What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00 Thursday 08:00 - 17:00

Dr Natasha Arndt - Counselling Psychologist

Home
South Africa
Upington
Dr Natasha Arndt - Counselling Psychologist

I am a counselling psychologist, this means that i tend to work with healthier clients who have less severe psychological problems.

Generally emotional, social and physical issues that arise from typical life stresses or more serious issues.

27/08/2026

THANKFUL THURSDAY - Let someone help you.

We talk a lot about being grateful for the people in our lives.

But sometimes we aren't very good at actually letting them be there for us.

I'm fine.
I've got it.
Don't worry about me.
I don't want to bother anyone.
Other people have enough going on.

So we carry it ourselves.

Sometimes because we're capable.

Sometimes because we're used to being the one who helps.

Sometimes because asking feels vulnerable.

And sometimes because somewhere along the way, we learnt that needing people meant being needy.

But there is a difference between being capable of doing something alone and having to do it alone.

Asking for help doesn't erase your independence.

It doesn't make you weak.

And it doesn't mean you have failed to cope.

It simply means you've recognised something very human:

We need each other.

Think about how you feel when someone you care about trusts you enough to say:

“I'm struggling. Can you help me?”

Most of us don't think:

What a burden.

We think:

I'm glad they told me.

Perhaps the people who love you deserve that opportunity too.

THIS THANKFUL THURSDAY

Instead of only being grateful for the people who would be there if you needed them…

let someone be there.

Ask for the lift.
Accept the meal.
Make the phone call.
Say “Actually, I'm not doing so well.”
Let someone carry a small piece of what you've been carrying alone.

And when someone offers help, practise saying:

“Thank you. Yes.”

Sometimes gratitude isn't only appreciating what we've been given.

Sometimes it's allowing ourselves to receive it.

26/08/2026

The Wednesday wisdom of AND

Sometimes one small word can completely change the way we speak to ourselves.

AND.

We so easily fall into either/or thinking.

I am strong or I need help.
I am grateful or I am struggling.
I love someone or I am angry with them.
I accept myself or I want to change.
I am doing my best or I could have done better.

But human beings are rarely that simple.

Try adding AND.

I am strong AND sometimes I need help.

I am grateful for my life AND parts of it are really difficult right now.

I can love someone AND need a boundary with them.

I can understand why someone behaved the way they did AND still be hurt by what they did.

I can accept myself as I am AND want to grow.

I can have made the best decision I could at the time AND wish I had done things differently.

I can be proud of how far I've come AND still have work to do.

AND makes room for complexity.

It allows us to stop forcing one truth to cancel out another.

Perhaps wisdom isn't always deciding which side is right.

Sometimes it's becoming spacious enough to hold both.

So when you catch yourself thinking:

“But…”

Try replacing it with:

“AND…”

You might discover that two things can be true at exactly the same time. !!

25/08/2026

TUESDAYS ARE FOR TAKING ACTION 💃🎶

Today's action is ridiculously simple.

Put on a song you love.

And move.

Dance around the kitchen.
Sway while you make coffee.
Sing into the hairbrush if the moment requires it.
Walk around the block with your favourite song playing.
Move badly. Move awkwardly. Move enthusiastically.

This is not exercise. There are no calories to burn and no fitness goals to achieve.

We're simply remembering that our bodies were made to move.

Movement can help release some of the physical tension we carry, shift our energy, interrupt rumination and bring our attention out of our busy minds and back into our bodies.

And when we add music? 🎶

A familiar song can change the atmosphere of an ordinary moment remarkably quickly.

We spend so much time asking our bodies to perform for us — to work, carry, hurry, cope and keep going.

Today, let's give them a few minutes to simply feel good.

TAKE ACTION THIS TUESDAY🎶

Choose one song.

Turn it up.

And for those three or four minutes, don't worry about whether you look ridiculous.

Nobody is marking the choreography. 😂💃

Just move.

Your body might thank you for remembering that movement can be joy, too. 🎶

https://youtu.be/pkCyfBibIbI?si=8S6G3Lzup8ttaK-j

23/08/2026

SUNDAYS ARE FOR REFLECTION

Today, let's not make ourselves a project.

Not something to work on.
Not something to perfect.
Not a space to examine critically, searching for the next flaw to fix.

No “I should be more…”
No “I need to be better at…”
No list of things that still need improving.

Just, for today:

I am me.
And that is okay.

You don't have to love everything about yourself to appreciate yourself.

You don't have to be satisfied with every choice you've made.

You can recognise the places where you still want to grow.

You can want to change a habit.
Learn something.
Heal something.
Do something differently.

But growth doesn't have to begin with the belief that who you are now isn't good enough.

Perhaps today you can look at yourself without evaluation.

At the person who has lived your particular life.

Who has made mistakes and learnt things.

Who has handled some things beautifully and others rather messily.

Who has changed, adapted, struggled, laughed, loved, lost, tried again — and is still becoming.

Not perfect.

Not finished.

Not always satisfied.

But worthy of appreciation nonetheless.

THIS SUNDAY

For once, don't ask:

“What do I need to work on?”

Ask:

“Can I simply appreciate the person I am today?”

No improvement plan required.

Just:

This is me.
And today, I am going to let that be enough.

21/08/2026

FRIDAYS ARE FOR FUN 😂

Today’s goals:
Be as useful as the “G” in lasagna.

That’s it.
That’s the plan.
No personal growth.
No maximising my potential.
No turning my downtime into something productive.
No “while I’m relaxing, I might as well…”
I might lie on the couch.
I might stare into the fridge several times despite knowing perfectly well what is in there.
I may move only when the WiFi stops working.

And should anyone ask what I accomplished today, I shall confidently reply:
“Rested. Aggressively.” 😂

Because some Fridays aren't for becoming a better version of yourself.

Sometimes they're just for being the G in lasagna.
Silent.
Unnecessary.

And still very much part of the whole thing.

Happy Friday!

20/08/2026

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Being thankful should never require you to pretend.

Gratitude is beautiful.

But gratitude becomes something else when we use it to silence ourselves.

“I shouldn't feel sad — I have so much to be grateful for.”
“Other people have it worse.”
“At least I have…”
“I should just focus on the positive.”

That isn't gratitude.

Sometimes, that's toxic positivity dressed up as thankfulness.

Being grateful doesn't mean denying what hurts.

You can love your children deeply and feel exhausted by parenting.
You can be thankful for your job and feel overwhelmed by it.
You can love someone and be hurt by them.
You can recognise how fortunate you are and still be struggling.
You can be proud of how far you've come and be tired from the journey.

Two things can be true at the same time.

Gratitude says:
There is goodness here.
It doesn't have to say:
Therefore, nothing is difficult.

Real gratitude makes room for the whole human experience.
It doesn't demand that we turn pain into a lesson before we're ready.
It doesn't ask us to find a silver lining in everything.
And it certainly doesn't require us to feel guilty for struggling simply because someone else may have it worse.

THIS THANKFUL THURSDAY
Instead of asking yourself to “look on the bright side,” try asking:
What am I genuinely grateful for today?

And then:
What is also difficult for me right now?

Make room for both.

Because perhaps one of the healthiest forms of gratitude is being able to say:
“This is hard.
And there is still goodness here.”

19/08/2026

Some wisdom does not require more explanation

18/08/2026

TUESDAYS ARE FOR TAKING ACTION

Children learn to regulate in the presence of a regulated-enough adult.
Not a perfectly calm adult.
Not an adult who never gets angry.
Never becomes overwhelmed.
Never cries.
Never needs a break.
Never makes a mistake.
And certainly not an adult who sacrifices themselves in the name of being a “good parent”.

They need something far more human:
An adult who knows how to be present.
Present with their child's emotions, yes.
But also present with their own.

Because children aren't only learning emotional regulation from what we do to help them when they're struggling.

They're watching how we struggle too.
They notice what happens when you're frustrated.
Do you explode — or can you recognise that you're reaching your limit?
They notice what happens when you're overwhelmed.
Do you pretend you're fine — or can you say,
“I'm feeling overwhelmed. I need a few minutes.”

They notice what happens when you're angry.
Can anger exist without becoming frightening?

They notice whether you have boundaries.
Whether you rest when you're tired.
Whether you ask for help.
Whether you speak kindly to yourself when you make a mistake.

And they notice what happens when you get it wrong.
Can you come back?

“I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I'm sorry.”
That is regulation too.

It isn't the absence of emotion.
It is learning that emotions can be noticed, tolerated, expressed and moved through — without losing ourselves or each other.
And when their own emotions become too big, they borrow that steadiness from us.
Sometimes that means sitting beside them while they cry.

Sometimes:
“I can see how angry you are. I'm here.”
Sometimes it means holding a boundary:
“You're allowed to be disappointed. The answer is still no.”
And sometimes it simply means not being frightened by their feelings.

Over thousands of these ordinary moments, children begin to internalise something incredibly important:
Feelings are survivable.

I don't have to be afraid of what's happening inside me.
I can be angry and still be loved.
I can have boundaries and still be connected.
I can make mistakes and repair them.
I can be overwhelmed and find my way back.
Eventually, what they once experienced with you begins to become something they can offer themselves.

TAKE ACTION THIS TUESDAY

Don't only ask:
“How do I help my child regulate?”
Ask:
“What does my child see when they watch me have a difficult feeling?”
Not because you need to do it perfectly.

But because one of the greatest ways we teach children how to sit with themselves…
is by showing them how we sit with ourselves.

17/08/2026

MONDAYS ARE FOR MINDFULNESS

When did we stop noticing?
The ant carrying something impossibly big.
The strange shape of a cloud.
The moon in the middle of the day.
The tiny bird hopping around our feet.
The way the sky changes colour just before sunset.

As children, most of us stopped for these things.

Not because they were important.
Not because they were useful.
Simply because they were interesting.

Somewhere along the way, growing up became synonymous with hurrying. We learned to walk past things. To glance instead of look. To fill every quiet moment with a screen, a task or a thought about what needs to happen next.

Mindfulness is, in many ways, an invitation to become curious again.
To stop.
To look properly.
To notice something completely ordinary — and allow yourself to be fascinated by it.

Maybe growing older doesn't have to mean becoming harder to impress.

This week, notice something you would have stopped to look at when you were five.

16/08/2026

SUNDAY's REFLECTION

Not everything that weighs on you is yours to carry.

We spend so much energy trying to manage things that were never ours to control:
What others think of us.
How they react.
Their expectations.
What has already happened.
What might happen next.
How we are perceived.
Outcomes we cannot guarantee.

And while we are carrying all of that, we sometimes lose sight of what is ours.
How I speak to myself.
How I treat others.
Where I place my time and attention.
The values I choose to live by.
How I respond.
The boundaries I keep.
The care I give my inner world.

So perhaps the question for this Sunday isn't:

“How do I carry all of this better?”

Perhaps it is:

“What was never mine to carry in the first place?”

As you move into a new week, put down what isn't yours.

And tend gently to what is. 🤍

Address

Upington

Opening Hours

Tuesday	08:00 - 17:00
Thursday	08:00 - 17:00

Website

http://www.tashaarndt.co.za/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Natasha Arndt - Counselling Psychologist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Dr Natasha Arndt - Counselling Psychologist:

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Upington?