I want to admit to something I got wrong for a long time. For years I did not value the importance and benefit of breathwork. My training had taught me to be sceptical of it, that the use of breathing exercises could actually operate as a safety-seeking behaviour which would slow down the treatment rather […]
Breathwork: My Regret at Ignoring It for So Long Read More »
You wake before the alarm with your chest already tight and your heart going, though nothing has actually happened yet. Or you are sitting in a meeting when your mind empties, your face goes hot, and your body seems to brace as if for impact. Later you wonder what is wrong with you, why you
Your Nervous System Isn’t Broken: It’s Doing Exactly What It Was Designed to Do Read More »
It’s late, the room is dark, and you’re deep in a debate with your own mind. It says something will go wrong. You marshal the evidence for why it won’t. It comes back with a new worry. You answer that one too. An hour passes and you’re no closer to winning, only more awake. If
Stop Arguing With Your Anxiety: You’re Both Just Guessing Read More »
Perfectionism has the best public image of any psychological pattern I know. Say it in a job interview and it counts as a strength. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist” is the humble-brag we’re all allowed. And often there’s something real behind it: many perfectionists genuinely care about their work and hold themselves to a
Perfectionism Isn’t High Standards. It’s Fear With Good PR. Read More »
You’ve got the presentation next week, so you start preparing. Sensible enough. But somewhere along the way, preparing tips into something else. You rehearse it again. You rewrite the slides a fourth time. You script the answers to questions nobody may ask. And the odd thing is that the more you prepare, the less ready
Over-Preparing for a Presentation: When Safety Behaviours Backfire 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 »