Dot to Dot

We talk about Helen's own squiggly career which you can hear more about in her TEDx which she recorded in In January 2021 with Sarah. Both Helen and Sarah are living proof of the title of their talk ‘Why squiggly careers are better for everyone’ and inspiring in their message. Prior to Amazing If she held leadership roles for Microsoft, Virgin and BP and was awarded the FT & 30% Club’s Women in Leadership MBA Scholarship. Before making her way back to university friend Sarah to start up their incredibly successful business. She is mum to Henry and Madeleine and lives with her husband in Buckinghamshire. Helen also works as a Trustee for Working Families, a UK charity with a mission to support families and carers with their work and life commitments.  You can find her on Instagram @amazingif. 

As for me – the second edition to my book Defining You – Build Your Unique Personal Profile and Unlock Your True Potential is now out: 

https://bit.ly/DefiningYou2ndEd

And if you are curious about who you are, your brain and the influences in your life then please dip into my more recent book Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human. 

https://bit.ly/MirrThink

https://bit.ly/MirrorUSACan

https://bit.ly/2ylrc7H

You can find me on:

My website: https://fionamurden.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fiona_murden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fionamurden

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionamurden/

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Lou uses the example of the physical versus the psychological in sport. When an athlete goes to a physiotherapist who doesn’t help them with a physical problem they move on to see another physiotherapist, but when they meet a psychologist that they doesn’t click with they’re likely to give up on psychology. This is common to how we all approach our physical versus our psychological health, struggling to understand how to navigate the complexities of our mind and behaviour. We scratch the surface on this complex topic and hopefully provide some useful tips for anyone not knowing where to start. 

Therapists may be called:

Psychotherapist

Counsellor

Counselling Psychologist 

Clinical Psychologist 

(for more on the types of therapist go to https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk and for more about the qualifications go to the bottom). 

Within these practitioners may use different approaches e.g 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Humanistic – which includes Gestalt, Existential and client-centered therapy

Psycho-dynamic or psycho-analytic 

Hypnotherapy

(for more on the types of therapy go to https://nationalcounsellingsociety.org/counselling-directory/types-of-therapy) 

A good site for searching for people in your area in the UK: 

(be sure to check their years of experience and their professional qualifications)

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/counselling

And in other countries including the USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/counsellors

Reputed Professional Bodies (in the UK): 

British Psychological Society (BPS)

https://www.bps.org.uk/public/find-psychologist

Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC)

https://www.hcpc-uk.org

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

https://www.bacp.co.uk

National Counselling Society (NCS) 

https://nationalcounsellingsociety.org
Association for Child & Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

https://www.acamh.org

Wording for qualifications taken from Psychology Today: 

CPsychol - British Psychological Society - Chartered Member which is the highest distinction awarded to members of the British Psychological Society. A chartered member has postgraduate training, teaching experience and has completed psychology research to the doctoral level.

MSc - Master of Science degrees are typically in science or technology. Many mental health professionals coming from a social sciences background earn a master of science degree.

MBPsS – graduate members of the British Psychological Society who have completed an accredited undergraduate degree with high marks and have been admitted as members to the society. 

N.B. This on its own does not mean someone will have completed any training in how to treat people. 

HPCP Clin Psych - Health & Care Professions Council Clinical Psychologist. The HCPC regulates practitioner psychologists in the UK. A clinical psychologist determines a treatment programme addressing behavioural needs of their clients based on close collaboration with other healthcare providers.

DCounsPsych - Doctorate in Counselling Psychology - a professional degree preparing graduates for practice in counselling psychology

PsychD - Doctor of Psychology - a professional degree preparing graduates for practice in clinical psychology

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Ginny is a neuroscience expert and science communicator. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, but her main passion and expertise is in psychology and neuroscience, so she focuses on helping kids and adults understand our complex minds. Ginny says that “Science is fun and fascinating and ever changing, and I want to help everyone share in the joy of curiosity and exploration.” 

  ​Some of the things that Ginny said in this week’s chat that stood out for me:

“I find it amazing how much we still don’t understand about this thing that controls everything we do”

“Science can come across as something that’s finished – it’s this body of facts that we know about the world and I think telling kids and adults that there’s so much more to be discovered can be really inspiring.”

“It’s actually behavioural change that can have a bigger impact on our lives at the moment than neuro science but it feels like neuroscience is the sexier option so anyone who is selling something tends always badge it as neuroscience.  And balance your hormones, take this supplement, we’re going to retrain your brain. Just take anything that makes big claims on neuroscience needs to have big evidence and a lot of the time if they’re trying to sell you something there’s not.”

The second edition to my award winning book Defining You – Build Your Unique Personal Profile and Unlock Your True Potential is now out: 

https://bit.ly/DefiningYou2ndEd

If you are curious about who you are, your brain and the influences in your life then please dip into my more recent book Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human. 

https://bit.ly/MirrThink

https://bit.ly/MirrorUSACan

https://bit.ly/2ylrc7H

Follow on:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fiona_murden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fionamurden

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fionamurden

And for Ginny: 
ginnysmithscience.com

Socials: @GinnySmithSci

braintasticscience.com

Socials: @BraintasticSci

Amazon Book link: Overloaded: How Every Aspect of Your Life is Influenced by Your Brain Chemicals: Amazon.co.uk: Smith, Ginny: Books

Links to non-amazon shops here: www.ginnysmithscience.com/overloaded

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

We explore the psychological and physiological need for hugs, how hard it has been for many people not being able to hug loved ones during lockdown, the importance of touch from birth to old age and our fundamental need for touch as a means of connection. 

To pre-order the second edition of my book Defining You (out on 27th May in UK, Sept rest of world) go to:

https://bit.ly/DefiningYou2ndEd

Follow us/ask us any questions on:

www.fionamurden.com 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fiona_murden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fionamurden

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fionamurden

Or for Lou

Instagram: www.instagram.com/loupylou78

Twitter: https://twitter.com/louisejones78

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Grace Lindsay is a computational neuroscientist currently based at University College London. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University, where her research focused on building mathematical models of how the brain controls its own sensory processing. Before that, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and received a research fellowship to study at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Freiburg, Germany. She was awarded a Google PhD Fellowship in Computational Neuroscience in 2016.

To find out more about Grace, her book and her work click on the following link:

tinyurl.com/h9dn4bw7

To find out more about me, my books and my work go to:

www.fionamurden.com

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

As Lou says "Some might say 'to do lists' was a boring subject but actually the more you delve into it the more interesting and fascinating it gets because they have so many benefits. Which include increased productivity, increased confidence, greater focus, being more effective because you're writing things down and warming up your brain to actually achieve them, motivation.'  

We discuss the way we use 'to do lists', individual differences, what the research tells us and how to use 'to do lists' optimally. We explore whether lists are helpful when it comes to longer ranger creative processes like writing a book, how they can be used to assist difficult conversations, using them as a mechanism to create reflective space, a reminder to look after health, well-being and relationships or simply remembering the things you need to get done.

Do you write a 'to do list'? We'd love to know. 

For Fiona's books - Defining You go to:

http://bit.ly/DefiningYou

If you are curious about who you are, your brain and the influences in your life then please dip into Fiona's more recent book Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human. 

https://bit.ly/MirrThink

Follow us/ask us any questions on:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/fiona_murden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fionamurden

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fionamurden

Or for Lou

Instagram: www.instagram.com/loupylou78

Twitter: https://twitter.com/louisejones78

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Vanessa went from a high octane career as a TV producer to becoming blind and paralyzed overnight. Her journey back to health resulted in her pulling on mental resources she’d learnt previously such as techniques from hypno-birthing. Demonstrating the power of psychology in action - since then she’s been on a mission to understand more about the impact of meditation on the mind. Vanessa has worked with Cambridge University on ground breaking projects even venturing into the world of psychedelics. To hear more about Vanessa’s incredible journey tune in to this week’s episode of the Dot to Dot podcast. 

Author, TEDx speaker & meditation advocate, Vanessa Potter used the trauma of losing her sight following a rare illness as an extraordinary visual rebirth. She became curious to understand the mechanics of her brain embarking upon a ‘meditation road trip’ exploring 10 ways to train her mind as neuroscientists recorded her brain activity. Her book, Finding My Right Mind: One Woman’s Experiment to put Meditation to the Test publishes on 29th April 2021. 

More info:

About my new digital courses go to: https://fionamurden.com/defining-you-digital-course/

For my books go to:

Mirror Thinking How Role Models Make Us Human go to:

https://bit.ly/MirrThink

For my book Defining You How to Profile Yourself to Unlock Your Full Potential 

UK: https://amzn.to/30wiMEy

USA: http://bit.ly/DefiningYouPaperbackUSA

Australia: http://bit.ly/DefiningYouAus

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Russ Harris is a doctor, therapist, father, trainer of health professionals, and author of The Happiness Trap (plus eight other books).

He started his career as a doctor back in 1989, and soon discovered that most of his patients were expressing a significant degree of dissatisfaction in life; most of what was wrong was psychologically based. He strongly related to their struggles, because he was experiencing something similar himself.

"Despite the fact that I had a successful career with a dream job, good income and high status, he was depressed, anxious, and overweight. He felt his life lacked a sense of meaning and purpose, and at times was even suicidal."

He just couldn’t understand why he felt this way. He had achieved all the goals that society says tells us will make us feel happy. But it wasn’t working. And he wanted to know why. One thing was for sure, simplistic stories that it was all due to an unhappy childhood or too much negative thinking or a chemical imbalance in my brain were definitely not the answer.

So he set off on a journey to find out a) what makes people unhappy, and b) far more importantly, what creates genuine and lasting happiness. He looked first to psychiatry - a natural stepping stone from medicine and then psychology but not wanting to study for another 5 years he continued to explore off his own back. And in his own words that journey took him down a lot of blind alleys and dead ends. But eventually, it led him to ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

The moment he discovered this therapy, he fell deeply in love with it. It had a huge and profound impact on his life. Almost instantly, he began to develop a deep sense of purpose and meaning.

He found how to enrich and enhance his life, and transform the way he dealt with painful thoughts and feelings. He built a stronger connection with himself and others, which led him to feel that sense of warmth, closeness, belonging he’d been searching for all those years.

To make use of ACT (in a non clinical / everyday manner) and find a partner to work through your own journey with go to the Oka Platform at Oka.Life

Links to the books referred to:

The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Russ Harris

The Reality Slap 2nd Edition: How to survive and thrive when life hits hard by Russ Harris 

Defining You How to Profile Yourself and Unlock Your Full Potential by Fiona Murden https://amzn.to/2QbFlbh

Man’s Search for Meaning Man's Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust by Vicktor E Frankl

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mirror Thinking - How Role Models Make Us Human by Fiona Murden 

https://bit.ly/mirrorthink

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Sports psychologist Lou Jones and I discuss how fighting with emotions just makes them worse. How it doesn't feel natural to just leave things because we're taught to 'fix things' in the outside world all of the time, but it's not the best way to deal with emotions. We will always have emotions, because it's part of being human and that's how we work so it's a life long journey to learn how we can manage those in our world in order to achieve the things we want to. We're not always going to get it right - it's about learning as we go and constantly noticing that we're on this journey. 

Lou says 'I really enjoy learning about myself, it helps me to have a more satisfying life.' I do too but it's taken a long time, even as a psychologist, to realise that's what I needed to do. How about you?

To learn more about 'being you' sign up to the Defining You digital course which comes out in May with the release of the 2nd edition of the book. To add your name to the wait list please contact [email protected] 

Here are some things that people who went on the pilot said: 

"The Defining You course made me think about past experiences (childhood, university and early career) in a new, more profound way.  It has made me reconsider scenarios from my past and has helped me see them for what they were and how they shaped my future even into my life today.  For me, it has been genuinely revelatory and I really didn't want the course to end.  I am still a work in progress but feel better equipped to look at the past, present and future."

“A brilliant and thought-provoking course and a great introduction to personal reflection and development. The group coaching sessions were welcoming, non-invasive and entirely inspirational. From a practical point of view, the learning format worked perfectly for me. The book is great for reference and the online material is broken down into really digestible and engaging videos and exercises. At no point did I feel under pressure to have completed the exercises or watch the material! It really was a case of “go at your own pace and have fun with it”. If you’re at a point in your life where you want to understand “how did I get here? And where do I go next?” I really recommend this programme.”

"It pushed me out of comfort zone and I started to feel more confident in fully participating towards the end. It has been a cathartic process because I started not to worry about what everyone else was thinking, and more about myself – not something that has ever come naturally to me. For the first time in 59 years I think I have become far more self aware and accepting of myself but also very encouraged there is still time for development!"

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com