The Deep Resilience Podcast

When we're going through really difficult times it's common for the mind to tip into unhelpful patterns that amplify instead of alleviating our distress, keeping us locked in loops of anxiety, pessimism and reactivity. Racing and repetitive thoughts ramp up our suffering and drag us into disempowerment. But if we can find our point of power in stressful times, research shows that we can let go of...

Sometimes, things go wrong. Unfortunate things happen. We make mistakes. We all know this is an unavoidable part of life, but there may be something working in the background that can transform these moments from mere setbacks into inflated beliefs about our character. When we personalise these events, conflating what happened with who we are, we become defined by our failures, increasing negative...

We all want a better life, but is our pursuit of it actually making us happier? In many instances, the answer is no. This is where the Jevons paradox comes in. The Jevons Paradox is named for the nineteenth-century economist William Stanley Jevons. He noticed that as steam engines, powered by coal, became ever more efficient, Britain’s appetite for coal increased rather than decreased. The paradox...

Identifying and expressing our emotions effectively can one tricky but being able talk about our feelings with others is really important, not only to our relationships with others but for our own mental health, quality of life and overall wellbeing. In this episode of the podcast I offer you a helpful three step framework to help you identify your emotions and the reasons behind them clearly. The...

We all grow up with messaging about what’s “normal”: a normal family, a normal body, a normal life. We may not be conscious of it, but these ideas can linger in the backwaters of our minds and hinder our ability to live with agency and authenticity. The truth, though, is that the idea of “normal” is a myth, and constant striving to close the gap between the reality we live in and how we think thin...

Change is inevitable, but that doesn’t make it easy. Even positive life transitions can feel destabilising, and our excitement can quickly be transcended by stress and overwhelm. Whether we are navigating major or minor-scale change, there are steps we can take to help move through these shifts with greater ease and confidence, allowing us to anchor ourselves amidst life’s turbulent tides and emer...

Guilt is a complex and often uncomfortable emotion, and while we might find it distressing to experience, it holds immense potential for constructive growth if we tune into its insights. Often mistaken for shame, which can become debilitating and detrimental to our self-esteem and wellbeing, guilt offers an avenue to realign with our values and authentic selves. In making this distinction and refl...

Anyone who has experienced grief knows how profoundly painful and scary it can be. It can totally overwhelm and debilitate us, and in our attempts to escape or push through in any way we can, it’s easy to tip into maladaptive or unhelpful coping mechanisms, making an already difficult time feel even more impossible. Amidst the turmoil, taking some time to contemplate and address our needs can help...

Trauma can seem a weighty term, but the truth is most of us have had experiences in life that have that have somehow burdened or constrained us. Some of us are so impacted we feel completely stuck, broken, hopeless. While we can’t change the events of the past, it is possible to heal. The wounds we carry are not what happened to us but what happened within us, and though this psychological scarrin...

Spending time alone is an important and healthy part of being human, but becoming isolated or emotionally disconnected from others can naturally lead to painful feelings of loneliness, even if we aren’t actually alone. Most of us thrive in healthy communities with close relationships, so when loneliness signals our social needs are not being met, instead of becoming overwhelmed, we can take empowe...

Loneliness can consume us, often triggering depression and pulling us into deeper isolation. To cope with this, we are typically advised to escape or repress the feeling by remaining busy, distracted and preoccupied, but this can ultimately exacerbate our suffering and leave us burnt out. An emotion apt to cause so much pain may seem an obvious enemy, but in changing our relationship with loneline...

In a society overly fixated on our outward appearances and achievements, we can easily get caught in loops of shame or disappointment about our bodies and, from a place of harsh judgement, push ourselves to fix, change or improve what we perceive as flaws or inferiorities. As ever-changing and impossible standards permeate our environments and our minds, we can counter ingrained self-criticism by...

Self love is a simple, though perhaps not always easy, practice of maintaining an accepting attitude towards yourself and treating yourself with kindness and respect. Often misconstrued as self-importance, self-indulgence or toxic positivity at the expense of our ability to love and care for others, true self love embraces the coexistence of frustration and understanding, disappointment and compas...

The human mind is a double-edged sword. While it has the remarkable ability to help us survive, problem-solve and innovate, if allowed to roam unchecked, it can easily succumb to unhelpful programmed thought patterns that cause stress and suffering, latching on to rumination, self-criticism and limiting beliefs. Cultivating the skill of mindfulness, dropping out of the mind and into awareness, all...

Deep resilience is a state of mental-emotional and spiritual integration and strength that can change everything. The way you live, the way you lead, the way you love and the way you handle life's challenges. This podcast will help you unlock your own deep resilience. In this way you can use this podcast as your weekly training ground to build inner strength in bite sized chunks, one step at a tim...

We've equipped our mental strength toolkits with tried and true mindfulness and mindset techniques, but what about when these fall short? Sometimes, even the strongest mind is not enough to pull us through our toughest days or lift us from our lowest lows. While these evidence-based techniques offer immense value, they can overlook our deepest wellspring of inner strength as human beings. The Deep...

New Exciting Changes: Announcement of forthcoming changes in the podcast, including a new name which will be reveailed and explained in the first episode of the season. While the content will remain similar, it will now offer greater value based on feedback received from the audience and new insightsinto mental strength Hints at what is to come: In the new season I’ll be sharing new insights and t...

Life can get pretty messy sometimes when we’re dealing with all the ups and downs that come our way. At times like this, our thoughts and emotions are all over the place. We call this the ‘Beautiful Mess Effect’. And, often, we’re inclined to hide our messiness from others. But, did you know that showing vulnerability can actually be good for our mental well-being? In this episode, I’m going to sh...

Do you spend your daily life on auto-pilot? We all do it. Many of us have daily habits that we repeat day after day without even realising it. This means that we often miss out on the truly beautiful moments by just not noticing them. Do you want to be more mindful and add a little spice to your life? In this episode of Mentally Stronger, I introduce you to the Habit Releaser. This useful tool com...

Many of us wake each morning to be met with a seemingly endless list of demands and responsibilities. Whether it’s “I have to deliver a crucial presentation to a high-profile client” or simply, “I have to make the bed,” the sense of obligation and constriction evokes feelings of resistance, resentment and restriction. Even tasks we once found joy, excitement and fulfilment in can drain our enthusi...

While we all face difficult emotions at various times in our lives, we each respond differently. We might keep ourselves busy, trying to bury them under work and responsibilities. We might bombard ourselves with endless content, escaping into virtual or fictional worlds. Some look to external sources to numb or distract from pain, while others resist or reject it from within, deeming it illogical...

When the demands of our lives stretch us to our limits and we feel the overwhelming pain of grief, heartbreak, or hopelessness, we might respond in one of two ways. We might struggle against the discomfort by shutting down, isolating or lashing out. We might be consumed by our feelings and sink into the quicksand of self-criticism and negative self-talk. We might even cycle through these modes in...

Depicted in artwork, literature and religious texts throughout history, envy has long been part of the human experience, but never quite like it is today. Social media grants us access to a constant stream of highly curated and filtered images of happiest and most successful moments of our peers and strangers alike. With all of this at our fingertips, we compare the best snapshots of their lives w...

In the pursuit of perfection, we often view things through a lens of comparison, criticism, or judgment, hindering our ability to fully embrace and authentically love what’s in front of us. We do this to ourselves too, striving for perfection and judging ourselves against some standard or ideal self. This inner tension distorts our view of ourselves and others. We miss the beauty in imperfections,...

Every day, we make countless decisions that shape the direction and quality of our lives in one way or another. With each choice steering the course of our lives at each little juncture, no matter how great or small, their amassed weight has the potential to overwhelm. We’ve been given conflicting advice: “Trust your gut,” “Follow your heart,” or “Listen to your head,” yet another decision about h...