meaning-makers.
All day long, without even trying, we interpret the sounds, sights and sensations around us. A door closes. A text goes unanswered. Someone sighs in a meeting. We instinctively decide what it means.
And here’s the fascinating part: the meanings we create are often completely different from the meanings created by the person standing right next to us.
What one person hears as a door closing, another hears as someone leaving without saying goodbye.
Same sound. Different story.
The meanings we attach to events and objects shape our beliefs. They help to form them. They also reinforce them. We tend to look for evidence to support what we already believe — and we find it. Our brains are very good at that.
If I believe I’m not valued, I will notice every slight.
If I believe people can’t be trusted, I will collect proof.
If I believe I always get it wrong, I will find the mistakes.
But here’s where things get interesting.
When we pause and recognise that there may be another way to see something — when we allow ourselves to take a different perspective, to reframe a situation — something shifts. We move out of our problem-saturated space. Solutions become more visible. The grip of patterns like anxiety can loosen.
Not because we’re pretending everything is fine.
But because we’re widening the lens.
This week’s creative prompt is “tissue.”
When the word first came to me, I thought of coloured tissue paper — the kind you glue into bright collages. Then I thought about the tissues that make up our bodies — connective, protective, holding everything together. And then, of course, the humble box of tissues on my desk, ready for noses, faces and tears.
One word.
So many meanings.
The simple act of exploring how to depict tissue, use tissue, create something from tissue — it sparks possibility. It reminds me that meaning is flexible.
Now imagine applying that flexibility to your life.
Someone is rude to you. You could decide it means they don’t like you. That story might feel familiar. Maybe even convincing.
But what would someone else watching the encounter see?
Would they notice the person clutching their head with a headache?
Would they see the stress in their shoulders?
Could the sharpness in their tone be a sign of pain rather than dislike?
We rarely know the full story.
Reframing doesn’t mean excusing poor behaviour. It doesn’t mean abandoning boundaries. It simply means allowing for the possibility that our first interpretation isn’t the only one available.
And that small shift — from certainty to curiosity — can change everything.
Creativity isn’t only about art supplies and prompts. It’s also about how we interpret the world around us. When we loosen our grip on a single meaning, we create space. Space for compassion. Space for solutions. Space for calm.
So this week, play with “tissue” if you feel inclined. See what it evokes. Notice how many meanings it can hold.
And then gently ask yourself:
Where in my life might there be another meaning waiting to be discovered?
About the Author
Theresa is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Strategic Psychotherapist based in Canberra, working with clients both in person and online through her practice, Navigating Calm. She helps people create lasting positive change by breaking free from unhelpful patterns and reconnecting with calm, clarity, and confidence.
If you’re ready to take the next step towards lasting change in your life, get in touch today to book an appointment.
Finding Inner Peace: Calming the Busy Mind Through Awareness and Creativity
When I ask clients what they want to achieve, change, or seek, a common answer is peace. What’s interesting is that what peace looks like is different for each person—deeply personal, shaped by their own experiences and circumstances. The word peace gets bandied about in many contexts: the classic wish for world peace, the association with peace and quiet, the 1970s hippy expression “peace, man”… and so on.
For many clients, though, the peace they’re talking about is an inner quiet. It’s the ability to let go of busy thoughts, to soften the sense of overwhelm that comes from juggling too many perceived balls in the air, and from holding long mental lists of things they’re trying to remember. In this context, peace is really about being able to guide your thoughts—focusing on what genuinely needs your attention, while allowing the rest to gently slide away. Peace means calming the brain.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been sharing short clips on Instagram that invite the viewer to pause for a moment. Stopping to observe something in your everyday surroundings—stepping outside to notice the wind moving through the grass, a rabbit nibbling on a leaf, or ants busily scurrying about—can help clear the mind, create a sense of peace, and allow you to breathe out. I encourage you to test it out. Find something you can observe, even for just 20 seconds, and notice how becoming absorbed in a small detail can begin to clear the busyness of your mind. (I can also confirm that wandering outside to capture these moments on film is delightfully soothing!)
The prompt for this week’s creative practice, as part of the #navigatingcreativity series, is Peace. Whether you use it as inspiration to draw, paint, compose, write, dream, or photograph, I invite you to enjoy using your brain creatively—supporting neuroplasticity, taking time for yourself, and finding your own version of peace.
About the Author
Theresa is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Strategic Psychotherapist based in Canberra, working with clients both in person and online through her practice, Navigating Calm. She helps people create lasting positive change by breaking free from unhelpful patterns and reconnecting with calm, clarity, and confidence.
If you’re ready to take the next step towards lasting change in your life, get in touch today to book an appointment.
When You Feel Stuck: Rewiring Patterns Through Awareness and Creativity
Clients often come to see me when they feel stuck. That sense of being stuck shows up differently for everyone, but it tends to share some common threads: feeling unable to change, struggling to move out of patterns that are harmful—or at the very least, not helpful.
At the core of so many of these experiences is the belief that we can’t change. This belief often develops through a kind of mis-wiring along the way. When we start to believe that we can’t shift our perception, change our patterns, or even let go of certain thoughts, it usually comes from the mistaken idea that we have no control over our thoughts and feelings.
One of the most effective ways to reconnect with our capacity to change is to test it out—and create proof for ourselves that change is possible. A simple task I often suggest is choosing what you will notice each day.
If you feel stuck in a negative mindset, you might intentionally notice three positive things during the day. If anxiety feels like a constant companion, you might look for three moments when anxiety isn’t present. That could be a feeling of contentment, delight, or feeling valued—whatever fits. When you deliberately set out to notice something, you’re far more likely to see it than when you tell yourself it never happens.
So, what can you set out to see today?
Another way to support our ability to change is by engaging the brain creatively. This week, I’m adding the prompt ‘water’ to the #navigatingcreativity program. How might you explore this creatively? Will you write a poem, draw a picture, take a photo, create a water scene, or even sculpt using water?
The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Enjoy the process—and take a moment to admire whatever you create.
About the Author
Theresa is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Strategic Psychotherapist based in Canberra, working with clients both in person and online through her practice, Navigating Calm. She helps people create lasting positive change by breaking free from unhelpful patterns and reconnecting with calm, clarity, and confidence.
If you’re ready to take the next step towards lasting change in your life, get in touch today to book an appointment.
Coffee, Creativity and the Curious Brain
Last week, I floated the idea of using our brain in a creative way to support neuroplasticity — helping to maintain the adaptability of our brain, our mindset, and our perception. I shared the first prompt: green.
It sparked ideas, opened up conversations, and even led to some creative output. I picked up coloured pencils and played with drawing a potted plant, and felt that quiet joy that comes from mixing colours, noticing details, and exploring ideas without an agenda.
This week’s prompt is coffee — whether that’s the colour, the beverage, or even the plant. How might you use this prompt to be creative? A poem, a picture, a cake…?
If you feel inspired, please share and use #navigatingcreativity so we can enjoy the process of creating and using our brains together.
This idea of allowing time for creativity has sparked some interesting conversations. Some people see creative time as non-productive, while others see it as essential. Some experience it as hard because the outcome isn’t what they hoped for; others see it as an opportunity to learn, experiment, and grow.
Ultimately, it comes down to the meaning we attach to the time, the process, and the product. How might you reframe this and take a different perspective? And what could that shift mean for you?
Wonderful questions to sit with.
About the Author
Theresa is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Strategic Psychotherapist based in Canberra, working with clients both in person and online through her practice, Navigating Calm. She helps people create lasting positive change by breaking free from unhelpful patterns and reconnecting with calm, clarity, and confidence.
If you’re ready to take the next step towards lasting change in your life, get in touch today to book an appointment.
