Hello Everyone and Happy Monday, I have spent the better part of the last 2 decades studying, practicing and teaching mindfulness in various forms.  But this last weekend reinforced something I knew and have seen so many times in my clients with anxiety, ptsd and chronic pain. It is this: nothing overrides the survival instinct

Have you ever been told to “just let it go”? Or that you are “making a mountain out of a molehill” or “over-reacting… again!” Or perhaps you find yourself ruminating over the past and tell yourself (or shout) “Let that go!!!!”,  or stuck in the same habits you’ve tried to change (ahem… how ARE those

Are you a deeply caring woman who wants others to be happy but at the expense of yourself? You’re the one in your workplace or family that people go to talk, organize and take care of things. You feel and take on the emotions of others.  It’s overwhelming, and difficult to set boundaries. You may

  Coming into the holiday season really “should” feel like a time to rest and restore, but often it feels like the opposite. Not only is there a list of tasks to be done, but there is an energy of busyness in the air, in the traffic, in the shops. And often, this is not

As I started writing this blog, an ambulance went screaming by my house. Someone, in this moment, is in trouble. We can become so focussed on all that is not right in our lives (yes… our lovely survival-focussed brains!) that we can forget what is so right. All the troubles we could have, but don’t.

If you are a young climate change activist these days, you have to have a thick skin. For some reason, a 16 year old Swedish girl who wants to save the planet has triggered a backlash of anger and mocking by grown men and women in powerful positions so great it almost seems surreal. “I

We have the world in the palm of our hands and yet our nervous systems are wracked, frayed and depleted. Anxiety is an epidemic and suicide is the second leading cause of death of people aged 10 to 34 in the US I am not an alarmist, really. There’s enough fear going around already. But

Like many humans, I grew up under the guidance of a harsh inner critic. This voice kept me in line, reprimanded me for mistakes and basically grew me into someone who could live, love, thrive, knew how to be healthy, how to be right, how to do a good job, and how to criticize herself

  I can’t believe he said that. And then she did this… I should have worn the white shirt… Did I turn the stove off? What will they think of me? I wonder if… What if??? Why is this happening to me? My life sucks, my life is so hard, I can’t cope anymore, everything

There was a saying about me going around in my house when I was growing up. It was “Her eyes are bigger than her stomach.” It was said by a kind, funny and gentle nanny that we loved so much and she loved us. My memory tells me that it was related to having a