Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world

by J. Mark G. Williams

Lucy exists in a netherworld of overwork, general low-level unhappiness, dissatisfaction and stress. She’s been sapped of her mental and physical energy and has begun to feel increasingly rudderless. She desperately wants to be happy and at peace with herself, but has no idea how to get there. Her unhappiness and dissatisfaction aren’t severe enough to warrant a trip to the doctor, but enough to sap many of life’s joys. She exists, rather than truly lives. Lucy’s story is hardly unique. She is one of countless millions who are neither depressed nor anxious in a medical sense – yet who are not truly happy either. We all go through life with rises and falls in mood and energy. Often these changes in mood come out of the blue. One moment we’re happily bumbling through life, daydreaming, feeling content and unfussed, but then something subtle happens. Before we know it, we’re starting to feel a little stressed: there’s too much to do and not enough time, and the pace of demands seems ever-more relentless. We feel tired, but find that even after a good night’s sleep we don’t feel refreshed. And then we stop and ask ourselves: How did that happen? There may have been no big changes in life, we haven’t lost any friends nor have our debts suddenly spiralled out of control. Nothing’s changed, but the joy has somehow gone out of life and been replaced with a sort of generalised distress and listlessness.