• The Gentle Rebel Podcast

  • 著者: Andy Mort
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The Gentle Rebel Podcast

著者: Andy Mort
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  • Andy Mort explores the landscapes of personal growth, creativity, and culture through the lens of high sensitivity
    Andy Mort
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Andy Mort explores the landscapes of personal growth, creativity, and culture through the lens of high sensitivity
Andy Mort
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  • Power through
    2025/01/09
    The randomiser wheel picked "Power Through". I'm currently using a tool to select phrases for my daily journal practice. They are all associated with the theme of Strength. At first, these words brought to mind experiences when I had no choice but to keep going. A looming deadline, the chockful calendar, a stag do, a festival, and the final push with the finish line in sight. Powering through requires a special kind of energy. Dipping in and drawing from the storeroom where I keep my deep reserves. This can feel glorious. It can feel rewarding. It can feel like a relief and something I wish never to repeat. To collapse in a heap at the end. The moment when Farmer Hoggett’s words echo in my soul; “that’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” I can pack up, curl up, and rest. Letting The Body Prepare For as long as I can remember, I have experienced a kind of lethargy on the day of a gig. I often feel like I won’t have the energy to perform. I seem to yawn through the afternoon, wondering how I will ever summon the inner resources to do what I need to do. “OK”, I would tell myself, “you’ve just got to power through”. As soon as I hit the road, I could feel the flow returning, and by the time I hit the stage, I was in the zone. I’ve come to accept this part of the process in all its frustrating mystery, trusting that the energy will come, however much it feels like there is no way I could not fall asleep at the piano. Over time, I’ve come to see that this is not about “powering through”; it’s about letting things be. To power through turns it into a battle or fight. Like I’m in a constant wrestle with myself. And that takes a different kind of energy. On the other hand, letting things be is about surrendering to what I know is true, recognising that I won’t feel up to performing in the lead-up to a gig, and remembering that my body is preparing and readying me for the performance. I don’t need to fix that; I need to simply let it be. If I jump to my “power-through” reserves, believing I must intervene to feel up to it, I will derail my natural processes, hit the bottom of the barrel more quickly and need much more time to recover afterwards. Powering Through as The Exception, Not The Rule Humans are rhythmic, seasonal, and cyclical. Our bodies are remarkable and can power through when the situation demands it as the exception, not the rule. But when we are stuck in that mode, which is how we have designed many aspects of modern life, many people perpetually power through on the fumes of those reserves. It’s no wonder we are burning out. If we are expected to be “on” constantly, we might perpetually wrestle with ourselves. Berating our inability to maintain the energy required to stay productive in what Byung Chul-Han calls achievement society. Excessive “can” positivity and self-optimisation paradoxically lead to burnout and fatigue because there are no natural stopping points. Even in rest and play, we have become trained in self-exploitative productivity in choosing and approaching leisure time. If it can’t be measured, it’s meaningless. If it’s not helping us advance, then it’s pointless. And when we reach the inevitable tipping point, we consume to help us escape, retreat, and numb ourselves. This often goes against our creative nature - the quiet voice inside telling us to slow down and sense the world around, within, and between us. All Power and No Play When considering creativity and nurturing a sensitive nervous system, we must unite and break free from these chains of toxic productivity. We can embrace and enjoy the times of blossoming and fruition. We can accept and attune ourselves to periods of fallowness and the in-between. Without silence, we cannot hear the music. Without margins, we cannot see the shape of things. Despite what some people want us to believe, we are not labouring machines. We can’t keep pushing ourselves without paying a serious price.
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    10 分
  • Stay Strong and Carry On
    2025/01/07
    The randomiser wheel picked "Stay strong and carry on" this week. I'm using the tool to select phrases for my daily journal practice this month.. This reflection is inspired by our month of Strength. There is a difference between giving up and quitting. I’ve written about this before. To quit is usually an intentional decision. It is informed and considered. It requires courage to let go when something no longer serves its purpose, or you are no longer the person for the task. On the other hand, giving up happens when you no longer have the physical, mental, or emotional capacity to carry on, even if the task is meaningful and important to you. When You Can't Stay Strong Alone The willingness to continue might be physically destroyed when the body cannot function. Our opponent might have outplayed us to the point of exhaustion. Or it might give into someone who has relentlessly pressured us to comply with their demands. What does it mean to stay strong and carry on? What sort of strength do we need to maintain? Where does it come from? What does it look like? How can you stay strong when the body or spirit is broken and you are limited by more than your mindset? Strength Beyond Power Strength isn’t about force and for humans, it is not the preserve of a single individual. It’s not about domination and control. Instead, it’s about resourcefulness, knowing what matters and why, and letting go of a drive for top-down compliance in favour of unity amidst disagreement. It’s about rejecting the dominant narrative when it works to divide and conquer. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. We are better equipped to stay strong and carry on when we zoom out and do it together. This is why we need to embrace high sensitivity, not only as individuals, but as a species. It makes us stronger. Emperor Penguins insulate themselves from the harsh Antarctic conditions by huddling together to create and radiate heat through the collective. The strength of one penguin is dependent on the behaviour of the whole. And likewise, the survival of the whole is dependent on individuals huddling together. I find this a powerful image of collective strength, not as a source of domination and mastery over the weather but as a way to maintain their presence despite those conditions. We sometimes have a warped view of strength, often associated with the individual. But when this underpins our understanding of what it means to be human, we live life on a knife-edge. We are in a state of dysregulation, alert and unsafe, making decisions based not on what is best in the long run or big picture but on the here and now. Often at the expense of longer term prosperity and s An Empty Promise We are encouraged to hoard, steal, envy, and destroy in the name of strength. Even those who possess this kind of power are never at peace. They always look over their shoulder and wonder who is plotting their demise. Second guessing, pre-eminently striking, and causing a cascading wave to the bottom and lowering horizons rather than raising them and limiting potential rather than smashing down boundaries for all of us to explore. We stay strong and carry on when we build around a solid foundation together. When we know what matters, where we are going, and the abundant reasons, we all have a place here. This strength is grounded in the belief that we are creative and playful beings with the potential for unimaginable things. When mixed with a lust for domination, power, and control, these unimaginable things are barbaric. But when combined with a curious openness to love and care about ourselves, one another, and the future of this incredible planet, those unimaginable things are majestic. https://youtu.be/uqY0wma4xDY
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    1分未満
  • The Armchair Creative
    2024/12/27
    Are you an armchair creative? You are great at learning, preparing, and researching a field, yet something often stops you from taking action. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, we consider some things that stop us from acting and explore how to get out of the armchair in 2025. Armchair Certainty "What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” is a common question in coaching. While intended to free us from debilitating fear, it misses an important point. Knowing we can't fail leaves us feeling hollow. In The Twilight Zone episode “A Nice Place to Visit,” freshly deceased Rocky Valentine thinks he's in Heaven because he wins every bet and has every desire met. After a while, he tells his host, Pip that he doesn't belong in Heaven and wants to go to the other place. "Whatever gave you the idea that this is Heaven?" Pip responds. This is a depiction of Hell being an eternity without the possibility of failure. “What would you do if you knew you COULD fail?” I like this reframe because it accepts failure as a natural, even necessary, part of a meaningful life. Certainty, while comforting, stifles creativity because it deprives us of the friction required for meaningful action. Creativity In The Armchair As armchair experts, we might have accumulated lots of knowledge. We may have devoured books, taken courses, and watched hours of footage. But this knowledge is an arms-length understanding and doesn't give us the sensory or practical knowledge that can only come through stepping into the arena. In creativity, this can manifest as over-preparation: planning every detail, waiting for the “perfect” idea, or endlessly theorising without taking the leap. This intellectualisation offers a false sense of progress. As Mark Manson put it, “People get hooked on endlessly intellectualising their emotional patterns as a way to avoid doing anything about them.” Similarly, intellectualising creativity can mask avoidance. Deep growth begins when we leave the armchair and step into the arena, embracing the messy, unpredictable nature of creating. Action Breeds Clarity Songwriter Aaron Espe captures this beautifully: “The best way to have more happy accidents is to do more things. Simply thinking about doing things doesn’t produce happy accidents. You gotta take action.” Whether it’s songwriting, swimming, or starting a business, the act of doing reveals insights that theory cannot. The Paralysis of Armchair Analysis Overthinking often disguises itself as preparation. We might tell ourselves we’re “just being thorough,” but in reality, we’re avoiding vulnerability. The fear of failure, judgment, or even our inner critic can keep us stuck. One of my favourite expressions from Haven meetings in recent years is, "Playing is preparing." Creativity isn’t about perfect execution; it’s about feeling, practice, and exploration. We can do this in low-stakes ways. Happy accidents happen when we engage with the task before us, not when we think about engaging with it. It's impossible to think our way to a happy accident. The Courage to Be Misunderstood A typical creative block is the fear of being misunderstood. We worry our work will be misinterpreted, criticised, or fail to resonate. But this fear can suffocate creativity. As Brené Brown reminds us, true courage lies in stepping into the arena, risking failure, and embracing imperfection. One way to develop this courage is to experiment with letting ambiguity be ambiguous. It's in those gaps that the light gets in. Art that heals does so, not because it intends to but because it is free to land in a billion different ways. Embracing the Messy Joy of Creativity So, as we step into 2025, consider this our invitation to be intentional about our place in the armchair. If this feels alive for you right now, consider booking a “Pick The Lock” call with me. We can explore how to turn your creative urges into actionable, manageable,
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    35 分

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