Listening to podcasts is a great way to educate and up-skill yourself. We found two locally-produced podcasts that we believe tie in perfectly with our theme this month … mindful living.
We are all multi-tasking in some way or another at the moment, which makes listening to podcasts a great way to incorporate some learning and growth into everyday life. But what you listen to is very important and, while ‘multi-taking’ may be something we can’t avoid, it is important to find a way to live with intention and be consciously aware of the thoughts going on in your mind.
KINDNESS CAN
Who is behind the podcast?
Well-known radio personality and mother of three Jane Linley-Thomas and psychologist and author Paul Bushell started their KindnessCan movement with the goal of helping people live with ‘intentional kindness’. KindnessCan is a movement of talks, workshops and digital content. “Although kindness is not always easy or simple, it has the power to change the world. In so many of the stories we have covered in their careers, if there had been more kindness the circumstances and outcomes would have been very different. It is therefore really important that we all get the tools and practice being kinder in our lives,” says Paul.
What can people expect to hear?
The podcast was started as a way of capturing some of the conversations that Jane and Paul were having every day with each other over the phone and in their work with schools and corporates. Each week, Jane and Paul pick up on a new topic and talk through different practical ways that we can be kinder in those moments. The show also features guests, who talk through different moments in their lives and how kindness played out.
Why is it important to live with intentional kindness?
Living with intentional kindness is important in our current circumstances. Our worrying brain wants to keep us alive. In this process, we can sometimes over simplify, over catastrophize, polarise and distort different thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Being intentional allows us to take manual control of our brain’s process, and make sure we settle on thoughts that are true, fair and useful. This then allows us to make good choices about how we respond in different situations. Being kind doesn’t always mean saying yes. Sometimes being kind means saying no and making hard choices.
How can we practice kindness every day?
I think gratitude is an important way of maintaining a good balance in our minds and lives. You can do this by keeping a gratitude journal, making a list (on paper or in your head) of everyday of things that you feel grateful for. It is really important to choose carefully who you surround yourself with. This sometimes means limiting your news in-take, unfollowing people who make you feel anxious or insecure on social media and learning to turn some invitations down.
Details: Find the KindnessCan podcast on the Apple Podcast app or www.kindnesscan.co.za
THE UNPODCAST
Who is behind the podcast?
Life coach and speaker Caitlyn de Beer has an honours in Clinical Psychology, is a Psychology lecturer and is a results life coach who has worked with over 400 individual clients. She is also a mom of two small children. After years of lecturing and speaking, Caitlyn says she realised that whilst she loved writing, her message and story were often better received when she spoke them.
What can people expect to hear?
I wanted to create a space where women could journey into knowing and loving themselves as women and mothers. I do this by sharing topics around self management, motherhood and loving your whole self. I invite professionals from around the world to share specifics on their area of expertise around these topics too. Each episode is no more than 35 minutes long and the focus is on self-acceptance, escaping limiting-beliefs and embracing a life that you love.
Please share some advice on how you are managing to live consciously in the current circumstances?
1. Know yourself: Connecting with my emotions is one the most powerful ways I have learnt to live. Many of us run from, or numb our emotions in the busy-ness of life. Moving through the discomfort of uncomfortable emotions and learning that they do in fact pass, without cracking, set me free in more ways than I could ever say.
2. Be in the now: Being a real go-getter, an A-type personality and a future-oriented thinker, I spent much of my life living in the future and in fact missing the present. A mantra I often repeat to myself now when I find myself struggling to be present in the moment (especially with my kids) is ‘I have nowhere more important to be than here right now’.
3. Live your life on purpose: There is no denying that COVID-19 has rocked our worlds. And, whilst it’s taught us so much, it has brought about loss too. When we lose jobs, dreams or hope, it’s often easy to lose purpose too. Dreams may be on hold but your life still counts right now and an easier way to find purpose in the now is to ask ourselves what we have in our hands. Doing this helps us connect with our capabilities in the now.
Details: The Unpodcast can be found on any podcast app (Apple or Android), Spotify and on: www.caitlyndebeer.com/podcast/.
Text: Leah Shone
