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We Know How to Prevent Mental Illness. So Why Don’t “They” Do It?

Shannon Harvey
November 10, 2026

Four years, ten cities, 28 interviews and one big question took me from reporting on mental health to doing something about it. Here’s what I found. I’d spent a year meditating every day, with a team of scientists measuring what it did to my brain and body. I’d released a film and a book about … Read full article »

My Year of Living Mindfully – TEDx Talk

Shannon Harvey
March 11, 2022

In the midst of a global mental health crisis, millions of people have turned to mindfulness. But does it actually make us happier and healthier? For my most recent project, I participated in a world-first experiment, in which a team of scientists to put mindful meditation to the test. But after a 30,000 kilometre journey … Read full article »

Amishi Jha, Amit Bernstein, depression, Jon Kabat-Zinn, meditation, mental training, mindfulness, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness Based Trauma Recovery for Refugees (MBTR-R), trauma

Is Mental Illness Real?

June 23, 2021

Every once in a while someone says something that challenges you to the core and forces a rethink of what you thought to be real and true. One such moment occurred for me recently when a friend offhandedly remarked that a mutual acquaintance of ours doesn’t believe mental illness exists. How bizarre, I thought at … Read full article »

The Disturbing Truth About What My Kids Eat “Normally”

February 17, 2021

In the two-week window leading up to the end of the 2020 school year, I noticed a frightening phenomenon in my seven-year-old son’s school bag. He had amassed a small mountain of junk food. From play dates and birthday parties, to after-school-care and team sport, it seemed everyone and anyone had deemed it a special … Read full article »

diet, discretionary foods, Food, food industry, junk food, nutrition, ultra-processed food

5 Books That Changed Me in 2020

December 9, 2020

In 1993 author Peter James caused a global outrage when he published his thriller Host on two floppy disks. The first “electronic novel,” which is about a scientist who downloads his brain into a computer and has his body frozen, was considered the beginning of the end of literature as we know it, not because … Read full article »

Addiction, Books, Cal Newport, David Raubenheimer, diet, Digital Minimalism, Johann Hari, mind-body medicine, Stephen J. Simpson, Wayne Jonas, wisdom

Lasting Change: How I Meditated Every Day for A Year And Beyond

siteAdmin
November 17, 2020

It had been 20 minutes of mental agony and as my meditation practice came to an end on the third day of what was supposed to be a year-long commitment to meditate every day, there was only one thought on my mind… it’s going to be a long year. Was I missing something? Far from … Read full article »

Behaviour, if-then planning, Lasting Change, mindfulness, Peter Gollwitzer

What To Do About “The Social Dilemma”? A Netflix Film Review

October 12, 2020

As a journalist who makes documentaries intended to spark conversations about our health and wellbeing, I’m very aware of the power of the majority. I believe that good old water cooler conversations and word of mouth are the crucial first step to creating positive, meaningful change. So when the third person in a week asked … Read full article »

mental health, social media, technology, technology addiction

Is it Really Possible to “Boost” Wellbeing?

September 24, 2020

There’s a strange paradox that took place in the years following the birth of my two sons. Although I discovered a new and delightful maternal love, along with a profound sense of clear-minded meaning and purpose, my mental wellbeing took a dive. All the caring, cleaning, cooking, washing, planning, and putting-on-a-brave-facing combined with chronic sleep … Read full article »

Corey Keyes, hedonic treadmill, Kimina Lyall, Marian Baird, mental health, Robert Cummins, subjective wellbeing, Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis, Wellbeing

We Need To Talk About Mental Health… DIFFERENTLY

September 9, 2020

It was a story of a young man who has dropped out of university because he can’t cope with the pressure of studying during a pandemic, it was hearing that two girls I know couldn’t see their dad on Father’s Day because he’s having another breakdown, it was the news that a mother of three … Read full article »

The New Science of “Overthinking”

August 27, 2020

“I think it would be really helpful if you could share practical tips for people on how they can just turn their minds off,” said Andrea, who works in the HR department at a multi-national software company.* Andrea was calling because she was providing copies of my latest film, My Year of Living Mindfully to … Read full article »

Amishi Jha, default mode network, DFM, mindfulness

How to Face Chronic Pain: The Art of Being ‘Discomfortable’

July 1, 2020

I couldn’t stop myself from marvelling at the bright-eyed woman across from me who I knew was experiencing what most people would consider intolerable pain, but was somehow nevertheless radiant, light-hearted and completely present as we sat eating a meal together. The lunch date was both professional and personal. I was profiling Vidyamala Burch in … Read full article »

chronic pain, mindfulness, Suffering, Vidyamala Burch

A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Mindfulness Practice

June 4, 2020

Introduction One of the most frequently asked questions after people have seen my feature documentary My Year of Living Mindfully is: How do I get started on my own mindful experiment? Before you continue reading this guide though, the first thing I’d like to ask you in return is: Do you actually want to start … Read full article »

Lasting Change, meditation, mindfulness

Latest posts from Shannon's blog

We Know How to Prevent Mental Illness. So Why Don’t “They” Do It?

My Year of Living Mindfully – TEDx Talk

Is Mental Illness Real?

The Disturbing Truth About What My Kids Eat “Normally”

5 Books That Changed Me in 2020

Lasting Change: How I Meditated Every Day for A Year And Beyond

Is it Really Possible to “Boost” Wellbeing?

We Need To Talk About Mental Health… DIFFERENTLY

The New Science of “Overthinking”

How to Face Chronic Pain: The Art of Being ‘Discomfortable’

A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Mindfulness Practice

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