Overcome Anxiety Through Mindfulness

Anxiety loves autopilot, and autopilot loves routine. We break that loop with tiny, doable shifts that put you back in the driver’s seat of your day—starting with your breath, your senses, and a few seconds of honest attention. As therapists, we share practical ways to calm a racing mind, including slow, sighing exhales you can use anywhere, micro nature pauses that fit between tasks, and sensory check-ins that bring you into the present without needing a long meditation session.

We get candid about how the best move is often the opposite of your urge: when you want to rush, pause; when you want to scroll, look up; when anxiety narrows your world, widen it with three seconds of sky. You’ll hear why novelty resets your brain’s patterns (yes, even an unexpectedly pungent cheese can become a mood shift), how to use small environmental cues to spark awareness, and why switching a simple routine—like wearing your watch on the other wrist—can snap you out of the haze. We also talk about travel and home, and how stepping away helps you appreciate what’s already good, right where you are.

To help you reshape your inputs, we offer a lightweight phone swap: send yourself a three-line email each day noting what’s okay or good, star it, and reread it instead of doomscrolling. Close the evening with a brief wind-down and a moment of gratitude to prime deeper rest and kinder dreams. These aren’t grand overhauls; they’re micro levers that shift state, build confidence, and make everyday life feel textured again. If you’re ready to interrupt the anxiety cycle with simple, repeatable habits, press play, try one tool, and tell us what changed. Subscribe, share with a friend who could use a calmer day, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Habits Run Your Day
• 1:40 Breathing Patterns And Anxiety
• 3:20 Doing The Opposite Of Your Urge
• 6:30 Nature Pauses As Micro Habits
• 10:55 Senses As Anchors To The Present
• 13:45 The Cheese Story And Sensory Reframe
• 16:35 Breaking Unhelpful Cycles Gently
• 19:20 Travel, Home, And Seeing Anew
• 22:20 Tiny Disruptions To Wakefulness

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Taking control of your daily habits can seem something quite challenging, can't it?

SPEAKER_02: 0:08

Well, actually taking control of them can, yes, because our habits are something that we often do unconsciously and we just don't even realise we're doing them. So I think if you actually actively consciously think about them and you take control of them, that's when you're heading towards, you know, your way.

SPEAKER_00: 0:30

You're well on your way of actually getting to where you want to go. And that's what we're going to be chatting about in this week's episode of Get Real with the English sisters. Mind, health, and anxiety. And we are therapists, and we're here to help you. Deep breath in.

SPEAKER_02: 0:51

Deep breath in, a nice sigh. You know, because that's one of the things that we often take for granted, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

And one of the things that we often don't take control of.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02

Very much, very, very much. That's very, very, very true. You find yourself breathing, yes, in a certain way, you know, like if you're not feeling, if you're feeling anxious, you'll start breathing more rapidly and uh more uh you'll have that shallow breath. You'll have the quick breath.

unknown: 1:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24

Quick breath. Yikes, it makes me feel anxious, just thinking about it, you know, that quick anxious breath.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30

But that can easily be remedied with a little giggle and a laugh, can't it?

SPEAKER_02: 1:35

Yeah, or a sigh, or a you know, you know, these sighs of relief and and the deep breaths, yeah, they are actually very, very helpful.

SPEAKER_00: 1:44

And why are we just you know going on about this deep breathing all the time? You hear it all the time, don't you? Take a deep breath.

SPEAKER_02: 1:51

Yeah, it can be boring, can't it? Because when you're feeling in that particular state of mind, you don't actually want to do these things, do you?

SPEAKER_00: 2:00

No, you think why? It's the opposite of what you want to do, which is what often I find that's what I find so interesting about our minds. Often the opposite of what we actually want to do is what we should be doing and what is actually good for us. But it's what you don't want to do. No, it's like what you procrastinate to doing or what you what you avoid doing or what you're fearful of doing is what actually is the best thing for you.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30

And why is that? And I think if we get back down to the nitty-gritty, it's because it's not part of our habit.

SPEAKER_00: 2:38

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 2:39

And we are habitual creatures, we do what we know is best, we do what makes us stay in that little area, that comfort zone that we're used to. So every day we're used to being in a state of constant anxiety, even though it's horrible. But we're used to that. We're used to getting up, rushing around, feeling anxious, uh, drinking our coffee, and then thinking, oh, the next thing, reading the emails, getting back, you know, that's what we're used to. You drink another cup of coffee, feeling stressed, feeling all, you know, that that's it's it's awful, really. But but that's how 90% of uh we feel we're functioning. Yes, we feel we're functioning like that. What we're not used to is uh waking up, taking a few deep breaths, maybe doing a few stretches, uh you know, connecting with ourselves, doing you know, something that's not don't pick not picking up our phone, connecting with nature.

SPEAKER_00: 3:46

Like the other day I opened the blinds and I saw the red sky in the morning and I thought Shepherd's morning. Shepherd's morning. But it was so beautiful, and I thought, wow, nature is so beautiful. If you just stopped to look, I mean, I could have easily not seen it.

SPEAKER_02: 4:02

You could have not seen it.

SPEAKER_00: 4:04

Opened the blinds and just gone about my quickly rushing to get my coffee because I was in a rush. But no, I just stopped for that split second to absorb it. Uh, I tried to get my husband to look at it. We all I always try. That doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01: 4:19

He said he's not bothered. Yeah, I mean, I just went out to let the cat out the other day and I saw that big full moon, and I quickly came screaming inside, you know, cha-cha, come and see the moon. No way, I've seen it.

SPEAKER_02: 4:36

I can when have you seen it? You haven't seen it tonight, but anyway, it's like you want to share the joy, but at least I thought I saw that.

SPEAKER_00: 4:44

But I can still picture that beautiful sky now. So, I mean, it leaves you with something, it leaves you with that calmness, with that mindful moment, which it can become a habit. You can open when you open the blinds or open your front door before you step into the car or you know, step onto the pavement to rush off. You can just take one minute to look around you and look at the sky. It's not even a minute, it's like three seconds. It's a moment between moments, like what this is.

SPEAKER_02: 5:13

Well done, yeah, that's exactly it. One moment between another moment can make you look and just notice that the leaves are changing colour, or you know, it's it's amazing now that the colours, because we're going in towards the autumn season, the colours are incredible out there. And it maybe it's easier to notice them now because of the change and and that you wouldn't probably normally notice, but whatever it is, if it's something that grabs your attention, I think it's worth focusing on in that moment in between those moments.

SPEAKER_00: 5:47

In order for it to grab your attention, you have to be mindful. I know, and like it's a catch-22 situation, so you have to like build it into your habit to say, I'm gonna look at the sky four times a day or once a day, I know, or I'm gonna go and stop and see if there's a tree or a cat in the road. You know, just these little mindful moments of nature that we are part, we are nature, so we need nature to thrive and survive around us, and we need to take note of it. And even if you live in a concrete jungle, there's always those weeds that sprout up between the concrete, that little piece of grass that's trying to survive. Survive the tree, the sky, the sky.

SPEAKER_02: 6:30

You look up and you see, you'll see the cloud moving past, it's one second, and you'll notice something, and you'll notice something that can help you feel that connection because you are nature, you we cannot divide from it when we divide from it, and when we become when we're too involved in the inside and all the technical world, then we can feel as if we're losing. Sometimes you can feel really connected because you're chatting and etc. But other times you need to get that real connection. Yeah, you need to ground yourself. You need to ground yourself. So there's simple things that can become habits, even though we don't want to do them. Because ironically, you do not want to do these things, you just want to get up and go about and and and trudge along, wash your face, do everything you normally do, because that's what you normally do, and that's your normal comfort. So, in order to be able to grow and to be able to get out of the cycle, you need to become aware of the cycle in the first place.

SPEAKER_00: 7:42

A lot of the time, like when you're washing your face, you need to notice if the temperature of the water, if it's cold, if it's fresh, if it's icy, if it's warm. You know, be appreciative of the fact that you have water to wash your face with. It's all these little like nuances in your daily life that can that can add to the richness of it and make you feel like complete and grounded and you know, part of something bigger than yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 8:12

I agree with that. Yeah, it's the sensory experiences that we often are not consciously aware of that I think we have to bring to our attention those things that we touch and we feel, and the water splashing on our faces, or even you know, when we touch our hair, anything, it's all these sensory experiences that they can really enrich. It's the same way when you read a good book and you become totally immersed in the words, it's because the author is describing how the the character feels, how they feel through what they're experiencing through through their this sensory world. So if we can begin to become more aware of that, what things smell like and hopefully they're good things, you know, but even the bad things, even the bad things, you become more aware. Yeah, you become more aware of them. I mean, the odd yesterday my husband again he bought he bought this posh cheese because it was on sale, so he said, Okay, it was like discounted, you know, those special offers. This is French cheese, and he said, Oh, I bought this French cheese. I said, Oh wow, I hope it's not one of those stinky ones. Anyway, and we left it, and then yesterday he got the cheese out. I put it in a little Tupperware thing, and he got it out. He didn't notice it at first, and afterwards he turned around and he said, Oh no, I think the cat has pooed somewhere. And I said, The cat, that's so weird. I mean, she's she's half of the time, she's an outdoor cat anyway. We do have a litter box for her, but she's very rarely inside yet, because it's not even and I said, The cat, and then he turned around and he said, Oh my god, no, it's the cheese, you know, and we had this massive laughter. So that was you know, he actually was using that's his sensory mat. And then he said, Do you want to try it?

SPEAKER_01: 10:11

And I said, No, thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 10:12

Not after all that bought you into the moment, it certainly brought us into the moment.

SPEAKER_02: 10:16

It was like because he was like just getting everything. Oh, I'm just gonna make a snack before dinner, and you know, and it was the usual habits, usual patterns, and that made us have a laugh. And but it was, yes, because it was something that was strong.

SPEAKER_00: 10:33

Yeah, but just the fact that he had there for a minute, just the fact that he had enriched his own life and your life with buying something out of the ordinary that was not habitual for him.

SPEAKER_01: 10:44

Exactly. That was really weird, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:46

So that was already, you know, a good thing, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 10:50

I mean, it's but it's not even one of those super, you know, the the I was gonna say smelly ones. It wasn't even one of those, really. It's probably really on the mild range.

SPEAKER_02: 11:02

I can't even remember what it was called now, but it Ah, Sant Albany. It's a very apparently it's one of these. Famous cheesy. Well, I don't know if it's famous. You probably cheese experts out there are probably say, oh, that's nothing, you know, as far as um cheese smells go. Yes. But anyway, that was just a little anecdote. It was it was funny though.

SPEAKER_00: 11:27

You can change with the fact that you can change your mindset though by by changing your habits throughout the day. That was an unusual habit, I mean it was an unusual habit.

SPEAKER_02: 11:37

He only purchased it because it was on like these special discounts.

SPEAKER_00: 11:40

These special discounts can like with the holidays as well, can't they? They can entice you into going somewhere you wouldn't normally want to go to. Yes, I know, yeah. Or be inclined to go to because you you think you know it's a deal.

SPEAKER_02: 11:55

Because of the deal, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 11:57

The deal will bring you into it.

SPEAKER_02: 11:59

Sometimes new deals though, they can uh like they enrich your experience, is that what you were saying? Because you do, because otherwise shall we not have gone there. New things that they entice you into bringing new things into your life, so thus you're enriching your life with whatever it is, a new sensory experience with food. But obviously, he said the taste was amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 12:23

He did try it.

SPEAKER_02: 12:24

Of course, he tried it. He he loves it, he said it's great. Yeah, he was toasting the bread. Yeah, he doesn't affect him. No, no, it doesn't affect him. It sort of like immediately put me off because I'm not that good with new things either.

SPEAKER_00: 12:38

So I will I said I will but the association, the association was like, oh no, thanks. The association with the um if he hadn't said that I probably would have gone and tried it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:52

I thought, oh my gosh, you know, that certainly put me off. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00: 12:56

Well, as therapists, we have a technique that can, if you want to stop doing something, if you're like if you're in the habit of um say smoking and you associate it with something negative, every time you put a cigarette in your mouth, you can associate it with poop or something if you wanted to stop smoking. Um, you know, it's actually very effective if you did the whole technique, isn't it? Oh yeah. So I can imagine for you. For chocolates as well, that can work. Yes, you know the um the technique that immediately went into your mind, and you obviously didn't have anything to do with it after that.

SPEAKER_02: 13:31

No, no, no, no, no. It's very, very powerful that technique. That's for another day, it's another story. But that that does sort of blend into what we're saying because it is about habits, isn't it? And about breaking some of the habits that are not really useful to us, such as you know, perhaps smoking or other habits like keeping us uh making keeping us stuck in the same place because like when you always keep the same foods or you always eat the you know, do the same things, it's kind of the same thing.

SPEAKER_00: 14:02

So even trying new foods is a way of you know expanding your sense of going to different places as well, you know, going to a different restaurant instead of always the same one. I know in the end we always end up going to the same one because when we go to different ones, we always prefer the one we used to, but that is habit. You're sort of like so happy to get back. So creatures of habit. Yeah, I recognize that. Someone I re I I was listening to on a podcast, they said that they that the travelling was overrated for them because when they when they got back home is when they were the happiest. Yes, with their back in their space. Yeah, yeah. So I mean what you're wondering about travelling now. No, I'm just thinking that it's it's so true, but if you miss out on those experiences, you can't even appreciate your home. You appreciate your home more when you actually, even if you did something like that, you didn't think you got that much pleasure or joy out of it, out of a trip, say. But when you get home, you appreciate your home so much. So it shows that it still brings you back into the present moment, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02: 15:09

Well, it makes you see things that you can't see because sometimes it's like in relationships, until you that person leaves you or is no longer with you, you you don't realize how much you actually appreciated them. A lot of the time it's like that, and that's sad. What you want to do is to be able to appreciate the person you're with and to be able to see them for their fullness while they're here with you, not when they've gone because they felt neglected or because they've died or something tragic, but just because you know it it's a shame, isn't it? It's nice to be able to experience them for who they are now, and the same thing is for all of your loved ones and for your loved places like your home. If it's somewhere where you feel really comfortable in, you don't want to leave it. Sometimes you have to leave it in order to be able to see it again, and to appreciate it more. Because the eyes become veiled with um with habit, and once we are our eyes uh are veiled, we don't have these same experiences. We need to be able to get away in order to have a clearer vision of what we already have, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:23

And we need to challenge ourselves and do the things that we feel fearful of, obviously, if they're helpful to us, if we understand ecologically that they're helpful to us, not something that's gonna harm us. Yes. For the helpful things that will make us grow and be better people, I think we really do have to like give ourselves that little push and encourage ourselves to do that and ask for a helping hand if you need one. But I think it's those first steps that are really the most important because that'll get you on a roll to doing things that uh maybe different to your normal habits.

SPEAKER_02: 17:01

Absolutely, it's that breaking those cut, you don't have to break them dramatically, but just cutting a little like a little crack and doing something that's slightly different can then take you on to the next step. And so life becomes more exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 17:24

Life becomes, you know, that little challenge. Is that even just wearing your watch on your you know your right hand instead of your left hand? Really? Yeah, simple things like that. Something like that that you're so you're so used to feeling it on your left hand, looking it on your left hand, that on your right hand, just even that will just bring you back into a mindful moment because it's just something that's breaking that habit of just normalness that you're you're so used to. Yeah, and it that that that can like zombify you, can't it? You can go around feeling like you're like you're not really there, you're like in a in a haze.

SPEAKER_02: 18:01

It's like veiled. It's this kind of it's the only way I can explain it, yeah. I I I felt like that before.

SPEAKER_00: 18:07

And it's not fully like present. You're like, I don't know. I suppose it's all the all the hormones you have through the anxiety, the the adrenaline, and all these things that are going through you.

SPEAKER_02: 18:20

But well, if the adrenaline is in is intense, so then you can experience everything a lot, and that can be too much because you don't want to really experience that so much. But if it's like a mild kind of just chronic that's a word, not mild, I wanted to say chronic anxiety. Sometimes it's that powerful, yes, that kind of chronic state that we are seeing more and more of nowadays that can be helped by becoming aware of your daily habits and realizing that habits are something that can really make or break your entire life experience. So by becoming aware of your daily habits, you can certainly start to crack open and see new new ways of living and actually see that possibilities for you, exactly, and there's lots of possibilities out there, lots of possibilities that are just not in your vision at the moment because because we don't actually see that much. Our brain focuses on what we know, and it it kind of like sort of fades out everything else. So if you're not it's not in your in your life, it's not in your vision, you don't know about it.

SPEAKER_00: 19:49

So like Yeah, and I think some things we can consciously like delete from our vision, things that are making us feel anxious, you know, like the habits that are making you feel anxious, like if you have the habit of spending a lot of time on your phone and you notice that's giving you anxiety, you can break that habit and you know put a time limit on yourself.

SPEAKER_01: 20:09

Right, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 20:10

Or if you have the habit of like looking through the world news and then getting anxious, or looking through the medical journal and then getting anxious about it something, you know, that something's not right with you. You can maybe start to feel a bit.

SPEAKER_02: 20:23

You can create new habits. Yes, create a new habit. Like if you're always on your phone, decide to write three things down that were good today or that are good about your life, and send an email to yourself. Afterwards, when you see that email, you can see it, and it and it'll be a reminder throughout your day. Whenever you pick up your phone, you can see that email, you put a star on it, make it your favourite, and just read through it, and the next day you can see that same email, and perhaps you can think about another three things that were good about your day, or that are actually okay with you now. You can say, Well, health is okay, you know, um, work is okay, or if it's good, say it's good. Notice three things that were good or okay about how you are now. You know, relationship is good, uh, kids are okay. I said that to myself the other day, and I actually liked it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:21

When I saw it, yeah, when I saw it, I thought, oh, yeah, there's a study I think that said that if you if you before you go to sleep at night, if you like unwind and then you think about all the good anything good that's happened to you that day, it could just be like having a moment to yourself to have a cup of coffee or tea or whatever, but just think of something good that happened or a loved one that said they loved you or whatever. You will feel calmer when you go to sleep, and you'll feel you'll have nicer dreams.

SPEAKER_02: 21:52

Oh, that's lovely. So I think on the dream note we can uh we can say goodbye for today, definitely.

SPEAKER_00: 22:03

Do come and visit us on our YouTube channel as well, where we have the YouTube video of the podcast and the podcast version as well. And it's available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. So do come and say hi, you can text us, or you can say hi on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02: 22:21

Let us know if you find any way of sort of interrupting your daily habits by slowly introducing a new habit that you can find is very helpful. And maybe other people can do that too, like the email one or like looking out of the window in the morning, just something really simple that we can all add to to our lives to make them. Yes, to add. We don't have it take away, productive, but let's just add some new stuff, new helpful habits.

SPEAKER_00: 22:54

Love and smiles from the English sisters. Bye bye, bye bye, bye, bye bye.