Sideways

This week we're getting around a table to bounce ideas around and running ideas up flagpoles to see who salutes them. We're asking if cliches have a value and whether they can sometimes stop us from getting our point across successfully. I find another way to shoehorn a conversation about Martin's hair into the episode. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.sub...

In this week's episode we're talking about the roles we play and the ways in which we define ourselves. We're asking one another how we'd like to be remembered and trying to work out why "Technical Ecstasy" is not amongst the most popular Black Sabbath albums. There's also a guided relaxation at the end of the episode so, if you're driving while listening pl...

In this week's episode, we're talking about why on earth we allow ourselves to get stuck in relationships that are not only dissatisfying but which actually do us harm. We're also talking about "love bombing", co-dependency and limerance. Martin appears to have created some sultry lighting to fit the mood but it just comes off a bit ghostly. https://www.grahamlandiwellbein...

In this week's episode, we are talking about a celebrity whose star shone particularly brightly in the '90s but whose fall from grace was equally noteworthy. We ask ourselves if it might sometimes be the case that having it all makes staying balanced even harder. We're also talking hair. Martin has too much of it, and we're remembering times when people's hair got them int...

In this week's episode, the first in season 2, we're discussing the benefit of being able to go back in time and fix the things that we feel went wrong earlier in our lives. We try and work out if it would be helpful or even desirable to do so. Martin chooses his favourite Dr Who and I surprise him with my fondness for something popular. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://gr...

This week we're talking about how good we can become at telling ourselves everything is going to be an absolute disaster, even though we're frequently wrong. We're also debunking the myth that expecting the worse when hoping for the best is anything other than a deeply flawed strategy that guarantees suffering.  If that weren't enough Martin reminds us how important it is to cl...

This week we're off to Portugal, in a virtual sense, and talking about how they tackled the serious problems they had with addiction. We're asking why more countries haven't followed their lead considering the impressive results they've achieved. Also, I express astonishment at Martin never having come across Pasteis De Nata. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grah...

In this week's episode, we are talking about how we pretend that everything is OK even when it most definitely isn't and exploring why we might be so self-destructive. Martin recalls a time when we were stopped by the police and he thought I was going to land us up in the cells for a night and we even find time to debate whether or not 1970's impressionist Mike Yarwood was actually...

In this week's episode we take a trip down memory lane into Martin's childhood and explore the hold his Gran had over him with a box full of cardboard pieces. We're also debating the difficulty inherent in trying to replicate Black Sabbath album covers onto fondant icing.   https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@grahamlandi...

This week we're talking about how Martin played "fast and loose" with his recovery in the early days and what buying beer for your pets has to do with buying a warming cup of Bovril at the football. We'll also unpack the reasons for my not flaming the Christmas pudding last year. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@...

In this special episode, we fill the gap left by the suspension of football across the UK and select our Addicts XI comprising professional players who have struggled with drink, drugs, and gambling.  Some of them have since turned their lives around and some have sadly lost out to their addictions but they've all given us moments of joy on the way. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ htt...

This week we're talking about all the things we tell ourselves in order to try and avoid doing what we don't want to do. Martin has some more quotes from all the hours he's spent on Google and we learn what George Washington knew about addiction. The cat ate my homework. Excuses. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@graha...

This week we're talking about how to maintain good mental health in isolation and the particular difficulties it presents for those in recovery or still in active addiction. We also talk about the importance of gratitude and find out why Martin thinks it's OK to come onto the podcast with paint all over his spectacles. To cheer him up, I sing Martin one of his favourite American rock tra...

This week we're in full lockdown and recording virtually, which accounts for the sometimes sub-standard sound quality. However, like the true professional we are, nothing much stops us. In this episode, we are reminiscing about Martin's first car, a vehicle we travelled to Reading Rock Festival in armed with nothing more than a large tin of hot dog sausages and a crate of John Smiths bit...

This week, in an episode recorded before the lockdown, we are reminiscing about the heady days of our past and how it can dangerous to do so when things aren't remembered as being quite as destructive as they were at the time.  We also discuss Martin's lucky escape from some skinheads and our numerous charity gigs in the mid-1980s, when global pandemics were just the stuff of disaster mo...

In this week's episode, Martin is watching a lot of daytime TV, apparently in the name of research, and comes up with some interesting information about some addictions you may not have heard about. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk Thanks again for listening, we really appreciate it.

In this week's episode we're talking about dreams and what it means if, as a recovering addict, you dream about relapse. Just to continue on our flight of fantasy Martin, not content with the ordinary run of the mill somnambulism, goes one step further and tells us all about it. Wakey wakey everyone.  https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email...

In this week's episode, we're exploring the role of genetics in addiction. We find out what Martin has in common with the Royals and why he had a habit, just like his uncle, of running away. Strap in for a stroll through Martin's past as I try manfully to distract him from his blessed notes. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us a...

This week we're talking about how clinging to unlikely events doesn't make your destructive behaviour any more justifiable. Martin gives us some interesting facts about staying safe from coconuts and we discuss why peer support is so critical for a sustained recovery. There's also some fruit machine chat and we relive the joy of Martin getting soaked waiting for a bus. https://www.g...

This week we're talking about American punk bands I haven't heard of, identifying the four core emotions, and working out why change is sometimes difficult because we have no idea who we'll be once we have changed. On top of that, we'll be talking about why for people in the chaos of addiction the thought of recovery can be terrifying. It's episode 13  but don't be sc...

In this weeks episode, we get an update on the state of Martin's bruised toes, he tells us all about the research he's been doing into the similarity between addiction and life in a cult, and I try my best to think of some music which is in keeping with the subject matter having inadvertently made a rod for my own back by adding music to last weeks very well-received episode, "Rocke...

This week Martin tells us what he has in common with Elton John, what distracted him when attending his gig in the beautiful grounds of Leeds Castle, and we pick our way through the nostalgia of our parent's drinks cabinets. I also sing a song. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk Thanks again for listeni...

This week we're talking about an episode of The Simpsons that I haven't seen. We also talk about what it's like to have a ladies bike, ingenious places that alcoholics hide their drink, and discuss a memorable day when Martin went cross-country to the pub in Frittenden to try and keep away from the police. It's an action-packed bumper episode. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.c...

In this week's episode, we're talking about the impact of having an addict in the family, the effect it has on everyone else, and why we didn't speak to one another for several years. We also examine how selfishness can sometimes be necessary. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk Thanks again fo...

In this week's episode, Martin explains how a visit to the cashpoint became a painful metaphor for his blossoming addiction. We also talk about how addicts find ways to enable their addiction and I make sure that Martin wasn't involved in a robbery at the local Sainsbury's. https://www.grahamlandiwellbeing.co.uk/ https://grahamlandi.substack.com/ You can email us at info@grahamlandi...