The Self Help Podcast

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Loneliness is a killer, didn't you know? There are plenty of blog posts that discuss this. Sean and Ed do the same this week on The Self Help Podcast and also take a look at the positive sides of some time on our own. Loneliness and solitude are very different things.

We all have a drive to connect, but is ‘collecting friends like stamps' as we now do on Facebook & Twitter really making genuine connections?

You can be at home, alone with the TV and phone off and feel connected to the world. You can also be on a crowded train platform and feel horribly alone. Sean and Ed try to teach you how to be alone in the following 30 or so minutes.

Enjoy the show!

• The Innovation of Loneliness by Shimi Cohen
• Here's the TED Talk by Sherry Turkle that it was based on
• Ed mentioned Citizen Kane, a must see film that loosely deals with issues discussed this week
• Loneliness is a Killer blog posts are everywhere online. Here's one and here's another
• More on meditation here in a past episode

• Sean suggests we all read a book called ‘On My Own' by Florence Falk
• Ed demands that you all subscribe to the ‘Big Think' YouTube channel. Really interesting thinking

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Nelson Mandela recently passed away and he's left quite a legacy. His rise to prominence and his journey from angry young to forgiving, empathetic elder statesman was truly remarkable. What was Mandela's legacy? For some it may be negative, for the vast majority, it's incredibly positive.

Here's the thing: we'll all make mistakes but we are all given the choice to make better choices today and tomorrow. If you do that consecutively for years on end you'll have lived quite a life.

Ed makes a couple of semi-heartfelt apologies whilst this week it's Sean's turn to feel a little sleep deprived.

Enjoy the show!

• Interested in hands on healing and Reiki? Take a look at our pal Dafydd's website Symbols of Light
• Read up on Nelson Mandela now if you can. Pretty amazing story
• You'd do well to read up on Gandhi and Martin Luther King as well
• Take a look at Russell Brand chatting politics with Jeremy Paxman
• The Top 10 Nelson Mandela Quotes Of All Time
• Get your good news via Upworthy
• Not got our book yet? Now's the time! Enter LITPNOW at the checkout for a cheeky discount

• Sean recommends A Long Walk to Freedom, the autobiography of Mandela. Check out some Martin Lither King Jr. action on YouTube too
• Ed has a couple of movies for you. Gandhi (1982) and Invictus (2009) are both essential viewing

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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We all have very different experiences of pain. The fact that pain is in the mind can be tricky to accept, but even harder to deny. Some are able to withstand much more than others, both psychical and emotional. All together now – pain is in the brain! Pain is in the brain!

Ed apologises if he sounds a little tired this week. He's just got back from a few days in Munich with 15+ loutish lads. Great city!

Enjoy the show!

• Thanks to the wonderful team at Good Podcasts who keep on plugging our show
• Brian Blessed using various swear words to increase his tolerance of pain (not safe for work!)
• Some more information about Phantom Limb Pain
• Sean mentioned a set of books he once read called The Gormenghast Trilogy
• The Black Knight from Monty Python and The Holy Grail
• Sean and I are out for dinner this week with our pal Daffyd – check out his website Symbols of Light
• That scene from Marathon Man. Ouch.
• Watch this video about Loneliness before next weeks show if you can 🙂

• Sean recommends The Back Book, because you're only as young as your spine guys and girls!
• Ed demands that you watch 127 Hours, an amazing film by Danny Boyle. It's a true story folks.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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What is work and why do we do it? We'll spend perhaps a third of our lives at work so we need to be very careful that we're doing work that we find rewarding. Our work, in many cases, defines who we are. When a person asks ‘and what do you do?', how do you answer?

Sean and Ed discuss status, their relationship with money and many other things besides. Do you dread those Monday mornings? Then it's time to change.

In other news, Sean has been to London town and Ed's cholesterol is down. Praise be!

Enjoy the show!

• Follow Ed on Lift and pester him to meditate each day!
  
• Check out Nikki from Pink Spaghetti 🙂
• That scene from Fight Club
• Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
• A good place for advice if you're in financial difficulty
• Previous podcast episodes on Money and Work Life Balance may be worth a listen too

• Sean, again, suggests you read The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale. Also, Get Paid for Who You Are by David Wood is a great read
• Ed suggests that you watch this London Real talk with the inspirational Peter Sage. Oh, and check out/subscribe to The Fizzle Show if you're interested in making a living online

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Last week it was sleep. This week: dreams! Whether you remember them in the morning or not, you do dream. But why do we dream? For all sorts of reasons! If you want a better understanding of yourself then perhaps you could pay more attention to your dreams.

Do you remember many of your dreams? Do you record them? Have you done much work to try and understand them? There are even people who have learnt to control their dreams. Imagine the creative potential of that.

Enjoy the show!

•  Check out the trailer for Don Jon.
• Check out calm.com for guided meditations
• Check out episode 24 if you haven't already: The Science of Sleep
• Another film recommendation from Ed – Inception (YOU MUST WATCH THIS FILM)
• More on sleepwalking (somnambulism)
• Sleep, memory and dreams. A great TED Talk by Robert Stickgold
• Have a look at @dreams on Twitter

• Sean recommends that you simply keep a journal by your bed to record your dreams in the moment you wake up
• Ed has found a wonderful app for iPhone called Dream:ON. Take a look

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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You'll spend roughly 30% of your entire life asleep. Why do we sleep? Well, the much of the science of sleep is a mystery, but the restorative functions that it brings are as important as any aspect of your routine. It's vital that you sleep well.

Sleep deprivation can make you snappy, depressed, impulsive and more.

You need to pay attention to your sleep. Here's why… Enjoy the show!

• Follow Ed's amateur karting team on Facebook
• Go and see the film Gravity now! Go!
• We talked about meditation quite a bit… more here in last week's meditation special
• What happens to your body while you're asleep?
• The circadian rhythm
• Shiftwork health effects
• Do you microsleep?
• Ghrelin – ‘The Hunger Hormone'
• Sleepiness and dehydration
• Napping. The Four Hour Body – How to get 8 Hours of sleep in just Four Hours
• The Napping Habits of 8 Famous Men

• Sean recommends Paul McKenna's brilliant (if slightly aggressively titled) I Can Make You Sleep.
• Ed encourages you to read the Five Best Sleep Tracking Gadgets or Apps. Particular nod to the Jawbone Up gadget that links to your smart phone. Amazing.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Meditation can be an oasis of calm in the madness of life. For thousands of years, human beings have been using meditation to gain a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Sean has been meditating since he was 10. Ed hasn't yet got the bug, so this is meditation for beginners. Thankfully (for Ed at least) there are amazing new companies like Headspace on the scene that make learning meditation techniques easier than ever. We're delighted to welcome Dr David Cox, Chief Medical Officer at Headspace, onto our show this week to talk about some of the science behind meditation. Part 1 of this Meditation Special has the shortened version of the interview.

After the interview Sean and Ed discuss meditation from their point of view and, towards the end of the episode, Sean delivers two practical meditations that you can all take part in. Nice! (Disclaimer – make sure you're not driving/working whilst listening to these parts).

Enjoy the show!

• Conrad Rafique – Sean's trainer and nutritional expert
• Follow Andy Puddicombe of Headspace fame on Twitter
• All it Takes is 10 Mindful Minutes – TED talk by Andy Puddicombe
• Meditation brain scans evidence
• Meditation in schools: calming minds and beating stress
• Sean uses a zabuton and a zafu in his meditation setup. He sits in the Burmese position.
• You must follow Alain de Botton on Twitter
• Tales from Northumberland – watch it 🙂
• Curb Your Enthusiasm Mantra

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Well it has to be Headspace doesn't it? Visit the website, grab the app for your smart phone or follow them on Facebook/Twitter for more.

We must mention other services such as Meditation Oasis, Calm.com, Omvana and One Moment Meditation as well. Fantastic resources. Don't forget out free meditation mp3s as well of course! Enter your email address on our site if you haven't already.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Meditation can be an oasis of calm in the madness of life. For thousands of years, human beings have been using meditation to gain a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. For a few years now, the ever-growing team at Headspace have been spreading the message of meditation via their wonderful guides recordings.

We're delighted to welcome Dr David Cox, Chief Medical Officer at Headspace, onto our show this week to talk about some of the science behind meditation. Part 2 of our Meditation Special features the full version of the interview that Sean and Ed recorded.

Some of the questions asked:

• How long should a person meditate for
• Is meditation affecting medication levels for  conditions such as depression, anxiety, etc.
• How many users does Headspace work with? Do people stick with it?
• Does Headspace work for all religious beliefs?
• What is the future for Headspace?

Enjoy the show! Links and show notes below as ever (part 1 available here…).

• “Andy Puddicombe is doing for meditation what Jamie Oliver has done for food” – Headspace in the New York Times
• David’s profile on the Headspace site
• The science behind mindfulness 
• Meditation brain scans
• Arianna Huffington and The Third Metric
• Emma Watson loves Headspace
• Andy on Dr. Oz interview on US TV

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Well it has to be Headspace doesn't it? Visit the website, grab the app for your smart phone or follow them on Facebook/Twitter for more.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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You can say an awful lot without moving your lips, didn't you know? Our bodies are talking constantly, sending messages to all who may be watching. We come in all shapes and sizes and, further more, we all move our bodies in different ways.

Body language secrets aren't tricky to spot or learn, and many will invest a good deal of time (and money!) to learn them. Most people are aware that crossing your arms is a fairly negative sign if you're talking/listening to someone. There are far more subtle cues to look for as well.

There are some great ‘self help tips' this week from Sean so let's dive in…

Enjoy the show!

• Shout out to The CoffeeCo, the venue that Sean and Ed frequent for business networking so often
• Another mention for William, son of Ed! Here's the little sprog, just so that you can put a face to the name that we so often mention
• More info about photophobia
• Lots of info related to Mudra here
• The Simpsons ‘Angry Russian' reference Ed made (and got quite wrong, as it happens)
• The three body types in the Western world
• The Joker's ‘Immovable Object' quote from The Dark Knight
• Britain is the fattest nation in Europe – Sean thinks this is down to our mental state rather than eating habits
• Harpo Marx is a genius

• Sean has found a website here that he refers to on a regular basis – Know Body Language.
• Ed couldn't help but mention Sean's wonderful book Tantra, Sex, Orgasm & Meditation. You can grab a copy from this very site here or get the Kindle version here (it's on most digital platforms). Chaplin, the 1992 movie starring Robert Downey Jnr. shows a master of movement at work.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Is it just us or does everyone seem stressed these days? Are we all just working too darn hard? Stress is an interesting thing in that it doesn't really exist; it's something that we create ourselves. With that realisation comes the power to wave goodbye to it at any moment. So… how stressed are you?

Are you really stressed? Are you sure you're not just overly busy? If things are getting out of control then there are some great ways to bring your energy back to where it should be.

Enjoy the show!

• Sean has been working with the team at Rethink again. You really should check them out.
• 1400 new brain cells a day when you're learning
• Stress Is Actually Good For You – You’re joking right? A great blog post by our friend Jo Casey.
• A clip from This is Spinal Tap, a wonderful music documentary 🙂
• A bit more about the ‘Overload/Underload‘ effect that Sean discussed
• ‘Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.' Great quote by good ol' Epictetus.
• The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress
• Here's The Thing Podcast with Jerry Seinfeld, who talks about meditation towards the end
• … more about this at the official Transcendental Meditation website
• Meditation Oasis is a great place to start for children's meditation
• Calm.com is the perfect place to go for a quick meditation fix

• Sean has a very relevant resource this week – the Anti-Stress App for iPad
• Ed has been using the Instant Heart Rate app for iPhone. There are loads of them in the App Store so take your pic but this one is good as, if you pay for the full version, it allows you to track your heart rate over time.

We're all over the web, so feel free to stay in touch:

• Follow Live in the Present on Twitter and Facebook for daily doses of inspiration
• Follow presenter Edward Lamb on Twitter
• Follow therapist Sean Orford on Facebook and Twitter
• Subscribe to our weekly podcast on iTunes

We'd be amazingly grateful if you could leave us a review on iTunes. It will really help us to build our audience. So, if your like what you hear (and would like to hear more great free content) then visit our iTunes page and leave us an honest review (all feedback gratefully received!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.