2. Pleasure & Wellbeing

MEATSUITS | AI & SpiritualityWhen you ask AI for an answer, you don’t always get what you asked for.Ask a chatbot to choose a random number between 0 and 100, and you will get 73. Not because it’s randomly selected, but because it fits patterns associated with what AI decided humans consider random.Now imagine asking that same AI about consciousness, spirituality or the meaning of your life.What exactly are you receiving?AI is not necessarily what you think it is.Millions of people are turning to artificial intelligence for spiritual guidance, meaning and personal insight. But can AI facilitate genuine spiritual growth, or are we confusing information with transformation?We examine the rapid commercialisation of AI spirituality, the worldviews embedded in its answers, and the difference between receiving insight and undertaking the uncomfortable, embodied work of personal change.AI can discuss spirituality endlessly. But can it help us become?In this episode, MEATSUITS investigates the growing relationship between artificial intelligence and spirituality — and what happens when we mistake a convincing answer for genuine understanding.

What if intuition is not something mystical at the edges of life, but part of our human birthright — one of the most practical capacities we have?Emmy Vadnais began in occupational therapy, working inside a healthcare system shaped by evidence, professional standards and accepted models of care. But her path kept widening — into energy healing, intuitive development, consciousness and eventually New Thinking Allowed, where questions once kept firmly at the margins are examined with increasing seriousness.That journey gives this conversation its real charge. How do healing modalities that mainstream healthcare has historically questioned begin to find their way into the very systems that once excluded them? What happens when lived experience refuses to fit neatly inside the categories we have inherited? And how much of our intuitive capacity is lost long before adulthood, simply because the environments we grow up in teach us not to trust what we sense?Emmy’s own childhood gave intuition room to breathe. Many people are not so fortunate. Her book, Intuitive Development, speaks directly to that difference: not by asking us to adopt someone else’s worldview, but by helping us notice what may already be present, buried under years of conditioning, doubt or dismissal.From there, the conversation opens into something larger: the movement of once-questioned ideas toward scientific, clinical and cultural legitimacy. Emmy’s evolution into New Thinking Allowed becomes part of that story too — one in which intuition, healing and consciousness are no longer simply relegated to the “fringe,” but explored with increasing seriousness.At the centre of it all is the question that matters most to MEATSUITS: what is the practical consequence of any of this? If intuition changes the choices we make, the people we trust, the work we pursue and the lives we build, then perhaps its value is not abstract at all.FIND EMMYemmyvadnais.comemmyvadnais.com/bookwww.youtube.com/@NewThinkingAllowed

From Astrophysics to Mindfulness — Dr Mark WestmoquetteWhat happens when a scientist trained to understand the universe turns his attention inwards?Astrophysicist, then Zen teacher and author Mark Westmoquette joins MEATSUITS to talk about a life that has moved through academia, astronomy, Zen practice, pilgrimage and back into the everyday world.We talk about the cosmos and how we are IN the stars, rather than looking up at them. We discuss what happens when intellectual understanding is no longer enough, and hear about Mark’s extraordinary experience of walking through the UK in monk’s robes with a begging bowl and nowhere booked to sleep.At the heart of it is a question that runs throughout MEATSUITS: what happens when what you know begins to change how you actually live?About MarkMark Westmoquette is an astrophysicist, Zen teacher and author of The Mindful Universe. His work brings together scientific curiosity, contemplative practice and our capacity for wonder — from exploring the night sky to exploring the nature of our own experience. Mark hosts Mindful Stargazing events and retreats, all of which are available via his website.Find Mark:Website: markwestmoquette.co.ukInstagram/socials: @mindfulstargazingRead Mark:The Mindful UniverseMindful Thoughts for StargazersZen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult PeopleLook Up at Bedtime

What happens to well-being when life refuses to cooperate?Health changes. Happiness fluctuates. Relationships fracture. Meaning can disappear overnight. Some changes we accommodate; others are seismic enough to break the life we thought we had.In the final episode of our Being Well series, we explore Adaptation — not as relentless resilience or another demand to “cope better”, but as our ability to respond to what has actually happened, including the things we would never have chosen.The action of life IS ADAPTATION !Because if well-being only works when life is going well, what use is it?THE BEING WELL TOOLKITAfter six episodes investigating health, pleasure, happiness, meaning, connection and adaptation, we don’t want to give you our answer to what it means to be well.Instead, we’ve created a framework for having that conversation with yourself.Start analytically: How do I measure this area of my life? What evidence am I using? Are those measures still valid? What is within my influence — and what simply isn’t?Then make it personal. What is my relationship with this part of my life now? How has it changed? What contributed to that? What does it need from me now? And what relationship would I like to have with it going forward?Finally, take it to the journal. What assumptions am I carrying? What have I outgrown? What am I resisting? What am I learning? And, if I’m completely honest with myself, what most needs to be said today?Use it once a year. Use it every six months. Use it when something changes.The point isn’t to arrive at our conclusions. It’s to examine your own.

Wellbeing isn’t a single ‘thing’.  POWERFUL YOU is a combination...YES your Health improves.  YES your life fills with pleasure. YES your happiness flows freely..YES you increase confidence via connection.In this deep dive series, we have seen that contentment and peace expands in our lives through a more detailed examination of the word wellbeing.   This episode takes us to the realm of meaning.  The deepest of our inner beliefs, so deep in fact, it requires a bit of digging to find.  There is a real wellbeing access point in getting to know your self: accepting what is real for you and where culture and social pressures dictate what you  ‘ideally’ or ‘ought’ to value. Listen in and find out how meaning might be at the root of change. Awakening to who you really are is a gift that should not be judged.  Allow yourself to be the brilliant person you are! 

Wellbeing isn't only personal...We dont know how much our inner experience affects others in our orbit. Its fair to say that our wellbeing is sometimes more of a concern to our loved ones, before it is to us.Because of this uncertainty (amongst others), we tend to be too easily persuaded into a limiting version of wellbeing, one that does not recognises our need for connection, relationships and communities. Wellbeing is not just your health, it is experiencing the vitality of life. Mindful living that expands your empathy and relationships comes through connection, not isolation.Listen in to hear more about the depth that connection brings to the wellbeing picture!

We are all very familiar with happiness! Its linked to our sense of satisfaction and we hold it in high regard as a benchmark for how we feel we are doing in life. However...Do we know all we need toknow about Happiness? Sure we have heard of hedonism and may be aware of the pitfalls of a purely hedonistic lifestyle... ButHave you ever heard of Eudaimonic happiness? No? Not a shock. The cultural temperature of our lives is set behind the scenes, often by people we dont vote for. Eudaimonic happiness sustains us over the long term, bringing joy and deep connection to your life. Hedonistic pursuits are short term, monetisable, and deliver you little wellbeing beyond an initial dopamine buzz.Get the full picture on Happiness and its relationship to wellbeing becomes much clearer.

A difficult combination to resist isn't it? The good feelings that come along when we feel we are doing good, or on the right track. Pleasure is a difficult thing to regulate because we are conditioned to chase it; we are simply 'turned off' at the thought of less of it. This simple chemistry obscures an important truth: pleasure is something that wellbeing can attach to - and when the two are inextricably linked - it brings us the opposite result.Listen to us debate the edges of pleasure and understand the delicate dance of wellbeing in this emotional space... We can, and do, recognise when we are driven by pleasure - so lets understand its role in our personality; then its relationship with wellbeing. In this way - we can get more pleasure, sustainably and for the long term.

Wellbeing is the word no one can define, yet on everyones lips. It might be true nowadays that 'wellbeing' is such a general term it makes us uncertain of what we should expect of it. After all, we all recognise our need to take 'better' care of our physical AND mental realities.Our next 6 episode series takes 6 different perspectives on Wellbeing in an attempt to find out what it ISNT which will help us understand what it ISJoin us here in Episode 1 - Looking at the relationship between Wellbeing and Health..

Empathy is a topic gaining much attention in the world today.. We are social creatures that rely on each other for support and understanding. We do know (from our last Empathy episode!) that the word itself is one that can be open to interpretation. In this episode we look at the way we can validate people on a physical, emotional and cognitive level. We also begin to realise that empathy is applicable to yourself, in there, on the inside.Empathy enables us to meet other people (and our selves) from a level that opens both parties up to sharing BOTH good and bad experiences. Tune in for a practical toolkit which will bring you into coherent relationships on the inside and - on the out...