Mind Cake: Wandering Through Wellbeing

A medium told Lee how his dad died, the month he died, that he had a brother and that Lee has two daughters.Then she started talking about boiled eggs, curtains, the number three and someone called Mary.So… how the hell did she know the first lot?For this Halloween edition of the Wheel of Well-Being, Lee and Paul go for separate mediumship readings to find out whether a stranger can genuinely tell them something they couldn't possibly know.And things get weird.In this episode:• What Lee and Paul expected before their readings, and exactly what the mediums knew about them beforehand• The moments that were frighteningly accurate• The bits that made absolutely no sense• Paul's mystery First World War soldier and the instruction to “stop and turn it down”• Why Lee got goosebumps within the first five minutes• What controlled scientific studies of mediumship have actually found• The Barnum effect, cold reading, probability and our tendency to make vague information fit• Why “I don't know how she knew that” isn't the same as “she spoke to my dead dad”• Whether comfort and closure are enough to make mediumship worthwhile• And the rather important question of why dead relatives always seem to be “proud of you” but rarely have anything useful to say about what you've painted the loungeThe place we visited promises “clear evidence and proof of a life after death” beyond reasonable doubt.Did we get it?Lee and Paul don't entirely agree.🎃 Happy Halloween.Neither of us is an expert. We're just two wallopers trying this stuff, looking at the claims, checking the evidence and telling you what happened to us. Please don't mistake us for qualified professionals.Mind Cake: Not Self-Help. Just Slightly More Helpful Than Doing Nothing.And remember, as Dr Jan says: don't be a dick.LINKS⁠Newsletter⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠

Does reflexology actually work? We spun the wheel, took our socks off and found out.This is the first spin of the Wheel of Well-Being, the new Mind Cake segment where we road-test a wellness practice so you don't have to. The wheel is the spinner from a kids' Game of Life, because we blew the budget on the treatments and couldn't afford a paper plate and cocktail sticks.In this episode:What we expected going in (Paul: his sore back and elbow fixed. Lee: "a glorified, expensive foot rub")Paul's Thai foot massage versus Lee's reflexology, and why Lee had to ask his therapist to stop talkingWhether the foot map holds up. Spoiler: there's no anatomical evidence that spots on your feet connect to your organsWhy it might still feel brilliant: nervous system relaxation, the gate control theory of pain, and a meta-analysis reporting temporary drops in blood pressure, heart rate and anxietyReflexology versus Thai foot massage: what's actually differentThe verdict: big thumbs up, as long as they press firmly and keep quietWhat gets spun next: Shakti mat, firewalking, tuning forks and Reiki are all in the runningGot a wellness practice you want us to try? Send it in and it goes on the wheel.Neither of us is an expert and this isn't medical advice. We're two wallopers wading through the weird and wonderful world of wellbeing.LINKSNewsletterBuy Me a CoffeeMind Cake: Not Self-Help. Just Slightly More Helpful Than Doing Nothing.And remember, as Dr Jan says: don't be a dick.

WARNING: This episode includes discussion of self-harm, suicide, addiction, and recreational and ceremonial drug use. If any of this affects you, the Samaritans are free to call anytime on 116 123.Jon Hannan and Lee trained together in construction back in the 90s, back in the day when Jon's idea of a spiritual practice was a Stanley knife and a bottle of gin. Twenty-five years, one police chase, an ayahuasca ceremony in Costa Rica and a shaman in South Africa later, Jon's a very different man.This one goes to some dark places. Self-harm, addiction, grief ... and comes out the other side somewhere completely unexpected: the Four Agreements, karma, and why your future might actually be your destiny (don't worry, we didn't fully understand it either).Mind Cake: Not Self-Help. Just Slightly More Helpful Than Doing Nothing.LINKSJon's Facebook PageSamaritansThe Four Agreements ThingySign up - Mind Cake Newsletter

Some conversations can’t be put off forever.Ahead of Inevitable at Scripts the Thing in Dorchester, Gemma and Anne join me to step inside the world of Brian and Tom.They perform a 90-second extract from the play while I discover that listening to actors perform something you’ve written, right in front of you, is excruciatingly uncomfortable and apparently best endured by doing a LOT of doodling.Then we talk about the characters, the comedy, what’s lurking underneath it, and what happens when words you wrote acquire voices of their own.Tea may be involved. Avoidance definitely is.LINKSScript's the Thing - Dorchester⁠Sign up - Mind Cake Newsletter

Paul's back ... Fringe show done, baws deep in awards ... and it's been a hellofa week. Two rejections (Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Independent Podcast Awards) landed in the same 72 hours as some genuinely good news elsewhere. It's also six years since Lee was told I had six months to live.Oh, and Lee's ended up back in A&E with a nasty infection from the cannula site, weeks after the hospital stay.We talk about all of it: rejection, invisible illness, pacing yourself when fatigue has no rhyme or reason, and why we're building a genuinely stupid Wheel of Well-Being out of a paper plate (send us your ideas for what goes on it).Not self-help. Just slightly more helpful than doing nothing.

This week it's just me. No guest, no Paul ... just an honest one, on my own, about the week I've had.I ended up spending four nights in hospital. This isn't a dig at the NHS. They've saved my life more than once, and I genuinely wouldn't be here without them. But there's stuff I went through that I think is worth talking about honestly: what it's actually like being stuck in the system for a few days, the bits that work and the bits that are visibly creaking, and where your head goes at 3am with nothing to do but think.Mine went to some genuinely dark places, fast. I think that's worth talking about too, how easy it is to catastrophise when you're tired, in pain, and alone with your own thoughts.Not self-help. Just slightly more helpful than doing nothing.Sign up for the newsletter hereOr join the WhatsApp channel here

Part two of Lee and Paul's conversation with Prince Stash de Rola. This time it gets deeper: witnessing Syd Barrett's psychedelic breakdown in the Black Mountains, meeting Timothy Leary as a fugitive in Switzerland, decades of psychedelic and spiritual practice — and a sharp take on why social media and phone addiction are quietly wrecking people's mental health and attention spans today.Mind Cake is a comedy wellbeing podcast — not self-help, just slightly more helpful than doing nothing. Honest conversations about mental health, coping with anxiety, and the real stuff nobody tells you, with a laugh along the way.Missed Part 1? Go back and catch Stash's stories of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and life in a 1,300-year-old castle first.Guest: Prince Stash de RolaTopics: psychedelics, Timothy Leary, Syd Barrett, social media and mental health, phone addiction, anxiety, spirituality

This week ... Prince Stash de Rola.Friend of the Rolling Stones, housemate of Paul McCartney, model, musician, and current resident of a 1,300-year-old Italian castle, joins Lee on Mind Cake for the first of a two-part conversation. From surviving Vince Taylor's public breakdown to being arrested alongside the Stones and taken in by the Beatles, Stash shares stories from the heart of 60s rock stardom most people have never heard first-hand.Mind Cake is a comedy wellbeing podcast . Not self-help, just slightly more helpful than doing nothing. Honest conversations about mental health, coping with anxiety, and the real stuff nobody tells you, with a laugh along the way.Part 2, where the conversation turns to psychedelics, Timothy Leary, and why social media is lying to you, drops next Tuesday.Guest: Prince Stash de RolaTopics: rock and roll history, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, fame and mental health, celebrity breakdown, coping with anxiety.LINKSThe Prince Stash WebsiteMind Cake NewsletterMind Cake WhatsApp group

This week Lee heads to Drumchapel to meet Martin Melly from Men Matter Scotland ... and gets asked to rate his mental health battery before he's even sat down.Martin explains how a simple check-in question has become the backbone of a talking group that started as a dads' group in 2019 and has since grown into hubs in Glasgow and Cumbernauld. They get into why social media comparison culture makes everyone feel like they're the only one struggling, why "no advice, just listen" works better than most people expect, and the small, unglamorous habits - gym, meditation, a walk with the dog - that keep Martin's own battery charged.As Martin puts it: the hardest part is getting through the door. Everything after that gets easier.Find Men Matter Scotland: open Monday–Friday, 10:30am–8pm at their Drum Chapel hub, plus Fridays 10am–8pm in Cumbernauld. Drop in, phone, message on Facebook/Instagram, or self-refer via their website.Men Matter Scotland websiteMind Cake Newsletter

Michael Redmond played Father Stone in Father Ted in the 1990s. He's never watched it. When they wheeled out a television at a gig in Glasgow and showed the whole thing without warning, he hated every minute of it. This is one of the most honest conversations Mind Cake has had. We chat about about burnout, bewilderment, finding contentment and why autistic children around the world see themselves in a deadpan Irish priest who just looks lost. Michael is 75, lives in Glasgow, posts about aliens on TikTok, and is one of the funniest people Lee has ever sat across from. Mind Cake is a comedy wellbeing podcast exploring honest mental health conversations and the stuff that actually helps, without the therapy speak.