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In Our Nature
Why do we feel so overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected and lost...and what does that have to do with what's happening on our planet?
This show explores the hidden connections and deeper patterns that are forming our inner struggles and the wider crises unfolding around us. From mental health to ecological collapse, productivity culture to planetary grief, from burnout to reconnection, join me to poke around in the stories, systems and patterns shaping this extraordinary time...
...and then let's riff on what becomes possible when we stop pretending it’s fine and feel the feels.
Your host is me: Siobhán Friel. I'm a mental health practitioner, a Work That Reconnects facilitator and I was probably a lavender plant in a past life.
This podcast offers a way to make sense of your inner and outer world, especially if you were shaped by capitalism (like me) and not by a lineage of ecological literacy, love and wisdom.
You haven't missed the boat. There are many boats and this is one. Get in.
Episodes
89 episodes
Why You Might Be Feeling a Bit Crazy: The Maddening Paradoxes of our Time
If you feel like you’re quietly losing your mind while the world carries on like everything’s normal, then I have good news: You are not only quite sane indeed but pretty amazing. Let’s be friends. In this episode, I roll out the pi...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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39:57
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That Mean Voice In Your Head Is Not You. It's Just a Goblin
You know that inner voice that tells you you’re lazy, unlovable, unproductive, failing in life, worthless and ugly? Many of us listen to that inner voice, taking it very personally and thinking there's a lot of truth behind the yell...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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31:03
What Happens When Our Spiritual Grounding & Our Meaning-Making Frameworks for Life Stop...Helping?
Nice to see you, but this is a non-episode so don’t get too comfy. I'm calling on your input around a theme that’s come up in our recent episodes: what happens when your usual ways of grounding yourself, like your spiritual, philoso...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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17:18
The Profound Gifts That Only Collapse & Breaking Down Can Reveal
Join me for part two of our conversation on collapse, unravelling and breakdown. It’s way better than it sounds, promise. This one has gifts and treasures! But, it also has some hard stuff, so listen only if you feel up to it. Incl...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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37:19
It's In Our Nature to Unravel & Collapse (& Why Seeing This Can Actually Help Anxiety)
Today we’re talking about the most fundamental of cosmic laws. One that governs everything from stars, to soil, to the thoughts in your mind. A cosmic law that we humans have spent centuries pretending doesn’t exist. A c...
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Episode 12
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35:26
Why We Need The Anxious, Overwhelmed, Sensitive Overthinkers. Right Now. Exactly As You Are. Please Come
If you relate to being anxious, sensitive, easily overwhelmed or always overthinking every darn thing....this is my call to you.Today we're exploring how these profoundly pathologised traits are, actually, exactly what the worl...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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43:01
These Little Thoughts Are Keeping Us Away From Peace & Clarity (And They Aren’t Even Ours)
Today we’re exploring the thought patterns that keep us stuck in cycles of overwhelm, guilt, and inaction, and that block change, prevent peace and clarity, and deny us the spaciousness we desperately need in our lives. But these th...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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42:36
Is It in Our Nature To Be Restless, Unsettled and Anxious?
This episode is a re-release from season one that traces a familiar experience: feeling anxious and restless even when there’s ‘nothing to worry about’. Like when one is hiking in the beautiful mountains with a month off work (me).Origin...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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1:02:43
Why You Never, Ever Feel Good Enough (Even Though You Are Somewhat Amazing)
We’re poking our sticky fingers into the feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy that so many of us carry. Why do we think we’re not enough? Where do these thoughts come from? Why are they so persistent and stick around, no matter how 'good' w...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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41:52
What Happens When the Space We Need for Our Mental Wellbeing Is Being Sold off to the Highest Bidder?
If you feel like your mind, car, house, desk, local supermarket and —everywhere, actually, come to think of it— is chaotic, cluttered, full and busy… …you aren’t imagining it. This one’s for you. Today we’re...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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39:10
What a Weird Coincidence That Both Our Mental Health and the Earth’s Systems Are More Fragile Than Ever (It’s Like We Are Intimately Connected or Something)
You know how we humans can fall apart or lose our sh*t when under too much pressure, stress, or neglect? Ever noticed that that’s what’s happening to our planet, too? The effects of biodiversity loss and climate breakdow...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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39:03
You Have a Radically Powerful (But Highly Misunderstood) Gift That Can Transform Your Experience of a World in Chaos
Ok, you want to know what your radically powerful (but highly misunderstood) gift that can transform your experience of a world in chaos is without listening to the whole epiosde? It's GRATITUDE. ...And if that feels like a disappo...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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40:10
This Myth About Human Nature Is Making Us Feel Anxious & Worthless (Oh, And Completely Wrecking Our Planet)
Today we are poking at the slimy, damaging myth of Homo Economicus—the cold, self-interested, rational creature that modern economics says we all are. This story has shaped our minds, relationships, structures, behaviours and planet...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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32:14
Why Are We Pretending Normal Life Is Fine When It’s Actually Very Unnatural and Weird?
This episode discusses lying in the foetal position in a dark room and the desire to drink gin during the day while hiding under a duvet. Can you relate? ‘Normal’ life has become rather peculiar, what with all of the ecosystem-destr...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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32:00
Imagination, Stories & Systems: The Forces Shaping These Times with Sarah Patterson of Common Earth
Looking for fascinating insights into the intersection of human behaviour and our planetary predicament? Curious about the connection between our stories and our systems? This one’s for you.My guest is Sarah Patterson: President of Co...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:11:05
"All Of This" (gestures around wildly) "Is Not in Our Nature"
Welcome to the first episode of In Our Nature, where we explore the invisible forces, currents and stories shaping our inner and outer worlds.In the episode today: - An intro to the pod, the questions we will ask and how it (an...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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24:47
Introducing: In Our Nature
Absolutely everything is interconnected in astonishing dynamic ways that we are only beginning to understand. The In Our Nature explores these connections, along with the unseen but profoundly influential currents, systems, cycles, patterns, st...
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Season 2
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1:27
That Calm Mind You Yearn For? The Books, Courses, Coaching & Podcasts Might Not Be Helping (Including This One)
Today's episode is asking you to check in with yourself to see if the podcasts, courses, books and so on are helping with your enjoyment of life and your journey of less anxiety and more peace.And if not? I’m offering you a sneaky exit.&...
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Season 1
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Episode 69
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28:05
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“We Have an Inner Compass to Guide Us Through an Uncertain Future” With Rebecca Gardner
Today I am joined by Certified Change Coach, meditation teacher, loving mother and delightful human Rebecca Gardner.Becca guides people in transforming their relationship with their minds and came to the work she now does through her own...
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Season 1
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Episode 68
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1:12:20
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How Innocent Little Words Contribute to Big, Prickly Thought-Stories
Today we're poking at the power of teeny, innocent-seeming words in creating enormous, perilous towers of thought stories. Join me to meander through:My research project on inner peace and how it led to a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 67
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36:05
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We’ve Made up What Mental Illness Is (And Who Decides What’s Normal Anyway?)
In today's episode we are exploring how our concepts of mental health and illness are not fixed truths but socially constructed ideas. What’s normal and what’s not is made up via thought and is always changing. Those with a diagnosi...
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Season 1
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Episode 66
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45:01
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Expanding the Conversation to Meet These Extraordinarily Precarious Times
You know how we say that peace and wellbeing are our true nature? Well, have you ever wondered why we are living in times of perilous uncertainty, unprecedented inequality, lack of trust, and political, social and ecological breakdown, not to m...
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Season 1
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Episode 65
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48:51
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That Always-Tired Feeling: Thought Problem, Body Problem, or Something Else?
Tired? Yep. Seems many of us are struggling with tiredness as the speed of society gathers pace each year. This episode is about 34 minutes. Take a nap and we'll wake you at the end. There's nothing new here. You know it all already. You just d...
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Season 1
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Episode 64
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34:55
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How That Anxious, Restless, Unsettled Feeling Is Originally Created (Clue: It’s Nothing to Do with You)
It's the first episode back after the summer break and I can't wait to talk about horrid feelings with you. Join me for an exploration on the birth and evolution of anxious, restless, unsettled feelings, and how understanding this h...
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Season 1
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Episode 63
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54:31
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How to Answer Your Own Questions When Everything Is Confusing and Weird
Join me to explore how we can answer our questions, solve our problems and get clarity and guidance from within.We often want to seek guidance and counsel from others when we're unsure of the way forward, but getting a feel for our own i...
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Season 1
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Episode 62
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38:57
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