Everyday Practices
Two-Minute Tips
For Learning It, Then Practising It
Welcome. These are short tips to learn from, then try for yourself. Listen to one when you have a few minutes, and take the idea into your day. Tap play to listen, or download any track to keep.
Stepping Back
A simple tool for getting a little distance from a thought. You put the words ‘I’m noticing the thought that…’ in front of it, so ‘I’m not good enough’ becomes ‘I’m noticing the thought that I’m not good enough.’ There’s a short silence to try it with a thought of your own. Then a two-step process: use the sentence, then come back to a chosen point of connection. It finishes by asking you to use it only if it actually helps.
Listen · 3 minDownload
The Pink Elephant
For seeing what happens when you try not to think about something. I describe a pink elephant in detail, then you spend one minute in silence trying hard not to think about it. Afterwards we look at what happened. For most of us, the elephant keeps coming back. Pushing thoughts away gives them more energy, and making space for them works better, letting them pass like cars going by in a street.
Listen · 4 minDownload
This Is It
A reminder you can use anywhere. Whatever is happening, whether it’s a busy queue or a conversation, you say to yourself ‘This is it.’ Better moments are the mind’s stories about the past or the future, and saying the words helps you step back and open up to what’s really here. It ends by inviting you to take it into your day as a little tool.
Listen · 2 minDownload
She Believed Her Mind
A short story about Melanie, who secretly thought she wasn’t a very nice person because of all the judgements her mind made about other people. She learns that most of those judgements are automatic, picked up along the way, from a brain that sizes people up to keep us safe. She starts saying to herself ‘That’s what my mind’s saying. I am not my thoughts.’ Over time the judgements lose their impact, and sometimes she even laughs at her mind.
Listen · 6 minDownload
Why They Broke Up
A short story about Jake and Emily. When Emily asks for some time to herself, Jake feels it as rejection. Fear and jealousy take over, and he tries to guilt her into coming back, which pushes her further away until she ends the relationship. Afterwards he sees how avoiding his own feelings drove what he did, and what might have changed if he’d been able to sit with them without acting on them.
Listen · 5 minDownload
Aware
A three-minute practice in noticing. You notice what you can see, smell, taste, hear and feel, and each time you’re reminded that you’re the one noticing. Then you check in with how you’re feeling, and give it a shape and a colour. It ends with your eyes open, taking in the whole scope of what you can see at once.
Listen · 4 minDownload
Kindness for the Mind That Tries Too Hard
For when you’ve been hard on yourself. After a count down from five, I talk you through choosing Validating Self-Talk: letting the mind chatter, and coming back to the part of you that has room for empathy and kindness. ‘The moment of choosing validating self-talk is the moment I choose to show up for myself once again.’ It ends with a count back up from one to five.
Listen · 3 minDownload
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