Humanitea

by John Britton & Angela Jamieson

Season 1

Visibility & Vulnerability

We've reached the end of Season 1 of Humanitea - and we're ending with a deep dive...... Angela and John get to chat with School of Human Kind faculty member Graham Watt Graham works with engineers and scientists - mainly gay men - to help them find the confidence more fully to show up in their workplaces and their lives. He looks at the way that they - and all of us - hide parts of ourselves that we feel won't easily fit in. He invites us to explore what happens when we stop hiding and dare to shine. At the same time, this week Angela has been experiencing some very nasty online abuse. That's the other side of visibility. It makes you vulnerable. So that's where the conversations starts. Drawing on Graham's processes, we explore how to be visible (as so many of us who run businesses or are self-employed have to be), and how to balance that with the need for personal and emotional safety. It's a big one. So grab a cup of something wonderful, and join us. You can find out more about Graham's work here: https://www.mycoachgraham.com or on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mycoachgraham/

Electronic Overwhelm

We start this conversation with a simple question. John asks Angela how many emails there are in her inbox. Her answer (or is it a confession?) is a little shocking. It's symptomatic of the reality we live in - constantly bombarded by digital 'stuff' - spam, marketing, newsletters, notifications and... just occasionally - something we may actually want to read. Why do we keep it? What do we do with it all? Angela coins a phrase to explain why she doesn't immediately delete so much of the stuff that she receives - Digital FOMO. What if there's something interesting/useful/important in there? John suggests that having a cluttered inbox is like having a junk room in your house - most of the time you can pretend it's not there, but there is always a small emotional/psychic cost. So we navigate the reality of living in an age of digital tsunami. By the end of the 30 minutes, 20 more emails have appeared in Angela's inbox.....

When Understanding Isn't Enough

Today John And Angela catch up with one of the School of Human Kind's faculty - Wyndham James. Wyndham is a coach, breathwork facilitator and deep thinker. He has a particular interest in working with people experiencing what is sometimes called 'mid-life crisis' - that moment when, however successful you may have been, somehow you feel that it's 'not enough'. Wyndham spent years in the corporate world, then years recovering from it. He has dug deep into processes of changing our 'blueprint' - and part of what we talk about is how knowing what you need to do is often not enough. Thinking will only take you so far. When we reach that limit of what thinking can do, where do we turn to? What lies beyond 'understanding' when we're going through processes of personal transformation and growth. It's a rich conversation and we invite you to make a cup of your favourite tea and to listen in. You can find Wyndham on Instagram @blueprintcoach_wyndham

Family Dynamics

It gets a little personal..... Most families are a mixture of the wonderful and the troublesome. Most of us grew up drawing strength and security from our backgrounds, and equally, carrying damage and unhelpful ways of thinking. As the poet Philip Larkin wrote: They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. or, as Tolstoy wrote: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Though it's a sometimes tough topic for both of us, today Angela and John talk about relationships with their parents - about gratitude, what baggage to put down (and how to do it), and adulting..... about being a fully fledged human. Grab a cup of tea and join us......

Our addiction to convenience

John thinks we're all fatally addicted to convenience. He reckons that we always take the shortcuts new technologies seem to offer, but seldom notice the real price we pay. When we outsource elements of our human capability to a machine, we lose vital facets of our humanity. He reckons AI is just the latest example of this - and he's not a fan. Angela's not so sure. She reckons that we need to be grateful that we can avoid the drudge that earlier generations were obliged to experience. She's no desire to go back to some of the stuff even her Mum's generation had to do. So, we got some tea, and talked it through. Join us.

Questions......

What better to do over a cup of tea than ask some of life's really big questions? That's what Angela and John do this week. They explore what questions we ask ourselves, what questions we could ask instead, and perhaps what questions are really a waste of time to ask.. Life is an endless and glorious mystery. We're never going to reach certainty, but good questions can bring us a little bit closer....

Why are Relationships So Hard?

Today Angela and John are in conversation with Anne Alvares - one of the School of Human Kind faculty. Anne is a coach and counsellor who specialises in healthy parenting and supporting young people. Her wisdom, drawing on her own background and on her experience as a mother of two boys, is rich and illuminating. The three of us talk about why creating and maintaining healthy relationships is so hard - and strategies for making it less so. You can connect with Anne via our website: www.schoolofhumankind.com

Big Things and Small Things

John and Angela talk about dealing with big stuff and small stuff Is there a difference? One approach is to 'not sweat the small stuff (and it's all small stuff)'. That sounds fine, except it's not how most of us actually experience day-to-day life. Sometimes 'stuff' feels overwhelming. Even small things can feel like they're about to crush us. Then, also, sometimes we face something huge and seem to be able to take it in our stride.... What's going on? Angela and John get a cup of tea and explore that question. You're invited to do the same. Contact: www.schoolofhumankind.com

Presence - The Foundation of absolutely everything....

Today we tackle the big one: 'Presence'. It's the heart of personal development and business success, of rich relationship and personal empowerment. It's essential to mental health and a powerful statement of personal power in an age of distraction. But what is it? Angela places presence at the heart of her work on 'Relaxed Productivity'. John spent 30 years training performers (and others) to be more fully present with themselves and each other. So listen in as we give some practical and real-world insights into what it is to be right at the heart of your own life's experience.

Humanitea: Navigating Change

The only constant is change. The only certainty is uncertainty Nothing is fixed. Nothing permanent. Life is dynamic and even the best-laid plans can shoot you off in totally unexpected directions. Add to that the increasing craziness and unpredictability of the world we're living in right now and you have a nightmare-scenario for anyone who likes to feel they're 'in control'. So how do we go about not only surviving, but thriving in times of change? Well, the starting point is remembering that change is fun. Angela and John both know a bit about navigating the unexpected - both professionally and personally. Join us as we chat about what we've learned about it along the way - and bring a cup of tea as you listen.

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