Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 On Dark Places
1 Understanding low mood 9
2 Mood pitfalls to watch out for 20
3 Things that help 34
4 How to turn bad days into better days 44
5 How to get the basics right 53
2 On Motivation
6 Understanding motivation 67
7 How to nurture that motivation feeling 72
8 How do you make yourself do something when you don't feel like it? 82
9 Big life changes. Where do I start? 94
3 On Emotional Pain
10 Make it all go away! 99
11 What to do with emotions 105
12 How to harness the power of your words 114
13 How to support someone 120
4 On Grief
14 Understanding grief 127
15 The stages of grief 132
16 The tasks of mourning 138
17 The pillars of strength 146
5 On Self-doubt
18 Dealing with criticism and disapproval 151
19 The key to building confidence 162
20 You are not your mistakes 173
21 Being enough 179
6 On Fear
22 Make anxiety disappear! 189
23 Things we do that make anxiety worse 195
24 How to calm anxiety right now 200
25 What to do with anxious thoughts 205
26 Fear of the inevitable 223
7 On Stress
27 Is stress different from anxiety? 233
28 Why reducing stress is not the only answer 239
29 When good stress goes bad 244
30 Making stress work for you 251
31 Coping when it counts 264
8 On a Meaningful Life
32 The problem with 'I just want to be happy' 277
33 Working out what matters 284
34 How to create a life with meaning 293
35 Relationships 297
36 When to seek help 317
References 321
Resources 333
Acknowledgements 335
Index 339
Spare tools 347