25. Aliveness

In this episode, Nash and our special guest, Bonny Astor, discuss what can give us a sense of belonging, the pros and cons of groups, what groups require to last, and how to maximise your chances of being accepted when joining a new group.  Bonny and Nash draw extensively from their experience of running Meetup groups,  Thought Experiments in Pubs and Pub Psychology (also mostly in London pubs!), respectively. If you join these groups, you can meet them in person!personalsynthesis.com

This podcast can help you be more in charge of interest and boredom. Generally, there are two reasons why we get bored: because nothing is happening and because of what is happening and they require different approaches. We will address both. Also, we sometimes may not be interested enough in things that we want to be, so we will talk about how to get there too.  personalsynthesis.com

Do you consider yourself an open or closed person? Are you in charge of opening and closing to new experiences or information, or sometimes you find yourself too open or too closed? Would you like to change anything in this respect? In this episode, we discuss what openness is, when and to what extent; we also share with our listeners tips on how to regulate the ability to open up as well as close down.  You can be more in charge of it!personalsynthesis.com

In this podcast, we discuss what makes us feel alive and how we can enhance that sense of aliveness. We compare the advantages and disadvantages of diversity and variation as well as the intensity and depth of our experiences. Risk-taking and how to do it wisely is considered, too.personalsynthesis.com

Resilience is a hot topic - we seem to get less and less resilient with detrimental consequences for our well-being and mental health. In this episode, we first discuss factors that reduce resilience and then suggest what we can do to increase it. Three steps of resilience (think, choose, accept and move on), as well as how to deal with iceberg situations, are also addressed.personalsynthesis.com

In this episode, we clarify the difference between three distinct concepts: attachment, non-attachment and detachment. All three have a purpose in our lives and the capacity to move between them can be beneficial. We share with our listeners some tips on how to do that. personalsynthesis.com

In this episode, we will examine what is important to us and why and how much importance we should attach to something. We will also share with our listeners some tips on how to reduce as well as increase importance when we want to do so.personalsynthesis.com

In this episode, we discuss why it is good to accept death, the meaning of death, how to deal with the fear of death and some concerns related to death. We also touch upon loss and grieving and how to support those who grieve.personalsynthesis.com

In this episode, we will first examine the relationship between the sense of security and anxiety and explain why anxiety and fear are not the same, even though they are often used interchangeably nowadays. A few tips on how to control excessive anxiety will be suggested, and finally, we will discuss external and internal sources of security. personalsynthesis.com

In this episode, we discuss some main dispositions towards events that are not experienced but anticipated: worrying, optimism and pessimism. We start by examining if worrying is really useful, why we worry and how to reduce and control worrying. Then we turn to optimism, pessimism and the possibility of their synthesis. It is, really, quite an optimistic one!personalsynthesis.com