In this ep, I look at the weird ends of the spectrum telling us to either stay exactly as we are, or become who we are supposed to be by *gasp* "putting in effort"! What a revelation. Though neither side actually tells us how to do these things, so we're left with just lifestyle-quacks hoarding eyeballs for their own benefit while giving us nothing in return. Discuss :)

In this episode, I briefly introduce Internal Family Systems. It's about your "internal" family of characters that make up your personality, and how recognising and engaging these can lead to huge (mental health) benefits. I also discuss how it nicely integrates and overlaps with much of Buddhist psychology.

In this episode I look at the left's campaign strategy and why it seems to keep losing to a more digitially cunning right. I also look at how we sometimes fail those campaigns by being poor ambassadors of what we are meant to represent. Also... what's with white people making a lot of white noise during a campaign that's meant to be about centring Aboriginal Australians...?

In this episode, I reflect on the benefits of using a dumbphone for a year. That's not to say I've ditched my smartphone all together, so this is dumb phone "lite", but adding a dumb phone to the mix has been a huge benefit. Listen to find out why.

In this episode I look at how the reaction from Russell Brand's followers reveals that, despite the 'culture' of open-mindedness his channel and persona purport to foster, the reality is the exact opposite. I also look at how social media has created a bizarre situation where people now leap to conclusions before they know any of the facts: we're so fast to react now, this isn't just the age of Disinformation or Misinformation, but also the age of Pre-Information, where people are proud to have an opinion knowing they don't yet know enough.

In this episode I look at how ego can contribute to a certain calcifying of one's position on certain issues - in this case the referendum on the Voice to Parliament - which leads to a lack of engagement, humility, and a lacklustre search for, and appreciation of, the truth.

In this episode I discuss how ego contributes to climate change through the pleasure principle, social comparison, as well as through the well-meaning but ultimately pointless pasttime of fanning our digital peacock feathers.

In this episode, I discuss how we like to protect our sense of self by shutting down, or questioning, actions of those that go against the grain. If we've bought into a certain lifestyle / narrative / capitalist paradigm, then those who go against that can seem to be a threat to the "sense" of our own lives and our sense of self-narrative, and so it seems rational to question their decisions. But perhaps this is just an ego self-defence mechanism, and one that, ultimately, benefits the rich and powerful.

In this ep I discuss some overlap between cognitive behavioural therapy and insight meditation, and how both can help us have a healthier relationship, or attitude, towards our own thoughts. Also there's a wee rant at the start about the state of the TV industry in Australia.

In this episode, I discuss how mindfulness and "slowing down" have been useful in confront my daughter's recent diagnosis, and how getting on top of ego helps mitigate the fear-based instinct (and our desire for self-control and self-efficacy) to rush out and do your own research.