Human beings have free will – of course they do! We make choices, and then we reflect on those choices in the hope that we can – hopefully – make better choices. Which leads us to notions of responsibility and values (when we do what we said we’d do, or when we behave in a “good” way), and excuses, reasons and stories (when we act “out of character…

Firstly, the following three facts (about you) should NOT surprise you (though you likely take them for granted) 1) you are alive right now; 2) you are conscious of your experience of life; 3) you think (probably much more than you need to, especially about your experiences). Agree? Well, those three un-surprising facts form the basis of the follow…

Are right deeds and actions more important than right words and ideas? (Do actions speak louder than words?) Particularly, when it comes to solving the problems in your personal life, in your family and friends’ lives, and in the life of this world of ours? Yes, it’s time for another difficult question, but this time I’m going to suggest an answer.…

What if everything you’re DOING to make things better is only making things worse? (What if it’s actually the DOING that’s the problem?) What if it turns out that your strengths (your ideologies, your values, your opinions) are your weaknesses, right now, and your weaknesses are your strengths? What if the need to make someone listen or see or unde…

Why… do YOU do… what you do? Why do they… do… what they do? (Ever wondered?) I don’t mean just the lovely - random acts of kindness, caring for strangers, loving friends and family – stuff that we do, but also the mean and nasty, admit-it-to-no-one, deny-it-to-everyone stuff. Not just the never-do-it-again big acts of brutality, either, but the do-…

Is it possible to learn from someone we really don’t like? If so, what can they teach us about our common humanity: about the strengths and values that we admire, and about the flaws and weaknesses that we’d rather not acknowledge - even to ourselves? Must we always demonise and shut down those that are ideologically opposed to us, as well as their…

If life is a game, then what are the rules? Are these rules universal, or do we get to make up our own rules? What game is it that we’re each playing (are we playing the same game, for example, is the Hokey Cokey really what it’s all about)? Do these questions even matter? In this episode I’ve come up with a few games of life, as well as suggested …

Easy answers (blaming others) versus difficult questions (how is this my responsibility too?) – ooh, which one do you choose? Hah! Do you go for the oh-so-seductive "easy way" solution, or the "road less travelled" one? Well, one way makes the world a better place whilst the other way keeps things as they are… In this episode I've put together a co…

What does it mean to live in the “real world”? And whose “real world” are we talking about - the “real world” that you experience, perhaps, or the “real world” that I as a middle-aged dreadlocked Yorkshireman experience? Is there really only ONE “real world”, one reality, or do we all actually live in separately created realities? In other words, d…

What does it mean to you to be a healthy, happy human being? Should your happiness be what matters most, or should you put the happiness of others first? How do we make the world a happier, better place, anyway? Could religion (or spiritual understanding) be the answer to all the unhappiness in the world, or is evidence-based science our one true s…