# Home - Link: https://clearingintheforest.org/ - Published: 2026-10-17T22:22:41+00:00 - Author: Saal_clearingforest [ 🌲 A clearing in the forest ](https://clearingintheforest.org/) [ All pages ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=267#pages) Short, gentle pages about difficult feelings # A clearing in the forest Sometimes a feeling is so big it is hard to see past it, like being lost among trees. These pages are small clearings: quiet places to stop, look around, and understand what is happening inside you. Start anywhere. Go at your own pace. Nothing here asks anything of you. ## When a feeling takes over For the moments when fear, anger or hurt arrive faster than you can think. Fear and anger ### The Fear Came Second A frightening thought is often a story your mind tells about a feeling already in your body. Most of the time that feeling is anger. Six short stops and three tools help you learn its name. Open the field notes → Rejection · for adults with ADHD ### The Rejection Alarm A late text. A small frown. “This needs work.” For some people it lands like a punch. Find out why, and what actually helps. Start learning → Also in The Rejection Alarm: [play the practice games](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=23)· [open your toolkit](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=24) · [see the research](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=25) ## Making sense of the past Some hurts began long ago. Understanding them, and the parts of you that grew up around them, can make them lighter to carry. Childhood trauma ### Two Languages A child speaks one language. A harmful adult speaks another. A careful look at what happens to children when adults hurt them, in short pieces, with a calm space whenever you need it. Before you open it: this page names abuse and neglect, but describes no acts. It takes about fifteen minutes. Open gently → Internal Family Systems · for teens ### Many Parts, One Self Part of you wants one thing, part of you wants another. Meet your inner protectors, the hurt parts they guard, and the calm Self underneath them all. Meet your parts → Fear and copying · for young people ### Copying the Storm Ever caught yourself acting like someone who scared you, or hearing their harsh words in your head? Why the brain copies the storm, and what helps. Open gently → ## Feelings on the move How a feeling can travel from one person to another. Five short pages, one thinker each, from Sigmund Freud to Wilfred Bion. Start at part 1 or anywhere you like. Part 1 · Sigmund Freud ### Projection Seeing your own feeling on someone else. Start the series → Part 2 · Sándor Ferenczi ### Introjection Taking someone inside you, like a voice you carry around. Read part 2 → Part 3 · Melanie Klein ### Projective identification Making someone else feel your feeling, like passing on a hot potato. Read part 3 → Part 4 · Anna Freud ### Introjective identification Becoming like someone you took in. Read part 4 → Part 5 · Wilfred Bion ### Container and contained How someone helps you hold a feeling that is too big for you. Read part 5 → ## How your brain and body work Hands-on science about the brain and body, with experiments to try on yourself. Most are written for children and teenagers. Brain science · try it on yourself ### Your Brain's Daydream Network Your brain is never switched off, not even when you stare out of the window. Meet the daydream network and test it in ten seconds. Take the 10-second test → Memory · ages 10 to 16 ### Move to Remember Act something out and your brain stores it in more than one place. Try the memory experiment and see. Start the experiment → Feelings · for children ### Where Do Feelings Come From? The story of brain scientist Mark Solms and what he found out about feelings, dreams, and you. Meet Mark → Brain science · for young people ### Magnets and Piano Keys Can a magnet make you better at piano? Test the TMS coil idea like a real scientist, then check the proof. Enter room 1 → Pain and medicine ### Your Own Painkillers Your body makes its own opioids. How they ease pain and stress, and what low-dose naltrexone and buprenorphine do to them. Read the guide → ## Gentle pages and thinking tools Gentle stories for any age, games for children, and a workbook for getting unstuck. Gratitude · for all ages ### The Warm Little Light What gratitude feels like, told gently, and why real kindness never comes with a bill. Scroll down slowly → Problem solving ### Inversion Koan Workbook Don't ask how to succeed. Ask how to fail for certain, then stop doing that. Five steps turn a problem into a plan. Open the workbook → Feelings · for ages 8 to 12 ### Meet Your Inner Team A worried clipboard, a speedy firefighter, a shy little pebble and a calm Captain. Funny cartoons, games and a breathing activity about all the parts inside you. Meet the team → Thinking about thinking · ages 10, 12 and 16 ### The Two Logics Ignacio Matte Blanco’s big idea: your mind runs on a tidy logic and a dream logic, all mixed together. Explained with toy cars, arrows that flip and an onion. Explore both logics → ## Stories and traditions How people across centuries have explained the things that unsettle us at night. Ancient texts · world religions ### The Restless Spirits An ancient account of spirits with no body: where the story comes from, which books carry it, how other faiths answer it, and a calm evening practice. Begin the story → These pages are here to help you understand, not to replace care from a doctor, therapist or other professional. If you are in danger right now, call **999**. In the UK you can talk to Samaritans any time, free, on **116 123**.