All episodes

Happy Place with Fearne Cotton

Why don’t you like yourself? Gabby Bernstein: How to stop numbing difficult emotions

58 minutes | Monday, 18 August 2025

Getting lost in anxiety, shame, or self-loathing? Spiritual leader Gabby Bernstein wants you to acknowledge all the messy parts of your true character. Spoiler: you’re not going suddenly to like yourself overnight, but acknowledging the uncomfortable bits will get you there sooner!In this chat with Fearne, Gabby explains how ‘protector parts’ like perfectionism, people pleasing, and numbing out can spiral into extreme self-soothing behaviours like drug or porn addiction if they’re not dealt with.Fearne and Gabby chat about anxiety as a protection mechanism, exploring why being focused on the heart palpitations and hyper-vigilance is stopping you dealing with your deeper wounds.Plus, Fearne notices that her OCD is back so Gabby takes a moment to help her check in with her current stress levels – you can follow along with this exercise too!Gabby’s latest book, Self-Help, is out now.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Mel RobbinsNatalie LueTell Self-Limiting Beliefs To Bugger Off Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why don’t you like yourself? Gabby Bernstein: How to stop numbing difficult emotions
Happy Place with Fearne Cotton

-
Use the arrow keys to increase and decrease the volume, or space to toggle mute.