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This week, I had a fantastic conversation with a young gentleman called Joseph Andrin about death; not just death in terms of the end of life, but death in terms of the end of ideas, or stories or narratives that we might tell ourselves.In this conversation, we talked about letting go, the process of letting go, about actually sitting and being with death and how death can question our identity as a source of its greatest growth.Joseph is a fantastic person to talk to; he's very thoughtful and considered. He is very transparent with his emerging thought process as he shares it.Also, there is an extra 10 minutes after the end of the conversation about the stories of death that we told ourselves probably before the period of rational enlightenment and how those mythical stories now play into our rational scientific view of the world.

When was the last time that you actively went out to meet a stranger? To expand your perspective, to truly listen to and engage with other people?Meet Alex Waters, who set himself the challenge of having 100 coffees with 100 strangers throughout the year in 2020.Alex shares his journey throughout the challenge and talks about how it brought a new sense of humility to him, how he learned to receive feedback, how he really zoned in on his own listening and the importance of human connection, as well as just undertaking a challenge for no other reason that you feel called to.Alex gets raw and candid about his journey, which makes it a fantastic, fun and engaging conversation.Hopefully, it might just inspire you to go out and meet strangers and expand your own network and perspective.

I was recently invited on to the experts podcast, which is hosted by Lana Hill and Nick Hayes, a former guest.We talked about podcasting, and the art of podcasting. And so I thought it would make for a great little episode, as it provides a fantastic behind the scenes look of what goes into creating WA Real.Also in this, I think there's a lot of pointers in there for just how to have a more deeper and engaging conversation. It's a lot of fun, and I thought it would make for a great episode with a different viewpoint.

This week we go further into our inquiry and exploration into philosophy with local WA philosophical lecturer, Meera Finnigan.Meera sets the scene of what philosophy and philosophical inquiry is all about, before sharing some of the big questions that she herself is wrestling with currently.She takes you on a fantastic tour, through the origins of philosophy and introduces some of the great thinkers that have come before us. She also introduces you to the three main areas that of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, or in other words, questions relating to our reality, our knowledge, and our sense of right and wrong.This is a fun and engaging conversation where we exchange many views.What you will soon begin to realise is just how some of those bigger questions that many of the great thinkers that have come before us have wrestled with, still apply to today, and our current situation.

Where does psychology and philosophy begin in our human journey?What is good? What is evil? How should I live my life?Richard Grannon returns to discuss the importance of continuing to wrestle with important questions just like these to develop your own moral philosophy.Previously, we spoke about co-dependency, people pleasing, and the impact of trauma. In this conversation, we go further into why a lack of moral philosophy will leave you in a weakened and a unboundaried state that can be so easily preyed upon by the outside world.This is about our thinking, our decision making, and how we implement boundaries to live a more healthy life.Considering your moral philosophy is not as difficult as you think, but it's possibly more important than you may ever consider; there's a strong suggestion that this may sit at the heart of some of our rising mental health issues.As always, speaking to Richard was a true privilege and honour; he is incredibly articulate and has an amazing sense of humour. This conversation pushed me right to the forefront of my thinking currently, and possibly right to the forefront of my use of language.

What would an upgrade to our current democracy actually look like? And how would democracy 2.0 actually work?That's exactly what I discussed with Daithi Gleeson, member of the Flux Party – political party and movement that is drawing on technology to put forward an upgrade to our democratic system.  In this discussion, Daithi gives us a history of our democracy through today with key suggestions of how we can upgrade to make it work for us better in the present day.Daithi and I about went into the current state of our individual and collective capability to be effective citizens in Democracy 2.0Daithi is superbly articulate which makes this a very accessible conversation. It is also fascinating because all too often political discussions focus on the differences between parties and policies rather than on the actual nature of the underlying system and its ability to serve us the citizens and meet the complexity of the current day.  

This week I had a fascinating conversation about all that we can learn from being in nature with Claire Vanderplank.Claire, through her company, Weapons of Mass Creation provides a vision quest service here in Western Australia.During this conversation, we really dived into what exactly is a vision quest and in particular the role of nature and all that we can learn from nature in relation to transition within our own systems and community.This is a super conversation with a lady who has spent a lot of time solo by herself out in nature; and you can really tell that there's a lot of depth of character that she's drawing on throughout the podcast.

This week I had a great conversation about science, the natural beauty and purity of science and scientific investigation with Wallace Thornhill, Vice President of the Thunderbolts Project.Wallace shares his paradigm changing Electrical Universe theory.What makes this so interesting is that Wallace, and others, have conducted their research and exploration separate from the university infrastructure.As well as expanding your understanding of the fabric of the universe, hopefully from this conversation you will be inspired to rethink your own relationship with science and consider your own scientific exploration and experimentation to further your own horizons rather than abrogating to University Scientists.

This week I welcomed back Nick Hayes, Managing Director of Media Stable, to discuss his observations across the media landscape and media consumption over the last six to nine months during this changeable period.Nick explains is that, as he predicted in the last podcast, that there's been a real move back to traditional forms of media, in particular radio.  We really had a great discussion about becoming more discerning in our media consumption and sense making, particularly recognising the leanings, particularly the political orientation, of the sources that you're listening to. We also talked about the pitfalls of going to social media as a source of news and also the concept of consuming too much information.Nick is really articulate and has a great sense of humour. He brings a very grounded and grown up perspective to the topic of news and media in general.

Take a deeper refection into our interior subjective human experience by considering auditory hallucinations, in particular hearing voices, with Johanna Babcock, Adjunct Professor at UWA School of Psychological Sciences, and also one of the founders of Perth Voices Clinic.Surrounded in cultural interpretation, what becomes more and more apparent in this conversation is the fact that hearing voices is not quite what you think - it's very subjective to an individual and a lot more common than one might expect.We also dive into the link with loneliness to mental health and the onus on those of us who are not lonely to open the door to those who are for the sake of a healthy society.Why would you listen to this conversation? Because it’s a fascinating exploration into holding space for the legitimacy of your interior personal experiences. It highlights how much there is to explore and just how normal ‘things we don’t necessarily feel comfortable talking about’ really are.

Take a deep dive into incredible world and healing power of Medicinal Mushrooms with Graham Upson of Touchwood Mushroom Farm.With over 45 years of mushroom growing experience, Graham is WA’s leading expert in this field. He shares some of his stories learning how to grow and think like a mushroom as well as the businesses he’s developed along the way. You will soon begin to appreciate just how complex and precise growing mushrooms is.Graham then talks about the main medicinal mushrooms that he supplies and their properties - lion’s mane, turkey tail, cordyceps, chaga, reishi, maitake and shiitake.This is a fascinating conversation; Graham is a real font of knowledge in this field.As the listener, you will soon realise that there's so much more to learn and explore when it comes to mushrooms. https://www.touchwoodmushrooms.com/

This week I had the great pleasure of welcoming back Bill Saunders, one of Perth’s leading clinical psychologist who's recently come out of retirement.Through Bill’s research for his new book, he’s really dived into the true reliability and robustness of the underlying psychiatric framework and treatment protocols that shape the mental health space.The picture that soon emerges is one that may well have lost its way scientifically becoming too complex, overly industrially influenced and separated too far from the true nature of the human journey.Bill suggests that rather than asking ‘what's wrong with a client?’  the better starting point is to ask ‘what has happened to you?’ because more often than not the source of the majority of mental health issues originated from an early traumatic event in childhood.This is a super engaging and detailed conversation with someone with over 40+ years of clinical practice and research experience.If you or a loved one has any mental health issues or is receiving treatment – particularly medical drugs – then I would strongly recommend taking this on board.  

Dreams - we all have them, whether wild or wacky, recurring nightmares, vividly exciting or highly sexual.But how often do you pay attention to your dream? How often do you legitimise them? How often you actually talk about them and share them?This week it was absolute pleasure to talk to Debbie Ford, dream therapy psychotherapist, about this rich source of connection to psycheDebbie explains what dreams are, their underlying dynamics and mechanics and just how beautifully subjective they are in their very essence. She gives an insight into how she works with clients and their dreams and provides some wonderful examples to really set some context of how we can begin to work with our own dreams.Fascinatingly, we also discussed on a bigger level of what she's beginning to see across her client’s and their dreams at this time in this COVID disrupted time – messages from the collective psyche.This is a truly subtle, beautiful, yet really powerful conversation with a wonderful lady who is really amazing at holding space for something that our own ego so often sweeps over or puts to one side.

While more of us are becoming aware of the idea of spiritual awakening, the arising question is what is the actual experience of a spiritual awakening actually like?Many may have a preconception that this is a lovely serene experience, however the truth of the matter is often something very different and scary, which is where the term ‘Spiritual Emergency has come from’.This week had the great privilege of exploring the topic of spiritual emergencies with Jules Evans, practical philosopher and co-editor of the book Breaking Open, which documents real cases of individual spiritual emergencies.In this conversation, Jules provides some of the characteristics and surrounding mechanics and dynamics of spiritual emergencies, as well as the impacts.In an uncertain and rapidly changing world that can so easily trigger a deep change within us set against a noticeable increase in an uptake of differing healing modalities, this is an important conversation to normalise and map out what exactly is happening during these deeply subjective experiences.FURTHER NOTE: - If you listen to this podcast, and you resonate with the contents based on your own experience, and would be willing to share and participate in a WA based research study to deepen our understanding of these experiences - then please, reach out because we'd like to hear about your spiritual emergency experience.

This week, I had the great pleasure of speaking to Christine Morrison, WA based musician, composer, music alchemist and sound healer.While I featured guests of a similar ilk previously on the podcast, what makes this really different is the fact that over the last four months I myself have been working with Christine to explore sound for myself. So rather than this being a theoretical discussion, it's very much starts off as an experiential discussion with Christine providing deeper context. This includes how I’ve myself now use sound to connect into my body and how that has led to a number of experiences which I could say rival certain psychedelic experiences.From that Christine talks about how her work with sound came into her life – which is something she didn't really want to start with but she shares her process of letting go  and answering the call.Christine is a super grounded lady with a deep history of working with sounds that includes indigenous links which really sets the tone for this discussion about using sound as a modality to really bring us back into our body at a time when it's easy to be just swept up and swept away by our minds.

This week I had the absolute privilege of speaking to Thomas Bjorkman, entrepreneur, businessman, author and also the founder of the Oak Island retreat in Sweden.Tomas explains how Oak Island is modelled on the original retreats that were state funded across the Nordic Countries at the turn of the last century - also captured in his book ‘The Nordic Secret’. It was these retreats that helped instil the human capabilities within the population to face adversity and uncertainty at that time, and which saw those Nordic countries turn around and flourish socially and economically.Tomas then introduces the 5 clusters of human capabilities that are key to facing the unknown, complex and volatile world we’re faced with – Openness, Perceptive Taking, Sense Making, Inner Compass and Compassion.In this conversation, we go on to explore the depths of the shifts that we're experiencing right now to our collective imaginary in an interconnected world and how this can only be facilitated, it cannot be managedThe focus of this conversation will be challenging to your own sense making and aspects of how you construct reality for yourself. Yet despite this Tomas points to a way forward that is beautifully grounded and human.

This week I had a very illuminating discussion with Darpan, musician, healer and general explorer of human consciousness.In this conversation Darpan spoke very eloquently about just how the current chaotic conditions are actually the perfect settings for a transformation in human consciousness.While it would be very easy for the conversation to depart into light, nebulous and mystical realms, Darpan stressed the need to ground in this 3D reality, feeling into the darkness to bring in higher frequencies rather than trying to avoid this necessary step through dissociating into a form of ‘spiritual bypassing’. To really feel into what you stand for and your sovereignty.Darpan is a great storyteller and he uses some fantastic metaphors to get his point across, which makes this a very engaging conversation.

This week I continue the exploration into the depths of psyche with Brittain Garrett, one of the few Jungian analysts in Western Australia.In this conversation we explore her perspective of the world through the lens of Jungian depth psychology.Within this conversation, Britt shares a pertinent throw from the I Ching and Jung’s equation for realising God. We also discussed the tension of opposites and the link to cancel culture, as well as legitimate suffering.What shines through in this is that all systems move towards wholeness – particularly psyche - and that the way forward is not through spiritual bypassing, playing on social media or just burying your head in the sand hoping that it'll all go away. The way forward is actually being in your self, your body and dropping into the darkness.While this is scary, it's only in the depths of the darkness that potentially we will find the light.Ultimately, this is a process in which psyche is on a journey, and we are part of it.

This week, I follow the line of inquiry into just how we accept and enable narcissism in our society with Richard Grannon.Richard puts forward that co-dependency, or people pleasing, is a master-slave dynamic that has been deeply in trained and entranced within culture and society at large. That this is an unseen issue that is more pervasive than narcissism. Richard asserts that if we're to crack the puzzle of the pervasive presence of narcissism in society, then we need to bring our perspective closer to home and have an honest look at how we’re actively accepting and enabling it.Through the conversation, we go into the dynamics and mechanics of co-dependency in depth across a variety of areas of life providing a number of clear examples including how you’re governed, consumerist capitalism, slave morality and many more.Through all of this, you will begin to gain a deeper understanding of your own co-dependency, or people pleasing, tendencies and why you’ve become so conflict adverse and unable to say no leaving you in very much an infantilised state.This is a fascinating conversation and it was a real privilege and honour to speak to Richard. What is most impressive is his ability to articulate, with a great humour, much of why you have such an deep uneasy feeling about life currently.I can't say it is easy listening because much of what Richard has to say is very triggering, but when you do find yourself arguing and strongly disagreeing with him then I would suggest X marks the spot for greater personal inquiry.

This week, I on a personal journey and deep dive into Boarding School Syndrome with one of the world's leading experts, Nick Duffell.Whether you, or a loved one, attended boarding school or not, there is a lot to take on board and consider in this conversation.Why?Because to understand boarding school survivorship is to understand:one of the core fundamental elements of the British psyche that also spreads across what was the Empire and is now a Commonwealtha very clean example of early developmental trauma and the defence mechanism of splitting to create a survival self-survival personality away from what Nick refers to as our inner indigenous or natural self.In this conversation we cover:Reconciling the concept of linking ‘trauma’ with the privilege of a private educationThe mechanics and dynamics of boarding schools school syndrome and how that's plays out in creating a Strategic Survivor PersonalityHow that plays out as the ex-boarder then goes out into the world.The inevitable collapse of the Strategic Survivor Personality that has been created by a very young childThe process of normalisation that perpetuates this cycleFrom this, we then go further into the wider implications on the British psyche, and leadership and culture and how that spread across the world.As said above, there is a lot to learn from this conversation; even more if you yourself were a boarder and there’s aspects of how you ‘do life’ that you still struggle to truly understand.