Short answer: At work, being mindful isn’t about emptying your mind or sitting still. In ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) terms, it means noticing what your mind is doing and choosing your next move based on your values, even when thoughts and feelings are...

If you live with ADHD, chances are you’ve searched for advice like “how to practice mindfulness,” “mindfulness for ADHD,” “examples of mindfulness,” or even “how to focus without meditation.” What you typically find are suggestions for long, calm meditation practices....

An ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) skill for “being mindful in public” that combines defusion and acceptance, no deep breathing or meditation needed. The Problem Under the Blush Just imagine you are on a bus, in a café, or at the gym. And in these moments,...

When Anger Flashes and Sticks Around You know that moment when anger strikes suddenly? It could be a sharp comment in a meeting, shocking news that twists your stomach, or a driver cutting in front of you as if they own the road. That initial burst of heat is swift....

You don’t need any special tools like a meditation cushion, a timer, or a long break to practice mindfulness at work. What truly makes a difference is having a simple way to pause, gently step back from the constant stream of thoughts pulling at your attention, and...

An ACT, mindfulness-training approach using the Radio Critic naming exercise The problem: why thoughts like “I am not smart enough” glue themselves to you “I’m not smart enough” feels like a fact because it’s self-criticism plus high stakes. Research links...

If days start to blur and your mind whispers, “I’m missing my life”, that does not mean you’re broken; actually, you’re just caught up in your runaway thoughts and time pressure. According to research, people who are always in a hurry or rush things usually perceive...

Last week, I found myself staring at a half-written email, heart pounding as if hitting “send” could mess up my entire career. You know that cycle: type a line, delete it, read it over ten times, freeze because your brain whispers: “This will make you look dumb.” Now,...

You’ve probably heard that mindfulness is about having a quiet mind. So, when random thoughts drift in—like that text you sent, a career change, or a tough chat with a friend—you might find yourself trying even harder to push them away. At first, it seems to work......

Unhooking from “If I let go, I’ll lose who I am” with ACT defusion Someone walks down a path holding a heavy book against their chest—it’s their life story, filled with chapters like “I’m the hardworking one,” “I can’t fail,” “I always have to be strong,” “I’m not...

An ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) guide to unhook from tomorrow-worries—no meditation required What a “what-if” really is When the mind whispers *“What if something goes wrong in the meeting?”* or *“What if this symptom is serious?”*, it’s trying to buy...

Overthinking on Autopilot: Is Worry Becoming a Habit Loop? When your mind just starts replaying “what if” over and over again, you see it becomes a pattern, not just any mental weakness. According to researchers, worry and rumination are both described as part of a...

If you struggle to sleep the night before a presentation and keep replaying mental “trailers” of potential mishaps, such as forgetting your lines, slides crashing, or coworkers judging, you’re definitely not alone. That’s simply your brain at work: making predictions....

If you’ve ever asked a chatbot the same worry three different ways “just to be sure,” you’ve met the reassurance loop. It feels helpful for a minute… then you start to doubt again, and you end up asking the chatbot over and over. In Acceptance & Commitment Therapy...

When the prices rise and rents increase, our minds easily get caught up in a cycle of anxious thoughts like “I’m doomed or I’ll fall behind.” So rather than moving forward, the thoughts can quickly spiral into worst-case scenarios and leave you stuck in fear. Here,...

Major life decisions, such as moving to a new city, changing jobs, attending grad school, or starting or ending a relationship, can cause even confident and capable people to feel stuck or frozen. It’s not because they’re indecisive or weak, it’s because the mind...

Staring at a blank slide because it “won’t be perfect” is not laziness; it’s cognitive quick-sand. When you believe that every draft must be flawless, your brain treats the thought like “If this isn’t A+, I’ll look incompetent” as a rule. That tangle of...

When Sunday Turns on You If you’ve ever noticed that familiar little ache in your stomach as Sunday afternoon approaches, you’re definitely not alone. Research shows that most Americans feel the “Sunday Scaries' about 36 times annually, often experiencing their peak...

Most apps sell an endless library of sit-down meditations, yet the research says real change comes from learning skills you can deploy in messy everyday life. Below are three common myths that keep people stuck and a practical way to break free of each one. Myth 1:...

Imagine your mind is a gym. On one rack you have quick, targeted drills you can run whenever a specific mental muscle starts to cramp. The trick is knowing which drill to grab for which problem the way you’d choose squats for legs or planks for core. Below is a...

Have you ever sat down to work and heard a voice inside whisper, “I’m terrible at this”? That thought can tighten around your chest in seconds, draining focus before you even begin. Today you’ll learn a one-minute move straight from defusion, a core process in...