Riffing On Realness™

No one needs convincing that social media and stress seem to go hand in hand. But does it have to be that way? We explore the parallels between social media and our personal thinking. The pull of social media and how compelling it can be (like our negative thinking) and what might happen if it occurs to us to turn off our phones for a period of time (stop giving attention to our negative thinking).

The truth is we are always operating in the unknown but we like to kid ourselves that's not the case. Maybe now that there are so many extreme things happening in the world: a pandemic, climate emergencies, political and social unrest as well as ongoing problems of poverty, oppression, disease, and conflict, maybe it is an opportunity to wake up to the fact we were never in control. We just lulled ourselves into the false sense of security that the illusion of control gave us. Take a listen for tips on navigating the unknown with more ease.

Carla shared that she wasn't feeling all that good physically which led to a beautiful conversation about what we've learned about showing up when you feel bad. Join us to discover more about how our minds work and what can help us show up even if we feel off, physically or emotionally and how we might get curious about the gifts available when we feel off or unwell.

Many of us are experiencing periods of exhaustion just now. In this episode, we explore how we might innocently be exhausting ourselves because we are trying to keep our masks in place and what happens when we understand more about what's going on in our minds and how it impacts us. We point towards freedom, not just from exhaustion but from too much stress and anxiety also, that shows up more and more as we tune into deeper aspects of our experience.

How do we get over-reactivity (ours and other peoples’)?

We’ve been noticing our own reactivity and hearing about others’ reactivity and while we might know we’re over-reacting to small stuff, we can still feel stuck in it. So what is there to see about reactivity and how do we get over it (ours and other peoples’)?

We explore stress and anxiety and rigid thinking and what happens when we get curious about it rather than entrenched in our rigidity and dogma. What wants to emerge for us personally and collectively when we get curious?

In this episode we are exploring how dogma and rigid thinking can limit our creativity and our ability to thrive and lead to cognitive dissonance which can lead us further into our rigid thinking. Is there an opportunity to see something else? In the world right now, there is plenty of rigid thinking about any number of issues: politics, pandemic, and social justice. My way is the right way; your way is the wrong way. And that feels horrible. One option is to get more judgemental and write other people off which just adds to the divisiveness. Is there another way?

In contrast to our last episode on existential dread we thought we'd go in the opposite direction and explore creativity. Both of us love creative pursuits so we thought we'd start out exploring what creativity is. We got curious about creativity!

Living through a pandemic, political unrest, social justice unrest, climate change, species extinction, it's no surprise we might be feeling collective stress from time to time. So sit back and grab a cuppa as we explore dealing with existential dread. An uplifting listen which might just open up new insights for you.

In this episode we invite you to tune in, slow down and listen for your own wisdom and we continue our conversation exploring perfectionism.

Last episode we touched on mistakes and we share a listener's response and take a light-hearted view of what happens when we collapse into our insecurity around mistakes. And what alternatives might be on offer.