I’ve never been that great at playing video games. My brother on the other hand, was a massive gamer. He was really good at figuring them out, and could sit there for hours really going deep into them. I’ve always loved them though and recently we bought a Nintendo Switch for the family to enjoy together. We bought a game that I remembered as a kid, Zelda. It’s obviously changed quite a lot since I was a kid, but the overall feeling of the game hasn’t changed. It’s still quest based. You’re exploring the narrative and you can really go anywhere and do anything in the game.

So I had been playing the game for awhile and was getting quite into it. But then, after a while I started to lose interest. It didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere and I was bored with it. When my brother asked me how I was going, I told him that I wasn’t getting anywhere and he helped me find the right quests that got me back on track.

Once I was back on track and aligned with the core purpose or directive of the game, I started to get really into it again. I had found the purpose. I find this a really great analogy for life.

Often life can get really quite mundane and we become quite bored. We get up, go to work, do the same routine, have a couple of drinks on the weekend, watch the footy...and then we do the whole thing again. It can start to feel like there’s not a lot of purpose because nothing is ever changing.

It’s not until we start to explore what else there is, chat to different people, find a mentor (like my brother was for me with this game) that our minds can open up and we can re-ignite or find a new purpose in our lives.

I’ve found this to be extremely powerful and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

I've been working on a framework around what causes us to seek validation and Erika and I decided to sit down together and record the longest podcast episode ever (it was totally worth it!) to talk through it. Erika has also shared this episode on her podcast, The Confidence Chronicles this week.

There have been so many lightbulb moments as I've been delving into work around validation and the interplay between the feminine and masculine energies.

I challenge you to observe your behaviour and see where you are still looking for validation. Are you working yourself into the ground because that's what your father did, and in his eyes you feel as if you're never doing enough?

Are you moving from relationship to relationship trying to fix your partner, being the provider, the nurturer and ultimately not getting what you need?

There is so much to unpack from this episode and I'm excited to share more content on this topic with you.

Power Couples Masterclass

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

I love to read, and during this time I've been able to get back into reading a bit more. It's been really fulfilling and I have found myself coming back to some books that I've read almost 10 years ago. It's common for me to want to re-read books because I find that when I do that, I'm able to find new meaning within the pages, based on where I'm at currently in life.

So there are a few books in my repertoire that I've read a few times that I really find to be like works of art. One of which is The Book Of Secrets by Deepak Chopra. It took me a few goes to understand this book as the concepts are quite deep, but lately I've pulled higher meaning from this one and I wanted to share this with you today.

Deepak discusses the spiritual life of the cells in our body and I can see a correlation between the role of our cells and the way that we should live our lives.

So here are my 10 principles to live by based on the work of Deepak Chopra.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

What an incredible conversation this is and I’m thrilled to be introducing you to my guest today, Michael McPherson. I have been wanting to dive into the topic of sex on the Manfulness podcast for quite some time, but I wasn’t really sure on the best way to go about it. Then I came across Michael McPherson and I knew he was going to be the perfect person to help explore this topic with you all.

Michael grew up in a typical midwestern American household; church on Sundays, meat and potatoes for dinner, and sports as soon as he was old enough to walk. As a child, Michael was sensitive to the energies around him. Because his family was so emotionally and sexually repressed, he grew up thinking that there was something wrong with him that made him different from the rest of his family.

In his young life, when it came to sex, Michael was both paralysed with fear yet desperate to learn more. That fear drove Michael to explore his sexuality “behind closed doors” and adopt shame as a form of self-punishment, a burden he carried well into his late twenties all because nobody was brave enough to have an open conversation with him about sex.

All of that changed when Michael met his partner, Mackenzie and through many years of exploration and with the help of plant medicines, Michael was able to unlock the true power in sexual energy that goes behind how most of us perceive it.

We touch on a lot of fantastic topics in this podcast today, so make sure you stick around until the end!

Where to find Michael:

Website: https://www.michaelmcpherson.co/

Michael’s Book: https://www.michaelmcpherson.co/book

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humanity.media/

There's no doubt that during this time life is tricky. Especially for those of us in lockdown, being around our partners all the time if we're not used to it can be a hard thing to navigate. Through the work that my wife and I do, we've been we've witnessed a lot of people in relationships that are struggling and it all comes down to communication.

When we first get into a relationship with someone, how many of us sit down with them and really talk out all our values? Talk about the things that are important to us and our aspirations for the future? We might on a more surface level, but going deep enough is often what's missing. As time moves on and we're through the "honeymoon" phase as they call it and move on with life together, we slip into these roles. Roles that we often didn't speak about properly to asses what the other one needed or wanted, and life just starts to happen.

We have kids, we buy a house, we move up in our careers and if we don't take the time to regularly chat to our partner about how it's all going, resentment can start to creep in and our relationships start to suffer.

Today I want to give you some tips on how to improve the communication and work through any resentment you may have, to find a way forward that is positive for everyone involved.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

I went for a walk the other night, and it got me thinking about how much I love the dark. I love the feeling of almost blending into my surroundings and being alone there in the dark. The more I thought about this, the more I started to see that we're always pushed towards the light and to avoid the dark. From a young age, some of us are scared of the dark. We're scared of what we might find in there and so we avoid it. We only want to be play in the light.

But the dark is so important. Feeling comfortable enough to go into the dark physically and metaphorically is where great change and comfort can be found. We recently completed a three month mastermind with couples and it was very interesting to hear the difference between the females in the group and the males. The males were all adverse to the idea of this couples work. They didn't think they needed it, that things weren't that bad, they could figure it out and push through. They didn't want to play in the darkness of these underlying issues.

Allowing yourself to explore the darkness has huge benefits and true growth. Don't be afraid to go there and see what you can find.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

I was watching a documentary recently and they were talking about plant medicines and how they are going through a bit of a resurgence as further research and development has been published around the positive benefits to help heal and support people in a number of ways. There was one point that was made around the importance of dose, setting and mindset when working with plant medicines to ensure a positive experience.

That got me thinking about how this idea of dose, setting and mindset could be applied in other areas of our life to achieve positive outcomes. In the case of communication, let's say you're upset with your partner or friend. You want to talk to them about it but you come in way too strong. You're angry, frustrated and the way you've approached the conversation is negatively impacted. They might become defensive, unwilling to talk to you and you get nowhere. If you dial down the "dose" of the anger and frustration and approach it with a more gentle lens, you're going to achieve a better result. You're going to be able to communicate more openly.

The same thing goes for setting and mindset as I go into in this episode today.

I invite you to really think about the conversations you're having right now and how you approach them. If you use this simple tool to ensure that you're always thinking about your dose, setting and mindset the outcome will always be more productive.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

When I was growing up, the words "I love you" weren't really in my vocabulary. I didn't say them to my parents, to my brother, to my friends, or even really to my girlfriends. That phrase just really made me feel uncomfortable. My wife on the other hand, tells everyone that she loves them and she really, truly means it. It has been such an interesting thing to witness over the years.

This got me thinking about those three words and why we hold onto them so tightly, as if we can't say them to anyone unless it's really "important". What does that even mean? When is it important really? I find men especially have a really hard time expressing these kinds of feelings unless it is to their romantic partner. Saying it to their friends and acknowledging how much they mean to them, for some reason feels too open. It's hard to be so vulnerable and I absolutely understand it.

I've been testing this out lately and put forward a challenge to myself to tell those around me that I love them, and it has made such a profound impact. Not just on me (because it makes me feel good), but you can see the change in the person that you're telling, "I love you," to. There's a softness, a vulnerability that creeps in and it's such a wonderful feeling.

So give it a try. Tell someone you love them, and don't worry about whether they say it back. Just let them know that you value them and don't be attached to the outcome.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

Since the start of lockdown 4 months ago, there has been a 30% increase in deaths by suicide. This is a staggering number and there's no doubt that all this isolation is causing a lot of issues for humans as we're such social beings. It got me thinking about men in particular and the conversations that I have with those that I work with. The most common struggle we have as men is that we don't feel heard. So many men tell me that they struggle to communicate how they feel. Perhaps it's because we've never really been taught how to communicate our feelings properly. We seem to struggle to create a space where we can be heard and feel safe doing so.

Then it got me thinking - not only do we struggle to show our emotions, so many of us really struggle to cry. Crying is such a great outlet to express yourself. To get rid of pent up anxiety, rage, frustration, exhaustion, whatever it is. Allowing yourself to cry is a great way to release the tension. So I wanted to share with you today moments when I've cried in the hope that it will help you feel my vulnerability and help you feel okay about sharing yours too.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here

I feel as if guys really struggle to look at ourselves fully and recognise when it's time for us to make a change. Not just the superficial type changes like getting new clothes, getting a haircut and things like that, but the deep change from within. We're not great at recognising when we need to do that deeper excavation, look at where we're at and decide whether its serving us.

There have been a few moments throughout my life where I've gone down a path that really wasn't good for me. I was drinking too much, partying too hard and being a real dick to people. Nothing was really going well for me and when I lost my shit at my boss and quit my job, I knew I needed to do something drastic.

So I flew to Greece to meet my brother and this is where the introspection really began for me. I looked at myself, looked at where I had been and decided to transform myself. I'm not saying it was easy - it was terrifying to think about the prospect of starting again essentially and wiping the slate clean. But it needed to happen.

As guys, we don't do this enough. In fact, we really suck at it. We hold onto a version of ourselves that we've had since we were young a lot of the time, and it's impossible to really achieve true growth without being open to change and reinvention.

Sign up for my free meditation course here

Follow me over on Instagram here