When I smile at you I’m not seeing you, I’m holding you hostage for who you remind me of. We are all screwed. We’re in the Dark Ages as far as our minds are concerned. We might look “normal”, but we give ourselves away worrying about how our bathrooms look.

Ruby Wax’s repertoire was fast and funny. Her message about contemporary busyness hit home: balancing on a green plastic ball she did sit-ups as she talked – she hasn’t got time to fit in Pilates.

Playing mindfulness tutor, she engaged us in a series of slides about how the brain is wired and showed us how to do it ourselves. It’s kept Wax illness-free for seven years.

Wax wasn’t spouting rocket science; there’s nothing new about neuroscience. She toured psychiatric institutions before broaching the public but arguably this tour will hit home where the message is needed most. We can stop whipping ourselves and change our thinking. It just takes practice.

Judging by the standing ovation, and an auditorium-sized crowd buying her book Sane New World at the end, Wax was speaking to everyone who isn’t managing and in her book we can all learn something from mindful living.