Pause Purpose Play

Do you see the value in going slow? If you don't, it's not your fault.  You may never have been shown what going slow looks like, if you have had a parent or care giver who was constantly on the go, never sitting down to relax. You may then have learned that this is how you must be, to have value and worth. You may have been praised for doing a lot and being productive, so going slow feels like fa...

Do you work in a toxic workplace? Where you are pushed beyond your limits, rather than being looked after? Where you constantly strive for recognition and yet doubt your own abilities, thinking you’re not good enough? Perhaps you have hit burnout and yet cannot make yourself leave, and think it’s all your fault that you ‘can’t cope’? In this episode, I explore how the internal pressure we put on o...

Do you take the time to show appreciation for your partner, even if you also are irritated with them? Do you practise gratitude and kindness in your relationship?   This brief solo episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 24 of my new book, The Lasting Connection, about developing love and compassion for yourself and your partner.    In this last episode based on the book, I cover gratitu...

Do you feel bad about the way you look? Does seeing yourself in the mirror trigger thoughts like “I’m not good enough, attractive enough, thin enough?”  Do you compare yourself to other people, thinking they look better than you? You’re not alone.  In this episode, I speak with psychotherapist Holli Rubin about body image, and feelings we have about our bodies, and how unrealistic ‘body positivity...

How are you towards your partner when you are running low on energy, feeling depleted? Hardly 'your best self'. Looking after yourself helps look after your relationship too, by reducing reactivity and bringing more calm and connection.  This brief solo episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 23 of my new book, The Lasting Connection, about developing love and compassion for yourself and...

Do you worry that you don’t play enough with your child, or feel bad if playing with them bores you? Or do you play with your children until you’re exhausted, leaving little time for yourself?   In this episode, I talk to Susie Robbins about the importance of play for our wellbeing - both for adults and for children. You’ll get easy tips on how to play without putting pressure on yourself to make...

Have you been hurt by your partner? Perhaps they have made a mistake which you struggle to forgive them for? Or you have messed up and struggle to forgive yourself? Blaming and shaming yourself, or your partner?    This brief solo episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 22 of my new book, The Lasting Connection, about developing love and compassion for yourself and your partner.    In th...

Have you experienced a difficult past? Perhaps you went through a challenging childhood, which has shaped who you are today, and the way you speak to yourself.  In this guest episode, I spoke to Dr Natalie Bodart about to develop compassion for our past, and how we can change the narrative, or story, we tell ourselves about what we’ve experienced.  Dr Natalie Bodart is a clinical psychologist and...

Are you or your partner going through challenges to do with your physical or mental health? Odds are that this will also put a strain on your relationship, perhaps altering the balance of giving and receiving care. If either of you is experiencing physical or mental health issues, your relationship is more likely to be distressed. This brief solo episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 2...

Have you lost someone you loved? Someone dear to you passed away, and you are dealing with the loss and grief afterwards? Or you are grieving things which never got to be, due to the pandemic? The loss you experienced can even be linked to something traumatic.  In this episode I speak to Dr Marianne Trent about grief, loss and trauma, and how to cope with it in a way which gives you the permission...

Have you and your partner argued more since you became parents? Is it hard to juggle it all, making you feel resentful about who does what in your home? Perhaps you are less satisfied with your relationship now that you are also managing the needs of a baby or several children? This brief solo episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 21 of my new book, The Lasting Connection, about develo...

Do you feel anxious when you do new things, not feeling confident? Are you hard on yourself, thinking that you're not good enough if it isn't perfect? Perhaps old beliefs hold you back in life.   Then this episode of the Pause Purpose Play podcast is for you. Chloe Brotheridge is hypnotherapist, mentor and coach at www.calmer-you.com and the host of The Calmer You Podcast. She’s the author of The...

Have you been on the receiving end of an infidelity, having been cheated on by a current or previous partner? Perhaps you yourself have been unfaithful to someone you loved?   Then you know how the trust gets shattered and how it leaves you feeling a full range of emotions, from sadness, anger and anxiety, to guilt and shame.    If you haven’t experienced infidelity, tune into this episode to unde...

Why do we feel so bad at times? Why can’t we just be happy all the time?   Because we haven’t been taught how to understand ourselves, and what it means to be human, and instead chase constant happiness and think we have failed when things aren’t ‘perfect’.    In this podcast episode, Dr Soph, Clinical Psychologist and Author of ‘A Manual for Being Human’, talks about how we can understand ourselv...

Do you struggle to be in the present moment with your partner when it comes to sexual intimacy? Do you find it difficult to talk about your desires, fears or needs when it comes to sex?   In this episode, I explore the physical intimacy, not just through sex, and explain why quality not quantity is key to a lasting connection.   This episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter 20 of my new b...

Does your brain run a million miles an hour, and it's hard to stop? Do you have cycles of either procrastinating or being hyperfocused on a task, to the point of burnout? In this episode, I talk to Michelle Minnikin about her experience of the ups and downs of living with ADHD. Michelle Minnikin is a Chartered Psychologist and Coach. She’s the Captain of Work Pirates and Co-Founder of Inspiration...

If we want to both survive and thrive in our relationships, we need to allow the time and space to heal from hard times, as well as take the time to turn up the fun and build intimacy together in the good times. In this episode, I explain the balancing act between enjoying your time together through shared activities and repairing your relationship when things have been tough. This episode of Paus...

Catherine Hallissey is a chartered psychologist, parenting coach and mother-of-five young kids. She's the founder of Reclaim Parenthood, an online parenting membership. She helps parents use the power of relationship and connection to address parenting challenges, create more peace and harmony at home and help children become more confident and resilient.   8:00 Restraint collapse and comparing ho...

Have you ever tried to have a date night that turned into a disaster? An attempt to do something you once enjoyed together that ended up with an argument instead?  Without reducing the negatives in our relationships, it can be hard to increase the positives.  In this episode I explore turning a mirror on ourselves, to find the things that we are doing too much of, not enough of, and those things w...

In this episode, I talk to Bec Milligan about combining EFT and good nutrition to rebalance your busy life.  Bec is a Nutritional Therapist and EFT (emotional freedom) practitioner with a special interest in guiding busy women from borderline burn-out back into balance, supporting both the physical symptoms and emotional triggers that the pressures of a fast paced, juggling it all life can have on...

Do you need to be fully compatible to have a lasting connection in your relationship? Having that 'click' and being a 'perfect match'? No, what's more important than chemistry and compatibility is compassion and connection.  This episode of Pause Purpose Play is based on chapter seventeen of my new book, The Lasting Connection, about developing love and compassion for yourself and your partner.   ...

In this episode, I talk to Lara Sheldrake about how overworking and hustle culture has an negative impact on our success, and how accepting imperfection and being kinder to ourselves is more helpful in meeting our goals. Lara is a speaker, mentor and the founder of founder of Found & Flourish, an online membership, media and events platform for women in business. She has been listed as a top influ...

How do you reach a compromise in your relationship? What are the things you fight about over and over?  All couples have perpetual problems, and feel like you keep going around in circles and not reach productive problem-solving. Rather than seeing the other person as the problem, you need to see yourselves as a team who together solve the problems between you.  In this episode, I talk about how t...

How do we heal difficult experiences from our childhood? And how to they impact us as adults, in our relationships? How do painful childhood experiences shape our attachment styles? In this episode of Pause Purpose Play, we get to know more about attachment styles, trauma and the unconscious mind keeping a score of what we've been through, giving rise to protective behaviours, which can ultimately...

The pursuit of perfection gets in the way of connection, both in how you put pressure on yourself to BE the perfect partner and to FIND the perfect relationship.  If you get hooked by the perfect images from social media and romantic films, and compare yourself to that, you will feel disappointed. To compare is unfair and leaves you in despair.  In this episode, I talk about how letting go of perf...