Stress, anxiety and low mood are common. They are not how life has to feel.
of UK adults felt overwhelmed or unable to cope in a single year.
of the day, your mind is somewhere other than where you are.
of the things anxious people worried about never happened.
Mental Health Foundation, 2018. Killingsworth and Gilbert, Science, 2010. LaFreniere and Newman, Behavior Therapy, 2020.
Worry about a threat that hasn't happened yet.
Racing thoughts, a knot in the stomach, a mind that keeps scanning for what could go wrong.
Your response to pressure. Natural in short bursts, harmful when it never switches off.
Poor sleep, headaches, a short temper, trouble concentrating.
Feeling sad, flat or tired for days at a time.
Less interest in what you used to enjoy, pulling away from people. If it lasts longer than two weeks, talk to your doctor.
Pain that lasts, or keeps returning, for more than three months.
The pain is real. Fear and tension around it add a second layer of suffering.
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I was stressed, anxious and deeply unhappy at work, and I told myself it was normal because everyone around me was stressed too. It wasn't.
Certified MBSR teacher (UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness) and MBCT teacher (University of Oxford). Online, worldwide.
It thrives on what-ifs and maybes, on futures that may never come.
Anxiety speaks in absolutes.
This will never work. I can't handle this. Something terrible will happen.Turn your sound on. Soft music plays while you breathe.
“Emotion is the body's truth. Feeling is the mind's story.”From It Only Feels Real
The dread before the email. The voice that says you're not enough. They arrive as facts. This book shows you why they aren't, and what to do when they turn up.
The companion workbook. Six labs for trying these ideas in your own life, at your own pace.
Out on 24 November
The eight-week MBSR course, tested against a leading medication in 276 adults.
Hoge and colleagues, JAMA Psychiatry, 2023. Never change medication without your doctor.The MBCT course, across nine trials and 1,258 people.
Kuyken and colleagues, JAMA Psychiatry, 2016“Transformation begins with the courage to question the story we tell about our experience.”
Bahar A. Moreau, It Only Feels Real
This site offers education, not medical care. If you are in crisis or thinking of harming yourself, contact your local emergency services or a crisis line now.