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Anxiety Happens: 52 Ways to Move Beyond Fear and Find Peace of Mind

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Break free from anxiety—once and for all! From the authors of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this powerful yet portable guide offers fifty-two in-the-moment mindfulness strategies you can use anytime, anywhere to cultivate calm and radically transform your life.

We live in an age of anxiety, and studies show that it’s only getting worse. Anxiety forces itself into our awareness and can deplete our energy, resources, and resolve. It screams “pay attention to me—or else.” We may confront it the moment we wake up in the morning, and it can even keep us from getting to sleep at night. In short, it can run our lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Building on the success of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this quick reference guide offers fifty-two simple tools and strategies—one for each week of the year—based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break free from worry, fear, and panic. In addition to “in-the-moment” tools for staying calm, you’ll learn about the underlying causes of your anxiety, why avoidance just doesn’t work, how to move past your negative inner voice, and how focusing on your values can help you move past anxiety and live a rich, meaningful life.

If—like many people—you’re fed up with anxiety getting in the way of living your life, the powerful little exercises in this guide will show you how to break the cycle of anxiety for good.

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2018

138 people are currently reading
871 people want to read

About the author

John P. Forsyth

14 books33 followers
John P. Forsyth, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and trainer in the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness practices to cultivate mind, body, and spiritual wellness. For over 20 years, his work has focused on developing ACT and mindfulness practices to alleviate human suffering, awaken the human spirit, and to nurture psychological health and vitality. His personal journey and experience, balanced with practical insights grounded in scientific evidence, offers hope to those wishing to find a path out of suffering and into wholeness.

He has written several popular ACT books, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Disorders (for mental health professionals), and three self-help books for the public: The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, 2nd ed., ACT on Life, Not on Anger, and Your Life on Purpose. His latest Anxiety Happens, offers 52 bite sized chapters for anyone who gets tripped up now and then by anxiety and fear.

John holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and is a Professor of Psychology and Director the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at the University at Albany, SUNY in Upstate New York. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in New York, with expertise in the use and application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for several forms of psychological and emotional suffering. He is also widely sought after ACT trainer, speaker, and consultant, and serves as a senior editor of the ACT book series with New Harbinger Publications.

In May 2018, he gave an TEDx talk about ACT and the challenges on the human condition. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/zo-CaG0A1Xs

John regularly gives talks and workshops to the public and professionals in the United States and abroad, and along with his wife offers week-long ACT training retreats at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY and The Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA, where he and his wife serve as a members of the teaching faculty.

He is known to infuse his teaching and trainings with energy, humility and compassion, and his down-to earth workshops are consistently praised for their clarity, depth and utility.

Collectively, his work has helped foster growing interest in acceptance and mindfulness in psychology, mental health, medicine, and society.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Karen.
2,635 reviews1,309 followers
July 17, 2025
This book is personal to me. I first checked it out at the library. Now I have purchased it for my personal library.

Social anxiety has unfortunately become a part of me. Not a particularly happy state of mind. Something I have worn on my shoulder because of the pandemic.

Having anxiety doesn’t match up with my particular philosophy of life…I am a present moment living kind of person.

But, with the pandemic and the ease of social distancing, and lack of physical contact and such, or entering indoor spaces my social anxiety was heightened. (I am good in outdoor spaces.) I had found myself looking for ways to find calm when faced with situations outside my comfort zone.

My go-to has always been Hand Over Heart Breathe. Literally that is what I do. When anxious, I put my hand over my heart and then breathe. Try it, it really does help to slow an anxious heartbeat. But that wasn’t always enough.

So, this book has become a helpful tool for my toolbox of remedies to my social anxiety. And although this book was written before the pandemic (2018) its 52 ways to find peace of mind, provide exactly that – a sense of peace through different types of simple exercises – no matter what the cause or effect of anyone’s anxiety might be. In any moment, on any day.

And even if I already knew how to do these simple things, it is a very nice reminder to have in any situation or circumstance.

And as I mentioned earlier, I look at this book as a great tool for one’s toolchest, especially in overcoming fears and uncertainties that hold any of us back.

I have since learned (through therapy) to make friends with my anxiety – recognizing that my body has protected me during difficult times – and in this way I have been a survivor.

With this book, readers can learn ways to create the life they want to live by facing themselves (and their anxiety) – one step at a time.

For anyone who struggles with anxiety, or knows of anyone who struggles with it, I recommend this book.
Profile Image for Gwen - Chew & Digest Books -.
573 reviews50 followers
March 26, 2018
This was so great that I passed the title along to both my shrink and therapist.

Simple, yet not strange (if you're not into eastern philosophy or if one more person suggests mindfulness you'll scream), It was life-changing. Admittedly, I haven't tried ACT which this is based on and am now wishing I had earlier.

Looking at the price I've paid by letting Anxiety run my life was part obvious and part a deep enlightening search.

Thinking of accepting it along for the ride with me driving the bus instead of it, is hard to practice yet so freeing when I can pull it off.

These suggestions were simple, you can take them as deep as you want or need to and experience change. Want an example? Just yesterday I really wanted to go to an event yet the getting there was completely freaking me out. I don't drive, had emailed everyone that I was "comfortable" with that I knew was going and finally took stock. Do I really want to go? I answered yes, so I put my big girl panties on and called a cab. This may be simple to you, yet I had visions of a random cab driver doing horrible things and leaving me out in the desert to die. I freaking kid you not.

I was trying to breathe calmly, in the grips of anxiety peeing, (for those that don't have that, I had to pee like every 5 minutes.) looking at the map, texting people to say that if they didn't hear from me soon after the trip, call the police, etc. The event was important to me though and I was not going to let my anxiety, once again, stop me from living. I went, my driver, Harold, was nice and the place was big enough that I could take timeouts when I needed them thanks to the added bonus of Social Anxiety.

It was freaking hard, not half as hard as sitting here and missing yet another day of living my life in full though. I think that each time will be easier too thanks to practice and this book.

I'm proud of myself for going and so happy that I read this book!

Profile Image for Jess.
696 reviews19 followers
June 30, 2018
Fun fact about this book: I totally ruined my copy from the library from having it in my purse and having an eyeliner brush ruin the ends. When I reported the book as destroyed the lady and me had a good laugh at the irony of the whole situation. But this book takes a long time to read. Its more of a read once a week for a year type of book. Overall it had some really great techniques to cover up and help minimize anxiety. I need more time to read and re read this book so in the end I am kinda glad I ended up having to pay for it.
Profile Image for Marloes.
184 reviews21 followers
February 21, 2022
First book I finished for this year, 2022, is ‘Anxiety Happens’.

I really wanted this to be the first book because it comes at a right time and I have been reading it for a while now. But I just wanted to finish it so I can come back to it whenever I want without thinking about finishing it first. So I now know all the topics and the important messages and I can come back now and read it when I need it most.

This is absolutely the best and most helping and kindest self-help book I have read. It feels like a friend. I can take it everywhere and it really makes me feel safe. Because I know the tips, quotes and everything else. That everything is okay and that, as the title says, anxiety happens.

I have emetophobia and a social anxiety disorder, and I think literally almost everything that was written in this book, was spot on. How anxiety can feel, what your exact worries are, how scary it can be and the thoughts that scream in your head in a moment of anxiety, what you want to do, what you are afraid of happening. It was described so well. It really made me feel understood and heard! That I am not alone in feeling this way and feeling this sometimes really overwhelming feeling.

This book really gave me all the insight, calmness and courage to go live my life step by step.

God, I am grateful for this book. Thank you.
Profile Image for Canda Dixon.
45 reviews3 followers
March 26, 2023
I really loved this self help book. It was perfect for me. If you suffer from ANY kind of anxiety, this is a must read. All 52 ways have well explained scenarios with an exercise to follow it up. I found so many of them to be very helpful. I had all the feels here. The biggest thing I learned: Meditate. More.

I suggest reading the whole book first, the highlight feature on your e-reader will definitely be a handy tap. Then read it again to highlight what you need! I bought the book to carry with me, so I've marked mine up with sticky tabs to bookmark my exercises. It’s difficult to do some of the exercises when you start as you need to read how to do them, but after you do them enough it’s second nature. I also love that it’s a smaller size book than most, but bigger than pocket size, which is perfect to take on the go.
Profile Image for Coralie Michon.
199 reviews3 followers
June 29, 2020
I am a very anxious person and this book was overwhelming in my opinion. There are so many ideas, so many exercises and it stressed me out not knowing if I could do all of them every day like they seem to suggest. However, I can see why people might enjoy this book. The recommendations are sometimes very simple and some of them actually helped ( but not a lot ).
Profile Image for Shanna.
868 reviews8 followers
November 27, 2022
I started this book about a month and a half ago and borrowed it from the library. We have automatic renewals. When the book was due back for the second and final time, I bought it so that I’d have it forever to reference. I can’t think of a better way to describe my feelings for this book. It has so much good advice in it and I will definitely be putting these exercises into practice.
Profile Image for Allyson Abel.
36 reviews
November 29, 2018
A great collection of actionable exercises to practice to help to move beyond anxiety. Will definitely keep this on my shelf to return to it often!
Profile Image for Muralie.
198 reviews
June 29, 2022
What I got from it:

1. It's important to stay rooted in your values. People can become anxious if for example they value honesty, but are constantly lying, or value integrity, but are constantly not completing what they say they will do.

2. Try mindful walking. Can meditate anywhere, anytime.

3. Try and disconnect from thoughts by saying "I am having the thought that....(for example) I am a fraud." Rather than owning the thought of being a fraud as reality.

4. Imagine your anxious mind as a very squirmy person who rings your doorbell and is constantly terrified of the worst things happening (ie doomsday is coming, the market will crash, covid will kill us all). Would you listen to such a person in real life? Why listen in your mind?

5. If you have a phrase that you repeat in your head a lot (ie fraud, unworthy, etc) try saying the word over and over again faster and faster while looking at a clock (ie fraud, fraud, fraud) until the word loses its meaning and you can recognize it more as a thought (not necessarily a reality).

6. We often think that ruminating on past events can help us solve problems or find some hidden meaning. In reality ruminating is like stirring a pot of poop, hoping that the stirring will decrease the smell.

Moral of the book: Make your life bigger than anxiety.


Additional strategies (from personal coaching: not from book).
1. What then?: Imagine your worst fear coming into reality (ie not matching to residency) what would you do then? (ie for residency match, I would probably do research then apply to another program the next year).

2. Probability: Think about the possible outcomes of a situation and what are the likelihoods. For example, if forget to submit a form what are the chances that next week you will be expelled from school (<1%), professionalism complaint (2%), everything is normal and an okay rotation (50%), good rotation with good eval and workout consistently (47%). Why worry about expulsion if it's only a < 1% chance?

3. Radical acceptance: Accept that feeling anxious in this moment will likely not contribute to your work or to your output. For example, if you are at a party and anxious that tomorrow you have a 10 hour project to do, whether you feel anxiety (or not) has no influence on your 10hours that you do tomorrow. The only thing that matters is the output, not the emotions associated with it.

4. Trust yourself. You've handled difficult situations before (ie exams, deadlines, mean bosses) and come through it successfully. Trust that you can do it again.
Profile Image for Jason.
11 reviews2 followers
August 31, 2019
Central idea is good but very repetitive. I feel like they unnecessarily stretch out the material just so they could reach the 52 chapters quota.

Main idea is about loving yourself. While the author is good in surfacing my issues about myself, it came to a point where it was annoyingly repetitive. Having 5 chapters to reiterate the concept seems a bit overkill. I would have love him to explore other avenues of a person's anxiety.

I also feel like the book is dumb down. My opinion is that the author is not giving their audience enough credit (may also be the reason why he feels the needs to dedicate multiple chapters for a simple concept).

What I enjoyed the most are the different metaphors that the author used to help me understand myself better.
Profile Image for Idiosyncratic .
30 reviews2 followers
February 14, 2022
The books suggests practices like:

•Don't try too hard to get rid of anxiety, it only intensifies the problem.

•Just notice it. Accept it.

•Accepting doesn't mean giving up. It means learning to let it come and go.

•Observe thoughts that make you nervous and write it on paper, notice that troublesome thoughts are merely words written by ink.

•Notice the fear before going to face any situation that triggers anxiety.

•Practice calm breathing with focus on the inhalation and exhalation.


At many occasions book is repetitive, for example, the suggestion to observe the thoughts is in almost every chapter. In many steps breathing exercise is also based on same basic template.

Nothing exclusive.
5 reviews1 follower
July 25, 2019
I would encourage anyone who has struggled with anxiety to check this out. There are practical ways to weather those bouts. I would even considet purchasing a copy to have as reference. Author does a great job in offering practical suggestions to overcome anxious moments and to rethink situations.
126 reviews
April 25, 2020
Don’t bother

I honestly wish I could give this one star. Everything in here, you can find by googling anxiety tips or help. Please don’t waste your money, if you’re dead keen and can’t be persuaded otherwise, find it at the library.
Profile Image for Hannah.
31 reviews
May 15, 2020
This books was fine, however, I prefer having some form of experience/reflection within understanding methodology to helping anxiety. It just felt like they were rewording every textbook and self-help book out there in 52 chapters.
Profile Image for Alyssa Burgess.
45 reviews2 followers
December 31, 2020
This was a good book to read for anyone who suffers from an anxiety order. It was perfect to read after all that 2020 had us go through. I learned a lot of methods to help with anxiety and it’s symptoms. I also learned that anxiety doesn’t describe you it’s just a part of you.
Profile Image for Sasha.
331 reviews2 followers
November 9, 2023
Pretty good! I bookmarked the different activities that would be useful in dealing with my anxiety to come back to later. Some of it was a bit repetitive and some activities not super realistic but overall a good book to learn and explore anxiety and how to manage it.
1 review
November 14, 2023
I loved this book. It has so many exercises to help relieve anxiety and to help you realize that you are worthy no matter what. It is an empowering book and it helps you see that there is always a way to move forward and accomplish the goals you desire with or without anxiety.
Profile Image for Analynda Grace.
36 reviews2 followers
June 8, 2020
Some great practices in here. Great use if mindfulness skills to reduce anxiety.
Profile Image for Alene.
Author 1 book4 followers
October 5, 2020
A short and straightforward book that offers simple day-t0-day strategies to combat anxiety of and on all levels. Worth sifting through. Even if you pick up a few tips, the book has done its job.
6 reviews
January 9, 2021
The anxiety handbook that everyone who struggles with their anxiety must read
Profile Image for SJ.
489 reviews1 follower
December 11, 2023
I would rate this medium. A few valid points but also nothing new really.
Profile Image for Mauricio Fernandez Bravo.
57 reviews2 followers
October 11, 2020
Tiene consejos muy interesantes sobre la ansiedad pero me parece que el contenido está desordenado y muchas estrategias son repetidas.

Lo que no me agrado del libro es su idea de que es "fácil" vencer a la ansiedad con simples inshights, incluso los trastornos de ansiedad. Cuando en realidad muchos de los problemas de ansiedad necesitan tratamiento y profesionales especialistas en el tema.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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