Have you ever walked through the “nothing to declare” channel at an airport, done absolutely nothing wrong, and still felt a wave of guilt as though you were smuggling something? Nothing in your bag, nothing on your conscience, and yet there’s the feeling, insisting you’ve been caught. That little moment is one of the most […]
Feelings Are Valid, but Not Always True or Helpful Read More »
When anxiety or self-doubt takes hold, it can feel like one big, formless wave that arrives and sweeps you along. But if you slow it down, it isn’t formless at all. Everything that happens is happening in one of six specific places, and every skill worth learning targets one of them. I use this map
The Six-Area Framework: Where Anxiety Actually Gets You Stuck Read More »
You replay the conversation on the drive home. You’re mid-email when the doubt arrives. You lie awake at 2am with a mind that won’t switch off, and somewhere along the way you’ve concluded that you think too much. Here’s something I find myself explaining in the therapy room more often than almost anything else, because
Thoughts vs Thinking: The Difference Nobody Explains Read More »
Why do I feel anxious all the time when nothing is actually wrong? It’s one of the questions I hear most often, usually from people who have already spent years trying to answer it themselves. If that’s you, you’ve probably tried the obvious things. You’ve told yourself to calm down and reasoned through why
Your Anxiety Means Well, but It Keeps Getting It Wrong Read More »
You’ve read the books. You’ve listened to the podcasts. You’ve asked the people you trust – maybe more than once. So why, after all that advice, do you still not know what to do? If that question lands, you’re in good company. Many of the people I work with are intelligent, capable, and conscientious. They
Trust Your Experience: Why Your Life Knows More Than Your Mind Does Read More »
We all know what it’s like to wake up to a grey, rainy morning. You may not like what you find when you open the curtains, but you also recognise there’s not much you can do about it. You don’t control the weather. You only control what you do when it’s raining. You might pull
Emotions Are Like the Weather: Why Fighting Feelings Keeps You Stuck Read More »