• The Gentle Rebel Podcast

  • By: Andy Mort
  • Podcast

The Gentle Rebel Podcast

By: Andy Mort
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  • Summary

  • Exploring the intersection of high sensitivity, creativity, and culture
    Andy Mort
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Social Sciences Personal Success Biological Sciences
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Episodes
  • 73 | Life’s Slip Roads, Rest Stops, and Bridges (Getting Up To and Down To Speed)

    73 | Life’s Slip Roads, Rest Stops, and Bridges (Getting Up To and Down To Speed)
    Sep 16 2024
    You've probably experienced tiring shifts when moving between tasks, environments, and social contexts—from work to home, solitary to social, and stress to calm. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I explore how slip roads, rest stops, and bridges can help us match the pace and rhythm (speeding up and slowing down) of situations and environments. Oxford Services: The Meaning of Meaninglessness Twenty years ago (😦), my friend Dave and I started a temporary tradition (three or four years) of meeting at Oxford Services on the M40 on New Year's Eve. We drove there for a photo shoot, and Dave took the cover photo for The Final Scene (my first Atlum Schema album). Without any practical reason, we decided to return the following year and drop a general invite to anyone who wanted to join us. A few people did. Then we did it again. Even more people showed up the year after. No one knew why we did it, but it became a playful, meaningless-yet-meaningful tradition. We would meet, have a coffee, chat, and then leave for our separate plans. What I love about places like service stations is their "in-between" quality. They are not destinations but transient spaces—everyone is passing through. Like airports and train stations, they are filled with a unique type of energy because of this constant flow of people moving to different rhythms. I find them inspiring and exhausting. Getting Up To Speed on Slip Roads Slip roads allow vehicles to match the traffic speed of a busier road to merge onto it more smoothly. Transitions between tasks or environments can feel like changing roads. Sometimes, we’re expected (or expect ourselves) to jump into new situations at full speed, with no time to ease into the flow. These abrupt shifts can feel jarring for highly sensitive people, leaving little room to mentally or emotionally adjust. This idea could help us consider the pressure we put on ourselves when moving between contexts. It can also give us some options for smoother transitions between different environments, situations, and activities. Rest Stops and Kotas - Stopping to Pause One of the things we do in The Return to Serenity Island is consider where to add rest stops and wilderness huts (kotas) around the map. These are not just spaces for physical rest, but they are places for soul-nourishing encounters with others. I think of these as fireside moments, times between "the action" when we transcend the busyness of doing and occupy a place of being, which can seem unproductive and inefficient use of time, especially when we have been trained to see everything as needing an obvious purpose. Much like Oxford Services, it’s often the places that look devoid of purpose where meaning is made. It’s not the action but the pause that allows for transformation. Bridges and Boundaries These ideas build on my post about Bridging Our Boundaries, in which I discussed how boundaries sometimes need absorbent space to feel good rather than being hard starts and stops. These bridges provide space for preparation and recovery. Deb Dana also uses the language of bridging to show how our nervous system moves between states. Rather than clicking our fingers to think our way back from stress to safety, seeing it as a journey back through and upwards to where we want to be is more valuable. I also like using a map rather than a GPS to conceptualise personal development and progress. Growth is not about following one straight line up and to the right. Life is full of contours and landscapes to familiarise ourselves with and improve our navigation. I finish this episode with an exercise from Anchored (Deb Dana) that explores the "stretch-stress continuum." It resonates with what we do in The Return to Serenity Island. I hope it will be a practical tool you can use (if it resonates). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIlNkAfZQ6U&feature=youtu.be
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Do You Truly Accept and Understand Your Underlying Personality Traits?

    Do You Truly Accept and Understand Your Underlying Personality Traits?
    Jun 22 2018
    Many people wish they were different. They compare themselves with others and think that life would be better if only they had their traits, gifts, and confidence. They struggle to accept their nature, and in so doing fail to enjoy everything their uniqueness brings. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman Think about it for a second. What the world needs is for you to conform to its own needs. It needs you to buy the stuff it says you need. It needs you to be predictable. What the world needs is for you to fit in and be like everyone else. In other words, it needs you to rely on the stuff it paints as important, and neglect the stuff that actually matters to you. Perhaps this is better described as what the world "wants". Because as Thurman says, what the world actually "needs" is people who have come alive. A world of people who have come alive is a world of love, creativity, and acceptance. It's a world where people live at peace with themselves, and in full acceptance of the aliveness of everyone else. Stop asking what the world wants from you. Forget trying to change in order to fit in better. Look at what brings you joy, and accept those parts of yourself. What brings you to a place of flow? Do those things and the wants, comparisons, envy, and unhealthy competitiveness will naturally drain away. In this episode of the podcast we look at these ideas in more depth. We examine the first of three disciplines that come from Stoic Philosophy, which is a great help to us as we think about how to thrive as introverts and sensitive types in the modern world. How can you accept who you are? We consider the Big 5 Personality Traits, and what they can teach us about how who we are is both fixed and flexible. By accepting what is fixed, we are able to develop our temperamental flexibility. I share why personality is like a bead on a rubber band. It's my hope that by the end of the episode you will see that you have more control over your personality than you might otherwise think.
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    34 mins
  • The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Still Has a Lot to Teach Us (a chat with Bo Miller)

    The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Still Has a Lot to Teach Us (a chat with Bo Miller)
    Apr 1 2018
    You may well be familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It's one of the most recognised and used personality tests in the world. It is based on the psychological theory of Carl Jung along with Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. In this week's podcast I chat with Bo Miller, who is an author, blogger, podcaster, introvert, and certified Myers-Briggs practitioner. He helps people identify and maximise their unique gifts through his website, iSpeakPeople. It's a site for INFJs (a Myers-Briggs personality type). However, Bo publishes great stuff for introverts of all colours. You can download his free ebook, The INFJ Personality Guide, which is a fantastically in depth look at life as an INFJ. Criticisms of The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I loved talking to Bo about the MBTI, and its use in our lives. Over the years of working with introverts and sensitive types I have come across various critics of the test. It was lovely to talk with Bo though, who recognises that while it is not perfect, it carries a huge amount of value. It helps us better understand ourselves, others, and maximise our own impact on the world. Escaping Tribalism and Reductionistic Language Conversations about introversion can be deterministic; a pre-determined set of characteristics and values. Introverts have no control over what they are capable of...and what they are incapable of. We are good at building walls around ourselves, using labels to justify the behaviours and attitudes we want to get away with. But this is not helpful, necessary, or healthy. What I love about Bo Miller's approach to this topic is that he sees the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a tool we can use to free ourselves. It's not a tool to label and thus restrict our self-understanding, but one to help us better understand who we are and how we can create conditions in our lives for the best way of being. It's important for all of us to embrace this approach. To enjoy the validation of recognising ourselves in a certain personality profile, whether that's as an INFJ. But then to use it as a way to understand ourselves within the context of the richly spiced variety of humanity, of which we are but one small speck. In the interview you will learn: Why the MBTI is still relevant today What it helps us understand about ourselves and other people Why Bo wanted to be a licensed practitioner Bo's favourite kind of resources to create (as a podcaster, writer, YouTube creator etc) What advice Bo would impart to his younger self if he could How Bo balances family, work and business life, without burning out Over to You What did you enjoy about this interview? Has it changed anything in your understanding of yourself as an introvert? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Support the Podcast and get bonus extras:
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    48 mins

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