Riffing Yarns

Autophagy is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer and healthier cells. “Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating.” It’s also referred to as “self-devouring.” While that may sound like something you never want to happen to your body, it’s actually beneficial to your overall health. Want to know more...listen to this episode.

We are now heading towards the end of Feb 2019. How are those new year resolutions holding out if you had "getting fit" in mind? In this episode, let's discuss some basics for getting your fitness campaign back on track. We will check back in again later in the year...so stay tuned.

I travel a lot and I still struggle trying to take all the right things. I think after years of doing the packing, I have got to a point where I seem to have the optimum approach for me. In this podcast, I would like to share with you my approach for travelling ultralight and what I take with me on my trips. It might just help you focus on what you need for your travelling adventures.

The Change Quest™ Model has proven to be highly effective in driving successful change of all kinds. It has helped individuals and organizations better understand how people react to change and how to reduce change fatigue and increase resilience. “The key to success with change is knowing how to move people through their brain-based resistance”…Once you know the four brain structures activated by fear, failure and fatigue, you can drive successful change initiatives,” says Dr Andreatta.

We are living in the era of Big Data. Companies are now really keen to tempt you with their stuff so that they can watch your behaviour online and make big bucks. Careful what you watch and do online because Big Brother is watching and wants to make Big Money. Listen to this show and get an idea of what the Chinese approach is with Big Data.

After my own experience, in December 2018, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Dr Alan Goldhamer from the True North Health Centre. Dr Goldhamer is a world expert when it comes to “water only fasting”. In this interview, we discuss what exactly “water only fasting” is and how it can help reboot your body.

Purely coincidental that this is Episode 013 and the title is "Fear Helps You Grow". In a 2004 study, the psychologist Karen Parker set out to explore the effects of early exposure to fear in squirrel monkeys. A group of 17-week-old monkeys were taken from their mothers and placed in a cage with other adult monkeys, previously unknown to them, for one hour. They were then returned to their mothers. This procedure was repeated once a week for a period of ten weeks. The results were...

Less is more and quitting while you are ahead can give you that reboot and refresh to get more out of what you are trying to do or achieve. Ernest Hemingway’s advice to would-be writers was to “always stop when you know what’s going to happen next.” Taking a break allows the idea to incubate in your subconscious, helping you when you get back to work later. Research by the University of Sydney’s Center for the Mind illustrates the benefits of pausing work.

How I Lost Weight On The Water Only Fast (Diet) – My Personal Journey and Lessons Learnt Not another one, I hear you shout. Well, perhaps a little different. There are lots of different types of fasts out there and I am not going to ramble on about these nor suggest any that I have not tried. In August 2018, I thought I would experiment with the Water Only Fast and hence I can share with you my “lived experience” of what I did, what I learnt and what I achieved.

In 2018, I trained to become a qualified fitness instructor. Not because I wanted to change my career or anything like that. I did it because I felt that after 30 years of regular exercising and fitness related activities, I just wasn’t getting optimised. I realised that I needed a boost and learn fitness 101. Doing the fitness course really opened my eyes, especially with regard to understanding the concept of Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). But what exactly is RPE?

Not looking forward to going back to work? There might be something more deep-rooted in this than what you first might think. Drawing upon my own experience, in this podcast, I share with you what you can do to review your "cravings" and how to go about making a break more meaningful to break out of that rat race.

When you think of a successful team, do you envision a harmonious, tightly-knit group? Or do you imagine a room full of people arguing with each other? The former, right? You might be surprised to discover that conflict between team members can actually be helpful for performance. Want to know more...listen in.

Have a big task list and find it repeats itself like a bad meal? Perhaps on your task list is the task "sort out my task list". Oh dear...so, whenever you come across a task that can be done in under two minutes, for example, responding to an email or sending a meeting invite, jump on it immediately. Don’t plan, don’t put it on your to-do list, don’t look for a time slot when you could do it, JUST DO IT. This is the basis of David Allen's famous 2-minute rule. Want to know more...listen in.

I suspect we have all had those late nights of burning the midnight oil, but research now clearly shows that sleep is the answer to solving your problems. Listen to this quickie and hopefully, you are not listening whilst in bed....or maybe it might just help put you to sleep :-)

Been wanting to read this book for a while and finally got around to doing this but it was heavy going! In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman explores the two thinking systems that we use to make decisions: system one and system two. In this podcast, just wanted to share my thoughts with a very quick overview and also what you might find interesting in the book.

As I am recording this (the day before the so-called "meaningful vote") in the UK we are in Brexit mode....oh dear!! If we do end up having another referendum, let's make sure we are not suffering from the "Halo Effect". After all, we are in knee deep in the brown stuff right now.

I did a podcast just recently about "decluttering" in 2019. This really follows on and looks at improving your daily productivity using the "Pomodoro technique". But what is this Pomodoro Technique? How can it help? Join in and listen...it might just save a lot of your daily time management frustrations.

In this episode, I want to share with you my top tips to declutter your life and specific aspects. Let’s start with defining decluttering. Look at positive and negative motivators and also triggers. We will then look at the various approaches for decluttering. Finally, I want to share with you my top tips and also a checklist that you can use to battle your way through the “clutter maze”.

Welcome...I would like to share with you the origin of the show, why and what motivated me to start this show.