How does the pleasurable activity of gaming or gambling become an addiction that destroys lives? Why can one person play for fun and another one is unable to stop?

In this 8th episode Nicoleta chats with counselling psychologist Annika Lindberg from London to find that gambling addiction is not about the amount of money lost, but rather about losing the control and not being able to stop despite the negative consequences it brings into our lives.

From losing jobs, missing time with family, to accumulating massive debts and losing their homes, addicted gamblers are either looking for the buzz of a big win or gamble as a way of coping with difficult emotions.

Their inner worlds are marked by anxiety, depression, shame and a strong sense of isolation and when they cannot see a way out from that desperation they can go as far as thinking of or attempting to commit suicide.

Causing real devastation in the lives of millions of people, gambling addiction is nowadays a problem of the society not of the individual only and is becoming a public health problem due to the slow emerging reform in regulation.

The good news is that there si support and change is possible when gamblers awaken and move out of the secrecy of their behaviour. Listen this episode to find out more.

In this 7th episode Nicoleta chats with French born Kensaye Russel, a DJ, music producer and radio host from London about rejection and its impact on our lives. 

From real life rejection to virtual rejection expressed in the number of likes and comments on social media, rejection can be painful and can knock down our self-esteem, confidence and sense of self-worth. 

Whether it’s a matter of circumstances, luck, taste or subjectivity, rejection is a simple life response that does not change who we really are.

Rejection is rather a platform for learning, growing and personal development, and every NO can teach us something about ourselves, others and the world around us and can help us build resilience and endurance in life. 

In this 6th episode Nicoleta chats with Russian born and trained Oxana Fomina, a life & spiritual coach and numerologist from London and look at life from a body – mind – spirit – social world perspective. 

Listen to this episode and find out how psychology, psychotherapy, numerology and spirituality overlap and how they all tap into the same knowledge of this universe and how can they answer some of your life questions. 

Vivekananda said over a century ago that “human mind is a great master, but a lousy student” and we can all connect with that. We tend to function stuck in our early programming which brings a lot of distress and suffering, but we can retrain our minds and look at your lives from behind the minds and this way expand our consciousness. 

Enough with identifying with your body and mind only. You are much more than that. Learn to manage your physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing and live your life from inner peace, balance and joy. 

In this 5th episode Nicoleta chats with DJ and music producer Serhat Gedik aka Subaholic’s from Northern Cyprus about the negative thinking and its impact on our lives.  

Starting from the studies that show that out of the 50,000 thoughts we have each day 80% of them are negative and 95% of them are repetitive thoughts, recycled day after day, they explore how to change our mindsets and search for happiness and positivity within, and what happens when we look for fulfilment in the outside world. 

Nicoleta looks at negative thinking from a psychological perspective and concludes that our distorted thinking is a learned process that can be unlearned and replaced with a more positive way of being. 

And Subaholics shares his spiritual journey and how it helped him understand that we manifest our thoughts and changed his life through reflection, self-discovery and meditation. 

Question for a DJ: is music an uplifter that can enhance our mental wellbeing or, on the contrary, a downer that can make us feel empty and depressed? 

Subaholic’s share his view from within the music industry: what it means to be a musician nowadays, what has changed over his 2 decades career, and speaks openly about the “silly tradition” of drug consumption and the tragic lives of Michael Jackson, Prince or Kurt Cobain.  

What is wrong with people (especially men) that use their power to intimidate, influence, persuade or even threaten others to get sexual gratification?

In this 4th episode Nicoleta is having a rich conversation with her guest Michelle Denny-Browne, counsellor, supervisor and clinical manager at One in Four, the largest charity supporting survivors of childhood sexual abuse and trauma in the UK.

They look at the elephant in the room, this taboo of childhood (sexual) abuse through the lenses of the many high-profile cases we’ve seen coming out over this past decade:

...From the once famous - now infamous Jimmy Saville, who abused hundreds of children for over 5 decades and mesmerised an entire world so that his victims feared to speak up the truth about his monstrous behaviour even one year after his death...

...To Harvey Weinstein who sexually abused hundreds of Hollywood actresses and has been recently sent to jail for 23 years (only)...

...To the corruption of the mind Jeffrey Epstein used to groom his entourage to bring him hundreds of young girls in his sex trafficking ring...

...To the prolific case of the South Yorkshire town - Rotherham - considered the biggest child protection scandal in the UK history, as the police and  social services knew about the abuse of 1400 children for over a decade and failed to act on the reports of the abuse for 3 decades between 1980 and 2010.

In this 3rd episode Nicoleta has a deep conversation about burnout with her guest clinical psychologist and therapist Dragos Dragomir and explore the difference between stress ("the too much" in our lives) and burnout ("the not enough" syndromme). From paramedics, nurses, firefighters and police force affected by burnout in their challenging work to staff feeling burnt out when lacking support form their organisation and to the guest himself going through burnout when feeling underused in his skills, this is a rich conversation about what it means to live in our modern world driven by capitalism and consumerims. Are you at risk of burnout? Do you know what to do about it? Listen to this 48 min episode and allow yourself to search for answers to some important existential questions.

In this 2nd episode Nicoleta talks about stress with her guest Chris Hodgkins, an accomplished jazz musician and broadcaster from London. Listen to this 30 min episode and find out what is causing stress in our modern world and the terrible impact it has on our mental activity, emotional life and physical body. Be reminded about the power of music in healing and coping with stress, and learn to find ways to spot stress early and act timely to remove this silent killer from your life. 

 

In this 1st episode Nicoleta talks with her guest Munise Sabri, a colleague psychotherapist from London, about our mental health pandemic and the impact of the coronavirus on our lives. Listen to this empowering 28 min chat that looks at mental wellbeing from a fresh perspective. Is our society really open to talking? How do we cope with the social presure? From anxiety, depression, addiction and trauma to getting in touch with our selves and creating a happy and fulfilling life.