Be in the Moment | Stress Reducing Tips | @caroline-cavanagh | Anxiety Alchemist

19 Feb 2026 · 2 min

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1:37

Caroline Cavanagh walks you through a five-senses grounding exercise recorded in a Manchester coffee shop. Close your eyes, notice what you smell, hear, and feel, then look around. Most anxiety comes from dwelling on the past or future, so practicing this a few times daily trains your mind to stay present.

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So as I record this, I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Manchester on a Friday, and it's a perfect time to use the next tip in my series of stress and anxiety reducing tips, which is just to be in the moment. So do this with me, just close your eyes and start to focus on your senses. What can you smell? So I'm in a coffee house, that's fairly clear. Coffee. What can you hear? I'm now aware of conversations going on, of the sound of coffee grinder, even ambient music in the background. And then really tune into your body. What can you feel? How do your clothes feel against your skin, or how do your feet feel in your shoes? And then just open your eyes and take a look around you. I've just seen a Christmas tree in the corner that I hadn't noticed before. We spend so much of our time focusing on things that are either in the past or in the future and not being aware of what's happening right now. And this is just a simple technique that's often called mindfulness. It doesn't matter what label you want to attach to it, but when you're in the moment, you often realize that what's real in the moment is actually quite easy, quite simple, And actually there is no risk, the trigger for anxiety. So try this. In fact, don't try it, just do it several times a day and just get used to being in the minute and just find the whole of your stress levels drop just a little bit, and the more you do it, the more they'll drop. Have fun with this one.