Psychological flexibility is often described as the ‘super skill’ of resilience, wellbeing and mental health. It is your ability to ‘make contact with experience in the present moment fully and without defence’. Research has found that it is associated with higher quality of life and wellbeing. As regular listeners will often hear me say, we are not our thoughts – we are aware of our thoughts. This is a profound insight that can have a huge impact on your experience of life, and is the cornerstone of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - and psychological flexibility.

This week I am truly delighted to be joined by Steven Hayes, the founder of ACT. ACT is is all about developing Psychological Flexibility, and is one of the most profoundly helpful psychological interventions in the world. While so many other approaches focus on changing the content of your thinking, for example from negative to positive, this is all about changing how you relate to your thoughts and feelings.

In this episode we discuss:

Steven Hayes website, including his 'ACT toolkit': https://stevenchayes.com/

Steven's TED TALK on Psychological Flexibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o79_gmO5ppg

Steven's TED TALK 2 on 'mental breaks': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnSHpBRLJrQ

**

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Thank you.

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Olympic 2020 Tokyo 1500 metres silver medalist Laura Muir is one of the finest middle-distance runners Britain has ever seen.

But there’s more – she is a trained vet too. Muir graduated from the University of Glasgow’s prestigious vet school in 2018 all while competing at the top level – winning her first senior outdoor gold medal at the European Championships that summer.

How did she juggle both things? And what are the key lessons to take from her experiences about not overthinking things, and recognising that sometimes anticipation can be worse than reality?

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

Email: [email protected]

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Much obliged.

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As research into the potential healing powers of psychedelics gains pace, I am thrilled to be joined by Michael Pollan, the author and journalist described as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In his book How to change your mind, Michael researches how psychedelics including psylocibin mushrooms are being used to help people suffering from various mental health conditions – including depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction.

Psychedelic research is clearly a growing and interesting area, and may have the potential to help a lot of people who are suffering. That said, psychedelics are not to be taken lightly. They are extremely powerful substances that must be treated with respect. That’s why the work that is taking place in various universities and medical institutions around the world – to explore how people can explore psychedelic therapy safely – is so important.

In this episode:

– What are drugs? How what we consider to be drugs is continually shifting – and the role of coffee and caffeine in capitalism

– How his view of psychedelics shifted once he started looking into their potential for therapeutic use

– So-called 'ego death' and how it can help people living with cancer reduce fear of dying

– What is the ego, its address in the brain and the value in transcending the self – including its relationship to flow in sport

– The hard problem of consciousness & different views of reality

– How psychedelics can shake up beliefs and relationship with self, other and the world

– The evolving legal situation in the United States

– Current work on psychedelics taking place & what the future may hold

Michael Pollan's website: https://michaelpollan.com/

US Berkeley Centre for the Science of Psychedelics: https://psychedelics.berkeley.edu/

My BBC news report on Ayahuasca: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41333172

CAUTION: This conversation contains themes of an adult nature

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Thank you.

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A good night’s sleep can make you feel strong enough to take on the world. A bad nights sleep – well, let’s not go there.

This clip is all about how to avoid falling down the insomnia gap. You see, one bad night’s sleep can quickly snowball – so it’s good to know how to stop that from happening and to recognise the signs. This is from my conversation with Dr Guy Meadows – the founder and clinical director of The Sleep School

My full length conversation with Dr Guy Meadows is HERE: https://pod.fo/e/16ff87

The Sleep School: https://www.sleepschool.org/

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

Email: [email protected]

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Much obliged.

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Lawrence Dallaglio is an English sporting icon who understands the power of being driven by a higher purpose. He won 85 international rugby caps and was a crucial player in England's World Cup triumph of 2003. But Dallaglio is not cut from typical rugby playing cloth. It was the tragedy of losing his older sister in the Marchioness boating disaster of 1989 that ended up propelling him to pursue a rugby career. I am grateful to Lawrence for being open and vulnerable about his life and struggles, including the tragedy of losing his sister and the profound impact that had on him, while also sharing some gems around what it takes to win sports biggest prizes. 

In this episode:

-         Becoming a rugby icon despite never having set out with rugby as a career choice

-         The importance of belief in a competitive environment

-         The power of vulnerability in a group - and embracing consistency & honest conversations

-         Playing to honour his sisters memory & being driven by a higher purpose

-         Why rugby was not an ideal catalyst to facilitate healing

-         The difference between his private & rugby personas

-         His one big rugby regret

-         The gift of giving and setting up Dallaglio Rugby Works

-         Reaction to his decision not to select Jonny Wilkinson for his all-time England 15

-         The best rugby player he ever lined up alongside or against

Dallaglio Rugby Works: https://www.dallagliorugbyworks.com/

Simon Dent's Marathon Des Sables 'run in the sun' 2023: https://justgiving.com/campaign/simondentsruninthesun

The Jonny Wilkinson episode referenced: https://pod.fo/e/16fa31

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Thank you.

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Who doesn’t want to know how to stop unpleasant and even intrusive thoughts from bothering them? While lots of people talk about positive thinking, and training yourself to turn a negative into something upbeat – the truth is – that takes a lot of effort and doesn’t always work. Dr Russ Harris is one of the world’s leading psychologists. He shares a portable mindfulness technique that can sap the power out of any bothersome thought, at any moment – whenever thoughts are bothering you. This is seriously powerful, if paradoxical, stuff.

My full length conversation with Dr. Russ Harris is HERE: https://www.simonmundie.com/blog/russ-harris

And a heads up - the full length conversations return on monday - kicking off with Lawrence Dallaglio: Harnessing Emotion

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

Email me: [email protected]

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 250 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Much obliged.

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There’s a saying that I’m confident you will have heard of – but which we can all too quickly forget when the mind starts taking off. And it is – what you resist, persists. One of my guests who has really internalised the wisdom behind that saying is Jonny Wilkinson. We all know his story – he was the darling of English rugby who kicked the World Cup winning drop goal in 2003, and whose mental health suffered in the ensuing years. So Jonny has been on quite the introspective journey – and he’s now learnt how to let go of resistance to allow life to flow as it can and should. 

Full Length Conversation with Jonny W is here: https://pod.fo/e/16ff5e

**Date for your diary - full length conversations will return on MONDAY APRIL 17th**

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Thank you.

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Gary Lineker has been in the news recently – more than usual – after a social media fracas that led him to miss a week of presenting match of the Day and which briefly dominated the news headlines. As we now know that situation was soon sorted – and Gary was quickly back alongside his chums on the MOTD sofa, looking as unruffled as ever. Being centre of the media glare as he was didn’t seem to knock Gary off his stride too much – and when you hear about his career playing football, you can understand why. 

Gary and I chewing the fat: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=500304600552690

**HEADS UP - FULL LENGTH CONVERSATIONS WILL RETURN ON MONDAY APRIL 17th**

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

Email: [email protected]

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Much obliged.

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We all come into this world with unconditional worth – and then we lose sight of that and spend so much time running around trying to prove that we are enough. It’s part of the human condition – and has been something of a key theme running through this podcast.

One of my guests I talked about this with was the 1996 formula one world champion Damon Hill, whose father Graham had also been a world champion – making them the first ever father-son duo to achieve the feat.

In this episode:

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Thank you.

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How can you have as many good days as possible? It’s so easy to continually be looking to the future – and pay too high a price in the present as a result. Frances Houghton is a five time Olympian, who won three silver medals, 4 world championship golds and held two world records in rowing.

Early on – she set two goals, to compete in as many Olympic games as possible, and to win Olympic Gold. Eventually, that drive and need to win gold led to burnout, and so she realised she needed to redefine success. It led to a profound epiphany – it was about collaborating with other people and appreciating them along the way – not simply continually looking to success in the future and pinning her happiness on that. Frances retired on the Olympic podium in 2016 as part of the first British women’s eight ever to win an Olympic medal – and the picture of her and her teammates beaming with joy while holding hands on the podium speaks volumes about the value of her change in outlook.

**

MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/

And for the 'Mundie on Monday' newsletter - featuring three of the best Life Lessons from four years and 200 of these conversations - head to simonmundie.com (where you can also drop me an email)

Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in helping people find this podcast. Thank you.

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