First Aid for Feelings

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First Aid for Feelings We support you to develop the essential skills for self-care and good health. Contact us to request an information pack and/or ask any questions you might have.

Whether you’re curious about any of the services we provide, or are ready to take the first step towards improving your health physically, mentally and socially – we are here to give you the information you are looking for. You can also book a free 20-minute discovery call with Thor, to talk about what’s going on for you. This informal discussion allows you to get a better sense of how we can help you with your health. You can have up to three of these calls, completely free of charge so you can decide if our services are right for you.

Whether it’s rehearsing, ruminating or policing, it’s thinking that has become unhelpful – this is common with Social An...
22/10/2026

Whether it’s rehearsing, ruminating or policing, it’s thinking that has become unhelpful – this is common with Social Anxiety.

In this Live event on Insight Timer we’ll go through types of thinking that may seem helpful but aren’t and look at how to shift it.

The 30 minute event is a conversation and concludes with a guided meditation.

Thursday with Thor is .

This is a request from The Helpful Community 🤝⭕️

👉 Click link to set reminder to join and learn how to feel better

https://insig.ht/IS05GOx9f7b



IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Image shows a photo of Thor wearing glasses and orange v-neck jumper. A text box reads: Feelings: Social Anxiety And Overthinking | Thursday With Thor. How meditation can help you think in more helpful ways. Further text: 22 October at 5.30 BST. Join In. Underneath is the logo of Insight Timer with a meditation bell. In the right hand corner is the icon for First Aid for Feelings in white which is a three-quarters-closed circle with a cross inside.

How much of what you think is you – is actually you?!You may not realise it, but some of what you think is ‘you’ is actu...
22/10/2026

How much of what you think is you – is actually you?!

You may not realise it, but some of what you think is ‘you’ is actually the cultural inheritance you’ve received.

Beliefs and behaviours from your upbringing shape you in ways that you’re probably not even aware of.

This includes your self-relationship, your ability to deal with pain, fatigue, stress, and anxiety.

Ultimately it affects your ability to love yourself and to love others.

It’s like the start-up programming on a new computer that you didn’t ask for - slowing you down and affecting your ability to make the changes you want.

There’s a Chinese proverb that goes something like this:
“The fish can’t see the water it swims in”

Culturality is a concept I developed during my master’s degree studies.

It’s a concept I work with a lot in consultations with the people I support to feel better whether that’s from pain, fatigue, stress, or anxiety.

All of these aspects can hinder and hamper your self-relationship and your ability to feel better.

Culturality is one of the tools you’ll learn about in the First Aid for Feelings Manual.

👉 Click link to find out more about the manual and download the first two chapters

https://firstaidforfeelings.com/manual/



Image description
A graphic with an orange background. Text reads: Chapter 9 - Why self-compassion is so vital. First Aid for Feelings Manual.

Culturality. Noun. The aspect of your personality that isn’t so much yours, but what you have internalised as your own thoughts and beliefs from the culture you grew up in.

Smaller graphic shows a venn diagram with a circle named culture and a circle named personality. The intersection is named culturality.

Across the bottom is an orange banner showing the cover of the First Aid for Feelings Manual (black with white text), the icon for First Aid for Feelings in white which is a three-quarters closed circle with a cross in the middle and the url for the First Aid for Feelings website.

The future hasn’t happened yet—but the stories we tell ourselves about it can feel very real.When uncertainty leaves you...
22/10/2026

The future hasn’t happened yet—but the stories we tell ourselves about it can feel very real.

When uncertainty leaves you feeling trapped or stuck on the ‘Roundabout Of Unhelpful Thoughts', it can help to pause, notice what’s happening in your mind and body, and get curious about what’s within your influence.

In this blog we explore uncertainty, the “movie of your mind”, and how Awareness, Breath & body and Choice—the ABC of First Aid for Feelings—can create space for a more helpful response.

Here’s an example of what you’ll find:

As always before we can change anything, we need to become aware of what’s going on. You can’t get yourself back on track until you’ve realised you’re off track. The ABC First Aid for Feelings is the most powerful technique you’ve got at this point.

Awareness — Consider what movie you are creating/playing in your mind? What are you thinking, feeling and doing?

Breath & body — Give yourself a few breaths (deep, shallow, whatever works for you). The breath is only ever in real time. You can’t catch up on it from last week or bank it for the future. By stopping and taking a breath, you help to bring yourself back to the present. Shuffle your shoulders and wriggle your toes. You might even want to utilise additional resources to help you connect with your breath and your body.

Choice — As always, is how you’re thinking helpful? What are you making it mean? What’s within your sphere of influence? If you’re feeling trapped, you usually feel like you don’t have a choice. Is this actually true? If you were to have a choice, what might it be? If uncertainty is impacting you, get curious about what’s within your sphere of influence? What’s predictable? What potential is there because of the uncertainty?

👉 Click link to read the blog and find out more

https://firstaidforfeelings.com/blog/the-future-hasnt-happened-yet-uncertainty-and-feeling-trapped/



IMAGE DESCRIPTION

A person with curly auburn hair wears a yellow hoodie against a bright yellow background, holding one hand above their eyes as though looking into the distance. Text reads: “The future hasn’t happened yet” and “Uncertainty and Feeling Trapped”. The First Aid for Feelings icon appears in the top-right corner

Behaviours can help or hinder us. Safety behaviours are an example of a coping strategy that can be brilliant or backfir...
15/10/2026

Behaviours can help or hinder us. Safety behaviours are an example of a coping strategy that can be brilliant or backfire in obvious or subtle ways.

In this Live event on Insight Timer we’ll look into how to recognise what you do and whether it’s actually helpful.

The 30 minute event is a conversation and concludes with a guided meditation.

Thursday with Thor is .

This is a request from The Helpful Community 🤝⭕️

👉 Click link to set reminder to join and learn how to feel better

-Informed -Aware -Inclusive

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Image shows a photo of Thor wearing glasses and orange v-neck jumper. A text box reads: Feelings: Social Anxiety And Safety Behaviours. Thursday With Thor. How meditation can help you strengthen helpful behaviours. Further text: 15 October at 5.30 BST. Join In. Underneath is the logo of Insight Timer with a meditation bell. In the right hand corner is the icon for First Aid for Feelings in white which is a three-quarters-closed circle with a cross inside.

When a song changed my life: It was more than 20 years ago, I was stuck in traffic on a miserably rainy afternoon in the...
15/10/2026

When a song changed my life: It was more than 20 years ago, I was stuck in traffic on a miserably rainy afternoon in the centre of Cambridge getting more and more stressed as time went on.

The radio DJ announced the song ‘It ain't what you do, it’s the way that you do and that’s what gets results'. I knew the song from the 80s and started singing along absent-mindedly and then ‘Aha’ struck and I actually heard the words:

🎶 It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it and that’s what gets results 🎶

Sitting stuck in a traffic jam and getting more and more stressed was using up a lot of my energy (I was seriously ill at the time with doctors telling me there was no hope of recovery so energy was you know... precious).

I realised that white-knuckling the steering wheel was going to drain the precious little energy I had so that wasn’t the desired result so I did an experiment: what if I changed my focus and acknowledged how the traffic situation in Cambridge was outside of my sphere of influence and focused instead on what was within my sphere of influence, my state - my feelings.

With time on my hands and nowhere to go I put some recently acquired meditation skills to good use and it was like the lights came on!

I realised that this insight rippled across all domains of my life, all situations: focusing on supporting what was within my sphere of influence rather than railing against what wasn’t was the key.

With the helpful of mindfulness, determination and fabulous 1980’s kitsch music I got into the groove of it, felt the joy of kitsch that only 80s music can give and when I finally arrived at my destination, I was happy and joyful, an entirely different result.

This song has been in my First Aid Kit for Feelings ever since helping me out of many a tight spot. Bananarama and Fun Boy Three to the rescue.

👉 Click link to watch this glorious 3 minute music video on YouTube

https://youtu.be/0_kjctTbMHA?feature=shared



IMAGE DESCRIPTION

Three women from the band Bananarama walking towards the camera in a music video for the song ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it'. The setting is the London underground.

What comes first: stress or burnout? We often think stress leads to burnout, however, new research suggests the relation...
15/10/2026

What comes first: stress or burnout? We often think stress leads to burnout, however, new research suggests the relationship runs both ways — and burnout may increase how stressful work feels more than job stressors increase burnout.

This can create a cycle: the more depleted you feel, the harder demands may feel; the harder they feel, the more depleted you may become.

Your feelings are information, NOT evidence that you’re failing. Get curious, not critical.

Try the ABC First Aid for Feelings technique:
A — Awareness: What are you feeling physically, mentally and socially?
B — Breath and body: Pause. Breathe. Move your body in some way.
C — Choice: What is one helpful next step? Perhaps rest, a boundary, support or a conversation about how much is on your plate and what’s within your control or sphere of influence.

Burnout isn’t yours to solve alone. Having good support, both professional and personal, matters!

Want to read the research?

👉 Click this link to go to the research article

You can find out more about the ABC First Aid for Feelings technique on the First Aid for Feelings website and in the First Aid for Feelings Manual that I wrote with the support of Nicki Hayes



IMAGE DESCRIPTION

Square orange graphic showing a worried Black woman sitting at a desk and looking at a laptop, with tangled white lines around her head representing stress. Text reads, “Stressor–Burnout Relationship: Which comes first?” The laptop displays an orange research symbol. An image of the First Aid for Feelings Manual appears in the lower-left corner, with the website address and the First Aid for Feelings icon along the bottom.

Hormones, whether because of life-stage changes like menopause or andropause or rhythms like morning or evening, hormone...
08/10/2026

Hormones, whether because of life-stage changes like menopause or andropause or rhythms like morning or evening, hormones can amplify Social Anxiety and even trigger it.

In this Live event on Insight Timer we’ll explore how to recognise this and what to do about it

The 30 minute event is a conversation and concludes with a guided meditation.

Thursday with Thor is .

This is a request from The Helpful Community 🤝⭕️

👉 Click link to set reminder to join and learn how to feel better

https://insig.ht/4drueH0dC6b



IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Image shows a photo of Thor wearing glasses and orange v-neck jumper. A text box reads: Feelings: Social Anxiety And Hormones | Thursday With Thor. How meditation can help you understand social anxiety better. Further text: 8 October at 5.30 BST. Join In. Underneath is the logo of Insight Timer with a meditation bell. In the right hand corner is the icon for First Aid for Feelings in white which is a three-quarters-closed circle with a cross inside.

With nearly 40.000 plays and over 3000 ratings scoring on average 4.7+ for existing content, these new recordings expand...
08/10/2026

With nearly 40.000 plays and over 3000 ratings scoring on average 4.7+ for existing content, these new recordings expand the variety of choices as well as offering deeper practices into specific feelings and experiences.

I have created these recordings in response to requests from The Helpful Community - this is what we’re calling the people who regularly join the Thursday with Thor Live event on Insight Timer.

I treasure the collaboration and deeply appreciate how people are contributing both in the Live events themselves as well as in direct messages with me.

Whether you have a few quiet minutes or are looking for a longer moment of reflection, you can explore the recordings at your own pace.

No subscription is needed: simply visit Insight Timer and search for First Aid for Feelings or my name Thor A Rain to begin.

👉 Click link to discover and explore the new FREE-TO-ACCESS content

https://insig.ht/jcydc3b8T6b

As part of my commitment as a health activist, I’m choosing to offer all new recordings as FREE-TO-ACCESS. I am grateful for the donations offered via Insight Timer, directly via bank transfer or via the website. The donations help make this content possible.

All content is .



IMAGE DESCRIPTION

Graphic with a dark background showing the Insight Timer logo, a singing bowl, a world map made of dots, and a circular photo of Thor smiling. Text reads “New FREE-TO-ACCESS Content”, with First Aid for Feelings icon and website in an orange banner along the bottom.

You may think that only muscles in your body atrophy (shrink if not used) but Social Anxiety can also be because of atro...
01/10/2026

You may think that only muscles in your body atrophy (shrink if not used) but Social Anxiety can also be because of atrophy. In this Live event we’ll explore the three Social aspects that can atrophy like muscles: Skills, Stamina and Self-Trust.

The 30 minute event is a conversation and concludes with a guided meditation. Thursday with Thor is -Informed -Aware -Inclusive.

This is a request from The Helpful Community 🤝⭕️

👉 Click link to set reminder to join and learn how to feel better

https://insig.ht/URcxQCcFv6b



IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
Image shows a photo of Thor wearing glasses and orange v-neck jumper. A text box reads: Feelings: Social Anxiety And Atrophy | Thursday With Thor. Further text: 1 October at 5.30 BST Join In. Underneath is the logo of Insight Timer with a meditation bell. In the right hand corner is the icon for First Aid for Feelings in white which is a three-quarters-closed circle with a cross inside.

Are you struggling with settling into the autumn rhythm?Are you feeling overwhelmed?Are you experiencing headaches?Are y...
01/10/2026

Are you struggling with settling into the autumn rhythm?
Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Are you experiencing headaches?
Are you struggling with fatigue?
Are you feeling short-tempered?

This could be due to social atrophy.

Now you’ve probably heard of muscle atrophy. It’s when muscles waste away because they’re not being used. It often happens to people who have reduced mobility or don’t get much physical activity.

Social Atrophy is similar, but it refers to when your social stamina and social skills become diminished (atrophied) because you aren’t using them.

Would you like more information and understand this better?

👉 Click the link to read the blog

https://firstaidforfeelings.com/blog/how-to-reverse-social-atrophy/

Written during the Covid-19 lockdown, this is still one of the most read blogs on the First Aid for Feelings website.

All content is

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