The Change Room with Rod & Lesley

In this episode, Rod and Lesley talk about what to do with advice.  Is it helpful if you seek it? What should you do if you receive it unsolicited?  Why do some seek advice more than others?  This is an episode that gets into the small ball (i.e., the nuances) of what we all do when we are considering change or confronted by it.  

In this episode, Rod and Lesley interview Paul Haigh to honour and discuss Indigenous History.  This episode is the most powerful and gripping one yet as Paul shares his history as an indigenous person and his work at Council Fire in Toronto.  No short synopsis can capture the breadth of the conversation and the important topics.   A few important links that Rod and Lesley are exploring and encourage you do as well.   • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission - http://www.trc.ca.  Paul recommends you read through the 94 recommendations - here.   https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2091412-trc-calls-to-action Rod suggests you go through the historical documents of government legislation and treaties - because they never taught this in school when Rod was growing up. • National Indigenous People's Day - June 21st - and National Indigenous Heritage Month • The 1989 Movie - Where the Spirit Lives.  Paul was moved by it in 1989 and just watched it again the night before our podcast recording.  You can find the full film on Youtube here.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7aW4tzklTLQ

In this episode, Rod and Lesley discuss the fear of success and how that stops people from making good change in their lives.  Like many good tips, the way to get around this type of fear has three steps.  Three is the magic, along with visualization and the right kind of positive self talk.

In this episode, Rod and Lesley spend some time in the 80s to understand a saying that is still active today.  That is 'Fake it until you make it'.  References to 80s movies and some more recent books, plus sprinkled in stories, make this episode an interesting one.  The insight discussed here is to be wary of the expression and use with caution and a clear mind.  Like everything, the answer is nuanced.  

In this episode, Rod and Lesley conduct their second interview with Mary Munro.  If you follow someone on instagram, and not sure who they are but are mesmerized by their posts of fermenting things, baking, discovery plants.  Well, that is probably Mary.  In this discussion, Mary shares her view on on the interconnection of the head, heart, and gut.  The gut seems to get the most attention in this talk because there is food and drink involved.  The theme connecting it all together is Mental Health as we come to the end of Mental Health Awareness month of May, 2021.   Check out Mary's creations at https://www.instagram.com/bigbank2riverbank/ Follow

It is a long weekend and we took a break to refresh.  This episode is from our early days. Here is Episode 6!   We hit our stride in this episode.  We dive into self-talk and auto-suggestion.  References to 100 year old French guys, and 1990s SNL skits are part of our exploring whether positive self-talk matters.  Lesley reveals that she thinks 'getting to a higher vibrational place' is a good thing, and Rod confesses that despite being a skeptic, it was the book 'Think and Grow Rich' that sparked his interest in psychology.

In this episode, Rod and Lesley take a concept that is common in their professional lives of change management, and projects it into non work situations.  Change leadership is about owning and leading through a change, which is kind of the point of this podcast.  They share more stories and related work jargon to real situations.  

In this episode, Rod and Lesley grapple with seeing thinks differently.  All starting with a poem and moving to a gum commercial, they discuss their different points of view, and their reactions to the difference.  The quote from the poem is 'what you seek, is seeking you' by Rumi.  The gum commercial is the Extra one making the rounds. Rod takes this one outside with the birds in the backyard and so chirping can be heard. Also mentioned in this episode is Lesley's favourite spots for buying important things such as fridge magnets and sayings written on signs.  Aptly named 'Anything Goes Accessories' in the St. Lawrence Market and oddly named 'El Pipil' on the Danforth.

In this episode, Rod and Lesley build off of last week's discussion to acknowledge, that many times all the angst on needing to change leads to the realization that you don't need to change at all.  When they talk about the RAIN model, or the power of labelling how you are feeling to move through it.  The essence is that you are ok to be who you are or to feel how you do.  With that pressure off of worrying about changing 100 things, you can relax a little and think about a smaller number of habits or behaviours you would like to do differently.  

In this episode, Rod and Lesley talk about something that is happening a lot in COVID times - and probably happened a lot before too.  The feeling that we are languishing or stuck.  Inspired by Lesley's fanboy Adam Grant and his recent NY Times article, we talked about the feeling of 'meh'.  While Rod isn't yet signing up to the fan list for Mr Grant, he did admit to being well practised in the art of languishing. The big insight that Lesley had after reading the article is what is really interesting. It wasn't an 'a-ha' moment, it was the feeling she had of being able to label her COVID blahs.  Listen to find out more....   ps - The intro music is played by Lesley on cello on a piece specially written for our podcast by her cello teacher, Mary Katherine Finch (www.marykatherinefinch.com)