By February, most of us have abandoned our New Year’s resolutions, stuck in the cycle of all-or-nothing thinking. But what if there was a gentler, more sustainable way to feel good—one rooted in joy rather than discipline? Enter FEEL BETTER NOW: The Life-Changing Power of Simple Pleasures, the highly anticipated book by neuroscience-based wellness coach, fitness expert, and lifestyle journalist Catherine Roscoe Barr. Blending cutting-edge neuroscience with mindfulness, Catherine offers a revolutionary approach to long-lasting wellbeing—one that’s as enjoyable as it is effective. With a foreword by Jillian Harris and endorsements from leading experts, FEEL BETTER NOW is more than a book—it’s a movement. In this exclusive Q&A, Catherine shares insights on how to break free from restrictive habits and embrace a life of authentic pleasure and empowered living. —Noa Nichol
What inspired you to write FEEL BETTER NOW, and what makes this book different from other wellness guides?
What sets my curriculum apart is that I help people bridge the gap between knowing and doing. We all generally know that we should think better, move better, eat better, sleep better, and connect better — but something keeps us stuck and struggling with consistency. I help people consistently move forward in their lives, so they can experience a truer, more vibrant version of themselves.
I have been teaching this method for the last 12 years, but it’s only been accessible in the form of luxury hotel retreats and pricey online coaching. Now it’s available to everyone at a low cost — and even for free at your local public library.
Your book merges neuroscience with mindfulness-based practices. How do these two fields work together to help people achieve lasting wellbeing?
Mindfulness and neuroscience are the best team to create lasting change! To practice mindfulness is to practice noticing — or being aware of — how your thoughts, words and actions make you feel. This is a powerful way to build constructive habits and break destructive habits because, as they say, retrospect is 20/20! Mindfulness helps you really see, and feel, which habits are serving or constraining you, making it so much easier to build or break them.
Neuroscience is the study of the central and peripheral nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and network of nerves throughout the rest of the body); and neuroplasticity describes the brain’s ability to rewire itself based on your experiences.
There are two types of neuroplasticity: Experience-dependent neuroplasticity is a passive process that happens unconsciously, without your awareness. When you are stuck in destructive patterns, you are unconsciously reinforcing them through repetition. This is why we’re able to develop strong habits that don’t serve us and why we have trouble trying to disconnect from them. Self-directed neuroplasticity is an active process that happens consciously, with your awareness. This is the secret to developing solid and enduring habits that serve us! Consciously harnessing the power of my brain’s plasticity is how I radically changed my life — and how you can do the same.
Many people struggle with maintaining consistency in their health and wellness habits. What are some of the biggest misconceptions about building sustainable routines?
A powerful way to rewire your relationship to wellbeing and hardwire healthy habits is to adopt a flexible framework so that you don’t get derailed by trying to do everything all at once.
The all-or-nothing mentality — also known as perfection paralysis and black-or-white thinking — keeps you stuck, unable to act, and stagnant, and if you do get started, it makes sure you fall off the wagon soon after. To break through this barrier, you must banish the all-or-nothing mentality, embrace imperfection, and adopt grey-zone thinking. I call this easy-breezy way of living the flexible framework.
“The flexible framework gave me permission to be imperfect and consistent,” said my long-time client Rachel, a business development advisor. She shared with me that instead of skipping her daily walk, shrinking it to just five minutes on a hectic workday had a significant impact on her wellbeing. “If you can keep a routine, it makes all the difference in the world. That was a big takeaway that’s evolved over the last ten years. The all-or-nothing mentality was a tendency to overthink and over-optimize, which could make even a healthy choice feel heavy instead of light.” So what does the flexible framework look like? Here are three points of departure from the all-or-nothing mentality you can adopt:
1: Your habits can expand or contract: Consider the kind of day you’re having and the capacity you have at present. For example, you decide that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you’re going to do a resistance training workout, but it can be as short as five minutes. Every second of self-care is significant.
2: You have a Plan A, B, and C: To continue with the previous example, you plan to do your non-negotiable five-minute to one-hour workout at 5:30 a.m., before the rest of the world wakes up, but if you miss that, you can pivot and do it before lunchtime. And if that doesn’t work out, you can do it before dinner.
3: Simple shifts help you maintain forward motion: If a ship changes course by just one degree, over time it will arrive in a completely different location. Stay committed to consistency by doing any small thing to boost your wellbeing. For example, if you absolutely have to eat a midafternoon cookie, add a handful of nuts or a hunk of cheese to help stabilize your blood sugar.
You emphasize the power of simple pleasures. Can you share a few underrated, everyday habits that have a profound impact on wellbeing?
We can find pleasure in the things that make us feel good — even if they only make us feel good in retrospect.
Self-directed neuroplasticity helps us discover how to find pleasure in upgrading the way we think, move our body, nourish our body, rest our body, and connect with other bodies.
Even if you adopt a flexible framework, what if you find it challenging to savour exercise, indulge in vegetables, and delight in early bedtimes? Here’s a sneaky workaround. Human nature aims to move toward pleasure and away from pain, so it’s important to be aware of how you define the healthy habits you wish to practice. Across the pleasure–pain spectrum there is
– destructive pain, which feels bad and is bad for you;
– constructive pain, which feels bad but is good for you;
– destructive pleasure, which feels good but is bad for you;
– constructive pleasure, which feels good and is good for you.
Constructive pleasure is a pretty easy one to comply with, like eating a handful of freshly picked strawberries on a beautiful summer day or relishing a big hug from someone you love. Let’s zero in on constructive pain — also known as discomfort or Type 2 Fun. Type 2 Fun is part of the Fun Scale, created by University of Alaska Fairbanks geology professor Rainer J. Newberry in the mid-eighties, which includes three types of fun: Type 1 Fun is fun in the moment; Type 2 Fun is fun only in retrospect; and Type 3 Fun is miserable. Period. Humans are efficient creatures who don’t like to waste energy or be uncomfortable. You can stay stuck when you are bumping up against the discomfort of an upper limit. You may shrink away from this discomfort without questioning its significance. Instead, you can rewire your brain to see discomfort — mental or physical — as an important stepping stone to a better life.
New Year’s resolutions tend to fade by February. What advice do you have for people looking to regain momentum in their wellness journey?
Start small, really small. And focus on how you feel. These two philosophies are part of my self-coaching model, which I call the Magic Formula — because it feels like magic to experience yourself transforming, with less effort than you’re used to. The Magic Formula provides the perfect conditions to spark self-directed neuroplasticity and offers questions to keep you focused on exactly what you need to thrive. Asking good questions is the key skill of a great coach. Your brain is a problem-solving machine and will answer any question you ask it. This is why it’s so important to know the difference between constructive questions and destructive questions. The Magic Formula is a self-coaching model to help you generate ongoing self-discovery, self-healing, and self-actualization through constructive questioning, guided reflection, and data collection. Here are its five repeating steps:
1. DISCOVER: Build your inner and outer awareness
2. DIAGNOSE: Identify issues — create boundaries and remove barriers
3. PRESCRIBE: Create a scheduled yet flexible plan
4. PRACTICE: Take action with commitment and curiosity
5. PAUSE: Review the results of your actions to spark neuroplasticity
You’ve worked as a fitness professional, neuroscience-based wellness coach, and lifestyle journalist. How have these experiences shaped your approach to health and happiness?
I have seen both ends of the spectrum — from deprivation diets and strict regimes to overindulgence and inactivity — and have found a happy medium where the focus is on finding a lifestyle where you can have experiences that both make you feel good in the moment and made you feel good in retrospect!
Your book has endorsements from wellness leaders like Sharon Salzberg and Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. What key takeaways from FEEL BETTER NOW do you hope will resonate most with readers?
I hope that readers will finish the book with a strong sense of the power they have to change their lives right now, and a clear concept of exactly how they’ll achieve this simpler, more satisfying, and indulgent way of living.
Feel Better Now includes exercises at the end of each chapter, culminating in the creation of a personalized document with detailed instructions for your daily wellbeing — which I call a micro-manifesto. A manifesto is more than an action plan: it’s a prescriptive declaration of your dedication to the revolution; a written statement outlining your guiding principles; an expression of your commitment to liberation and legacy. A micro-manifesto is simple yet specific, scheduled yet flexible, and so small it can’t help being sustainable.
What role does pleasure play in wellbeing, and why do so many people feel guilty about prioritizing joy in their lives?
In the last section of my book, called REVERENCE, you will learn how to turn the generosity, encouragement, and compassion you have for others toward yourself. You will learn how to zoom out from the present moment — however challenging or disappointing — and look back at your life, and yourself, with reverence for the preciousness of it all.
Any time we feel guilty about prioritizing pleasure and joy, we need to remember how our own wellbeing positively impacts the world around us. Doing things that bring you joy has a significant impact on your psychological and physiological health. Joy changes your nervous system for the better, bringing you into regulation and helping you better embody what I call the 5 Cs of Great Leadership: Calm, Confident, Collaborative, Compassionate, and Creative. Imagine a world full of people embodying these qualities!
What’s one small, immediate change someone can make today to start feeling better right now?
Whether you’ve just done something that serves you, or something that doesn’t, pause to ask yourself, How did that make me feel? This practice helps you build mindfulness to identify constructive vs. destructive habits and provides the motivation and flexibility to stay consistent. This practice is both an instant and sustainable for lasting wellbeing.
Beyond the book, how do you envision FEEL BETTER NOW growing as a movement? What’s next for you and The Life Delicious?
I’m developing a 42-week online coaching program to follow along with the book to give readers extra support and community as they begin to make these simple yet powerful changes in their lives. And I have some exciting wellness retreats coming up in Whistler, Vancouver, the Okanagan, Toronto, Victoria, and beyond! Plus, I’m booking workshops with businesses all over the world to help organizations revolutionize their teams’ wellbeing.
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