Penny Wincer is not too busy to write. Except of course, sometimes she is too busy to write as much as she would like. Join Penny as she has conversations with other writers about writing, publishing and creativity whilst juggling all the demands on them such as motherhood, caring and other paid work. Penny Wincer is the author of two narrative non-fiction books, Tender and Home Matters and a non-fiction writing coach. She's an Australian and long-term resident of London, a mother of two tee ...
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Hello, I am a marital therapist, communications trainer and author. I have thirty-five years helping couples and individuals make better relationships. I have written twenty-plus self-help books which include the international best-sellers ‘I love you but I’m not in love with you’ and ‘How can I ever trust you again?’ My books have been translated into twenty languages. I trained with RELATE the UK’s largest counselling charity. Perhaps it has been turning sixty but I have become interested ...
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Penny Wincer: How to Care Without Burning Out
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48:04Society would grind to a halt without the work done by unpaid carers - yet they are too often left to feel invisible, unsupported and alone. In this episode, Andrew talks to PENNY WINCER, the author of Tender: The Imperfect Art of Caring, about how to provide care for loved ones without burning out yourself. Penny shares her deeply personal story o…
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Are you one of the many people who end up shocked by the ultimate similarity of romantic relationships that felt very different starting out? Why is it that we find the same patterns repeating, the same problems coming up over and over? In this classic episode, Andrew talks to author and attachment theory specialist Tara Blair-Ball. Tara explains h…
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Bisexuality and Sexual Fluidity: How to be Yourself in Intimate Relationships
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51:24
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51:24What does it mean to be truly seen and accepted in your sexuality? For those who identify as bisexual—or who experience sexual fluidity—the path to self-understanding and relational honesty can be filled with challenges, uncertainty, and social stigma. This week, Andrew talks with DIANE HASSALL, a Relationship and Psychosexual Psychotherapist, abou…
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Kate Moyle: Improving your Body Image and Your Love Life
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51:36How can we learn to be at ease in our bodies so that we can be fully “in the moment” during sex? Anxiety about body image is one of the biggest obstacles to a happy, fulfilled sex life. Many people seek therapy to help them relax and enjoy sex with their partner, others struggle on in low-sex or no-sex relationships. In this classic episode, Andrew…
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A bonus episode today! It's peak inside the writing coaching audio sessions of my new writers membership The Fold. This audio session is all about finding motivation when we are not excited to sit down and write. In it, I give a number of journaling prompts to get to the heart of your lack of motivation (which we all experience from time to time) a…
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When did you last learn to do something totally and utterly new? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Beginners: the Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning, was awestruck by his young daughter’s insatiable need to know how to do almost everything. He was inspired by her to embark on a year of learning purely for its own sake. Tom had a truly unique…
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In a world that often rewards toughness and detachment, could empathy actually be a hidden superpower? This week, Andrew speaks with psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. Judith Orloff about how empathy can become one of the most powerful tools for healing, personal growth and connection. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and energy medicine, …
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Today, the “four pale horsemen” of war, famine, pestilence and death have broken into our comfortable lives once again. As the climate emergency and shortage become normalised, how do we live through crisis after crisis without falling into fear and anxiety on the one hand, or agitated reaction and rage on the other? Do we face the horsemen, go int…
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Michele Weiner-Davis: When is it Time to Stop Working on Your Marriage?
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57:21Have you tried everything to fix your relationship, but nothing seems to work? Are you torn between staying and giving it one more try, or finally walking away? This week, Andrew talks with renowned couples therapist MICHELE WEINER-DAVIS about how to navigate one of the hardest decisions in a relationship: When is it time to stop trying? Michele is…
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Alice Kinsella is a poet based in the west of Ireland. She's the author of the poetry pamphlet Sexy Fruit, the prose poem memoir Milk: On motherhood and madness and the genre blending Wake of the Whale, co-authored with Daniel Wade, which was a Sunday Independent Book of the Year in 2024. This conversation covers so much - from unpaid work in publi…
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Philip Carr Gomm: How to Live Authentically
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50:24Are you living a life you really believe in, or are you filling in time until your “real life” begins? Are you waiting on marriage, a better job, a new exercise regime or a beautiful house to create an authentic life? Humans do need to have goals and plans, but it is also destructive to ignore those inner voices telling us what would bring us indiv…
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Sarra Manning on writing romantic fiction
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1:05:35Sarra Manning is the author of 8 adult novels, over 15 YA novels. She began her career on teen magazines and has been writing about love and sex ever since. Sarra talks about being a 'word count slut', writing books fast, how what she learned on magazines helps her pitch novels and the secret to writing about sex successfully. Sarra is also the lit…
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Carolyn Sharp: Keep the Spark Alive in Your Relationship
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45:20How do you keep the spark alive in your relationship when there are kids involved and you have ten, twenty, or thirty years on the clock? This week I talk to CAROLYN SHARP, a US-based marital therapist, and the author of Fire It Up: Four Secrets to Reigniting Intimacy and Joy in Your Relationship. We cover: Purpose: could you define a purpose for y…
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Grants for Writers with The Society of Authors
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46:06Want to know how to get funding to write? Today I'm speaking to Robyn Law, head of Fundraising, Grants and Prizes at The Society of Authors, a UK trade union for writers, illustrators and literary translators. As well as looking at everything the SoA can do for all of us, we do a deep dive into how to apply for grants to help support you while you …
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Simon Roe: Are You Leading a Life of Quiet Desperation?
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50:35
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50:35“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation” (Henry Thoreau). In this classic episode, Andrew interviews therapist SIMON ROE. Simon has based his life’s work on helping men live an authentic life. After himself going through a period of quiet desperation in his mid-thirties, he went on to he…
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Aime McNee is a writer and creativity coach and author of We Need Your Art - a look at the power and essential nature of creativity and how to kick start and maintain your own creative habits. From perfectionism to permission and the difficulty in finishing work, Aime talks about some of the big challenges and joys we experience as artists, and why…
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Evan Marc Katz: Why Can't I Find Lasting Love?
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42:29Many women long to be in a happy relationship, in which they feel safe, heard and understood, but have given up after years of disappointment and heartbreak. This week dating coach EVAN MARC KATZ joins Andrew to discuss why it’s so hard for women to find a man who wants to commit and to build a genuine relationship. They cover: How to get psycholog…
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Alice Wilkinson on writing personal non-fiction
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59:33Alice Wilkinson is an award winning journalist and the author of How To Stay Sane in A House Share, her debut book about the joys and challenges of cohabiting. In this conversation we discuss some of the challenges of writing personal non-fiction, finding a gap in the current discourse and some of the differences she found in book writing and publi…
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For Andrew, it is the writings of Dr James Hollis, one of the world’s most eminent Jungian analysts, that have “sustained me through my dark times”. Dr Hollis’ books also regularly help Andrew’s marital therapy clients create change in their relationships and recover from infidelity. In this classic reissued episode, Andrew speaks to James Hollis a…
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Grace Timothy is a journalist and author of Is It My ADHD? On the podcast today Grace talks about getting a late diagnosis of ADHD and how wading through the misinformation online drove her to write a book in order to understand her own brain better. Is It My ADHD? is out 27th February This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio …
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Elizabeth Earnshaw: How to Stop Stress Undermining Your Love for Each Other
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51:44
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51:44Is your relationship a refuge from stress in a turbulent and demanding world? Do you always have each other’s backs? OR has the stress you face at work or in the culture seeped into your home life and created a rift between you? Marital therapist ELIZABETH EARNSHAW, the author of Til Stress Do Us Part, works with couples to identify and address the…
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Tessa Hadley is an award winning author of eight novels, many short story collections and one of my personal favourite writers. In this conversation Tessa talks with me about the pleasures and irresponsibility of the short story, her first novella The Party, writing as a performance and the benefits of publishing for the first time in mid life. Thi…
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Dr. Avrum Weiss: Why Men Withdraw When Women Get Angry
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53:14
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53:14When women and men argue, women can often be more comfortable in expressing their feelings of hurt and anger. Men can feel distressed by this strength of feeling, and may pull away emotionally. They may feel a very strong urge to occupy the ground of rationality and objectivity, which in turn leads their partner to push harder, desperately seeking …
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Daisy Buchanan on reading yourself happy
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1:01:15Daisy Buchanan is a bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster. Today we're talking about her latest book Read Yourself Happy and the unique power of books to make us feel better, as well as how reading makes us better writers. Read Yourself Happy is out now This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag Listener…
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Dené Logan: Finding the Balance Within of Your Masculine & Feminine Forces
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49:00Does something feel off about your intimate relationships? According to author and couples therapist Dené Logan, the answer to your problem may lie in the interplay of your masculine and feminine energies. Masculine and feminine polarities are present in every person and relationship. When we’re out of touch with the energetics within ourselves and…
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Charlotte Fox Weber: What Do You Really Want? Why This Question Scares Us
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47:11Life brings to all of us long periods where we feel lost or confused. We don't know how to get what we want, or even what it is that we want. The struggle to articulate the thing that might really make us “come alive” can be profound, even if we enter therapy. Charlotte Fox Weber is a psychotherapist, author and the founding head of The School of L…
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A little taster of what's to come in series 10 featuring Tessa Hadley, Daisy Buchanan and Grace Timothy. The new series begins 5th February You can subscribe to Not Too Busy To Write on Substack pennywincer.substack.com pennywincerwrites.com Penny on Instagram @pennywincer 4bf661332a54c42dda99f791c1378d9407200820…
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Karla McLaren: How Much Emotion is Too Much?
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47:20
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47:20If you’re feeling anxious, meditation and mindfulness may not be the answer. Instead, author KARLA McLAREN would advise us to sit with the feelings of anxiety and hear the useful messages they’re bringing to help us cope with a tricky situation. In this episode, Andrew and Karla discuss: How anger, shame and sadness can be the bearers of crucial in…
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Kay Hutchinson: Navigating a Midlife Crisis
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56:56
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56:56Have you ever felt so defeated and frustrated that you want to just throw in the towel and run away? Author KAY HUTCHISON did exactly that, fleeing her annual holiday to the Cote d’Azur, moving out of her home, and leaving behind her marriage and a well-established career. In seeking to understand what forced this huge rupture in a previously smoot…
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Bryan Reeves: Why Men Resist Unwanted Feelings & How This Hurts Everyone
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54:20
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54:20Society teaches men that strength lies in ignoring their feelings and “soldiering on”. Author and relationship coach BRYAN REEVES has seen the costs of this approach both in his own personal life and those of his clients. This week Andrew and Bryan discuss: Bryan’s story of finding direction after leaving the US Air Force. The reasons why men resis…
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Do you think about drinking alcohol more than you think about eating sandwiches? Do you spend significant amounts of time thinking about NOT drinking? Or are you one of the many with an uneasy feeling that alcohol is no longer bringing anything good into your life, and may well be holding you back? Therapist and sobriety expert VERONICA VALLI had a…
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Tracey Cox: What We Learned Last Year We'll Be Using This Year
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56:13
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56:13Where did you find inspiration and meaning in 2024? This week sex therapist and friend of the podcast TRACEY COX joins Andrew to reflect on another year of The Meaningful Life, and to discuss the episodes that meant the most to them. They share highlights from episodes with: Samantha Rodman Whiten (Dr Psych Mom) on Being an Adult Child of Dysfuncti…
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Chester Elton: How Gratitude Can Revolutionise Your Life
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49:10
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49:10It’s hard to move on social media these days without bumping into a post on gratitude. If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, this week’s classic interview with Chester Elton, “the apostle of appreciation”, is for you. According to Chester, gratitude cuts to the heart of who we really are. Gratitude exists at an emotional level and is abou…
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Women's Prize Discoveries 2025 with Dreda Say Michell, Chloe Timms and Emma Van Straaten
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52:55Join me for a special episode digging deep into the Women's Prize Discoveries 2025, a prize and program for unpublished women fiction writers in the UK and Ireland, with two of this years judges Dreda Say Mitchell, an award winning and bestselling crime and mystery author and Chloe Timms, journalist, author and podcast host. We are joined by the wi…
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Christmas Party: The Best & Worst of Christmas Traditions with Love Coach Cate Mackenzie
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49:38
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49:38Christmas is a time of heightened emotions: lots of fun, lots of food, plenty of arguments. This year Andrew invites friend of the podcast and love coach CATE MACKENZIE to explore what Christmas means to each of them. Cate and Andrew discuss: Their best and worst Christmas experiences. Christmas traditions that work. Most evocative Christmas songs …
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Ru Callender: Do We Need a New Approach to Funerals?
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54:01Do we need a complete rethink of the rituals we use to mark the end of life? This week Andrew talks to undertaker and author RU CALLENDER about what he’s learnt over the course of his career. Ru Callender became an undertaker in order to offer people a more honest experience than the stilted formality of traditional ‘Victorian’ funerals. Driven by …
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Dilip Jeste: Wisdom: Five Ways to Become Wiser
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53:13
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53:13What does it mean to be wise? Do we grow in wisdom as we age? Pioneering neuropsychiatric researcher Dr Dilip Jeste has spent years investigating the biological and cognitive roots of wisdom. In this reissued classic episode, Andrew and Dilip discuss what we mean when we talk about wisdom, and whether we can, in fact, grow wiser. Dilip describes wh…
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Joseph Lee: What Your Dreams Are Trying to Tell You
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1:28:44
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1:28:44What if the answers you’re looking for in your life were available to you every night, if only you could learn to pay attention to your dreams? This week Andrew welcomes to the podcast the eminent psychoanalyst and This Jungian Life co-host JOSEPH LEE, co-author of the new book Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams. Andrew and Joseph dis…
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Matthew Fray: How Good People Mess Up Their Marriages
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1:00:55
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1:00:55Matthew Fray is the author of the viral article “My Wife Divorced Me Because I Left the Dishes By the Sink”. His divorce left him emotionally crushed: struggling not to cry all the time, and finding it hard even to breathe. In this reissued classic episode, Andrew and Matthew talk about the lessons of Matthew’s failed marriage, and about how Matthe…
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Mark Dean: Creativity: The Gateway to Healing
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47:00Whether you’re a talented artist or a complete butterfingers, art and creativity can be a gateway to healing. This week Jungian analyst and professional artist Mark Dean joins Andrew to discuss the connection between art and psychological growth. Mark and Andrew discuss: The power of exploring imagery, symbols and fairy tales. How art can help us t…
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Eleanor Mills: How to Reinvent Yourself at 50 (or any age)
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55:05“Midlife is when those dreams we had when we were young but put aside to earn a living or raise a family can finally be revisited; it’s never too late to be what you wanted to be”. This is the philosophy of Noon, a community for women in midlife created by Eleanor Mills. Eleanor experienced her own reckoning with midlife after leaving her job with …
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Robert Carabelli: Top Five Strategies for Keeping the Passion Alive in Your Relationship
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46:00
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46:00If you and your partner feel more like roommates than lovers, this week’s episode is for you. Author, physician and spiritual teacher Dr Robert Carabelli shares with Andrew his top five strategies for keeping passion alive in a long-term relationship. According to Robert, sex is a gift from the divine, and you and your partner can reach “incredible…
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Kathryn Mannix: What You've Been Told About Death Might Be Wrong
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57:47
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57:47How do we live knowing that we will die? How can we face death, and how should we prepare for it? Dr Kathryn Mannix has spent her professional life working in palliative care, and the teams she has worked on have been involved in 10-15 thousand deaths. In this classic episode, Kathryn shares her insights into what it’s like to die and how we can lo…
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Thais Gibson: Self-Sabotage: Why We Do It & How To Stop
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47:56
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47:56Is there an uncomfortable gap between your life goals and the way you are actually living? Do you tell yourself what you want is financial security, but then rack up big online shopping debts? Or perhaps a solid, connected relationship is your goal, but instead you're prioritising work and ignoring your partner’s needs. This week, counselor and aut…
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Itoro Bassey: Healing the Mother/Daughter Wound
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46:50
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46:50How do we find meaning in a difficult childhood and a troubled mother-daughter relationship? In this classic episode, Nigerian-American writer, mindfulness practitioner and educator Itoro Bassey speaks with Andrew about how to mother the wounded child inside. Itoro now lives in Nigeria (after being born and raised in the USA) and is the founder of …
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Many of us feel like we don’t quite “get” mindfulness. Even more have struggled to create a successful meditation practice. Andrew Holecek, author of I’m Mindful, Now What?, joins us this week to broaden and deepen our understanding of mindfulness, and show us how to integrate it into our daily lives. Our host Andrew talks with our guest Andrew abo…
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S9 Ep5. Lucy Gough - from interior stylist to author
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45:53
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45:53Lucy Gough has come to writing via her career as a stylist and art director. From working in house at magazines, to freelance art direction with John Lewis and Marks and Spencer, Lucy took a leap of faith in lockdown, when all her work disappeared, and wrote a course on Interiors Styling. That creative risk changed everything fo her. In this episod…
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Dena Justice: Why Women Burn Out & How to Recover
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50:51In this classic episode, Andrew speaks with coach and teacher Dena Justice about the work she does with women experiencing burnout in their careers and relationships. Despite loving her career, Dena hit a point where she felt empty - she was a classic case of a high performer and leader hitting burnout. That led her to choose a powerful pivot out o…
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S9 Ep4. Alice Vincent on finding home in the garden
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48:52Alice Vincent is a writer and broadcaster, and the author of Rootbound: Rewilding a life and Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival, both of which were longlisted for the Wainwright Prize. In this conversation we talk about how books begin and evolve for Alice, how she structures her time between columns, book writing and her news…
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Peter Coyote: The Breakthrough of Accepting Life As It Is
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52:30Can the ancient teachings of Zen Buddhism help us engage with the challenges work, family and relationships throw our way? Teacher, author and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote believes that they can: his new book, Zen in the Vernacular: Things As It Is, argues that Zen can be both a creative problem-solving mechanism and a moral guide; ideal for th…
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