Life And Life Only

For our first podcast series of 2024, we welcome Darrell Swan to talk about some of the benefits of Life Coaching before we deep dive into the book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by W Timothy Gallwey. Darrell is a former Life Coachee of Antony’s and also a tennis player with a great interest in sports psychology.   Gallwey’s book expertly uses tennis as a context to give wider insights into the nature...

And so we finally reach the end of this podcast odyssey with the longest episode of the 4-part series... The main topics here are fame (linking neatly to LALO episode 40) and the interestingly similar trajectory it shares with money in terms of how its escalation affects -or doesn't affect- a person's happiness, and then the granddaddy of all topics- death. There’s also some talk about mindfulness...

The next part of this epic journey through Derren Brown’s book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’ and the general topic of happiness takes us further into fate and accepting the downsides of life while finding its way back to some core themes of the book. These include our construction of narratives with little evidence, catastrophising and ‘mind-reading’ (ours, not Derren’s!)...

Antony appeared on ‘Luke’s English podcast’ in April/May this year to profile Life And Life Only, and here is a compilation of the two episodes, which originally went out on video (see links below). The topics discussed by Luke and Antony are the podcast itself, Cats, Titanic, Travelling, English Teaching, Life Coaching, David Blaine, Food & Diet, Films, Conspiracy Theories (including the weap...

Inspired by the recent U.S. Open tennis tournament, here’s my take on the grand slam singles finals won by Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic, the G.O.A.T. debate and the sport and its culture in general. From here, we look at two things that are inextricably linked to top-level tennis and sport- media and fame. There’s also discussion of a very important argument put forward in the seminal 1974 tennis...

We continue our foray into the surprisingly complex world of happiness, with extracts from Derren Brown’s 2016 book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’ to guide us through, along with host Antony’s interjections and musings. In this part, we look at a wide range of sub-topics including more on the history of happiness, a look at the Stoics and Marcus Aurelius and their influenc...

Happiness seems to be simple to understand, but profound and lasting happiness is actually a complex business, as brilliantly illustrated by Derren Brown in his 2016 book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’. Derren’s very readable 500-page tome forms the basis for this series of episodes on the many aspects of happiness, including its history. After musing on his recent illness...

This time around, Antony reads two of his short stories, referred to in the title of the episode, and muses on various things, including Chris Ryan and his ‘Tangentially Speaking’ podcast, Thai memories, a surreal Valium-fuelled overnight trip, a wonderful review from a listener, the magic of cats, normies vs truthers and a couple of other things. I don’t always have answers but I’ve got plenty of...

David Blaine is known around the world and a magician and illusionist. However, he has also had a parallel life doing endurance stunts, apparently for real without illusion (though some believe otherwise). This episode deals with my personal favourite of these stunts, when he tested the limits of human endurance, both physical and psychological, living in a plexiglass box for 44 days in London in...

We complete the reading of Antony's longform essay with the dramatic sinking and its aftermath. Ordinary humans of all levels of means and status fight for their lives against the slow, inevitable creep of death, and after the disaster there's equal measures of genuine humanity and ugly scapegoating   The story of R.M.S. Titanic and its unfortunate fate seems to have everything, both good and bad,...

The story of R.M.S. Titanic and its unfortunate fate seems to have everything, both good and bad, in terms of how society views itself, its apparently superior relationship to nature and people’s relationships to their fellow man. This is a historical event but it’s also a story full of drama and human interest, and one that has been subject to constant revision in the 110 years since the ship san...

In an edited version of what was originally a video podcast (link below), Antony and Luke Thompson dissect the seminal Canadian documentary written by law professor Joel Bakan and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. Although often run by people with decent intentions, the modern corporation, complete with its legally-determined 'rights of a person', has become a monster that seeks to devo...

Nicnac Marsh has a podcast that delves into his psyche and the challenges of the complex business of existence in an ever-changing and increasingly confusing world. I was delighted to make 2 appearances on his show around this time last year so this latest offering is a compilation of the two. Our talk goes to many different places but there is particular emphasis on creativity and also discussion...

The BBC, once considered the bastion of fairness in journalism, has in recent times begun to wear its propaganda on its sleeve. Antony attempts to give a fair but critical overview of their recent 'Unvaccinated' documentary and point out both the overt and more subtle propaganda techniques used in a piece of programming whose agenda is clear from the very start.    I hope you enjoy the show! If so...

Yes Minister, which later became Yes Prime Minister, was a BBC sitcom that ran from the late 1970s to the late 80s. On one level it was an extremely well-scripted and funny comedy, but it also offered a very profound and only slightly exaggerated look at the very interesting but also rather dark and slightly insane way in which we and our lives are governed by those at the top of the power game. I...

On this episode, Antony discusses 'Life And Life Only' on the podcast about podcasts known as 'Pods Like Us', hosted by 'Marv' Quibell   Marv and Antony get into some LALO topics including self-coaching, self-education and conquering (and embracing) your fears, as well as some discussion of social compliance and the limitations of mainstream media. Antony talks about previous episodes of the show...

In what will hopefully be an inspiring edition of the podcast, documentarian Simon Weitzman joins Antony to talk about depression (and hope) from a variety of angles. We talk about some of our own experiences and then look at this thorny topic from the perspectives of creativity, diet, sleep, technology/social media, music, comedy and the importance of perspective itself. We also give book & other...

Patrick Humphries wrote the first biography of Nick Drake in 1997. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, Patrick spoke to Antony about his memories of writing the book and we also discussed the many Nick Drake myths and his music, life and legacy. Patrick also talks about his latest writing project, an upcoming biography of a fairly well-known band from Liverpool… Hope you enjoy the show! If so, plea...

In this final part of our look at the highly-recommended 1998 book, Antony reads extracts related to bringing about change in a realistic way, dealing with anger & anxiety, building self-esteem, mindfulness/meditation, and the basic spiritual values that can lead to a truly spiritual life (with no necessity to move to Tibet and become a monk!) East meets West as Tensin Gyatso, better known as 'The...

Antony continues to read multiple extracts from the seminal 1998 book 'The Art of Happiness', with particular attention given to the role of compassion, suffering and pain in our lives. East meets West as Tensin Gyatso, better known as 'The Dalai Lama' (in fact the 14th Dalai Lama), and American psychiatrist Howard Culter exchange ideas on what constitutes happiness and how we can train our minds...

The first of a 3-parter in which Antony reads multiple extracts from the seminal 1998 book 'The Art of Happiness'. East meets West as Tensin Gyatso, better known as 'The Dalai Lama' (in fact the 14th Dalai Lama), and American psychiatrist Howard Culter exchange ideas on what constitutes happiness and how we can train our minds and alter the human outlook that shapes our perceptions of events and t...

Nick Drake was an English singer-songwriter whose work was only fully recognised long after his tragic, untimely death in 1974 at the age of 26. This podcast is a 2-part reading of an essay about Nick written by your humble host, and between the two parts Antony talks to master guitarist Kester Jones about Nick Drake's music and guitar technique, with Kester also providing demonstrations of songs...

As the title suggests, today's episode looks at the methods of (often very subtle) suggestion used fairly openly by the powers-that-be to 'nudge' the public towards following certain policies in this most surreal of eras, which has been dominated by an unseen enemy and much public discussion about how to cope with it. There is some initial discussion of what propaganda actually means, as it has di...

This episode is a follow-up to the conspiracy theory discussion of the previous episode as I mop up a few of the things that weren't covered or not covered sufficiently Hope you enjoy it! If so, please subscribe, like, share etc... FB page- https://www.facebook.com/lifeandlife75 Twitter handle- @lifeonly75 To leave feedback, please write to  lifeandlifeonly@gmail.com  Support the show at www.buyme...

'Conspiracy theory', as previously discussed on the show, has become a weaponised term and often used sweepingly to discredit alternative viewpoints. At the same time there are plenty of wild theories that have no basis in fact. Ricky Green of the University of Kent joins Antony for a friendly debate/discussion about what is often a semantic and informational minefield. When does sceptical mean pa...