The first topic in this roundtable on the Portair podcast was self-concern versus egolessness and that learning to co-exist with self-doubt creatively leads to more authentic experience. We also discussed how: self-concern Is typically not very objective; metaphorical and symbolic levels of significance in works and art entrain vast networks of significance and meaning beyond our conscious grasp; the ‘listener’ co-creates the artwork and that ‘the song you (the artist) like the least will be more most popular song’; the artist is like a conduit for life experience and how experiences ‘write us’; how crippling self-doubt and lack of confidence can be to someone’s talent; and how creative process and evolution act as an analogue for each other: just try and do and some of it will catch fire and that creativity is about ‘finding the diamond in the rough’.

This is a roundtable discussing my podcast with Dr David Clarke on the promise of neuroplastic symptom therapy for chronic pain and ilness. Neuroplastic symptoms are those that are generated by the brain. Topics discuss included: whether people could self-treat if they understand the theory and practice of the approach; the disctinction was drawn between neuroplastic symptoms following organic issues or damage, versus those following psychological trauma ; there was vibrant discussion about neuroplastic treatment bringing hope and relief to millions who either can't find traditional medical treatments, or for whom those treatments are ineffective; the scale of the issue was higlighted with millions of people in the USA alone affeccted by neuroplastic symptoms; discussion of transcending mind-body dualism; the issue of being 'ready' for such an approach and that a subset of peolpe would likely resist the implication that it is 'all in your head'; the importance of mediacl practictioners having this understanding to complement their practice.

A fascinating conversation with Dr David Clarke as he explains Neuroplastic Symptom Therapy. Dr Clarke defines neuroplastic symptoms as brain-generated, as distinct from pain emanating from body damage or illness. It appears a very high percentage of the US population has such symptoms, which respond poorly, or not at all, to traditional medical treatments. We discuss how the brain generates theses symptoms and the benefits that patients derive from Neuroplastic Symptom Therapy, which changes their brains giving them not only symptom relief, but positively changes their lives and work. Patients learn to lsiten to their symptoms, often discovering unrecognised emotions old traumas or Aversive Childhood Experiences (ACE's) that express themselves via the body. Results with this approach are astonishing and are backed by gold-standard Randomised Controlled Trials. All in all, a wonderful discussion.

This is a conversation with Drew Southwell, better known as indie singer, songwriter, producer and composer Portair. We had a free-flowing and candid conversation about music, mental health and creativity in which we touched on many topics including: Drew’s background as an artist; his drive to create and the factors that nurture his creativity; the centrality of uncertainty and the tolerance of ambiguity in the creative process how the true meaning of what one creates often emerges much later; the foundation of symbol, metaphor and analogy in the creative process; learning to productively co-exist with one’s self-doubt; the primacy of doing or ‘just starting’; the joy ands and benefits of collaboration; Drew’s own mental health experiences and how therapy very positively changed his life; the important distinction between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism; and other topics. It was a delightful and illuminating conversation for me, and I hope you experience it that way as well.

This roundtable discusses my podcast with Bill Goodwin and especially his book, Priority Living. Topics explored included Bill's definition of 'legacy' as what we leave in others; we talked about how refreshing Bill's wisdom is, born of lived experience; parenting was discussed in terms of guiding our kids via the 7 Pillars of Bill's book and innoculating them with those values; as with Bill's death and resuscitation, we also explored catalysts in our lives that wake us up from 'the big sleep' and reorient us to live more intentionally; how important actual modelling of these pillars is as parents; how not to be too perfectionistic about this as kids take a 'weighted average' of what we do, and are actually quite resilient; and finally, a discussion about the difficulty and guiltlmany people experience when trying to relax. 

This podcast showcases Bill Goodwin discussing his book 'Priority Living: 7 Pillars to Make Your Life Count'. The central thesis is that to be happy and to have a life of satisfaction, one needs to base it on a clear purpose, or what Bill calls 'intentional living'. He discusses the pivotal life experience of dying and being resuscitated, and how this second chance inspired him to not waste his life or to let it drift. Bill takes us through the 7 Pillars with earthy, real-life examples laced with pithy quotes. Throughout we discuss how contemporary psychology provides empirical support and guidance for much of what Bill has discovered.

This roundtable discussion of the podcast Music Creativity & Mental Health with Harrison Storm focused on three or four main themes. The first was intuition: how do we know when to trust our intuition? This led to a discusion of what intuition is, when it is needed, and it's relation to expertise. In artistic enterprises intuition is needed to naviagate ambiguity and often results in authentic expression. The second theme was how Harrison used the Covid period to grow personally and artistically, especially by having time to reflect and to explore somatic therapy and the PEM training method to enhance his performances. We also discussed a sense of accomplishment amidst the challenge of not workig a 9-5 job with clear measures of achievements and milestones. Finally, we explored Harrison's growth musically and how he embodies 'appreciative humility.'

This roundtable discussing the Garrett Wood podcast began with a discussion of the difficulties for managers having to performance-manage people who may have mental health issues or who may be neurodivergent. We discussed the two duties that any manager has to balance: the duty of care and the duty to manage performance. Other topics included: the power of emotional reasoning to bias thought outside direct awareness and how preconscious feeling states inplicitly structure concious thought; how medications designed to numb emotionscan be a problem as it is important to learn what imporant things those emotions are conveying to us; we also discussed how this can lead to feeling disembodied as we compress and numb our feeling states; the tight relationship between identity and burnout andhwo they relate to staus and self-esteem; how tendncies to burnout are reinforced by workpkace reward systems.

This podcast with Garrett Wood, entitled 'Healing the Problem Under the Problem', explores Garrett's work helping high-masking professionals break free from burnout, chronic stress, and the imposter syndrome, building sustainable success without sacrificing health, happiness, or relationships.
Garrett is a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and Executive Function Specialist. We started with Garrett’s background and what led to his passion for working with burnout and high performers. As is often the case, a tragic suicide of a very high performing colleague was the catalyst for the wonderful work he does. We explored the relationship between high performance and burnout; how one can recognise burnout in oneself, especially as it manifests in the mind, the emotions and the body. We then discussed the shortcoming of traditional approaches and finally explored Garrett’s approach that starts with body regulation, then relating with compassion to one’s painful feelings and thoughts that are masked by apparent thriving and resilience, and only then using reason to restructure more adaptive, healthy understandings of self.

This is a wonderful conversation about music, mental health and creativity with Harrison Storm, indie-folk singer and songwriter, in which we touched on many topics including; Harrison’s background and trajectory to a musical career; songwriting and singing as self-discovery and emotional catharsis; the centrality of intuition for both wellbeing and creativity and being in tune and true to self; Harrison’s maturing as an artist and taking a broader, less attached outlook; mindfulness and somatic therapy as methods to sustain creative output; using the PEM acting method to cultivate his performance skills and elevate his experience of performance; the wonderful feeling of calm connectedness and authentic communication in performance and how performing in this way feels like ‘a better version of myself’; the distinction between entertainers and artists; the dilemma of a contemplative artistic life and feeling guilty about not achieving enough each day. It was a delightful and insightful conversation, and I hope you really take a lot from it.