In this episode you’re going to discover a technique, that when used optimally, can actually help you create your own reality. Everyone who has achieved great success in life has used this power consciously or unconsciously. What is this simple technique? Have a listen to the episode to find out…   Key Points: Create Your Own Reality * Our mind brings up stories all the time and we have the choice whether to fuse with them, to get entangled by these stories or not. * Visualization...

  In this episode you’re going to discover why self-esteem is overrated. Yes, I said OVER-rated. I know a lot of self-help books and programs out there are all about boosting your self-esteem. Well, I’m going to tell why those don’t work and why you don’t need to waste your money on them.   Key Points: Why Self-Esteem is Over-rated * Most people can relate to the core belief of “I’m not good enough as I am. There is something wrong with me or lacking in me.” * No matter how hard we...

In this podcast episode I answer a question that I get a lot from fellow podcast listeners and my Calm Living clients … Should I take anxiety medication? Key Points Re: Anxiety Medication * Each individual’s situation is different * Re-frame the question from “Should I take anxiety medication?” to “What do I want to get from taking medication?” “What am I looking to achieve?” * What is the therapeutic effect you are seeking? Episode Transcript You can download a copy of this...

  This podcast episode is going to be one of the most important things you listen you. No hype here. It just is. In my opinion this is the most important step of the Calm Living Blueprint, of setting yourself free from fear, free from your struggles with anxiety. Key Points * Values alone aren’t enough. Our journey begins only when we start taking action. * When we move forward guided by our values, we feel a sense of meaning and purpose, even in the face of major challenges. * Even...

So up to this point we’ve been placing a lot of our focus on the painful feelings you struggle with and the painful thoughts you get entangled by … basically, all the things that you don’t want. But we haven’t yet focused on what you do want – what sort of person you want to be, what sort of relationships you want to build, what you want to do with your life to make it richer, fuller, and more meaningful. So let’s get clear about what you really want. What are you here for? What makes your...

In the last episode we talked about the link between inflammation and social anxiety, generalized anxiety, depression … really any so-called “mental health” issue. We swerved off the typical topic of discussing the steps to the Calm Living Blueprint, but I think it’s important to mention because it solidifies the purpose of this podcast and the effectiveness of the mindfulness methods that we use. In this episode we are going to swerve back to discussing one of the steps of the Calm Living...

Is inflammation causing your anxiety and depression? Inflammation is our body’s basic reaction to protecting itself to whatever it perceives to be harmful – toxins, irritants, infection, stress, and as we’ll talk about later, even thoughts or emotions. Essentially inflammation is the body’s attempt to heal itself. So a certain amount of inflammation is actually a good thing. The problem comes in when that inflammatory response gets out of hand or becomes chronic in nature. You’re probably...

Your mind is like a time machine. Yup, a time machine. It’s lucky for us that our mind can conceptualize the past and the future. It’s a hugely useful ability. It allows us to reflect on and learn from the past and to predict and plan for the future. As we grow older, our mind gets better and better at doing tricks like conjuring up the past and the future. But, unfortunately, this often creates problems. As children, we can easily live in the present, but by adulthood our mind is like an...

Last episode – episode 5 – we took a little departure from the format of previous episodes in the sense that the focus was more on optimizing your physical health, in this case through nutrition, in order to reduce the effects of anxiety. In this episode we’re going to continue on the track we left off in episode 4, which was all about How to Unhook Yourself from Your Thoughts. That episode was all about getting distance, getting distance from your thoughts. How to develop a different...

In episode 4 we delved into how to untangle yourself from thoughts so that the no longer have a control over you and your actions. In this episode we’re going to take a bit of a break from mindfulness practice to focus on nutrition, in particular how to calm anxiety with food. More and more research indicates that diet affects mental health. Now, the research examining diet has focused more so on generalized anxiety and depression than social anxiety specifically, but I think there are...

Do you know how to unhook yourself from your thoughts? In episode 3 you found out that your thoughts may actually be controlling you. Wait, let me back up one step first… What do we do when those negative thoughts impact our behaviour or hold us back from doing the things we want to do? For example, having the thought, “I have nothing to say” may lead to avoiding social situations or trying to get out of a social situation. Having the thought, “I blush too much” may lead to trying to hide...

As I promised in episode 2, in this episode we are going to release you from the illusion of control. If you recall from episode 2, one of the myths surrounding social anxiety (or any fear or anxiety for that matter) is that you should be able to control what you think and feel. It’d be nice if life were that simple, but that’s actually a complete fallacy. This myth, this illusion of control is so prevalent in our society (it’s even touted by many of the so-called experts and gurus) … so I...

In this episode we are going to shatter some common, widely held myths surrounding anxiety, fear and confidence that may be stopping you from living the life you want to live. These myths are like rules for the game of life, but they are the wrong rules! You can never win if you are playing by the wrong rules. So let’s find out what those myths are and teach you the real rules of the confidence game… Key Points * It’s not about reducing or eliminating your so-called symptoms. It’s about...

Welcome to the first episode of the Calm Living Blueprint podcast. Thank you for joining me and taking the time to listen. My name is Candice Esposito and I will be your humble host the Calm Living podcast series. The format of this first episode is going to be a bit different than future episodes. Being the first one I thought I’d introduce myself. You’re probably wondering, “Why should I listen to her?” “Is this going to be worth my time?” “What’s in this for me?” And I totally get that....