Stockmanship for The Mind

Have you ever felt that you don't fit in? That it's just too hard to try something new? Have you ever worried what people think of you? These are some of the things that Gareth, as a gay new entrant to farming, has grappled with over the last few years. Now a herdsperson at the Harper Adams future farm, working for Shropshire Rural Support and also being the adoptive Dad to two boys, his story is...

We all know that life feels better in a good headspace right? So what do we do when we find ourselves in a bad mood, everything looks hard and we feel rubbish? Its kind of tempting to think that something about our life or ourselves needs to change in order for us to feel better. How many of us have made big decisions from that place of ‘I just can’t take this anymore!?’ But what if there’s a bigg...

Have you heard the phrase 'It's OK to not be OK?' What does that even mean? How is it possible to have peace of mind when everything is going wrong and it feels like we're going to implode/explode!? When we've got the toxins of anxiety coursing through our veins, when we're drowning in remorse or shame, when we're grieving?  How do we embrace those difficult times? Even when we didn't choose them?...

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get caught up in the stories we tell ourselves? For many of us, there's a quiet narrative running in the background of our mind: "Am I good enough?" "What do people think of me?" "Why does this always seem to happen to me?" When life is going smoothly, we may barely notice these stories. But when we're faced with challenges—grief, illness, the end of a relat...

Emma Jones is, above all, a Cheshire dairy farmer. Working on her family farm, she experiences first-hand both the rewards and the realities of modern farming, giving her a deep understanding of the challenges faced by rural communities. On this episode we have a lovely chat about how life works, the power of listening and the immense value of all of our lived experience. Alongside her farming wor...

On this episode we welcome Joe Evans, Deputy President of the CLA (Country Land and Business Association). We have a great chat about communicating in family business - the highs and lows!  Joe grew up on his family farm in Herefordshire and spent much of the first decade of his career working for HSBC Group in Asia. In 2012 he and his wife Keeley returned 'home' where he took over the day to day...

I recently went to the funeral of a truly amazing guy - Lionel Hill. He had everything you could want from life, a lovely wife, great family, a beautiful farm, a string of successful businesses, he even took over from Prince Charles (as he was then) as national president of the Young Farmers Clubs. He had friends all over the country. He was a great bloke, always with a cheeky grin, a joke and lau...

On this episode of Stockmanship for the Mind I have a great discussion with Claire Smith and Roy Jackson, Rural Partners in WR Partners accountancy firm, which is based in Shropshire, Wales and Cheshire. Claire and Roy are both from farming backgrounds and have a combined experience of almost 40 years of working with farmers and other rural businesses, so they bring a huge wealth of expertise to t...

We all know that difficult topics can make for difficult conversations... how do we make that easier? How do we make sure that we give ourselves the best chance of a productive chat, where everyone feels better and you can actually resolve an issue... or at least make some headway? When's the best time to tackle something tricky? Is it when we feel like our blood is boiling and we can't rest until...

Feeling under pressure? Does it look like life is throwing ALOT at you? I hear you!  What can we do about this? Nobody wants to feel stressed all the time but sometimes it kind of looks like that's the only real response to a situation. Is there anything we can see about this with fresh eyes?

In this episode I have a lovely chat with Jo Blackburn from Shropshire Rural Support about all manner of things rural and how it affects our headspace.  

We all know that life feels waaaay better in a good headspace. Do we get a good headspace as a result of life going well, achieving our goals and having less problems to contend with? Maybe. What if it works the other way around? Come along to the podcast to hear more.

We all have issues that go round our head, things that we worry about or ideals that we feel we need to live up to. Sometimes, it feels if we were to let that go, we would be being irresponsible or not doing our best.  When we've seen something a certain way for a long time, it feels crazy to us that there is an entirely new perspective available to us - to us, it just seems 'that's the way it is....

There are basic principles behind life, when we begin to understand them everything makes more sense. The Three Principles, also known as the Inside-Out Understanding, describe the essential elements behind our human experience. They have always been true—since the dawn of time. Throughout history, wise folk have understood this stuff. The rest of us are just catching up! These principles were art...

In this podcast I discuss neurodivergence and the nervous system with Karen Fisher, Farm Advisor for the Soil Association and neurodivergence and LGBTQ consultant for the rural industries. How does it affect our view of life if we are neurodivergent? What if underneath we are all the same? Does it bring extra challenges? A superpower? Come along to the podcast to hear more!

Family relations… how are yours right now? Hopefully, you have wonderful relationships with all your family, but sadly, it’s not always the case. Why is that? Family are the people we have the strongest connections to in the whole world right… so why can it be hard to get on? Why do the same old arguments brew again and again? If you manage a business with your family, why can it be so hard to tal...

Have you ever noticed that sometimes our thinking is really helpful and other times it’s our own worst enemy? Have you ever been stuck in some negative thinking and it felt horrible? What if the thinking that feels bad is also completely unhelpful? Should we always believe everything we think? What should we do if it seems our thinking might be off track?  Come along to look at the surprising real...

Our moods go up and down all the time, like a rollercoaster, and very often we don't even realise its happening. Can a mood make everything look better... or worse... than it really is? Can a mood affect the way we think? Can it affect the decisions we make? In this episode we have a look at mood and how it affects our decision making, communication and our view of life .   Come along to the podca...

Welcome to Stockmanship for The Mind, a podcast run by me, Becky Tavernor aimed primarily at farmers, rural professionals and all countryside folk (although you might also like it if you’re town/city based too!) I’m sharing a completely new and radical understanding of the mind, known as the 3 Principles (more on what they are later…) or alternatively called The Inside Out Understanding. What if o...