What if your anxiety isn’t something to fix, but something to listen to?
Many of us have learned to override our inner experience in order to meet expectations, maintain harmony, or simply keep going.
The Eleven New Commandments explores what becomes possible when pain is no longer overridden and a more honest, self-trusting way of living begins to emerge.
Praise for The Eleven New Commandments:
“Mícheál Ó Mathúna writes with deep compassion and clarity, offering a heartfelt invitation back to self-trust and inner goodness.” — Sharon Salzberg
“The Eleven New Commandments is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper connection with their inner wisdom.” — Dr Kristin Neff
“A thoughtful and heartfelt work that supports readers in living with greater authenticity, presence and emotional well-being.” — Dr Tal Ben-Shahar
A Personal Journey
After reaching breaking point with burnout, depression and anxiety, Mícheál Ó Mathúna began listening more carefully to what his body and inner life were signalling.
What followed was a gradual return to self-trust, voice, and inner authority.
Blending memoir, psychological insight and contemplative wisdom, the book introduces eleven guiding principles for living with greater self-trust, clarity and integrity.
Through intimate storytelling and gentle reflection, you’ll begin to notice a shift in how you listen, speak and make choices:
• Recognising patterns shaped by early experience
• Loosening people-pleasing and speaking with greater honesty
• Forming boundaries with confidence, without self-betrayal
Rooted in lived experience and informed by conversations with leading voices in psychology, healing and contemplative practice, these principles offer a path toward greater clarity, self-trust and emotional freedom.
In this book, you’ll discover how to:
• Listen more deeply to the wisdom of the body
• Develop self-compassion without self-judgement
• Speak your truth and set boundaries with confidence
• Make choices rooted in inner clarity
If you have ever felt disconnected from yourself, overwhelmed by expectation, or unsure how to trust your own inner knowing, this book offers a quiet invitation to return.
This book is an invitation to listen within—and return to the authority of your own inner voice.
Mícheál Ó Mathúna is an Irish author, workshop leader and host of The Health Zone Podcast, where he has engaged in conversations with Dr Gabor Maté, Dr Peter Levine and over fifty leading voices in psychology, spirituality and personal growth.
Mícheál Ó Mathúna is an Irish author, workshop leader and integrative practitioner whose work centres on connection, empowerment and health. A Cork native, he brings over two decades of experience in personal growth and transformational change, drawing on his own journey and a wide range of therapeutic and contemplative practices. His work is shaped by his experience of burnout, depression, anxiety, exhaustion and self-abandonment in the pursuit of external expectations, and by the slow reclamation of inner authority that followed. This understanding informs his approach to change and integration, which emphasises presence, discernment and returning to what is true in the body. Mícheál is the founder of The Health Zone and host of the podcast of the same name, where he has engaged in long-form conversations with thinkers and teachers including Dr Gabor Maté, Dr Peter Levine, Dr Kristin Neff and Byron Katie. He holds an MA in journalism with new media and is trained in yoga and sound healing. His work is informed by a long-term personal practice in meditation, movement and relational awareness. He bridges contemporary therapeutic approaches and enduring wisdom traditions, remaining grounded in lived experience. Mícheál is also the founder of Autism Cork Global, an initiative supporting autistic individuals, families and professionals through education, advocacy and community building. In The Eleven New Commandments, Sarah's lived experience and somatic knowing are shaped into clear principles and grounded practices, guiding readers through a journey of self-reclamation. Through intimate storytelling, the book invites us to trust ourselves, claim personal authority and live with integrity, presence and meaning. Learn more about Mícheál and his work atwww.thehealthzones.com
