The ClearOut

In this episode Dara takes a very chilled look at the year that was, touching on some specific moments, but being more focused on the end-of-year energy that he considers to be contemplative and calming.

He refers to Frank Capra's 1938 movie You Can't Take It With You and discusses some points raised by the movie that seem relevant to this moment.

And Dara's tail is wagging and he would like you to know why.

The episode ends with a meditation on emerging from burnout that Dara created earlier this year for Aura, the sleep and wellness app. He thought it would be a nice way to bring things to a conclusion.

Link to theClearOut.com article on the repetitive nature of the human experience: https://theclearout.com/2019/06/16/the-pinnacle/

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This week's episode brings you a brand new Christmas story written by Dara. What happens to the little girl who runs away from her mother in a posh department store? Will she be taken away by the in-house security team? Will her mother regain her Christmas spirit? Will she accept the help of a stranger? Find out when you listen to 'Caramel'. The story can also be found in written form on theclearout.com, where Dara's other Christmas stories can also be found in both written and audio formats.

This episode also features a little Christmas concert that was recorded live at Dara's home in Wicklow. There are first time appearances on the podcast by Dara's wife Chiara - a musician and music therapist, and his cousin Fionn - also a musician, as they accompany him - not a musician, on renditions of four beloved Christmas songs.

Finally, and most unexpectedly, in another first for the podcast, Dara's daughter Maeve gives the teeny-tiniest of shout-outs to the listeners of The ClearOut. Which made Dara's Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone, stay safe.

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It's an unmitigated movie-fest this week as Dara goes deep into his love of Christmas movies and of watching movies at this time of year. He revisits his childhood exposure to Hollywood classics and reflects on how the unlimited access to content and devices nowadays means that the home movie watching experience has lost its allure for modern children.

He argues that the best Christmas movies require a genuine threat that results in the highest possible stakes for the characters we are being asked to invest in. Dara believes Dickens's A Christmas Carol set the template that has been adhered to for better or worse over the subsequent years and that the best Christmas movies tap into crises of faith, love, compassion, status, credibility and humanity. Redemption hard won is all the sweeter! The worst Christmas movies on the other hand, are clunky contrivances designed to accommodate forced and barely believable sentiment.

Dara takes you through his list of cherished Christmas movies, which he divides into lesser and greater categories, and peppers the titles with lots of background information that will enhance your viewing pleasure. The episode concludes with a beloved Christmas song that he hopes you'll enjoy.

If you don't like movies, this episode isn't for you, but if you do, you'll love it!

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In this episode, Dara goes all in on the expression of the female voice and the assertion and reclamation of female identity. He explores his own views of and attitudes to women and speaks honestly about his upbringing and his marriage and how they have informed and enriched those attitudes and views.

As the main vehicle for this discussion, he looks in depth at three recent female works of art that he found compelling, challenging, and inspiring - the films The Tale (2018), written and directed by Jennifer Fox, and Little Women (2019), directed and adapted by Greta Gerwig, and the book A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa. In their own ways, they are each powerful, fearless, and brilliant iterations of female voice and vision and experience.

In conclusion, Dara is left wondering about the nature of female texts and whether they should be any less compelling than any other text.

The clearout.com article on the spaces we live in: https://theclearout.com/2014/11/30/no-fixed-address/

Doireann Ni Ghriofa talks to Roisin Ingle on The Irish Times Women's Podcast: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-women-s-podcast/the-irish-times-women-s-podcast-ep-444-a-ghost-in-the-throat-doireann-n%C3%AD-ghr%C3%ADofa-1.4394778

The History Chicks Podcast on Louisa May Alcott: http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-142-louisa-may-alcott-revisited/

The Tale: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4015500/

Little Women: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3281548/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_6

A Ghost in the Throat: https://tramppress.com/product/a-ghost-in-the-throat-by-doireann-ni-ghriofa/

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In this episode Dara has a good look at his own feelings about Christmas and goes on to explore a brief history of Christmas, and why it is something not everybody feels thrilled to celebrate. He wonders if the forced observance of anything is ever a good thing. But ultimately, he can't shake the feeling that a little Christmas magic stirs something very deep in our collective psyche.

Reading some poems by Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet, presents the opportunity to discuss Diogenes, the ancient Greek philosopher, and the father of cynicism, his encounter with Alexander the Great, and the relevance of cynicism to the pageantry and paraphernalia of Christmas.

Dara concludes the episode with a chilly extract from Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a preview of Christmas themed episodes coming up this month.

The ClearOut.com article from 2013 on Christmas and the continuing lessons of the Nativity story: https://theclearout.com/2013/12/24/look-to-the-stars/

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In this episode Dara is prompted by the recent violent attack in Waukesha, as well as other car and truck attacks and shooting atrocities, to reflect on how we view the individuals who perpetrate such acts. His train of thought takes in cultural stereotyping, systemic social failure, and the expression of pain in both positive and negative ways. Newton's Cradle - the metal ball office toy - is offered as a metaphor for profound pain and alienation finding its equal and opposite expression in extreme acts.

The necessity for strong and positive leadership is posited, and cited as examples of leadership gone wrong are Hitler's Nazi vision and Trump's presidency, which are presented as two different versions of extreme pain and pathology being acted out at great cost to others.

There's also time for a shout out to an Irish businesswoman doing what she can for mental health advocacy; Dara's need for moisturiser; and a brilliant movie recommendation to tie in with the overall theme of misdirected pain and trauma.

TheClearout.com article on the poverty of political leadership: https://theclearout.com/2020/03/11/convince-us/

Irish business - mental health journals: https://www.sisterhoodjournals.com/

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In this episode, before getting to the main topic, Dara observes how disconcertingly warm it is for November, and argues that things being not quite right can be extremely disruptive. He commends teachers for persevering amidst the unending Covid disruptions. The first part of the episode concludes with why his daughter felt the need to say "I hate you" to him.

The main meat of the episode revolves around creativity and what conditions are most conducive to its thriving. Dara offers a theory of creativity that sees it as an expression of love and wellness. He factors in honesty, authenticity and vulnerability as being central to fear-free creative flow and bold risk-taking.

He also looks at the art vs artist debate, paying special attention to Picasso and how two very different artists perceive the man and his work.

He shares the thoughts of others on the creative process which includes Flaubert, Philip Roth, and Fanny Brice, of all people. A movie recommendation is popped in at the end to leave everyone feeling warm and fuzzy.

Post on Hannah Gadsby's Nanette and truth-telling: https://theclearout.com/2018/08/01/simple/

C.A.N. Projects Podcast interview: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14946997/wellness-with-attitude-the-clearout-podc_1

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In this episode Dara waxes lyrical about bridges of many kinds. He starts off with Lloyd, Jeff and Beau Bridges before turning his attention to the usefulness and aesthetic pleasure of actual bridges.

But what he really wants to talk about is the idealistic symbolism of bridges and how they help us get to other places and how they help us transcend things we wouldn't otherwise be able to get over. He puts metaphorical bridges at the centre of a theory of wellness, arguing that we build bridges in our lives to the things and people that keep us well.

Along the way there is time to reflect on the natural pace of evolution and environmental adaptation and to contextualise those changes in a discussion about the contemporary debate around gender and pronoun assignation.

Finally, the episode is wrapped up with a quick breakdown of cherished bridge scenes from the movies. Don't like bridges? Get over it!

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In this episode, Dara discovers the word 'haecceity', which stems from the Latin word for 'thisness', and is used to describe the quality that makes a thing or a person uniquely themselves. He argues that this is something we cannot hide, no matter what we do.

He discusses the vulnerability of state change and how it might inform social anxiety or a dread of being seen. That leads to asking in what ways being seen benefits or threatens us. He looks at how being embattled is a very particular state that does not permit reflection or mindfulness until the state has passed.

Dara also looks at how social media makes us objectify ourselves and how that becomes a distancing dynamic that keeps us further from our true selves. He believes that many of us have become compulsive consumers of our own narratives, and that has placed us in a state of permanent presentation that we instinctively understand to be transactionary.

He wonders about what we are attracted to and what we attract, and how what we see in the world is often a reflection of how we view ourselves.

Time is also found to throw in some movie references and to give a shout out to both the new Spurs manager and an eccentric musical entertainer by the name of Earl Okin, whose memorable 1981 desire to be treated as a sex object is a distinct childhood memory of Dara's!

A Word a Day - https://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html

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In this episode, Dara is inspired by Denis Villeneuve's Bladerunner 2049 (5:55) to go on a wide-ranging exploration of identity, consciousness and origin. He wonders if the leaders of Big Tech inspired Jared Leto's portrayal of the designer in the Villeneuve movie (10:37) before asking what level of thought and feeling is possible for AI entities (14:26).

A related digression leads to a heavyweight boxer's grandiosity (17:35) which in turn leads to one of Shakespeare's great villainesses who Dara argues is a template for objectified misogyny (29:45). Returning to the broader theme of identity, ideas of meaning, fulfilment, purpose and completion are discussed (34:57) before raising the question of how our perception of our limitations is a source of pain (42:59).

The quest for belonging is looked at in the context of other fictional creations - Pinocchio, David from Spielberg's A.I. and Frankenstein's monster (48:51) - which Dara sees as involving profound vulnerability (53:42). He concludes with a wellness argument for becoming a parent to oneself (1:08:06).

The ClearOut.com piece on unburdening our psychic load and giving ourselves peace: https://theclearout.com/2019/11/01/good-enough/

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