The Ed Armstrong Podcast

A little bit of a different style episode for you today. Just me, talking about some of my biggest mistakes that I have made over the years. All the way from fat loss pills, to ab stimulating machines. yep. I'm not proud of it. But I share all this to help you, so that you don't have to make the same mistakes that I did for all those years. There is a lot of great stuff out there when it comes to health and fitness, but let's be honest, there is also A LOT of nonsense too... And I hope this episode helps simplify a few things for you. I hope you enjoy it. Take it on a walk. And share it with your family and your friends if you think it could help them. Much love 

“SEE if you can catch your voice in the head, perhaps in the moment it complains about something, and recognise it for what it is: The voice of the ego, no more than a conditioned mind-pattern, a thought. …Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realise that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. You are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is awareness. In the foreground, there Is the voice, the thinker. …In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind. The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist. Every time the ego is recognised, it is weakened.” Source: A New Earth. Eckhart Tolle Just a little snippet from today's show. All about how to deal with and manage your mind and thoughts in a more helpful and beneficial way. I hope it helps you. Much love Ed

Have you ever wondered (or noticed) why you (or any of those people close to you) always seem to focus on the negative things? Even if life is going well, they still seem to focus on all the things going wrong?? Why is that? And what is it called? Well, it turns out, it's a very real phenomenon and it plays a huge part in most peoples' lives. It's called 'The negativity bias', also known as the negativity effect, and it is the notion that, even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things. Which means that there is a neurological explanation as to why some people end up being so negative. It has to do with the part of the brain called the amygdala, which functions as an alarm and is constantly on the look out for danger, fear and bad news. Scientists believe this to be the brain's default position. It's that idea of our early ancestors and how they needed to focus on the potential danger and how that was critical to their survival, and it worked. Or else we wouldn't be here. And that hardwiring has been past down to us...and although we don't (hopefully) have to worry about being eaten by a lion anymore, we still have those same psychological pathways and patterns at play in our everyday life, today. But...that can be a problem. Even though it makes sense. i.e. It wasn't exactly a good strategy to be calm, blissful and 'present' and peaceful when trying to avoid the lion (which is why it's our default position...and why we struggle to find and feel those more positive emotions)...you can see how this can be pretty detrimental to our life, if we're unaware of this fact and if we don't get a handle on it. Because, for many of us, when things happen in our 'normal' daily lives now, we react as if we are running away from the lion. But there is no lion. So, we are literally therefore, hardwired for negativity. We are hardwired to focus on the potential problems, and the challenges and the obstacles... But, what do we do about it? Well, hopefully this episode will help shine a light on that for you... I hope it helps. Much love Ed

What are they? -Mindset -Habits -Environment If you can work on and improve all three, you'll change your life. I hope you enjoy the episode. Much love Ed

This episode is all about MOTIVATION today. Namely, 'Intrinsic' vs 'Extrinsic' motivation. In basic terms, Intrinsic motivation comes from within, while extrinsic arises from the outside. (You probably guessed that) Why is this important? When you're intrinsically motivated you engage in the activity solely because you enjoy it and get personal satisfaction from it. When you're extrinsically motivated, you do something to gain an external reward. You've probably heard this before. But, have you thought about how this works in your life? With all these goals you want, are you doing it for the enjoyment of the activity OR are you doing it for the external reward? Something to think about... Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes having an external reward CAN be useful AND motivating. Sure. BUT, which one do you think is most valuable to you and your journey of self-improvement and personal growth? If you had to focus on one a little bit more than the other?? Yep. You guessed it. INTERNAL. The idea that we show up and do the things we know we need to do for the pure sense of joy and pleasure that the activity itself gives us. When you get this, you don't really need to worry about motivation anymore. Most people lack motivation because they are doing something they DON'T value AND, they are doing something (or chasing something) that they DON'T really want.  They are chasing someones else's dream or someone else's goal...thinking that it is what they should be doing...and thinking that it will make them happy. BUT you must ask yourself, is that what YOU want? And is it what YOU value? This doesn't mean it will be easy and always be fun. No, changing your life is hard. I say it all the time. And there will be days you don't feel like doing the things you know you should be doing BUT, when you're internally driven and motivated, it's much easier to be excited about those things and to do them anyway. Because you find enjoyment in the action itself. NOT in the result or the reward. This is really common in the health/fitness and personal development world. People chasing the wrong things. People thinking that some end result or end destination will solve all their problems... But, the truth is, happiness comes from the pursuit. From the journey. It comes from the process of daily self-improvement... The internal scorecard you keep with yourself. Hope you enjoy the episode. Much love Ed

Hopefully this episode will tell you exactly why you should. Goal setting can be a bit of a boring topic that every man and his dog is talking about, I know, but, I hope I spiced it up a bit for you today. I hope, if nothing else, this episode made you realise just how important creating a meaningful goal and direction in your life, truly is. For so many reasons.. Give it a listen and share it with your family and your friends if you think it could help them. As always, hope this helps.  Much love. Ed 

On this episode I go into some depth about just how important it is to start with the basics and how that is the prerequisite to climbing high on your journey of personal growth. When we are in a low place, the 'doors' of opportunity and growth seem very small and very low, BUT, we must enter them and we must explore them if we wish to change and improve our life. As always, I hope this episode helps. Share it with your family and your friends. Much love Ed 

I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share it with all your family and your friends. I appreciate all the support. Much love Ed

Wow. Part 2 with Pat certainly didn't disappoint! We talked all about emotions and feelings in this episode and about just how important a role they all play in allowing us to experience a full life. We talked about Anger, Anxiety, Guilt and Shame. And we discussed how these are nothing more than signals and sign post that we need to look at and address, in order for us to work through them and to come out happier, healthier and stronger the other side. I really hope you enjoy the episode. Remember: It's OK to feel... As always, if you did enjoy it and if you feel like it will help someone you know, please share it with them. That's how we grow the show. Thank you! I appreciate you all.  Much love

I'm so excited to share this episode with you today. I think you're going to love it. Tom is a GB Olympic Rugby Sevens player, England Rugby super star and just an all round great bloke. We have been best mates for a very long time and it was so nice to be able to have such a deep and meaningful conversation and it was a pleasure for us to be able to share it with you all, too. I think there are a lot of great take home points for you to bring into your own life, whether you're an elite athlete like Tom, or just someone out there who is trying to improve your own physical and mental health...there really is something for everyone in this episode. I really hope you enjoy it and that it helps you improve the quality of your life. That's all we're trying to do here... Please share this episode with your family and your friends if you think it will help them. Much love Ed