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It's the start of the week, and if you're already bracing yourself, already feeling

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that familiar tightness in your chest, that low hum of tread before the week has even begun.

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I want you to hear this.

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You are allowed to start differently today.

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Welcome to calming anxiety with me, Martin Hewlett.

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This is your guided meditation for stopping negative thoughts on a Monday morning.

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A 10 minute practice designed to help you nick anxious thinking in the bud before it takes

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hold.

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Because here's the truth that most people miss.

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You don't have to wait until negative thoughts have ruined your morning to do something

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about them.

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You can intercept them, you can meet them at the threshold and decide calmly, deliberately,

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that they don't get to set their tone for your entire week.

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That's exactly what we're going to do together right now.

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Just before we settle in, that quick word, that little reminder about the app I'm building

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anchored, it's a brand new companion for over 3,000 of these guided sessions, all searchable

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by whatever you're feeling right now.

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It's coming to iOS first and then Android in August and right now you can try it on your

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iPhone through the open beta test.

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There's a link in the show notes to join test flight, have a look around, let me know

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what you think, your feedback genuinely shapes what this app becomes.

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I'd love to hear from you.

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And if today's episodes beaks to you, this week's post will be in the calm room.

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That's the weekly blog within the app.

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It digs deeper into how to reframe negative thinking with practical everyday techniques.

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It's a short read, completely free, and it pairs nicely with what we're about to practice.

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So find your position, sitting, standing, lying, whatever feels right, there's no wrong

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way to arrive here.

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Raise your eyes if it's comfy and safe and just breathe.

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There's no count, there's no rhythm, just your breath moving at its own pace.

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Now bring all of your attention to the out breath, not the inhale, that will take care

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of itself.

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Focus entirely on what happens when you let go.

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Feel your shoulders drop half an inch, feel your jaw and clench, feel the muscles around

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your eyes soften.

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Every single exhale is doing something quietly and powerfully, it's activating.

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Your body's own calming system.

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As a paramedic, I watched that same mechanism work in the back of ambulances on the worst days

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imaginable.

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One long, deliberate exhale could shift the person from panic to presence in seconds.

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Your body already knows how to do this.

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You're simply giving it permission.

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Breathe in through your nose, gently, easily.

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And as you breathe out, imagine the tension leaving your body like steam rising from a warm

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pavement after rain.

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It lifts, it disperses, it's gone.

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So breath in and then out and this time.

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Imagine any negative thoughts that you've been carrying as a scrap of paper.

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Watch it catch the out breath like a draft under a door.

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It tumbles away from you, end over end until it is too far away to read.

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Keep going at your own pace.

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Each out breath, a quiet act of clearing, not forcing anything out, just choosing not

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to hold on.

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If the thought arrives about work, about a conversation you're dreading, about something

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that hasn't even happened here, that's fine.

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In fact, that's perfectly normal.

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You don't need to wrestle it.

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Just notice it, the way you would notice a car passing on a distant road and then return

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to the out breath.

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Feel your posture settle, not rigid, not collapsed, just present.

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Your spine longs, your hands relaxed, your face completely neutral.

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You are here.

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You are breathing and right now that is more than enough.

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Now with your breathing settled and your mind a little clearer, I'm going to offer you

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five affirmations.

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These are yours for the whole week ahead, not slogans, decisions.

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Each one is a line you're drawing in the sand before the day has had a trance to draw

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one for you.

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I set the tone for my day, no person, no deadline, no memory gets to set it for me.

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I create difficult thoughts with curiosity, not combat.

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I can observe them without obeying them.

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My mind is open and my outlook is mine to curate.

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I choose what I dwell on today.

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Other people's tension is not my assignment.

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I can stand beside it without absorbing it.

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I carry lightness into this week, not because everything is perfect, but because I have decided

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to lead with warm.

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Five decisions already made before you've even left the house.

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That is how you stop negative thoughts before they start.

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Not by pretending they don't exist, but by filling the space they wanted to occupy with

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something you chose deliberately, because so simply put, you are stronger than you know,

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and more worthy than you appreciate.

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Now here are your three caring daily tips to take with you for the week.

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One, the threshold check before you walk through any door today, your front door, your office,

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your car, pause for one single breath within that breath, ask yourself, what am I carrying

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into this room?

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If the answer is tension, frustration, or someone else is mood, set it down on the threshold,

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you can always pick it back up later.

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You almost certainly won't want to.

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Two, the fuse, the negative sentence, the very first negative thought that arrives today,

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this is going to be awful.

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I can't face it, here we go again, catch it, then rewrite it out loud, not into toxic positivity,

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into something honest and open.

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I don't know how today will go, and that's actually fine.

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At one tiny act of intersection, revise the momentum of your entire morning.

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And three, lend your warmth thoroughly within the first hour of being around other people,

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offer one piece of genuine warmth, a compliment, a question about someone's weekend, a moment

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of unhurried eye contact.

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This isn't about performing kindness, it's about steering your own energy outward before

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anxiety has a chance to turn it inward.

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You'll be surprised how quickly it lifts your own mood.

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Now bring your focus back into the space around you.

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Take a breath in, hold, and as you breathe out, stretch out your arms, then open your mind,

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and then your eyes.

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That's your Monday morning, be set done.

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10 minutes, 5 affirmations, 3 practical turns, and a week ahead that you've already decided

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to meet with an open mind rather than a clenched fist.

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If this episode helped you, I'd love for you to do 3 small things.

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First, hit subscribe so you never miss a session.

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This show is here for you every single day.

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Second, if you have 30 seconds, leave a 5 star review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

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Those are reviews help other people who are searching for help with negative thoughts

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on Monday morning anxiety.

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Find this show when they need it the most.

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And third, share this episode with someone who could use a better start for their week.

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You never know who's quietly struggling on the other side of a forwarded link.

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Thank you for being here.

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Thank you for choosing to start your week like this.

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And remember, in everything my friend, be kind.

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