Inside Out with Jimi Hunt - The Mental Fitness Podcast

With Jimi finally back home in México, he and Libby talk about opposites attracting. From their first-hand experience in their own relationship, they discuss the ways in which they are different (almost everything!), the things that they align on and why they believe that being complete opposites to each other is the key to a healthy relationship.

As our hosts explain, the foundation of their success in their relationship with each other doesn’t depend on their shared likes, instead, it’s the complete opposite and Libby reveals the one core belief that she and Jimi share which allows them to flourish in their relationship whilst simultaneously sharing very few other things common.

They caution the pitfalls that can arise if you exclusively seek your ‘type’ when finding a partner and why being in a relationship with someone similar to yourself can lead to becoming stuck in a fixed mindset.

Jimi and Libby both believe that being in a relationship with someone so different to themselves is what allows them to grow as individuals and as a couple and they talk about a few of their own personal growth stories which they attribute to being in a relationship with someone so vastly different.

Jimi goes Inside Out to explain his philosophy of the Three Brains.

Do we know what we really know? Where do our thoughts come from? What exactly is ‘consciousness’?

Jimi reveals the first time he was aware of being the observer of his thoughts and not actually being his thoughts. A concept we often hear, particularly when we first embark on a journey into meditation but something that can be a little tricky to grasp.

We make most of our daily decisions with our brains. We think. But those decisions and thoughts won’t help us move up the Mental Fitness Continuum so we have to learn how to think differently. How to make conscious choices for those big life moments, those ‘fork in the road’ decisions.

Combining neurocardiology (thinking with your heart) and neurogastroenterology (intuition, gut decisions) Jimi explains how to get out of your head and exercise your consciousness, to feel your way forward, trust your instinct and your heart and to make a change from the Inside Out.

Jimi welcomes back Imposter Syndrome expert, Alison Shamir to delve deeper into the practical tools to help move forward through Imposter Syndrome.

Referencing some of the concepts they discussed in the previous episode, Jimi and Alison focus their discussion on the concepts of confidence, self-worth and self-esteem and how they are all linked.

They get to the heart of how to identify where your feelings of low self worth or low confidence originated from and Alison shares her formulas for how to form a new relationship with yourself, create higher levels of confidence and self-worth and take the first step to vanquishing Imposter Syndrome.

Encouraging us to look at our values around what success means to us through a different lens, Alison believes that a  perspective shift can be easily achieved through some of the tips and techniques she shares.

In this episode you’ll learn the framework to map out the way forward for changing how you feel about yourself one small, practical and effective step at a time.

Jimi is joined by Alison Shamir, a leading expert in Imposter Syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome is a relatively new concept and is becoming more widely used in the modern vernacular but as Alison points out the meaning has been slightly bastardised over the past decade and she explains what Imposter Syndrome actually is and how it affects such a large proportion of society.

With more than 70% of high performing men and women experience imposter syndrome, it’s easy to wonder if you’re part of that statistic or do you just have moments of self doubt?

Alison divulges ways to positively reframe the question if you are wondering whether you are experine in Imposter Syndrome or just in a such a moment.

Citing some great examples of what Imposter Syndrome can look like and identifying some of the signs to look for, Alison draws a direct line bet

Addressing the toxic culture of Tall Poppy Syndrome that exists in Australasia, Alison and Jimi discuss how this impacts the prevalence of Imposter Syndrome in the region.

They also go into  how conditioning as a child creates your Imposter Syndrome Origin Story and how learning to identify your origin story allows you to understand why you feel the way you do and how this can be the first step to moving out of the Imposter Syndrome mindset.

So, is there are way out of Imposter Syndrome or is it something that you will just have to manage for the rest of your life?

Alison believes it’s a little of both and explains how to move forward with your life with strategies to combat and conquer the fears allowing you to develop strong self-worth and validation from within.

Jimi draws a direct line between Alison’s work and his own framework around Constant, Conscious, Choices, explaining what people can do to combat the strong negative inner critic and how this can be a key element to silencing and rewiring the negative bias that Imposter Syndrome creates.

Jimi also reveals the secret folder he keeps that has been crucial in helping him to overcome his own feelings of doubt.

Links: 

www.alisonshamir.com

@alisonshamir on all social media

Broaching the delicate topic of miscarriage, Jimi and Libby discuss their experiences with loss of pregnancies and the impact multiple miscarriages has had on them individually and as a couple.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage. They are unpreventable and not anyone’s fault, yet miscarriage is a subject that we tend to feel awkward about discussing and many of of don’t know what to do or say when confronted with the topic.

In this episode Jimi and Libby explain why they told friends and family early on about their pregnancies rather than waiting the widely practiced 12 weeks of silence and how this helped them with their loss and the grieving process.

The talk about the physical and emotional pain that can accompany a miscarriage and the lessons they learned throughout each experience.

Hoping to destigmatise something that is actually a very common part of life, Libby and Jimi speak openly about what they went through and offer some advice around how you can support someone experiencing miscarriage or fears around pregnancy and loss.

So, ummm, yeah. This is a bit of a strange Mental Fitness episode.

When we die, where do we go?

Is there only eternal nothingness, or is Heaven and Hell an actual thing?

Jimi unpacks some of the different understandings and beliefs around the afterlife. If there even is one.

Outlining some of the most common views held within different belief systems about where we go once we die, Jimi touches on what he perceives is the motivation behind religious doctrine.

Perhaps we’re ‘one and done’, or maybe we reincarnate.

As Jimi explains, science has linked research to possible evidence that coming back to do it all over again might actually be an option.

But, just like the rest of us, Jimi doesn’t know for sure but with the help of one of his favourite parables and the unconventional wisdom of a well known comedian, Jimi explains what he believes happens when we die and how this perspective impacts his own Mental Fitness.

Jimi is joined by Brooke Neal to understand the role of sport in our lives and how it impacts our mental fitness.

Brooke draws from her years of experience competing as an elite athlete at the top of her sport and speaks with Jimi about the pressure of the expectations that are put on us by others or by ourselves.

Jimi opens up about his background in competitive sports as a young person and how the expectations he put on himself led to a feeling of not being good enough which spilled over into other, non-sports related, facets of life.

They talk about the impact this can have on us as an adult, leading to feelings of not being successful in life in general.

Delving into the dangers that arise when what you do becomes your identity, Brooke outlines how she dealt with having her whole world wrapped up in being defined solely as “Brooke Neal, Hockey Player” and how she navigated her way through intense pressures, setbacks, grief and loss to find out who she really was and eventually create a programme aimed at supporting young sports women on similar paths.

They discuss some of the pitfalls associated with setting goals without a foundation.

What happens when you achieve a goal? What’s next?

What happens if you don’t or can’t achieve that goal? How does that leave us feeling?

And when we don't accomplish what we set out to do, how does that impact us?

“How am I meant to be satisfied with anything, if all of my happiness is attached to this external thing that I don’t have control over?”

Extolling the importance of developing tools to deal with pressures before they become a crisis, Brooke outlines her top 3 tools that she would give to her 18 year old self if she could go back in time.

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LINKS:

Instagram: @brookeneal1 @allaboutbalancenz

People are often intrigued about our relationship why we live the way we do and where we do. We get asked the same questions over and over again and so if that's the case, we thought we could simply just answer some of the most commonly asked questions and offer a little insight into our unconventional lifestyle.

Why do you live in México? How long have you lived there? Are you coming back? (01:28)

What does Libby do for work? Do you work together? How does that work? (10:32)

Why don’t you have children? Are you trying to have children? (20:08)

Do you miss each other? (27:15)

This episode may not improve your Mental Fitness.

According to Wikipedia, “‘Coolness’ is an aesthetic, attitude, behaviour, comportment, appearance and style which is generally admired.”

When we hear the word ‘cool’, our brain often conjures up images of the popular kids at school or, as adults, the people who can afford to buy the latest trends and technology and who have a certain style.

Dismissing the semantics, Jimi tells us what cool means to him, listing a variety of personal attributes, traits and values that deem a person to be cool in his eyes. Unsurprisingly, his list strays quite far from the common interpretation of the word and he explains why he curates his life to be surrounded by his type of cool people.

He talks with Libby about the difference between someone who is trendy and someone who is genuinely cool and how even though she was not cool when they first met, by putting her mental fitness at the forefront and working on understanding and loving herself over the past 10 years she has become one of the coolest people he knows.

Listen to see if you possess the traits that would make you one of the coolest people Jimi knows, and if not, maybe you could try to be a bit cooler without trying to be cool...

Professor Grant Schofield joins Jimi to get right to the heart of how to achieve great mental fitness.

As an expert in human potential, Grant’s views on the current state of the health system and, in particular, the mental health system offer some food for thought in both a figurative and literal sense.

Grant believes that we have historically overlooked some crucial evidence to how a person can maintain peak mental fitness  - including food and lifestyle factors that can benefit our bodies in both a physical and psychological way, more than pharmaceuticals or talk therapy ever can.

Questioning the long-held belief that serotonin is solely responsible for mood disorders, Grant introduces us to his research around certain neurotransmitters and other contributing factors and the impact that they have on us in both a physiological and physiological sense. Outlining some fascinating evidence, Grant reveals that we don’t need to rely on prescription medications to reach a state of great mental fitness but by understanding the role that stress, inflammation of the body and brain, poor sleep and poor diet have on our overall wellness highlights where we should be actually be focusing our attention.

Both Jimi and Grant agree that the days for talking about and bringing awareness to mental health are gone. Now is the time to start taking action and in this episode, they may have just come up with the solution…perhaps even creating an entirely new profession within the health system.

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LINKS 

profgrant.com

prekure.com

jimihunt.com

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