Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week — Free Resource

Today marks the end of New Zealand’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, but for me, mental health isn’t something to focus on once a year — it’s an everyday practice.

Over the years, I’ve battled with stress, anxiety, and negative thought patterns. Like many, I’ve learned the hard way that managing your mind is just as important as looking after your body.

That’s why I’ve created a free booklet called THE POWER OF TEN – Mastering Calm and Control with Simple Breathing and Mindfulness Methods.

It’s based on my own journey and the simple, evidence-based techniques that helped me regain calm and control — things like mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and cognitive reframing.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• How to use breathing techniques to calm your mind and body in stressful moments
• Simple steps to manage negative thoughts and build emotional resilience
• CBT-based tools to break anxiety cycles
• A practical action plan you can use every day

I’m sharing this resource today as my small contribution to Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, because I believe everyone deserves access to tools that can make life a little calmer and more balanced.

📥 Download your free copy of The Power of Ten here.

If you find it helpful, please share it with someone who might need a moment of calm. Let’s keep the conversation going — not just this week, but every week.

Best wishes to you all for the remainder of 2025 and beyond!

GWC

Note: This resource is available for FREE anytime. Link in the Sidebar of this website. 🠊

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek2025 #MentalHealthMatters #AnxietyRelief #Mindfulness #CBT #WellbeingJourney #StressManagement #EmotionalWellness #BreathingTechniques #SelfCare #WellbeingAtWork #ConstructionIndustry #MentalFitness #NZ

Immanuel Kant was a Bloody Artistic Genius!

This article was written in 1999 and was part of a paper I was completing in Art Theory under the tutelage of Dr Denis Dutton. Having the good fortune to be a student of Dr Dutton's was a highlight of my academic studies and I am very proud to boast of an 'A' mark for this particular essay. I have updated it slightly and it will be part of a larger collection of academic articles I plan on publishing, concentrating on art, literature and philosophical theory. Denis Laurence Dutton (9 February 1944 – 28 December 2010) was a philosopher of art, web entrepreneur and media activist. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch , New Zealand . He was also a co-founder and co-editor of the websites Arts & Letters Daily , ClimateDebateDaily.com and cybereditions.com Immanuel Kant KANT’S NOTION OF GENIUS IN ART In an integral section of The Critique of Judgement [1] that deals with notions of art, Kant attempts to expl...

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How to Combine Multiple PDFs With Adobe Bridge CS5 and Acrobat

If you are using Adobe Photoshop CS5 you have probably discovered that you cannot merge multiple (PDF/image) files without a great deal of effort and manual dexterity. If you have the Adobe suite there is a much simpler and effective way of doing it, as outlined below. Adobe Suite (CS5) includes Adobe Bridge - follow the instructions below to seamlessly merge multiple PDFs into a single PDF file presentation. Can be used for images as well. Merging Multiple PDFs With Adobe Bridge CS5 1 - Assemble PDF files (or JPEGs etc) into an easily accessible folder (Desktop etc). Make sure to name the files alpha-numerically so that they automatically sort when you open them in Adobe Bridge (e.g. file_1, file_2, file_3, file_4…). 2 - Open Photoshop/Adobe Bridge CS5 3 - Use the drop-down ‘Folders’ tab to select the file folder with the PDFs/JPEGs you wish to merge into a single PDF (see image below). 4 - Select all the images/PDFs you want f...

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Jacques Lacan's Mind F*#k 'Mirror Stage'

Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (April 13, 1901 - September 9, 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, who made prominent contributions to the psychoanalytic movement. His yearly seminars, conducted in Paris from 1953 until his death in 1981, were a major influence in the French intellectual milieu of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly among post-structuralist thinkers [1]. Lacan's ideas centred on Freudian concepts: e.g. the unconscious, the castration complex, the ego. He also focussed on identifications and the centrality of language to subjectivity. His work was interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics, amongst others. Although a controversial and divisive figure, Lacan is widely read in critical theory, literary studies, and twentieth-century French philosophy, as well as in the living practice of clinical psychoanalysis. Lacan's first official contribution to psychoanalysis was his theory of the 'Mirror Sta...

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Strategies for the Recruitment and Retention of Millennials in the New Zealand Construction Industry

According to a recent report prepared for Waihanga Ara Rau, New Zealand’s Construction and Infrastructure Workforce Development Council, the New Zealand construction industry faces significant challenges, including an ageing workforce and skilled workers leaving for other sectors or overseas jobs. The research shows that many people lack awareness of career opportunities in the construction sector and often view construction trades as unattractive career choices, especially from within the millennial demographic. Millennials aged 26 to 44 who were surveyed commonly viewed construction jobs as unattractive compared to jobs in other areas, such as engineering, business, law and government. They tended to believe that a lack of fitness or strength and insufficient math or science skills were significant barriers to working in the construction industry. This report and other research highlight that while a construction career is seen as a financially beneficial and valid profession, roles ...

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New Zealand Industry-Based Careers and Training

Here are a selection of some articles I wrote between 2019 -2021 when I worked as a Content Writer/Developer for the New Zealand Government careers website (click on the article titles below to go to the online version). Articles about careers and training in the New Zealand Building and Construction sector: Great pay for jobs in the Construction Industry Why you should consider a career in Building Science Turn heads with a Tiling career Skills you need for Building and Construction apprenticeships Building a new career Articles about careers and training in the Food, Fibre and Forestry sectors: An exciting future is yours in the Food and Fibre sectors Improving Forestry through innovation Another article I wrote about a company who won a Skills Highway award: Bespoke training leads to personal growth at HEB Construction Miscellaneous articles I wrote about career-related things: Staying positive through redunda...

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GW COOK