KURT FROST psychotherapy

Tag: podcasts

  • An ode to you being strong enough…

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Invictus

    Out of the night that covers me,
    Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
    I thank whatever gods may be
    For my unconquerable soul.

    In the fell clutch of circumstance
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.
    Under the bludgeonings of chance
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the Horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace of the years
    Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll,
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul.

    William Ernest Henley – 1849-1903

    Malevolent is one of my favourite podcasts and I love it even more that the brilliant mind and heart behind it, Harlan Guthrie, is a ‘local boy’, from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). His recitation of Invictus in a recent episode was touching and inspiring. (Thanks Harlan!)

    Sometimes it is just nice to hear that we are going to be OK.

    Though new to me, Invictus is a famous poem that speaks to that “unconquerable soul” that we should never forget about. When you lose touch with this part of yourself, look to another unconquerable, beautiful soul in your life to show you it is possible and inspire you to be better. Keep this in mind when life kicks you in the gut. 😉

  • Getting to Completion with “Topic Lock”

    Getting to Completion with “Topic Lock”

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Choices are hard, yet seductive. I like to “keep my options open”, but this usually ends up with me procrastinating and not getting things done. There are many things that get in the way of completing work, but usually committing to too much is pretty high on the list.

    In his podcast, Cortex, CGP Grey talks about his yearly theme of “clearing the decks” and this intriguing idea of “topic lock”. It is not complex, mostly that he commits to doing 3 projects at a time and all offshoot ideas that come from these projects need to “go back below decks”.

    It is really just having good boundaries.

    I am working to compartmentalize my multitude of projects and, worse, ideas for projects, but my plan is to focus on fewer projects, with an emphasis on completion. My getting this post out of my head/Evernote and in a public space is a good start!

    You can listen to the full podcast in the player below or just the segment that I am referring to.

    172: David Pierce – State of the Workflow – Cortex

    Myke talks to The Verge’s David Pierce about the workflow behind his Humane AI Pin review, how he collaborates to make podcasts like The Vergecast, and how his Installer newsletter helps him highlight the positive side of the internet each week.
  • What Makes Difficult Conversations Difficult

    What Makes Difficult Conversations Difficult

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Some conversations are much harder to have than others. I have quite a few books on communication and some specifically on difficult conversations, but I had not quite thought of exactly why this is so. Then, listening to Seth Godin this morning, he hit it right on the head by saying that some conversations are more difficult than others because in the difficult ones we want two things, not one.

    …we want someone to change and we want them to like it; we want someone to stop doing something and we want them to not be mad at us; we want someone to change their behaviour and we still want them to be our friend…”

    Seth Godin on Akimbo – Difficult Conversations

    Seth has some good suggestions on how to look at these conversations differently (and the podcast explains them well), but my sense of it is that we need to be clear on what our goal of having this difficult conversation is and why it is important for us to have it. When we are clear on this what and why it will be easier for us to move into this difficult conversation because we are removing, or at least lessening our attachment to, our secondary goal (sometimes called a competing commitment).

    It is important to understand this inner conflict more. The first part of these “two things” is behavioural: we want something to be different. The second part is interpersonal or emotional: we want to preserve a relationship or not feel bad. We want the first part because of some boundary that has been crossed that is important to us. Our concern over the “second thing” is because we either are concerned about the relationship to the other person will be harmed or we are worried there might be some backlash that will harm us (more specifically hurt our feelings or ego).

    Once we get clear what it is we need and why it is important to do the “first thing” (set the boundary), it should be easier for us to realize that the “second thing” is more of a distorted thought rooted in fear. If we handle the “first thing” in the difficult conversation well – be clear, concise, and not emotionally reactive – we will be less attached to the outcome of how another responds to our concerns. Also, it may occur to us that we may be not jeopardizing a relationship by bringing this up, but honouring or strengthening it. You obviously care enough to bring it up, so the other person may recognize and appreciate this.

    It is never easy to have difficult conversations, but we need to be mindful to not let our own fears muddy our perception of them. By dispassionately working to resolve conflict we can, funny enough, tend to have less of it, both with others and within ourselves.

  • The Sounds of My Youth

    The Sounds of My Youth

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Star Wars occupied most of my childhood. The original film was released when I was 5 years old and, after seeing that, Luke Skywalker, tie fighters and Wookies consumed the majority of my brother, Stefan, and my waking hours… during our sleeping hours, we had The Empire Strikes Back sheets!

    It is a movie with very well designed and unique sounds: R2D2 beeps and boops, lightsaber hums and the terrifyingly unmistakable scream of the tie fighter are just a few of the obvious ones. We used to imitate them as we played and Stefan and I can still identify key parts of the movies blindfolded by just hearing the sound effects or music.

    With this history (or misspent youth) I was super pumped to have one of my favourite podcasts, Twenty Thousand Hertz, do an episode on the backstories of many of the key sounds from the Star Wars movies. They interview Ben Burtt, the sound designer who worked with George Lucas to define these iconic sounds and it was fascinating to hear where they came from. I have known some of this history from previous nerdy pursuits, but it was great to hear it from the guy who actually created them and get to hear, from a sound design perspective, how it was done, layer by layer.

    If you love Star Wars too, this is a must-listen. If you don’t, you still may like the show, but, frankly, you have bigger problems. 😉

    Listen on Overcast

  • A Comics Podcast to Pass the Time

    A Comics Podcast to Pass the Time

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Listen on Overcast

    You may have a bit more time on your hands these days. If you are looking for something to do – and if you like superheroes or comics (and why wouldn’t you?) – you just may like this new podcast from Marvel, called Marvels.

    As opposed to many superhero stories, the heroes are not the protagonists, they are the background story. The story is told from the perspective of journalists living in a superhero world. This type of storytelling twist has been done a few times in more recent years in comics and the media in general, but Marvels predates all, or at least most, of them.

    Marvels graphic novel

    The podcast is based on the 1994 graphic novel of the same name by writer Kurt Busiek and artist, Alex Ross (one of the most eerily realistic comic artists out there). A good friend of mine, Tim Levins (who is an awesome comic book artist himself!) lent me his copy several years ago and I fell in love with it. It opened my eyes to deeper, more interesting storytelling that can still love superheroes, but have bigger topics to cover and statements to make than heroes punching bad guys.

    (If you would rather be reading than listening to podcasts, you can get the comic on Amazon or digitally on Comixology. There are other, less official ways of reading this on the web, but I won’t go into that here.)

    The comic tells a more epic story, starting in 1939 and ending in the ’70’s, covering the very Golden Age of heroes. It has a very old-timey feel to it and focuses on photographer Phil Sheldon doing his job as a journalist amongst the crazy superhero and villain stuff going on around him in NYC.

    The podcast picks a smaller time period of the 1970’s and tells a more detailed, portion of the original print version. The series is not complete yet, so I am not sure where they will take it. All I can say so far is that I am really enjoying it and am excited for the next episode.

    Let me know how you like the podcast if you listen to it. If your are familiar with the comic and, even better, have read it, tell me what you think and if you have any other suggestions.