Live Well Be Well with Sarah Ann Macklin | Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition

This week I'm joined by Marissa Peer, world-renowned therapist, bestselling author and founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy, and someone who has spent four decades helping people understand why they do what they do and how to change it permanently.

We explore the brain, belief and what it really means to rewire the way you think, feel and live.

Marissa Peer is one of the most sought-after therapists in the world, having worked with Olympic athletes, rock stars, royalty and CEOs. She is the founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), combining hypnotherapy, NLP, CBT and neuroscience to create lasting change. She is the author of eight books including I Am Enough and has trained over 10,000 therapists across 170 countries.

What we explore together:

• Why we keep going back to things we know are bad for us
• Why 80% of people share one common belief that holds them back
• How the words you use are literally shaping your biology
• Why your brain cannot hold conflicting beliefs and what to do about it
• How visualisation during IVF can increase your chances of success by 50%
• What Rapid Transformational Therapy is and why it gets results where other methods don't
• Why happiness is not a destination and how to choose it right now

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:

NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today
👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

The Great British Veg Out
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your Health
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

👉 Free 5-recipe PDF: https://sarahannmacklin.com/5_free_recipes

👉 The Compassionate Cure: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/
📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah
🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin
📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast
💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate.

We delve into why self compassion feels so cringeworthy and why Ruby believes it might be the most important thing you can do for your mental health. Plus the moment Ruby discovered what took the poison away.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 

📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate.

We delve into the real science behind mindfulness, not the colouring book version, but what actually happens in your brain when you practise it, and why Ruby had to go to Oxford before she believed it herself.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

This week I'm joined by David Rock, neuroscientist, author and founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, and someone who has spent 28 years answering one of the most fascinating questions in science:Why do we do what we do? And how can understanding our brain change everything?

We explore human behaviour, the neuroscience of threat and reward, and what it really means to work with your brain rather than against it.

Dr. David Rock coined the term neuroleadership and is the Co-founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI). The Institute is a 23-year-old cognitive science consultancy that has advised over 50% of the Fortune 100.  With operations in 24 countries, the institute brings neuroscientists and leadership experts together to make organisations better for humans through science.

What we explore together:

• Why the brain is always making a threat or reward decision 

• What the SCARF model is and why it explains almost every difficult human interaction

• Why being interrupted feels physically painful and what your brain is actually doing

• How insights really work in the brain and why your best ideas come when you stop trying

• Why one negative comment can override dozens of positive ones and how to rewire that

• What sleep, glucose and rest actually do to your ability to think clearly

• Why status is one of the most powerful forces driving human behaviour and how to work with it

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

The Great British Veg OutHow to support your gut, energy, and hormones by eating more — not less.👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your HealthIf your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout — this is where to start.👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

👉 Practical beats perfect. Here's a free 5-recipe PDF I use to support energy and stress during busy weeks.https://sarahannmacklin.com/5_free_recipes

👉 If this resonates, you can join the thousands who read The Compassionate Cure each week.https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/

📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah

🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin

📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast

💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:55 How David discovered the brain's threat and reward system

06:08 Why we avoid bad things more than we seek good ones

09:00 What happens to your brain when you're overwhelmed

12:02 Brain fog — what it actually is and why it happens

14:58 The prefrontal cortex and why it matters so much

18:00 Why being interrupted is so disruptive to the brain

20:54 The difference between direct experience and narrative thinking

23:49 How to shift your brain into a better state

27:02 The science of insight — where great ideas really come from

29:47 Why your best thinking happens away from your desk

33:02 How much information the brain can actually handle

36:02 The negativity bias — why bad news hits harder than good

38:57 One negative comment vs dozens of positive ones

42:08 What happens in the brain when someone fails

44:58 How to spot where your attention really goes

47:57 Why rest is not optional for a high performing brain

51:08 Sleep, glucose and what they really do to your thinking

54:06 When you can't switch off — what the brain needs

57:07 Why doing nothing feels so hard — and why it matters

60:00 The SCARF model — status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness

62:52 Why inequality triggers such a strong brain response

66:04 The neuroscience of emotion and why it matters

69:08 Humour, connection and the brain

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Cindy Gallop, advertising icon, entrepreneur and founder of Make Love Not Porn.

We delve into Cindy's three step filter for online dating, how she accidentally started dating younger men, and why she built the world's first social sex video sharing platform and what it has done for couples' relationships.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today.

👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 

📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Arthur C. Brooks, Harvard professor and New York Times bestselling author.

We delve into the science of staying in love — why love is nothing like a business problem, the neurochemistry that keeps couples bonded, and the three things Arthur recommends every couple starts doing today.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:

NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today.

👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 

📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 

📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week I'm joined by Arthur C. Brooks, Harvard professor, bestselling author and one of the world's leading experts on the science of human happiness, and someone who has spent his life answering one of the most fundamental questions we all ask and what does it actually mean to live well?

We explore happiness, meaning, love and what the science really says about building a life that feels worth living.

Arthur Brooks is a professor at Vanderbilt University and senior fellow at Harvard Business School. He is the author of 16 books including three number one New York Times bestsellers. He has spent decades studying happiness not as a feeling but as a skill and teaching people how to practise it.

What we explore together:

• Why happiness is not a destination and what the arrival fallacy is really costing you
• The four idols your brain tells you will make you happy and why they never do
• What the neuroscience of love actually looks like and the two things that keep couples bonded
• How the failure journal works and why writing down your disappointments makes you happier
• Why meaning and happiness are not the same thing and which one actually lasts
• What it means to love and be loved and why Arthur believes that's the whole answer

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today
👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

The Great British Veg Out
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your Health
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

👉 Free 5-recipe PDF: https://sarahannmacklin.com/5_free_recipes

👉 The Compassionate Cure: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/
📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah
🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin
📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast
💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:59 Arthur's personal journey and finding purpose
05:59 How grief can be a doorway to meaning
09:07 Why knowing everything doesn't make you happy
15:04 What Stoicism teaches us about happiness
20:57 The four idols — money, pleasure, power, fame
23:57 Why the four idols are a dangerous trap
33:00 Arthur's worst day and what it taught him
38:57 The arrival fallacy
42:03 The neuroscience of dopamine
48:00 The failure journal
54:07 The neuroscience of love — oxytocin, touch and eye contact
57:03 How to keep connection alive long term
65:58 Why the silent treatment is so damaging
72:02 How your emotions are made in the brain
78:00 Finding meaning beyond achievement
87:08 Where Sarah is two years on
93:00 What saved Viktor Frankl
98:28 Final thoughts on living well and being well

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate.

We delve into two of the most extraordinary moments of Ruby's career, interviewing OJ Simpson and being humiliated by Bill Cosby on camera and what she would do completely differently today.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 

📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate.

We delve into what depression actually feels like from the inside, the machine guns, the intrusive thoughts, and how mindfulness taught Ruby to create distance from the thoughts that were trying to destroy her.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 

📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week I'm joined by Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate, and someone who has spent her life turning the most painful human experiences into something that makes us feel less alone.

We explore depression, mindfulness and what it really means to understand your own mind, not just survive it, but actually work with it.

Ruby Wax is an Emmy Award-winning writer and performer who studied neuroscience at Oxford University and went on to write the bestselling books Sane New World and A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled. Ruby founded Frazzled Café, a peer support community for people who feel overwhelmed by modern life, and has performed sell-out shows across the world on mental health. She knows what depression looks like from the inside and she has the Oxford degree to explain why

What we explore together:

*Why depression isn't about sadness and what it actually feels like from the inside
*What mindfulness does to your brain, and why Ruby had to go to Oxford before she believed it
*Why your thoughts are not you and how to create distance from the ones trying to destroy you
*What happens when you stop fighting depression and let it pass instead
*Why self compassion isn't weak or gushy — it's biological necessity
*The moment Bill Cosby humiliated Ruby on camera, and what she would do differently now
*Why Ruby feels safest in a mental institution and what that tells us about belonging

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today
👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

The Great British Veg Out
How to support your gut, energy, and hormones by eating more — not less.
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your Health
If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout — this is where to start.
👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

👉 Practical beats perfect. Here's a free 5-recipe PDF I use to support energy and stress during busy weeks.
https://sarahannmacklin.com/5_free_recipes

👉 If this resonates, you can join the thousands who read The Compassionate Cure each week.
https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/
📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah
🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin
📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast
💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Chapters
00:01 — Introduction
03:05 — Ruby's childhood and what shaped her
05:54 — How Ruby found her voice through comedy
08:49 — Being outed by Comic Relief
11:49 — What depression actually feels like from the inside
14:59 — The neuroscience behind mental illness
17:57 — How Ruby used her illness publicly to help others
21:08 — The machine guns — living with intrusive thoughts
24:04 — How mindfulness creates distance from your thoughts
26:49 — What happens when depression takes over completely
29:52 — Why Ruby checks into a hotel instead of fighting it
32:59 — Performing in mental institutions for two years
35:55 — What mindfulness does to your brain — the science
39:04 — How to actually practise mindfulness anywhere
42:00 — Jon Kabat-Zinn and the origins of mindfulness
44:58 — Ruby's modelling career and finding what she was good at
47:58 — Why self compassion feels cringeworthy — and why it shouldn't
50:51 — The difference between mindfulness and meditation
54:01 — Ruby on relationships and what she looks for
57:01 — The OJ Simpson interview
60:04 — What it means to feel truly safe
62:59 — How Ruby met her husband
66:02 — Family history and what gets passed down
69:01 — Why Ruby feels at home in a mental institution
72:00 — How to observe your thoughts like clouds
75:02 — Ruby's upcoming tour
78:00 — The mania perfume idea
80:55 — Final thoughts on living well