A painful truth in our current cultures is how much we are all struggling with our mental and emotional wellbeing. This is especially true in young people who are facing an increasing amount of overwhelm in their lives in this VUCA* world (*volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). And yet the ways of suffering and the ways of wellbeing are actually two sides of the same coin...Holly and Rachel are just back from Europe's largest trauma, mental health and wellbeing conference hosted at Oxford University, under the title 'Healing our relational world'. Bringing together over 3000 educators, therapists, mental health practitioners and healers with world-renowned trauma and emotional health experts, the conference was an extraordinarily rich and deep insight and exploration of how to heal our connection with ourselves, each other and the wider world.In this episode we dive deeply into some of the 'brokenness' of our world (our inner and outer worlds) bringing in our own decade of research along with learnings from the conference. We look at some of the patterns in human behaviours that connect all of these elements of brokenness to better understand how to notice them and how to heal. We explore the impact of early attachment on shaping our relationships and the profound ways of healing in ourselves, our communities and with the planet. We touch on how the ways to respond to the symptoms and root causes of disconnection are the same and explore the foundational routes to healing.In this episode we reference the following:Dr Dan Siegel - professor (website)Dr Bessel van der Kolk - psychiatrist (website)Dr Richard Shwartz - therapist, author (website)Linda Thai - trauma therapist (website)Interpersonal Neurobiology - Dan Siegel (video)The Body Keeps The Score - Bessel van der Kolk (book / website)Internal Family Systems - Dr Richard Shwartz (website) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
--------
1:06:31
--------
1:06:31
How do we heal our broken world? (introduction)
This week, Holly and Rachel are 'on-tour' for the podcast, which was recorded live from underneath a fig tree in a beautiful quad at Exeter College in Oxford. The (slightly shorter this week) recording took place one lunchtime mid-way through Europe's largest trauma, mental health and wellbeing conference hosted at Oxford University, under the title 'Healing our relational world'. Bringing together over 3000 educators, therapists, mental health practitioners and healers with world-renowned trauma and emotional health experts, the conference was an extraordinarily rich and deep insight and exploration of how to heal our connection with ourselves, each other and the wider world.In this short episode we touch on some of the live inquiries that we're both engaged with, think about some of the provocations and illuminations that are being shared about emotional health and wellbeing and dig into some of the tricky issues we're grappling with. This podcast serves as an introduction to some of the bigger inquiries we'll be diving into next week when back home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
--------
22:49
--------
22:49
Why are we more fixated on capturing life than living it?
In many societies across the world, we find a dominant habit of record keeping as part of the daily focus. Paperwork, recording, data-capture, spreadsheets, documentation and report-writing have become a staple of many organisations across the world; whilst our education systems and business models are firmly structured around ‘capturing data’ - oftentimes valuing this data above all else. We can see this same pattern playing out in our social lives, with a fixation on capturing and sharing our life experiences via smartphones and through social media often infiltrating our enjoyment and engagement of simply being in the moment. But what happens when the capturing of life becomes more important than the living of it?In this week’s episode of Two Inconvenient Women, Holly Everett and I explore the different ways that our cultures are encouraging an shift away from ‘living’ and experiencing life towards a fixation on reporting on it. We explore questions such as ‘When did the record of what we’re doing become more important than what we’re doing?’ ‘What is it that we’re trying to do with our obsession with capturing and recording?’ ‘Are we starting to rely – even trust – data more than our own lived experience?’In this episode we reference the following:· Photography Life – When the photographer doesn’t shoot (article)· Engaging Iain McGilchrist: Ascetical practice, brain lateralization, and philosophy of mind (article)· How do you know? Psychology Today (article)· Bad Data - Peter Schryvers (book)· The Master and his Emissary – Ian McGilchrist (book)· RSA animation: The Divided Brain (video)· Alan Watts – Be Here Now (articles & podcast series)· Your Three brains – Centre for Health & Wellbeing (article)· Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education, UK (website)· “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” - Albert Einstein (image)· The Blanchard bone (website) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
--------
1:08:27
--------
1:08:27
How do we navigate cognitive dissonance in this crazy-beautiful world?
“There's laundry to do and a genocide to stop…”This first line of a short poem by Vinay Krishan hits hard, not least because it captures so powerfully the complex and confusing state we are finding ourselves in. How to we navigate the day to day process of living in the midst of so many overwhelming crisis all around us? How can we make sense of actions and unfoldings that literally cannot make sense? How do we stay sane in a world that feels like it’s falling apart?In this week’s episode we explore the notion of cognitive dissonance and how to navigate the endless contradictions, hypocrisies and complexities of our current world. We explore what it means to ‘live through collapse’, why so many of our systems are falling apart; how we can sustain our own sense of groundedness and vitality and what it means to practice active hope and turn towards the light.In this episode we reference the following:Outgrowing Modernity – panel discussion (video) What is cognitive dissonance? (video)‘On imagination’: Vanessa Andreotti & Rob Hopkins (video)Joanna Macy – A wild love for the world (podcast) The Four Mountains - Decolonial Futures (article)Wild – Sarah Wilson (podcast)Two Loops Theory – Berkana Institute (PDF)The Rise & Fall of Civilisations – Meg Wheatley (article)There’s laundry to do and a genocide to stop – Vinay Krishnan (poem) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
--------
57:05
--------
57:05
Do we really want to go back to work?
This time of year often beckons us to go "back to work". For some it's the beginning of a new academic year. For others it's a return to work after an extended holiday or summer break. For others it's the time to begin a new cycle. But do we really want to be 'going back' and do we really want to be 'working' for a living?In this week's podcast we inquire about the nature of work, and think about why so many of our lives have become centred around work - in particular 'going to work' - rather than about nurturing livelihood. We explore some of the significant shifts in our human evolution that led to this way of living; think about what it means to match purpose and passion with contributing to the larger whole; explore some of the limitations of life's focus being about contributing to the market economy and question the meaning of success.In this episode we reference the following:Ikigai - a Japanese framework for thriving (Website / framework)Gross National Happiness - Bhutan's wellbeing index (website)Buen Vivir - a social philosophy (article)The Story of Triple WellBeing - ThoughtBox (PDF download)The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction - Ursula Le Guin ( short story PDF)On New Beginnings - John O'Donoghue (Podcast / poem) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In a world which can feel increasingly volatile and uncertain, join Holly and Rachel from ThoughtBox as we explore some of the inconvenient truths, possibilities and opportunities of our rapidly changing world.Each episode we’ll be diving deep into the big, tricky issues of our time, exploring what it means to be ‘inconvenient’ in our work to transform lives, communities and mindsets towards a healthier future for people and planet.To find out more about the work we do at ThoughtBox Education, visit www.thoughtboxeducation.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.