I’ve listened to two episodes in the last week on one of my favourite podcasts – How to Fail with Elizabeth Day. The podcast features Elizabeth with interviewees, exploring what their failures taught them about how to succeed better.
The first was with Alain De Botton, founder of the School of Life, on embracing vulnerability in the age of Coronavirus. They talk about how to be human and how to stay (relatively) sane in the grip of a global pandemic. They share that, right now, it’s rational to be a little demented and how we should all take lessons from our childhood and be less ashamed of bursting into tears when we really need to.
The second episode was with Mo Gawdat, author and former Chief Business Officer for Google X, on how to cope with anxiety in a time of Coronavirus. He and Elizabeth talk about how to handle negative thoughts, how to practise gratitude and the concept of ‘committed acceptance’ which focuses on a) accepting the situation and b) within that acceptance, working out what you can actively do to make life better. He shares with us his own daily routine for self-isolation, the difference between the inevitability of pain and the choice of suffering, the wondrous abilities of the brain to come up with narratives which sometimes do not serve us and the importance of understanding the impact exercising our own free will have on others.
Both conversations contain insightful words of wisdom so valuable in these troubled times so I suggest finding yourself a quiet corner and enjoying the thoughts of these articulate folk.
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