Be Mythical

This week's show is with Jorgen Rasmussen, who has seen clients professionally as an agent of change for twenty years, the first eight spent running an "Impossibles practice" with a 'no change, no pay' policy. Having deeply explored NLP, hypnosis, non-duality teachings, developmental psychology and meditation, he is the Author of the books Provocative Hypnosis (2008) and Provocative Suggestions (2015). In this show, Jorgen and I explored the possibilities for humans that things like hypnosis, the placebo effect, and multiple personality disorders (in some ways a form of self-hypnosis) show us - I find it super intriguing how much power the human mind has over the reality that’s created. Does it only have that power when we truly believe the thought? How does hypnosis even work? And what does that tell us about the human mind consciousness more broadly? I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation…  please leave a comment below. What you'll learn from this episode: The capacity for hypnosis relies on absorption (the ability to be completely absorbed in an experience - for example a movie), disassociation (feeling separate from the experience, for example an artist saying that their hand painted the painting, it didn't seem to be them making it happen), suggestibility (the ability to make an experience feel completely real). Most of us will have these qualities in varying degrees and around 5-10% of people are highly hypnotisable. Most of us engage in rather a lot of self-deception. Our mind creates a belief and then we try to rationalise why we have that belief, which only confirms and solidifies it further, when actually we don't usually form beliefs through logic and reason. When we believe something it can completely change our experience, even to the extent of our physical processes. This can be particularly powerful when its a belief that's been implanted by an expert, such as when it comes to a diagnosis or a prognosis made by a doctor to a patient. It's wonderful that the reverse can also happen like the example that Jorgen gave of his client who marched out of his office but then returned weeks later free from depression!

This week's show is with Jess P. Shatkin, M.D. An acclaimed adolescent psychiatrist and educator, Shatkin has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and on Good Morning America. Jess is one of the country's foremost voices in child and adolescent mental health. He serves as Vice Chair for Education at the Child Study Center and Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine. He has been featured in top print, radio, TV, and Internet outlets, including the New York Times, Good Morning America, Parade, New York Magazine, Health Day, CBS Evening News, New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. In addition, for the past eight years Dr. Shatkin has been the host of "About Our Kids," a two-hour call-in radio show broadcast live on SiriusXM's Doctor Radio. He lives in New York City with his wife and two teenage children. Jess brings more than two decades' worth of research and clinical experience to the subject, along with cutting-edge findings from brain science, evolutionary psychology, game theory, and other disciplines - plus a widely curious mind and the perspective of a concerned dad himself. In this week's show, we explore how even though adolescence is a risk-taking time, it is also a time of incredible potential. As any parent of a tween, teen or 20-something knows, adolescents take risks. In fact, those aged 12-26 are hard-wired to take risks, but how do you not just handle but even harness these natural impulses?  Jess also gives practical examples of what parents and teachers can do to honour adolescents journey of risk-taking - in everyday interactions, teachable moments, and specially chosen activities and outings - to work with teens' need for risk, rewards and social acceptance, not against it. So if you've got an adolescent in your life, this show will allow you to navigate the tricky waters ahead in a much calmer, safer and more rewarding way for all concerned! And if you haven't, this is still an awesome show for understanding more about our evolutionary heritage and how it shapes our behaviour in weird and wonderful ways! What you'll learn from this episode: Our drive to take risks as a young person is an entirely natural and beneficial aspect of humans, which has developed to take both personal growth, our community and the human species forward. Seen from that perspective it makes a whole lot less sense to demonise young people's behaviour and a whole lot more sense to harness it. It's a huge step forward simply to understand why your adolescent is behaving the way they are. That allows you to be more supportive and understanding of them. Supportive families benefit the brain: Studies show teens raised by parents with low levels of conflict in their homes have less demanding brain reward centers; these teens will engage in less risk-taking behaviour because their interpersonal relationships are rewarding.  Young people assess risks and make choices differently to older people. Teens know that they’re not invincible. In fact, studies have shown that, when teens engage in risky behaviour, they often overestimate their chances of being harmed by that behaviour. Understanding that means we as parents can help our adolescents to connect them to the real emotional impact of their choices as well as support them to make good decisions. There's a value and benefit of all ages in human life, being aware of that and honouring and harnessing it allows all of us to be better understood, to feel more connected and more useful as part of our community.

This week's show is with Jules A. Lalonde. A super-smart guy who we had to get on to share him with you. By day, he's a financial wizard, and by night, he's a super-hero of science and philosopher. He has an MBA in Behavioral Finance, a degree in biochemistry and has completed graduate research in Non-linear dynamics (ie chaos theory). Are you getting a sense of what I meant by 'super-smart' yet? Jules has studied many subjects and his curiosity and interest continues to be drawn to many topics including cognitive biases, fundamental neuroscience, the science of emotion, unconscious communication, social behaviour and the nature of human consciousness. Jules is currently working on course on Science and Critical Thinking for change workers entitled “Keep Science in Mind” which'll be available in the new year. In this week's show, we explored current neuroscience and evolutionary biology, in particular the aspect of our primary affective (feeling) networks in the lower brain that govern much of our subjective experience (what Jules likes to call our personal holodeck). In simple terms, we talked about how our minds have evolved to work and why. In fact, in many ways our modern minds aren't too different to the average cave man's - what is radically different is the environments we each inhabit. Understanding this allows us to set up our modern lives in a way that makes them a lot more enjoyable. I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment below. What you'll learn from this episode: Jules talks about our personal 'holodeck' which is our internal system which allows us to create and interact with our subjective experience. Our personal holodeck is created through usage, especially when we're young so it is vitally important that we're able to use and develop our senses through interaction and play. The seeking part of our mind drives so much of our feelings and behaviour. That means that the treasure IS the search! Humans have a tilt towards negativity - it's a trait that's been selected for because it's what keeps us alive. Many of us in this modern world are being bombarded with triggers which create a lot of negative thoughts and feelings - most of that fear is not useful and makes our experience of life pretty crappy. However, when we're in a more 'primal state' it is worth recognising fear can contain message that can be worth taking notice of and adjusting course as a result.

This week's show is with Robert Kandell. Robert is the host of the Tuff Love podcast and co-founder of OneTaste (orgasmic meditation). He is a relationship expert, life coach and of course has his own personal breakup stories to tell. In this show we explored what's going on in relationships and between men and women in this crazy modern world, as Robert said and men are acting more like boys. Women are acting more like men. So we talked about that, what's caused it and what we can do about it! I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment below. What you'll learn from this episode: We all have a masculine/feminine ratio - a man can have some feminine and a woman can have masculinity. This is absolutely natural and fine and the ratio often changes during our life. In this modern world, men are acting more like boys - The whole Peter Pan thing of being part of an urban tribe and having fun. Women are acting more like men - being the strong one and being the provider. This behaviour is in contrast to what Robert believes that a powerful underlying drive for the masculine is to get approval whereas the feminine wants to feel beautiful. If you're not happy with how your masculinity or femininity is showing up in your life and relationship then the first step is just to be honest with yourself: take an inventory - job, relationship, and purpose. Then take responsibility for what you've co-created. Get into the habit of success. We're surrounded with potential connections in the world - go look! Build allies around creating the changes you want.

This week's show is with Sean Merrick. As a Holistic and Functional Medicine Expert, with over 18 years of clinical & allied health experience, Sean utilises a unique approach to optimal health. He uncovers root causes of ailments in an exceptional way. He uses contemporary, 21st Century lab investigations to uncover insults hidden in the body. Also, he uniquely believes that there is a deeper correlation between stored emotions and illnesses. With lab results and a distinctive wisdom, Sean’s clients are able to detach from damaging stories and move towards optimal health. Sean not only coaches clients but he is counsel to many holistic practitioners worldwide. In this week's show, we spoke about how and why our stored childhood experiences and stories affect us in struggles such as chronic pain and illnesses in the present - and what we can do to heal. What you'll learn from this episode: Our experience as adults is largely determined by our childhood selves - how we perceive and respond to the world is created by the imprinting of our 7 year old selves. Two people could experience the same event and their perception and response to it is largely determined by how they experienced the world as children. Our disconnected, noisy society only hampers our healthy response to trauma further, if we could return into a connected and loving community after trauma we'd be affected by it in much less negative ways. As Hippocrates said "All disease begins in the gut.” Our gut is the root to so much of our experience, emotions and how we respond to the world. Make the time to spend time with yourself and get to know yourself. Listen to your instincts, listen to your gut!

This week's show is with Maggie Minor who believes that what we surround ourselves with has a profound affect on our subconscious and that by simply making a few changes in our home décor we can uplift ourselves and open up our mind to new possibilities. She is the founder of Maggie Minor Designs, an online resource for colorful furniture and artwork, tips for making your home a more positive place, and consulting services to help you design a home that aligns with what you want. In her former life, Maggie spent almost 15 years traveling the world…as a graduate student in Australia, a student and backpacker in Europe, a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria and a humanitarian worker working in Asia and Africa. Her memoir, Adventures of a Curious Sculptor, recounts her long journey from adventurer to artist, and her appreciation for all of the beauty that surrounds us. In this show we explored how and why what we look at in our homes and offices has a profound subconscious impact what we think about and therefore how we feel. There is a revolution going on right now about about food, spirituality, relationships, and exercise, but no one is really talking about curating what we look at everyday.  Maggie would like to help people think more about how they create their environments with a special emphasis on things that they look at most. It’s a simple shift that can make a huge difference. What you'll learn from this episode: Humans throughout history have been wired to be impacted by their visual surroundings - it's imperative to our safety- whether it be to locate fruit (or remember where the poisonous ones are) or to hunt or avoid animals. Our environment is constantly being perceived via our senses and is in our awareness, whether we realise it or not - so we can either leave our environment to chance or we can curate environments that serve us. Go around your house and ask yourself: "How do I want to feel in this room?" Look at each item in the room and decide whether it creates the feeling you want. Easy starting points include: What do you look at first thing in the morning? What's giving you 'Should' messages? What do you see when you first enter your home? What do you see when you leave your home? Start with those places first.

This week's show is with Marina Pearson. Marina, is the No1 best-selling author of the multi-award winning book Goodbye Mr Ex, and international speaker. She supports professionals and entrepreneurs to transform all types of stress into effortless results and living through her coaching and events. She is known for catalysing busy and stressed entrepreneurs and professionals out of their stress and struggle into effortless results so they leave feeling at peace and free. In this week's show, Marina shared how has recently broken up with her husband and father of her young son and has been going through the process of creating a new way of relating to and co-parenting with her ex-husband.  In essence, we talked how to have a healthy break-up. What you'll learn from this episode: Even when we're in challenging period and it seems as though everything is dark and awful, we all have moments when we don't feel that way - when our thinking clears. It's so freeing to notice that because we understand that our experience isn't coming from the break-up but from our thoughts but our thoughts about the break-up. "We're not on a rollercoaster, we are the rollercoaster." Everything's going to be fine, no matter what. Who we really are is always perfect and untouched by the stuff that's going on in our human lives. We all have the capacity to connect into the true self beneath the turmoil.  We have innate resilience, we are never broken or f*cked up There's a universal force thats constantly rearranging things - in ways that we can perceive as being good and lucky and in ways that we can perceive as being bad and unlucky but really it's not personal, it's just life unfolding as it does. In any relationship, the other person's level of awareness or state of mind is largely irrelevant  to your experience of it - for example, Marina described how her own level of awareness was key to how she experienced the break-up.

This week's show is with Kat Courtney, an Afterlife Coach. Kat first received the term "Afterlife Coach" after one of the many times she experienced death. She had been working as a Spiritual Life Coach and Shamanic Apprentice for a decade, and felt that her life's purpose was still a little. . . off. As she sat in her 999th or so Ayahuasca ceremony, it dawned on her that there are three things she love most in this world: Connection to soul, Ayahuasca, and death. After the craziest of journeys with this medicine, she finally realised she was not meant to be an Ayahuasquera - she was meant to be the before and after guide. She also works with people in hospice. She adores shadow work. She's in love with death. Ayahuasca only made that a deeper calling and understanding. Kat's been on the show twice before and was so fabulous we had to get her back on to talk about one of her favourite topics: Ayahuasca itself! We explored the history of Ayahuasca and other plant medicines, the active component DMT (also known as 'the spirit molecule') and its role in the human body and what this could help us to understand about the subconscious and universal consciousness. All in all, it's a deeply fascinating show! What you'll learn from this episode: The active component in Ayahuasca is DMT - which is present in our pituitary gland and shows up in dreams and as we die. It's known as the 'spirit molecule' because it seems to allow us to access the space of universal consciousness. Deeply understanding and fully experiencing our deeply held traumas, baggage and pain allows us to move on - as Kat said: We need to feel to heal. It's important to be and feel safe whenever we're accessing a space of complete openness. In Ayahuasca ceremonies this is the role of the shaman, in other situations a different form of safety and guidance would be more appropropriate but regardless it’s a necessary aspect of this kind of absolute openness.

This week's show is with Kim Kaase. As a professional business coach, consultant and transformational trainer she supports her clients by working with them to craft a clear personal vision while creating results that are important to them. She uses her background as a designer to creatively solve problems and approach challenges as a coach from a very unique perspective.  Kim’s experience in creating breakthrough sales results as well as executing company vision and goals melds perfectly with her coaching career. As a dealer principal, Kim led sales and sales support teams to grow the dealership from $14mm in 2003 to $38mm in just 4 years while industry trends were going in the opposite direction. Kim graduated from the University of Houston in 1990 with a BFA in Interior Design and a certification in Transformative Coaching. Her career has included work with a vast array of professional services firms and successful entrepreneurs.. She is the Principal at her firm, LEAP Business Coaching. In her free time she enjoys transformational work, bird watching, cooking and creating memories with her son, Rex. Kim’s vision includes creating a world where everyone leads lives that they absolutely love! In this show we explored Kim's experience of reclaiming her inner juiciness and intimacy with both herself and her partner. As ever, Kim was totally open and shared the insecurities and surprises that she has experienced and what this relationship has shown her about control and vulnerability. Although this show is particularly relevant to anyone entering the dating world later in life or after a break-up, I actually think this show is relevant to anyone at almost any stage of a relationship! What you'll learn from this episode: Falling into flow, into the space of presence just doesn't allow any room for thought-created baggage and insecurities. Kim said the strategies and techniques she'd tried in the past to get over her insecurities around sex didn't work, however when she felt fully engaged and in the flow, they just weren't there! The need for control is very common because it's a way that we can feel safe, however it's that very safety that stops us really living and feeling.  Kim said she would now take juicy over safety any day! When we let go of trying to be someone that we believe people will love, instead we radiate who we really are - and as Kim says, others will be drawn to us like a moth to a flame. It's totally attractive!

This week is the second show in which the tables are turned on Lian and she becomes the guest! Primal Happiness co-founder Jonathan Wilkinson is in the host's chair and guides Lian through the second part of the story of her life. f you haven't yet listened to to Part One I would highly recommend you do so before listening to Part Two. But if you have, you'll know that part 1 was amazing, just packed full of crazy, funny stories of Lian's life up until her mid-20s. And on this week's show we carry on that exploration and while there might not be as many of those types of stories, this show is full power. We get into some key events that rocked Lian's world - including her experience of being attacked and then the aftermath, the surprising impact of losing her father, and discovering what was really creating her feelings - these events were the catalyst for incredible growth and transformation. What you'll learn from this episode: I loved how Lian cured her chronic facial pain and panic attacks simply through seeing the nature of thought and how it was creating her experience of life.However it is worth saying that Lian’s experience is probably on the rarer side certainly in terms of how quickly she made a full recovery yet understanding the role of thought seems to always have a profoundly beneficial effect, even if it’s a more gradual one. It can be helpful to focus more on the direction you are going in rather than the speed at which you are traveling in that direction. Lian shared how when her father died she became aware of her connection to something bigger than her sense of self. No matter what you wish to call the intelligence all-creating force behind life - whether that’s God, spirit, source, Universal Mind or what we here at Primal Happiness call the Spirit Fundamental - what is undeniable is that it exists. And once we open up and deepen our awareness of it we can’t help but feel more connection, joy, love, meaning, and guidance.