The Missing Peace Presents : The Thought Trap

There's a feeling that's been here all along, quiet and warm and wide, in a place we're not used to putting our attention. This short piece points you towards it, and towards the peace you thought was missing. My offerings 👉 The Shift : 90 Minutes Private Session 1:1, 7 days voice support 👉 Free Audio "Why Your Mind Won't Shut Up "The Thought Trap — a space for quieting...

What if you don't need to have everything figured out to find your way through life? We spend so much time trying to get things right, searching for answers and believing we need to know how before we can move forward. But there's an extraordinary amount happening in our everyday lives without us consciously working it all out. In this week's episode of Beyond the Trap , we're gett...

We're going Beyond the Thought Trap! If we can't always rely on our thinking, what can we rely on? And what's available to us beyond all that mental noise? I couldn't think of a better guest to help open this next chapter than Amanda Jones — coach, podcaster, teacher, author and all-round wonderful human. Together, we explore who we really are beyond our thinking, the wisdom we all...

The Thought Trap has reached a turning point. A crossroads, if you like. After 78 episodes exploring the traps we find ourselves caught up in, something is shifting. And I have a feeling it's about to get even more interesting. In this episode, I'm sharing a personal story, reflecting on how far we've come and giving you a little glimpse of where we're heading next. Because what if...

If work feels like it’s kicking your butt right now, this is the episode to listen to. I had work stress coach Luke Richardson on The Thought Trap to talk about what’s really going on when work starts to feel like too much. The pressure, the people, the overthinking — and why feeling better might not require your job to change at all. If work is taking up far too much space in your head right now,...

“Hi Becca, I’ve noticed that whenever I listen to your podcast, I really get what you’re saying — but I also seem to have a ‘yeah, but’ for almost everything… Why does my mind do that? And am I supposed to do anything with all the ‘yeah, buts’?” 👉The Shift : 90 Minutes Private Session 1:1, 7 days voice support https://www.beccagardner.com/theshift 👉Free Audio "Why Your Mind Won't Shut U...

This week’s episode comes from something that happened to me in the middle of the night. There was very little sleep, quite a lot of rage, an increasingly annoyed version of me and a husband who somehow managed to sleep through the entire thing. By the following morning, things took a turn I really wasn’t expecting. It’s a slightly ridiculous story, but one that ended up showing me something I thi...

I’ve got a sore throat this week, which feels strangely fitting for an episode about discomfort. Because when we feel uncomfortable — physically or psychologically — our instinct is often to make it stop. To fix it, manage it, distract from it or get rid of it. But what if discomfort isn’t the problem? In this short episode of The Thought Trap, I explore a different way of seeing those uncomfortab...

What if there’s far less for us to manage than we think? In this episode, I explore what happens when our internal alarm gets activated, why the mind goes to work trying to make sense of it, and what becomes available when we give our incredible human system space to settle. Don’t take my word for it. Explore it for yourself. 👉Curious About Coaching? Drop me an email becca@beccagardner.com 👉Mail...

Sometimes the more we try to work something out, the further away the answer seems to get. In this episode, I’m exploring that familiar pull to keep pushing when we’re getting nowhere, and what can become available when we stop forcing clarity and allow ourselves some fresh eyes. Featuring some complicated business work, some bookkeeping… and a bowl of homemade hummus (that the kids declined in th...

A hard summer. A short temper. A few moments you wish you’d handled differently. But when did that become evidence that you’re a bad mum? In this Trap Talk, we explore the expectations, comparisons and thinking that can turn a difficult moment into a judgement about who we are 👉Ask me a Question becca@beccagardner.com 👉Mailing List https://www.beccagardner.com/ 👉 Find out about HOME, my 1:1 sup...

What if thinking something through isn’t always the best way to find an answer? Inspired by a simple story shared by Mavis Karn in her book It’s That Simple , this episode explores our tendency to think, rethink, analyse and figure things out — and the assumption that if we just think hard enough, clarity will eventually come. But some of our clearest answers seem to arrive when we stop looking fo...

How much of your life is being shaped by what other people might think of you? We can hold back, change what we do or even make ourselves smaller because of it. But what if there’s something we’ve completely missed about the whole thing? In this episode, I’m looking at “What will they think?” in a way that might just change how seriously you take that question. 👉Ask me a Question becca@beccagardn...

What if the thing you believe is causing your anxiety… isn't? For years, James Abbott was convinced the busy road outside his home was the source of his anxiety. It seemed obvious. But when he saw something that completely changed his understanding, everything shifted. In this episode, James shares the insight that transformed his experience and explores why our feelings may not be coming from whe...

Why does doing nothing feel so wrong? Ever sat down to rest, only for your mind to tell you that you should be doing something else? In this monthly segment, Trap Talk, we're exploring one of the mind's most powerful habits: comparison. It's an innocent mechanism. Our minds constantly compare, measure and evaluate. Once essential for survival, it now has us comparing ourselves to everyone else's l...

Self-harm can be one of the most frightening and confusing experiences for a parent, family member, or anyone supporting someone they love. In this episode, I'm joined by teen coach Clare Assante, founder of Blindsided by Thoughts . Clare and I completed our Change Coach training together, and together we explore self-harm through a compassionate and understanding lens. Rather than focusing solely...

One broken cat flap. One very suspicious cat. And somehow, my mind had me cancelling our summer holiday. In this episode, I share how one small moment sent my thinking miles ahead of what was actually happening—and straight into the Thought Trap. Because the thought train is how we get there. The trap is believing the destination is reality. 👉Ask me a Question becca@beccagardner.com 👉Mailing Lis...

I recently came across a poem I'd written years ago, and it reminded me of the quiet agreement I used to have with life: I'll be okay when... In this episode, I explore why so many of us live that way and the freedom I've found in seeing it differently. 👉Ask me a Question becca@beccagardner.com 👉Mailing List https://www.beccagardner.com/ 👉 Find out about HOME, my 1:1 supported space https://www...

Have you ever noticed that whatever you're feeling, your mind immediately points towards the opposite? When we're lonely, it promises connection. When we're uncertain, it longs for certainty. When we're overwhelmed, it paints a picture of an easier life. What if this isn't a problem to fix, but simply the way a survival mind works? In this episode, I shares a personal story from her experience wit...

This week's Trap Talk question comes from a mum of three who says: "Parenting mainly falls on my shoulders because my husband works a lot, and we've kind of agreed that what I say goes. But honestly, that feels like a huge responsibility. I constantly feel like I need to say the right thing and do the right thing, and with my older two children I feel like we're forever coming to blows. I spend so...

We all have ideas about who we are. "I'm just the way I am." "I've always been like this." "It's in my makeup." But where did those ideas come from in the first place? In this episode of The Thought Trap, I explore how the stories we hold about ourselves are often built from experiences, comments, interpretations and repeated thoughts that, over time, begin to feel like facts. 👉Join my mailing li...

In today episode, I want to talk about what was probably my biggest coping mechanism for many years: reassurance. But while reassurance happened to be mine, this episode isn't really about reassurance. It's about coping mechanisms in general. The things we reach for when we don't feel okay. The things that seem to help, at least for a while. The things that promise relief, comfort, certainty, or d...

What if the thing we're searching for isn't more structure, but something we've known all along? In this solo episode, I explore the difference between routine and rhythm, and what happens when we start paying attention to own rhythms :) 👉Book A Conversation becca@beccagardner.com 👉Mailing List https://www.beccagardner.com/ 👉 Find out about HOME, my 1:1 supported space https://www.beccagardner....

It's the monthly segment "Trap Talk".......where I get to speak to your questions. "I’ve realised I spend so much of my life worrying about what other people think of me. I replay conversations, second guess myself afterwards, and sometimes stop myself doing things because I’m so caught up in how I might come across. I honestly think it’s holding me back". In this episode, we explore the stories t...

As a society we are always on, always available. Phones pinging. Messages arriving. Attention constantly being pulled somewhere else. In this episode of The Thought Trap , I explore the exhaustion that can come from never really switching off and the pace so many of us have quietly become used to living at. A conversation about busyness, constant availability, comparison, running on fumes, and wha...