“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” ~Aristotle If you don’t want to be criticised - don’t do anything .Although you’ll probably then be criticised for not doing anything, or for doing nothing - if that’s actually possible. The meaning behind it is clear - the more you do the more people have to criticise you about. the more you open yourself up to judgement. We’ve all met people who always seem to be worried about what other people t...
Nov 28, 2015•44 min
‘A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally’ Oscar Wilde We are emotional beings with feelings, and together with our thoughts (which are intricately linked to our emotions and feelings) is what make us us. But our own feelings don’t exist in isolation. We are after all social beings and exist in groups, communities, nations, continents and the world. Our feelings and behaviour affect other people’s feelings and behaviour and other people’s affect us - in a positive or ...
Nov 21, 2015•39 min
“Don’t allow your mind to tell your heart what to do. The mind gives up easily.” - Paulo Coelho For many of us, our behaviours are often influenced by our childhood and underpinning those behaviours can often be a feeling of needing to be loved. The manifestation of that particular ‘feeling’ may well take the form of always striving to achieve – and by being in perpetual ‘doing’ mode - continually trying to prove yourself worthy through what you do. Something I’m sure many of us can recognise in...
Nov 14, 2015•47 min
“Feelings, nothing more than feelings” – Morris Albert It’s been a week where I’ve had to deal with “nothing more than feelings” in a very public way, speaking as I have at my father’s funeral. An event of this magnitude can bring up many feelings and I think it would be fair to say I’ve experienced the whole spectrum - feelings of sadness and grief but also gratitude and joy as we celebrated as well as mourned Dad’s life. “And feelings like I’ll never have you again in my life.” Morris Albert A...
Nov 07, 2015•50 min
“I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Having recently talked about the ups and downs of life and a week when we experienced what might be called extremes of feeling, this week we put feelings in the spotlight. How are you feeling right at this very moment as you read this? We all have feelings, they’re an intrinsic part of our human experience, but what are they and what purpose do they serve? What is a feeling? How d...
Oct 31, 2015•35 min
“I really want to help people to be the best expression of who they’re made to be. And often I think we need people to call that out of us” ― Luke Strickland Our guest this week is Luke Strickland of The Potting Shed Podcast who joined us in the studio to help us with exploring creativity. About Luke Strickland Writer, thinker and dreamer Luke Strickland, is the host of the The Potting Shed Podcast , an eclectic exploration of a variety of topics helping you to be the person you’re created to be...
Oct 24, 2015•37 min
“Life has its ups and downs. When you are up, enjoy the scenery. When you are down, touch the soul of your being and feel the beauty.” ― Debasish Mridha This week we’re talking about the ups and downs of life and how we react and deal or cope with them. True to say partly spurred on by the week we’ve just had. It’s included the normal ups and downs of everyday life but on top of that there’s been some heightened ups and downs. In today’s episode (64) of the Changeability Podcast we share a coupl...
Oct 17, 2015•37 min
If you ever wondered how to start and finish anything in life, then you can’t help but be inspired by Tom Boother’s story. “Become the thing, complete the challenge!” Tom Boother Tom Boother studied politics at the University of Leicester. And on graduating he did what all graduates do and sought to become a racing driver. Unfortunately, however, racing driving did not seek him and he was unsuccessful in securing the necessary funds to race at the level he wanted. So he returned to college to st...
Oct 10, 2015•46 min
Following on from their recent success of winning best self-help podcast at the UK Podcasters Awards ceremony 2015, Kathryn and Julian were invited to the BBC to take part as guests on Lesley Dolphin’s afternoon radio show. ‘On the Sofa with Lesley Dolphin’ – is a BBC Radio Suffolk feature interviewing local people about their lives and successes. So with the tables turned and the spotlight glare firmly on Kathryn and Julian, we sat down for a warm-hearted discussion and interview about Changeab...
Oct 03, 2015•45 min
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” Dalai Lama XIV According to neuroscientist and psychologists, one of the significant aspects happiness is it can be a learned response because the characteristics of happiness exhibit plasticity. Yes, this means we can take specific actions to make us feel happier. And when we when we practice or repeat them they build up into a habit. You know this from your own family, friends and colleagues that some people seem naturall...
Sep 26, 2015•45 min
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters.” Audrey Hepburn The amazing thing about happiness is it’s a skill we can learn and practice and make into a habit. As mentioned in What is happiness and the Neuroscience Behind It , four of the key characteristics of happiness exhibit plasticity, which means we can do something about it, we can grow and develop more happiness. "Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something ...
Sep 19, 2015•44 min
‘Being happy is something you have to learn. I often surprise myself by saying “Wow, this is it. I guess I’m happy. I got a home I love. A career that I love. I’m even feeling more and more at peace with myself.” If there’s something else to happiness, let me know. I’m ambitious for that, too.’ Harrison Ford How happy are you? This begs the question – how do you know how happy you are? Is it something you can measure? Is it something we should measure – and at what level can we measure it or cou...
Sep 12, 2015•33 min
Here at BrilliantLivingHQ.com we love thinking and talking about how our thoughts impact our lives. How what we think makes a difference to what we do, which is where the concept of mind management comes in. When we realise we don’t have to be defined and confined by the way we think, because they’re just thoughts and we are more than our thoughts, we can do something about it to make changes and get the life we want. We call it managing your mind. Our guest for today, Rob Cubbon, calls it ‘free...
Sep 05, 2015•37 min
When have you been at your happiest? Do our happiness levels change throughout our life? Does happiness depend on your age? This week we’re talking about the link between happiness and age and thinking about how happy we are at different stages of our live, does it change and what does it mean for us. When have you been at your happiest? When you look back are there times when you felt really happy? Was it your childhood, first love, student days, staring out with your career or family, or maybe...
Aug 29, 2015•36 min
We all want to be happy, but what is happiness; is it a skill we can learn, and what does neuroscience have to say about it? What is happiness? What do you want in life? To be happy? That’s what most of us want -but what is happiness and how do we get it? The dictionary definition of happiness is “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment” But surely there’s more to happiness than a fleeting feeling. Whilst happiness is relative as it means different things to different people depending on circ...
Aug 22, 2015•39 min
We all feel overwhelmed at times. Seemingly insignificant circumstances can tip us over the edge into feelings of overwhelm that on other occasions wouldn’t bother us at all. What one person finds overwhelming, others cope with comfortably or even thrive on. People have different thresholds and causes, but we all experience it and it’s not nice or good for us. So what is it, what causes it and how can we go about dealing with overwhelm? Quote "The challenge in my life really is keeping the balan...
Aug 15, 2015•49 min
“Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you'd like to act.” ~ Bob Dylan 1 year of podcasting It’s celebrations all round at Brilliant Living HQ as we celebrate the first birthday of our offspring – the Changeability Podcast. Podcast Award Finalists Plus a massive bonus celebration. We’re thrilled the Changeability Podcast has been nominated as a finalist for the UK Top Self–Help Podcast Award. How wonderful is that A huge heartfelt thank you all you marvellous people who nominat...
Aug 08, 2015•40 min
‘The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.’ Oprah Winfrey Introduction We all like celebrating don’t we? But do we do enough of it. There’s lots of reasons to celebrate – sporting victories, birthdays, weddings, new job, and ways of doing it – party, slap-up meal, presents – and so the list could go on and on. Important and great as all of those are, that’s not the sort of celebration we’re talking about here. Because we’re interested in why and how cel...
Aug 01, 2015•45 min
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Thus wrote Aristotle and whether you agree with his ancient Greek wisdom or not, honest self-reflection and review is a powerful and underused tool for success and change. Yes it’s hard, yes it’s scary, yes it might seem like a bit of pain – but evaluating your progress might just be the difference between learning from your experience and repeating your mistakes. How do you know what you’re doing is effective unless you measure and evaluate it....
Jul 25, 2015•32 min
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates Nobody likes the ‘f’ word. And we’re not talking about that old Anglo-Saxon epletive some people call swearing. No, this is much worse! This is something that absolutely nobody likes or wants to be familiar with. It’s FAILURE. No-one wants to fail. In fact we’re programmed to avoid it where possible – or at lest to avoid what getting out of our comfort zone might do to us. The Fear of Failure The fear of failure runs deep in all of us. It lur...
Jul 18, 2015•39 min
We’ve reached episode 50 and Step 9 of The Changeability Podcast – hurray! Not entirely sure why, but 50 seems a significant number – a bit of a milestone. And we’re marking this 50th episode with the launch of the Changeability Starter Kit . Sign up now for your free short series of videos to get you started on your first Changeability step. Accountability “Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions....
Jul 10, 2015•29 min
“Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.” ~ Virginia Woolf You know what you want, you’ve created your vision and set your goals. You’ve got in the right mindset and done the mental preparation. You’ve planned your actions and know where to start – so what now? Well it’s time to actually do it – it’s time for action. Planning for action is key but none of it matters if you don't put your plan into action and follow throug...
Jul 04, 2015•41 min
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” ~ Pablo Picasso Changeability is the ability to change. It’s the fundamental ability underpinning your approach to what you want in life and how you get it. It’s what The Changeability Podcast is about - developing the ability to change through managing your mind. Getting you in the right mindset and way of thinking to achieve what you want to achieve. And the Changeability book Changeability: Manage your Mind – Change your Life is basically a 10-...
Jun 27, 2015•38 min
Is Mindfulness Meditation good for you? As amazing as some of the claimed benefits of meditation might seem, there is a growing body of work that suggests mindfulness meditation is indeed good for you. Putting aside the inevitable caveats and variables, the evidence of hundreds of studies is that meditation is good for you – physically, mentally, and emotionally. And the surprising thing is that many of the positive benefits are felt after only a few weeks of mindfulness meditation practice. Epi...
Jun 20, 2015•43 min
“What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favourite day,” said Pooh. ~ A. A. Milne If you want to make today your favourite day – everyday – mindfulness meditation is a great place to start. It helps us focus on the present moment rather than worrying about a future that may not materialise or a past that’s gone. So in a way it helps us make the most of every day by living more in the here and now. It gives us a space to stand back from our thoughts and internal chatter an...
Jun 13, 2015•39 min
If you’ve tried mindfulness meditation, you can’t help but notice the thoughts keep coming. Here’s 7 simple techniques for dealing with your wandering mind. “Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell If you’ve tried mindfulness meditation, either following along with the short guided mindfulness meditation on The Changeability Podcast episode (44), or you’re a regular meditator – you can’t help but be aware of...
Jun 06, 2015•39 min
“Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.” ~ Pythagoras He might have lived a long time ago but it’s fair to say Pythagoras knew a thing or two about the power of the mind. He knew he did his best thinking in the silence of a quiet mind – and he certainly did a lot of brilliant thinking. Coming up with new ways of thinking about mathematical equations. Now we don’t have to be mathematical geniuses to appreciate the benefits of a quiet mind but most of the time life doesn’t seem...
May 30, 2015•35 min
Everywhere you go it seems people are talking about mindfulness. It seems to be the new ‘in-thing’. Of course it’s been around a while, thousands of years in fact in its oldest forms, and more like 30 or more years in its present western form, but it’s come right into the mainstream now. Companies like Google have staff queuing up to participate in mindfulness courses they’ve instigated. Entrepreneurs are falling over themselves to let us know how many minutes they’ve been meditating on their ne...
May 23, 2015•32 min
We’re just back from a long trip. We’ve had great times, met wonderful people and had a lot of fun. But it wasn’t all sweetness and light. We had our share of things not going to plan, which can be especially frustrating when you think you’ve planned something carefully. If you heard episode 41 last week you’ll know about our trip because we talked about the benefits of travel – and some of the good things we learnt or have been reminded of while away. That was part 1 – so this must be part 2! “...
May 16, 2015•48 min
“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain We’ve been having an adventure. From the surrealistic glitz of Las Vegas to the silent arid beauty of Death Valley, the splendours of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks to the bustle of LA and finally the tropical paradise of the Philippines . We’ve spent the last 5 weeks travelling for business and pleasure and on today’s episode of The C...
May 11, 2015•29 min
