A Bit Of A Boost

I'm being completely self-indulgent today and dedicating this whole episode to giving myself a bit of a boost!

I have a goal for 2021 that I've been stalling at rather than starting, and need to draw a line in the sand and fully commit to doing what needs to be done.

As Jim Rohn once said, 'don't set a goal for what you will achieve but for what it will make of you in order to achieve it'. I know that working towards this goal will reveal some as-yet undiscovered aspects of my character. I know that it will teach me the answers to questions I haven't even been asked. I know that it'll help me grow and... look, I just need to get started!

In this episode I explain WHY I'm doing this, HOW I'm doing it (with my 8 session training program!) and what challenges I anticipate needing to overcome (including regulating my core temperature which was a surprise problem in a previous marathon treadmill run!)

Training starts on Sunday and I feel ready for it :)

We talk a lot about energy on this podcast, whether that's physical, emotional, mental.

But my guest today works with energy in a very different way, in his role as a Pranic Healer.

I've known Mark Willis for over 15 years, and in that time I've watched him consistently apply his teachings to himself as well as his clients. It's made a dramatic difference to his life, and also to the many others he works with.

Energy, life force, Chi, Prana… it can all sound a bit spiritual and unquantifiable, but in our conversation today Mark explains how it connects with more commonly held understandings and beliefs.

We talk about how you or I might notice a 'block' in our energy flow, and some of the things we can do about ourselves without necessarily having to see a healer, including meditation.

The session today ends with Mark leading us through a simple 10 minute meditation and if you would like more of these then head over to ukpranichealing.co.uk where you'll find a number of similar resources.

Mark is a fascinating guy and he's also incredibly down to earth. One of my favourite sayings from him is a reminder to be an 'open minded skeptic'.

Don't blindly believe everything you hear, but don't close yourself off the possibility of different approaches either.

That applies not just for this podcast episode, but for any new information you encounter elsewhere as well.

You can follow Mark here:

https://www.instagram.com/markdwillis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdanielwillis

https://www.facebook.com/MarkWillisPH

http://www.ukpranichealing.co.uk/markwillis

"Vague wishes to improve my work life balance which have been in my mind for the last 5 years, have now been clearly detailed and actioned"

This was part of a review somebody left on this podcast a few weeks ago and it really intrigued me.

How many of us have listened to a podcast, or read a book or watched a video and felt motivated or inspired to do something, but then nothing changes.

We can't (and don't need to!) put absolutely everything that we learn into action, but I also know that the thing most of us struggle with is bridging the gap between knowing and doing. Doing things differently enough such that it brings about positive change.

I was delighted to track down the lady who wrote those words, Karen Gibson, and was even more grateful that she agreed to come on as a guest herself!

In our conversation she explains a little more about what she did, what had stopped her in the past, how she started to put the ideas into practice, and the difference it's made to her.

Everybody's situation is different of course, and there are plenty of general lessons in this that could be applied to yours.

This is a topic that's come up a lot lately, with many people saying that they either always or regularly struggle to switch off.

Lying in bed at night tired but wired, with thoughts from the day buzzing around your brain can really disrupt your sleep. Mulling over work problems in your mind when you're playing with the kids or socialising with your friends can take you away from the moment and lead to disengagement and a lack of deep connection.

Today's episode examines 3 questions:

1) What does 'switching off' really mean

2) Is it necessarily a bad thing if you can't switch off (and why we should be talking about switching gears instead)

3) What can we do to help avoid intrusive thoughts and the associated stress that goes with it

When it comes to physical wellbeing, one of the most important habits we can try to create is around getting a good night's sleep.

We all know that this is important, and I'm sure we've all experienced the fall out of a bad night's sleep, but it's easier said than done.

My guest today is sleep expert and author of 'Navigating Sleeplessness', Dr. Lindsay Browning. We talk about how to improve the quality as well as quantity of your sleep, the different stages of sleep and some of the common myths.

How Covid has affected our sleep patterns, caffeine, shift work, getting up in the night for the loo…

It's a packed session and if you do ever have trouble sleeping - that'll be nearly all of us then! - then definitely make sure you have a pen and paper to hand as you listen.

You can find Lindsay on her website and social media at the following links:

https://troublesleeping.co.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08SMSPGX5/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbrowning

https://twitter.com/DrBrowningSleep

https://www.facebook.com/DrBrowningSleep

https://www.instagram.com/drbrowningsleep

In 2014 I wrote the book 'Beginner's Luck Guide for Non-Runners' and since then it's helped thousands of complete beginners build the confidence to go out enjoy all of the benefits of running.

In today's episode I introduce 3 practical tips that many beginner runners seem to find useful, as well as 3 mindset tips and 3 common mistakes.

It's a bit of a niche episode and if running isn't your bag then you might want to skip over this one, but if you've secretly wanted to learn how to run for a while now, this could be just the start that you need!

My intention with this podcast has always been to try and give you a bit of a boost of positivity, or a boost energy, or a boost of motivation. But ultimately what I think we're all trying to achieve, is to give ourselves a bit of a boost of happiness.

My guest today is Dr Vikki Barnes, a clinical psychologist and specialist in positive psychology and the science of happiness.

Vikki delivers workplace wellbeing programs, she runs retreats, and she's just finished a book on happiness that will be published soon… and she's promised to come back on the podcast when it's released to tell us more about it!

In this conversation Vikki talks about what happiness means to her, why she thinks so many more people are practicing habits like gratitude, and how to do it in case you're not familiar with this wonderfully simple yet effective happiness habit, and we also get into the prickly subject of what to do about 'happiness guilt', where some people have a tendency to deny themselves happiness because there's so much other bad stuff going on around them.

https://www.drvikkibarnes.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drvikkibarnes

https://www.instagram.com/drvikkibarnes

Pat Divilly is one of Ireland's leading resilience and wellbeing coaches, a sought after corporate speaker and host of The Pat Divilly podcast. We've been friends for many years and for the last 5 have hosted the annual Momentum New Year kick off alongside Gerry Duffy.

Pat runs meditation, journaling and personal development programs, retreats, mountain expeditions, and puts on hugely popular sell-out events in the personal development space.

He's also in the process of finishing off his 4th book which will be published in December 2021, and we spend a bit of time getting into what it's about in our conversation today.

There's so much I could have spoken to Pat about, but I decided to keep it fairly broad and talk about the subject of personal development. When we've realised that it's possible to work on ourselves, the next obvious question is 'how?'

We explore this question and Pat being the natural teacher that he is, shares some real gems of wisdom right from the start of this podcast.

I highly recommend checking out Pat's website https://www.patdivilly.com, and subscribing to The Pat Divilly Podcast for a weekly dose of inspiration!

I hope that today's episode gives you a bit of a boost!

On today's episode I speak to mental health campaigner, adventurer, speaker and coach Dan Keeley. I almost met Dan recently at an event we were both speaking and was intrigued enough by the title of his talk to get in touch with him afterwards. After our initial 'virtual coffee' I knew I wanted to get him on the podcast to share his story, and also ask him a few questions about his work.

Dan had a 5 year battle with bipolar, and I realised that I knew embarrassingly little about this mental health issue, so I figured this was my chance to ask!

We talk about the power of vulnerability, what it was like to run from Rome to London in 63 days, and a shared favourite Viktor Frankl quote that made it into the title of this episode.

I also wanted to get Dan's opinion on HOW to ask for help or talk to somebody when we're not feeling great. We know that we SHOULD talk more, but I wanted to hear about some of the ways we can do this practically without the fear of being invalidated, judged or even worse (for me anyway!), fixed.

This is such an inspiring story and I know that you'll be drawn to Dan's openness and generosity with his answers to my questions.

You can find out more about Dan and the work he does to promote mental health awareness and action through his website https://www.dankeeley.co, or on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram at @iamdankeeley.

Most of us are familiar with the expression 'use it or lose it', but my guest today is a man who has been living by that mantra for almost a century.

I first met Garry Garretts at a Toastmasters speakers club meeting last year, which he had recently joined because he wanted to 'keep his mind active'!

In our conversation today Garry shares some of the other things he does to stay physically and mentally fit, and why at the age of almost 99 (it's his birthday next month!) it's even more important now than ever.

His stories of being blown up as he tried to put out a German fire bomb in the Blitz (before returning to work 3 days later once they had removed the 19 pieces of shrapnel from his legs!) and joining the RAF on his 19th birthday are both inspiring and grounding.

If I have half the spirit, energy and enthusiasm for learning new things when I'm nearly 100 years old as Garry does, I'll be more than happy!

If you want to find out more about Garry and his 30 year career in the RAF (including flying on the Berlin Airlift), Legasee have done a nice series of biographical videos you can access from here:

https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/garry-garretts/