Daily habits are powerful. We know that consistency is key when it comes to physically transforming our bodies, but what about the habits we build around our thoughts and emotions?
Research shows that daily habits like talking with friends, spending time in nature, and enjoying cognitively engaging activities lead to better mental health (Everyday Actions and Behaviors Linked to Better Mental Well-Being: Study, 2025). Choosing your thoughts intentionally by practicing daily affirmations has been shown to improve self-esteem, promoting overall psychological well-being and improving behavioral performance (Sachdeva et al., 2024; Cascio et al., 2015).
Author Seth Gillihan, Ph.D., has witnessed firsthand the power of mental habits. His book Your Daily Reset: 366 Practical Exercises to Reduce Anxiety and Manage Stress Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy offers readers a CBT exercise for every day to shape a healthy life from the inside out.
Heather Rose Artushin: Share a bit about your background and what inspired you to write Your Daily Reset.
Seth Gillihan: As a therapist, I often work with people on making simple changes in their thoughts and actions. The challenge for a lot of us is to make those new ways of thinking and acting a regular part of our daily lives. This book is meant to bring those practices into the moments when you really need them.
HRA: What is mindful cognitive behavioral therapy, and how can it offer readers relief from anxiety and stress?
SG: Mindful cognitive behavioral therapy brings together three powerful tools for managing stress and anxiety. The mindfulness part allows you to be in your life just as it is, without unhelpful resistance to the things you can’t change. It also helps you to focus on the present, which is much more manageable than all the problems and fears that the mind can imagine.
The cognitive part means seeing through the lies the mind often tells you, like “No one will talk to me at the party,” or “I won’t be able to handle it.” Some stress is unavoidable, but you can learn to remove the added layer of stress-inducing thoughts.
The last piece of mindful CBT—behavior—offers concrete actions that reduce stress and anxiety. For example, if a big task is stressing you out and you’re avoiding it because it’s overwhelming, we’ll work on a plan to tackle it one small step at a time. A great part of the mindful CBT approach is that all three parts of it work well together, so your thoughts, actions, and mindful presence together support your well-being.
HRA: Your book includes short, simple exercises for every day of the year. How do daily habits like this have the potential to shape our lives for the better?
SG: It’s easy to go through most of your life on autopilot, and when your mind is left to its own devices, it often falls into unhelpful patterns, like self-criticism or avoidance. All it takes a lot of the time to break out of these patterns is a little reminder that says, “There’s another way to do this. Things don’t have to be so hard. You’re not alone.” When you make those little resets a daily habit, you’re no longer at the mercy of your unruly mind. Instead, you can orient your life in the direction you want it to go.
HRA: How is the daily ritual of picking up a book grounding? How might reading help shift our thought patterns and reduce stress?
SG: There’s something comforting about the familiarity of a daily ritual, especially when it’s a source of comfort and support. These rituals also signal to your mind that you’re worth taking care of. One of the nice things about a daily exercise book is that you don’t have to figure out what to practice—that work has been done for you, since the exercises have been curated and organized for every day of the year. With consistent practice, you’ll get better at recognizing when your thoughts are misleading you. And you’ll start to see new ways of thinking that help you deal with anxiety and that make your stress more manageable.
HRA: What do you hope readers take away from spending time with your book?
SG: I hope you’ll find that managing stress and anxiety doesn’t have to add another big task to your busy days—that you can find real relief through brief practices that are easy to fit into your schedule. More than anything, I want you to know that you’re doing a better job than you think you are, and that the struggles you’re having don’t mean there’s something wrong with you, so you don’t have to beat up on yourself.
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