In a world which can feel increasingly volatile and uncertain, join Holly and Rachel from ThoughtBox as we explore some of the inconvenient truths, possibilities and opportunities of our rapidly changing world.
Each episode we’ll be diving deep into the big, tricky issues of our time, exploring what it means to be ‘inconvenient’ in our work to transform lives, communities and mindsets towards a healthier future for people and planet.
To find out more about the work we do at ThoughtBox Education, visit www.thoughtboxeducation.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In a world which can feel increasingly volatile and uncertain, join Holly and Rachel from ThoughtBox as we explore some of the inconvenient truths, possibilities and opportunities of our rapidly changing world.
Each episode we’ll be diving deep into the big, tricky issues of our time, exploring what it means to be ‘inconvenient’ in our work to transform lives, communities and mindsets towards a healthier future for people and planet.
To find out more about the work we do at ThoughtBox Education, visit www.thoughtboxeducation.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
By Matt Goodfellow
Something’s moving in,
I hear the weather in the wind,
sense the tension of a sheep-field
and the pilgrimage of fins.
Something’s not the same,
I taste the sap and feel the grain,
hear the rolling of the rowan
ringing, singing in a change.
Something’s set to start,
there’s meadow-music in the dark
and the clouds that shroud the mountain
slowly, softly start to part.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We're taking a break over the holidays and are not recording a new episode of Two Inconvenient Women today. Instead, we're sharing a gift - a whole range of stories of inspiring people from across the world working to create a healthier future for people and planet. From educators in Uganda focused on self-care in leadership to teachers challenging the mainstream to communities focused on nature connection at the heart of learning, our Triple WellBeing Fellows are ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Dive into the whole community and begin your listening journey: https://thoughtboxeducation.com/stories
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We begin each podcast episode with a moment of gratitude. But why so? Much more than a 'nice thing to do', the practice of gratitude is ancient - part of wisdom traditions across the world and deeply embedded into spiritual and religious practice. It is a way of strengthening our own sense of resilience and presence, finding meaning in the world and feeling more grounded, connected and present in the world. But what does it actually mean to be grateful and how can this practice shape the very structure of our brains?
In this week's episode we explore the topic of gratitude, asking the question: Why is gratitude so powerful? In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why don't we talk to our neighbours? This question is asked not to be provocative but more to reflect on what has shifted in our cultures to mean that we can inhabit the same space as people we don't quite know. For some cultures around the world, community and neighbourhoods remain a vital - and vitalising part of daily life, yet for many living in the culture of modernity, our move into hyper-individualism has been at the detriment of our community. We may not have ever met the person or people who live above, below or beside us - and we may not know anything about them - not even their name.
In this week's episode we explore some of the changes across time that have led to the erosion of gathering spaces; the impact of a culture of fear and distrust on how we respond to strangers and some of the blocks, challenges and opportunities that surround us when it comes to finding connection with those in our neighbourhood.
In this conversation we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are you successful yet? When do you know you've "made it"? And - more importantly - is it a place that we actually want to be 'arriving'? Many of us are living in cultures that have a dominant story of success - often associated with wealth, prosperity, career-ladders and progress. Our mainstream education systems teach us how to jump through the hoops on the journey towards success, and our media is filled with advertising and stories of what success looks like (normally glossy, shiny and always slightly out of reach). But who gets to decide when we've become successful, and is it worth it?
In this week's episode we explore the notion of success, thinking about what it means, who grants us the title and what the possibilities are to look beyond the mainstream story and carve out a different approach to life. We explore questions such as: What happens when we don't fit the story or mould of what success looks like? What might it mean to carve out our own version of 'success'? What can we learn from failure? And what if, rather than a destination we arrive at, success is simply a way of living well?
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Many people find themselves working within organisations or structures that don't necessarily practice the values that are being preached (or laminated, advertised or promoted). It can feel deeply uncomfortable when our actions are out of line with the values we hold within us, and yet it is often not our choice to have to at in ways that contradict our values. Bit what are values? Where do they come from, and how do we connect with the values that shape our lives so that we can align actions and intentions with integrity and authenticity.
In this week's episode we explore the values that shape our lives, our cultural stories and the world we're living in; thinking about how to align with our own authentic self and some of the tools and practices we can tap into in order to help shape our lives through the direction of our inner 'north star'.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The sustainability movement has been going since the 1950s, and ‘sustainability’ is now part of mainstream narrative, awareness and growing action. Yet when sustainability continues to be seen and introduced into organisations as an add-on rather than a process or foundation, how much change is it actually supporting?
In this week’s episode we explore the inconvenience of sustainability, thinking about where positive change has been enabled, the impact of greenwashing; what some of the limitations may be and what opportunities are emerging for wider-level transformation when sustainable is understood as a ‘verb rather than a product.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What do you think of when you think of home? For some it's a building, for some it's a country, culture or identity. For many it's a feeling. Whilst there can be no universal agreement on what home means to us, there is interesting resonance between home and feelings of safety, belonging and sanctuary. Understanding that feeling safe sits as one of our most basic needs as humans helps to elevate deep compassion and empathy for any experiencing homelessness or seeking refuge and asylum; a growing pattern right across our world as ever-more people are forced to leave their 'homes' in search of safety.
In this week's episode of Two Inconvenient Women, we explore the meaning of home in many different guises, exploring some of the commonalities and biases that exist within us and reflecting on how and where we can satisfy the feeling of home in our daily lives.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
AI technologies are becoming increasingly intertwined with our everyday lives. From healthcare, transportation and manufacturing to education, we are already in an entangled web of connection with AI being increasingly used by individuals and organisations, often without conscious awareness. Whilst we can see AI as being a really supportive tool to address so many of the challenges of modernity, to what extent is it actually robbing us of our humanity?
This conversation is tricky, emotive and deeply complex. Whilst there are so many positive shifts and evolutions that AI can support us with and lots to appreciate, many of the downsides and dangers are only just being realised with the potential threats of generative AI and a super-intelligence beginning to come to life. We are choosing to open a very complex can of worms in this conversation and begin to dance through some of the conflicting feelings, possibilities and questions that arise when thinking about the past, present and future of AI.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week is half term for UK schools and we've taken time away from the 'day to day' work at ThoughtBox for a reading week - a week to really dive deep into some of the ideas that we're both currently exploring. In this episode we share some of the insights, explorations, wonderings and reflections from what we're currently learning about.
In this episode we reference a large number of texts and ideas we've been exploring over the past months:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week on the podcast Holly is joined by guest inconvenient woman Sandy Glanfield, Immersive Experience Curator at Reboot the Future, to discuss the theme of naïvety.
In this episode we explore questions around metrics of success, and how naivety plays an important role in bringing creativity, openness, relationship and curiosity to challenges we face. From its etymological roots of belonging to nature and innateness, to its modern association with foolishness - join us as we weave through questions around fear of failure, elderhood, reframing biases and celebrating our own unique ‘genius’.
During this episode, we mention:
Sending lots of love and a big hug to Rachel who is currently off with the flu - hopefully she'll be back with us next week!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Having a 'gut feeling' about something is perhaps a familiar sensation to many, but what does this actually mean? When we 'trust our gut' what is it that we're listening to? And how are intuition and gut feeling connected?
In this episode we dive deep into the 'wider senses' of the human body and think about what sort of additional intelligence we can be drawing on in our daily lives. Gut instinct is a primal element in all of us, but can become quite 'rusty' or dormant when not used - just like any other sense. What is energising is how there are many things we can do to re-awaken our sense of being intuitive and start to welcome in a wider form of intelligence. We look at many elements of both why it might be dormant in many of us, what we can do to re-liven our senses and what exactly might be happening when we tap into a deeper form of consciousness.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A painful truth in our current cultures is how much we are all struggling with our mental and emotional wellbeing. This is especially true in young people who are facing an increasing amount of overwhelm in their lives in this VUCA* world (*volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). And yet the ways of suffering and the ways of wellbeing are actually two sides of the same coin...
Holly and Rachel are just back from Europe's largest trauma, mental health and wellbeing conference hosted at Oxford University, under the title 'Healing our relational world'. Bringing together over 3000 educators, therapists, mental health practitioners and healers with world-renowned trauma and emotional health experts, the conference was an extraordinarily rich and deep insight and exploration of how to heal our connection with ourselves, each other and the wider world.
In this episode we dive deeply into some of the 'brokenness' of our world (our inner and outer worlds) bringing in our own decade of research along with learnings from the conference. We look at some of the patterns in human behaviours that connect all of these elements of brokenness to better understand how to notice them and how to heal. We explore the impact of early attachment on shaping our relationships and the profound ways of healing in ourselves, our communities and with the planet. We touch on how the ways to respond to the symptoms and root causes of disconnection are the same and explore the foundational routes to healing.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, Holly and Rachel are 'on-tour' for the podcast, which was recorded live from underneath a fig tree in a beautiful quad at Exeter College in Oxford. The (slightly shorter this week) recording took place one lunchtime mid-way through Europe's largest trauma, mental health and wellbeing conference hosted at Oxford University, under the title 'Healing our relational world'. Bringing together over 3000 educators, therapists, mental health practitioners and healers with world-renowned trauma and emotional health experts, the conference was an extraordinarily rich and deep insight and exploration of how to heal our connection with ourselves, each other and the wider world.
In this short episode we touch on some of the live inquiries that we're both engaged with, think about some of the provocations and illuminations that are being shared about emotional health and wellbeing and dig into some of the tricky issues we're grappling with. This podcast serves as an introduction to some of the bigger inquiries we'll be diving into next week when back home.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In many societies across the world, we find a dominant habit of record keeping as part of the daily focus. Paperwork, recording, data-capture, spreadsheets, documentation and report-writing have become a staple of many organisations across the world; whilst our education systems and business models are firmly structured around ‘capturing data’ - oftentimes valuing this data above all else.
We can see this same pattern playing out in our social lives, with a fixation on capturing and sharing our life experiences via smartphones and through social media often infiltrating our enjoyment and engagement of simply being in the moment. But what happens when the capturing of life becomes more important than the living of it?
In this week’s episode of Two Inconvenient Women, Holly Everett and I explore the different ways that our cultures are encouraging an shift away from ‘living’ and experiencing life towards a fixation on reporting on it. We explore questions such as ‘When did the record of what we’re doing become more important than what we’re doing?’ ‘What is it that we’re trying to do with our obsession with capturing and recording?’ ‘Are we starting to rely – even trust – data more than our own lived experience?’
In this episode we reference the following:
· Photography Life – When the photographer doesn’t shoot (article)
· Engaging Iain McGilchrist: Ascetical practice, brain lateralization, and philosophy of mind (article)
· How do you know? Psychology Today (article)
· Bad Data - Peter Schryvers (book)
· The Master and his Emissary – Ian McGilchrist (book)
· RSA animation: The Divided Brain (video)
· Alan Watts – Be Here Now (articles & podcast series)
· Your Three brains – Centre for Health & Wellbeing (article)
· Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education, UK (website)
· The Blanchard bone (website)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“There's laundry to do and a genocide to stop…”
This first line of a short poem by Vinay Krishan hits hard, not least because it captures so powerfully the complex and confusing state we are finding ourselves in. How to we navigate the day to day process of living in the midst of so many overwhelming crisis all around us? How can we make sense of actions and unfoldings that literally cannot make sense? How do we stay sane in a world that feels like it’s falling apart?
In this week’s episode we explore the notion of cognitive dissonance and how to navigate the endless contradictions, hypocrisies and complexities of our current world. We explore what it means to ‘live through collapse’, why so many of our systems are falling apart; how we can sustain our own sense of groundedness and vitality and what it means to practice active hope and turn towards the light.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This time of year often beckons us to go "back to work". For some it's the beginning of a new academic year. For others it's a return to work after an extended holiday or summer break. For others it's the time to begin a new cycle. But do we really want to be 'going back' and do we really want to be 'working' for a living?
In this week's podcast we inquire about the nature of work, and think about why so many of our lives have become centred around work - in particular 'going to work' - rather than about nurturing livelihood. We explore some of the significant shifts in our human evolution that led to this way of living; think about what it means to match purpose and passion with contributing to the larger whole; explore some of the limitations of life's focus being about contributing to the market economy and question the meaning of success.
In this episode we reference the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What is national pride all about and where does it stem from? Following a recent surge in the flying of the Union flag and St George's flag in parts of England this episode dives deeply into the meaning of national pride, the complexities and emotions it stirs up and the painful histories involved in the creation of nation states. From exploring a brief potted history of countries and colonialism to diving into some of the inherent human behaviours that stem from a need to belong, this episode is a chance to explore some of the behaviours, controversies and complexities that accompany flags and how we can move through some of these current challenges with a deeper sense of connection.
In this episode we mention the following:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A new season is upon many of us at this time of year. Summer shifting into Autumn, the beginning of a new school year, a new work cycle. Maybe just returning to work after a rest. In all of the excitement of 'beginning again' there often comes also a slight pause within us all, asking us "Am I wanting to keep doing this? Is this allowing me to be all I want to be?"
This week, Rachel shares a poem from John O'Donohue called 'For a New Beginning' inviting us to listen to that quiet voice deep within us. We look forward to being back together for Season 4 of Two Inconvenient Women next week.
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The actual podcast to be shared (and shownotes typed) is just a short (2 min or so) recording explaining that this is a rest / we're taking a break but we're sharing some previous episodes where we dive into the nuance of environmental wellbeing and what it means to learn to care for our planet. Some of the highlights from our past three seasons are this mini-series are below:
If you'd like to join us for any of the Triple WellBeing opportunities mentioned in the podcast, you can find more information at:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.