How To Be...Books Podcast

Welcome to "How To Be...", guiding you through life's tricky topics and skills by reading through the best books out there. We’re told it’s a fundamental need in humans to be seen. Counsellor Shala Nicely says: "Feeling seen by others is a basic human need. Its basis is evolutionary: If your tribe didn’t see you, there was a risk you’d be left behind when the nomadic life of early humans dictated...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. It's the last episode of the season, so it makes sense to actually look back that the past 52 weeks! Reflecting apparently helps you to develop your skills and review their effectiveness, rather than just carry on doing things as you have always done them. It is about questioning, in a positive way...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. We all know the incredibly heavy weight of bearing an untold secret.  There is nothing so heavy as having something significant to share, to get off our chest, and being unable to share it, often because we think that it will be poorly received.  But we also know how incredibly freeing it can be wh...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Climate change can be a tough sell. It’s arguably the greatest challenge or threat facing this and future generations, yet it seems at times to be a near-insurmountable challenge in itself just to get people interested in it. For one, we don't hear the human aspect of the crisis, and what are peopl...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. larger world, both currently and historically. People can also feel the need for a wider social connection, particularly in modern Western societies where small nuclear families and greater geographical mobility may lead to a sense of isolation. But why is the root such a compelling metaphor for th...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. men are complex and muscles are not the monopoly of men.” The female body is one of the most scrutinized subjects in contemporary culture, so why are portrayals of physical strength so lacking? Looking into what the 'experts' say about women and non-binary people's strength and whether it is truly...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Sh#t Your Ego Says author James McCrae says embracing your weirdness gives you a new perspective, and the world needs a new perspective. Innovation does not happen within the status quo. Innovation happens when outsiders challenge the status quo with weird ideas. So if you are a bit of an outsider,...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. The sense of wonder apparently speaks of our hunger to be moved, to be engaged and impassioned with the world and take pleasure in it, attuned to it, grateful for it, and fascinated by it. It's supposedly a corrective for the conventional and habitual, for the fact that day-to-day life offers so fe...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde once said: “There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” Looking at identity, it is thought to be important to approach it from an intersectional perspective because it ...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Understanding and addressing biases you may possess are important so you can be aware of how you treat and interact with others, both consciously and subconsciously. The Implicit Association Test is often used to measure implicit bias in individuals. But can we actually see our own unconscious bias...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. For some reason we expect more from intuition than we do from logic. Ask yourself if your logic has ever been wrong about anything? Most people would agree that their logic doesn't always prove accurate. But we expect intuition to be perfect, even though we are not skilled in its use. This is magic...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Self awareness is seen as important because when we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are able to experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. We are then empowered to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make imp...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. A definition online says a spiritual person is synonymous with being a person whose highest priority is to be loving to yourself and others. So how can we be spiritual and why is it important? Looking into what the 'experts' say about spirituality and whether it is truly helpful? And also hearing f...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Sustainability is about meeting our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Living sustainably therefore, is an important practice for saving the environment and using our resources efficiently. But what does this actually mean in the day to day...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. A fundamental component of healthy grieving is to experience the pain and sorrow associated with loss. Equally important is giving yourself permission to take breaks away from your grief. But we seem to avoid it all together, never having that conversation. So why can't we talk about grief? Looking...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important of all life skills. It is what enables us to pass information to other people, and to understand what is said to us. But what happens when you have a mortal fear of public speaking? Looking into what the 'experts' say about communi...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Wikipedia defines "intentional living" as any lifestyle based on an individual or group's conscious attempts to live according to their values and beliefs. So why is intentional living important and how can we do it? Looking into what the 'experts' say about intentionality and whether it is truly h...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Self-help author Mark Manson writes about some of the toxic aspects of the industry including having some non-qualified people peddling ideas that can make people feel inferior and create unrealistic expectations if they can't follow the same path and have the same results. So how can we critically...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. The concept of minimalism, which involves freeing yourself from clutter and "stuff," has been around for some time. In fact, you can find mentions of minimalism throughout history. That said, as with all movements, minimalism has changed over time, but thanks to Marie Kondo and the advent of tiny h...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Ever since we were young, we were told to excel in academics, focus on getting good grades and ace our exams. In schools and colleges, the learning has always been more directed towards academic courses but the importance of self-improvement often goes unnoticed. The problem is you cannot run away...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. There are many discriminatory practices committed regularly over long periods of time that communities and societies begin to consider them acceptable. Whether this is within a system or culture, it's important to look at what it is, and how we can change it for the better. So how do we challenge t...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. It’s true that you can learn much more from failure than from success, and it’s true that every successful person went through a series of failures before reaching the top, but still it's very difficult to deal with. So what can we learn from failing? Looking into what the 'experts' say about failu...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. Community is critical to our overall wellbeing and the decline of our connectedness is coming at the same time mental health issues are on the rise. However, communities will dissipate if neglected. They need nourishment and dedication from its members through traditions, behaviours, and a sharing...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. If there’s one thing we could all probably use a lot more of, it’s the ability to focus. But telling yourself to stay focused on a task, especially a mundane one, is often a lot easier said than done. So how do we stay focused? Looking into what the 'experts' say about focus and whether it is truly...

Welcome to "How To Be...", exploring how to gain life skills, whilst attempting to gain some myself. If you’ve ever been through a highly stressful event or series of events, you’ve been through a traumatic experience. A feeling of helplessness, horror, and in some cases, the challenges of a serious injury (or the threat of one) are common after these events. So how do we heal from adversity? Look...