Changeability Podcast: Manage Your Mind - Change Your Life

“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 you design."  Jim Rohn There’s nothing lucky about being happy. Happiness isn’t down to our circumstances, luck, money, career, success, talent, education, weight, looks or age. The good news is there are simple actions we can take to make us happier.  It turns out that simple actions are exactly what it takes to be happier, because the fascinating thing about happiness according to psychologist Ed Diener is that the frequency of positive experiences is more important for your happiness than their intensity. Thi

‘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 could we measure it, if it’s possible. At an individual level or what about something bigger, like a county or state level or even a national level. How do you know how happy you are? That’s a bit of tricky question isn’t it? Because we don’t really go around measuring how happy we are - do we? We sort of know it don’t we, that’s even if we stop and think about it which we don’t do most of the time.  We just get on with going about our lives until something notable, good or bad happens, or maybe we plan something so we

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 ‘freeing your thoughts’ and he’s done just that. So we just had to talk to him and now bring you the conversation in this week’s episode of the Changeability Podcast Rob Cubbon is an Amazon bestselling author, online teacher, graphic designer, digital nomad and all-round good guy! Rob helps and inspires people to build sustainable online businesses, earn passive income and experience greater freedom and happiness in their lives.  “We are all born free. We are all freer than we think we are. But sometimes when you get up f

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 getting a big promotion. We tend to look back at happier times, which might make us think we were happier when we were younger, and our carefree school days or at least the long summer school holidays were a time of happiness. We didn’t have to worry about paying the mortgage or bills but there were probably other insecurities, maybe a worry about what others thought and wanting to fit in, not to mention the pressure of homework and exams. Whilst for those who couldn’t wait to become an adult, the happy times began w

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 circumstance and interest, it would seem there are two distinct types of happiness. Two types of happiness There’s things that make us feel happy, the experiences of things we love doing and we want more of. This is hedonia – pleasure and fun. It’s transitory, in the moment – it happens, it makes us feel happy, and then it’s gone and the moment’s passed. Then there’s a more fundamental type of happiness. The sort of happiness which ideally underlies or underpins our lives. It’s a state of being that comes with being

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 balance between feeling creatively energized and fulfilled without feeling overwhelmed and like I'm in the middle of a battlefield" ~ Amanda Palmer What is overwhelm? Overwhelm according to psychologist Marla W. Deibler, PsyD, is what happens when we’re ‘feeling completely overcome in mind or emotion…When we think a stressor is too great for us to manage, we feel overwhelmed.’   We experience it in our emotions – feeling anxiety, anger or irritability; in our thoughts as worry, helplessness and doubt and in behaviour like

 “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 nominated the Changeability Podcast. And if you want to be totally fabulous all over again you can vote one more time for us until the end of August. Only one vote per IP address is allowed. Click and vote via FB, Twitter, G+ or anonymously. It’s really quick and easy! The award ceremony will take place at New Media Europe – an amazing conference for anyone interested in digital media, podcasting, blogging, social media, business and the internet.   10 mind management techniques on the Changeability Podcast In our first y

‘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 celebrating can help us make changes in life and business and achieve our goals. it all comes down to 6 reasons why you should celebrate success. All too often this side of review and evaluation gets missed. We focus on what’s not working so we can change it and forget to recognise what’s gone well and to purposefully stop and celebrate it. And not just in passing but – but also to recognise it and do something positive about it – in other words to celebrate it – on purpose. We’ve got lots to celebrate this week The C

“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. In episode 52 of the Changeability Podcast we explore the importance of evaluation. How we do it and what we’re evaluating. In episode 52 you find out: What years of giving out large sums of project money taught us about evaluation Why you are your own project The link between progress and measurement Why you need to ask what you’re measuring Why it’s time to leave the HR objectives game behind in real life Don’t fool yourself about what counts as success The bottom line if you want to lose weight How to measure yo

“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 lurks buried in our psyche, only to raise it’s head when we want to change something in our lives or business or try something new. It seems virtually impossible to become an adult and escape picking up a fear of failure along the way. The fear of failure scuppers invention and enterprise; stops us fulfilling our potential and living our best life – if we let it. We try to avoid it where we can, either by staying safe, living small within our comfortable familiar world, or by procrastinating over any action that might i

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.” ~ John Di Lemme Today’s episode calls you to be accountable. If you’ve set your goals, worked on your inner self talk and beliefs through affirmations and visualisation, know the actions to make those goals happen for you and you’re all set to go – what’s going to keep you on track? What will motivate you when events throw you off course, you reach a plateau or your goals feel out of reach? It’s the 9th of our 10 Changeability steps and it’s a big one – accountability or to put it another way - find a way to be acco

“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 through on your goals. Changeability is about taking action. But it’s not a ‘running around like a headless chicken’ sort of action. It’s not being busy for the sake of it action. It’s about managing your mind to make changes in your life, and that means it’s action based on mind management techniques. The very techniques we talk about on The Changeability Podcast and are laid out in the Changeability: Manage your Mind – Change your Life book. If you follow and practice these your action becomes: Action born of your visi

“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-step framework of tools and techniques to do just that. Yes it’s crucial to focus our thoughts and use the power of our thoughts and mind to help us do what we want to do – but that’s not the end of the story. Today we’re talking about what comes next. Because it’s all very well doing all this prep, getting yourself in the right frame of mind and developing the positive mindset to get you where you want to be – but you still have to actually get there.  That means taking action. The one thing that differentiates tho

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. Episode 47 of The Changeability Podcast In episode 47 of The Changeability Podcast we talk about what these benefits of meditation are. Listen above or on iTunes, Stitcher or Tunein (and subscribe so you get every episode automatically.) You can find references to the academic studies they’re based on, in the books listed in the resources section below. (Also good further reading on the subject.) But it’s not just about academic studies and therapists. What we’re talking about is also based on the evidence and experience

“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 and see them as just that – thoughts which are not us and don’t have to define who we are. The basis of mindfulness meditation is simple. Gently focus your attention on something like your breath going in and out of your nose and be purposefully aware, in a non-judgemental way, of thoughts that arise and let go of them. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s always easy and straightforward to do in practice. It can be but equally it takes practise and commitment. Here are 21 simple tips for mindfulness meditati

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 the mind’s tendency to wander around during your meditation session. You’re just settling into a few minutes of focusing on the here and now, you’re noticing your breath going in and out and suddenly you’re aware of thoughts crowding in about all sorts of things.  Maybe it’s something you should have done, or an upcoming meeting or event you’re organising.  It might be you’re hungry and can’t stop thinking about your next meal. Whatever the thoughts are, this is normal – if a little irritating sometimes! Some people

“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 like this. We rush around busy in body and mind – so how can we can learn to manage our minds? How can we learn to be silent so our quiet minds can listen and absorb and do much else besides? One of the best ways is to manage your mind with mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness Why do we need to manage our minds? Because all too often our minds are full of thoughts about what’s happened in the past or planning what’s going to happen in the future. Of course we need to think about these things sometimes but not at the

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 newly discovered meditation apps. Celebrities are tweeting their love of mindfulness meditation. So there’s certainly a lot of it about. But what lies behind this media interest? That’s what we explore in Episode 43 of The Changeability Podcast.  Mindfulness – what is it and why you need it? “The Queen said, ‘The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.’ ‘It must come sometimes to jam today’, Alice objected. ‘No, it can't,’ said the Queen ‘It's jam every other day. Today isn't any other day, y

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! “I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right… and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” Marilyn Munroe In episode 42 you’ll find out about:   Who does the travel planning at Brilliant Living HQ When things don’t go to plan The hire car incident How many cases Kathryn and Julian take on holiday The right apartment but wrong key incident A double dose of snow Why fortun

“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 Changeability Podcast we talk about the benefits of travel we’ve experienced along the way.   Episode 41 is part 1 of our personal perspective on things we’ve noticed as we’ve been travelling around, starting with the benefits we’ve seen.   In episode 41 we talk about:   “Naia is a no “wang, wang” zone, please fall in line, CCTV monitor in use” The man with encyclopaedic knowledge People are interesting What if there was a reason we met Openness Welcome to America Different perspectives Away from the comfort zone