Headington Institute

Headington Podcasts

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Episode 1 - Prepare for it

This episode is on preparing for it. We’ve all heard the adage, “prevention is the best cure.” Well, it applies to stress too. The more balanced and fulfilling your life, the better you will be able to handle stress with minimal “distress,” and the quicker you’ll bounce back after severely stressful events.

Episode 2 - Understand my reactions

This episode is on understanding our own reaction. Poet, Jameson Frank, claims that “our greatest battles are that with our own minds.” Recognizing how our thoughts feed directly into our reactions is perhaps the most fundamental of all stress management strategies. For as psychologist William James has pointed out, “human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

Episode 3 - Set Goals

This episode is on setting goals. Goal setting is itself one of the greatest positive actions we can undertake in life! Setting reasonable goals and identifying rewards for meeting them helps motivate us to sustained action. To ease into the whole concept I suggest that you immediately set a goal this morning to “do something nice for yourself today…”

Episode 4 - Nurture important relationships

This episode is on nurturing the important relationships in your life. Life’s truest happiness is found in friendships we make along the way! That, if nothing else, makes the people we love worth spending some time with

Episode 5 - Count my blessings

This episode is on counting our blessings. Learning to pay more attention to the many things we have to be thankful for helps us stabilize our inner compass and reorient our attitudes. May your day be filled with a multitude of blessings that give you an opportunity to practice the skill of gratitude!

Episode 6 - Refuse to worry

This episode is on refusing to worry. Corri Ten Boom once said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrow - it empties today of strength.” How much of what you are worried about today is a misuse of your imagination? As Shantideva wrote, “If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?” It might take some attention and practice, but we can learn to apply that principle more consistently in our lives!

Episode 7 - Get some exercise

This episode is on getting some exercise. As one anonymous wit wrote, “too many people confine their exercise to jumping to conclusions, running up bills, stretching the truth, bending over backward, lying down on the job, sidestepping responsibility and pushing their luck.” Yet few things have more health benefits than engaging in some form of exercise on a regular basis. How active are you?

Episode 8 - Fuel up the right way

This episode is on fueling up – the right way. Some things are so basic that to focus on them seems simplistic. But designations such as “basic” and “simplistic” are sometimes code for “very important.” Food is fuel, and the body needs fuel for all of its activities, including thinking and fighting the infections that threaten to make us sick. What you eat is worth paying attention to.

Episode 9 - Nourish my soul

This episode is on nourishing your soul. Our desire to help others, our choice of this type of work, often springs from the very deepest values. Yet humanitarian workers are regularly confronted with issues of poverty, violence, inequity, corruption and suffering. Those who do not invest time in understanding their own spirituality, and the ongoing impact of this work upon their values and understanding of the way the world works, run the risk of spiritual fracture under the pressure.

Episode 10 - Work to relax

This episode is on “working” to relax. Anatole France once wrote, “Man is made that he can only find relaxation from one type of labor by taking up another.” We tend to be fairly good at laboring at our work, but unskilled when it comes to laboring to relax, consciously instructing our bodies to wind down. May this remind you to think about the messages you regularly send to your body.

Episode 11 - Understand trauma

This month’s tip is on understanding trauma. Whether it’s a carjacking, the death of a loved one, assault, or an accident - when life blindsides us unexpectedly our reactions in the aftermath of trauma can be disorienting, painful, and very frightening. Simply understanding human normal reactions to abnormal situations can help you weather the immediate crisis period.

Episode 12 - Sharpen the saw

This episode is on taking time to “sharpen the saw”. Taking some time regularly to relax and refresh yourself in different ways increases focus and productivity in all areas of your life, not just work. At serious risk of mixing metaphors I’d have to say that, unlike cars, we’re not designed to run for hours on end at high speeds without overheating. Take some time to sharpen the saw.

Episode 13 - Think consciously

This episode is on learning to analyze our thoughts. Ambrose Pierce once said; “All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.” He could have said “All may be lunatics, but they who can observe their delusions are happier and more balanced as a result…” OK, I admit that phrasing doesn’t make nearly as pithy a quote. However, it is true.

Episode 14 - Seek out the positive

This episode is on positive thinking. The term “think positive” can bring to mind an image of Pollyanna (blond braids, checked gingham, and all). Besides being mildly disturbing, this doesn’t nearly do the topic justice. Thinking positively is a skill, a skill that can become one of the most useful habits we will ever cultivate. For, as John Milton once said, “the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

Episode 15 - Field hassles gracefully

This episode is about dealing with hassles. It's not just the major life events that influence our stress levels. Daily hassles and those minor positive events and interactions influence people's stress load too. Minor annoyances and worries (such as concern about your weight, losing something, or having to wait in a long line) can add up to become a big part of your stress load. Learning to deal with these more proactively and positively can go a long way towards helping us stay balanced.

Episode 16 - Express myself Clearly

This episode is on communication. Ralph Waldo Emerson once lamented; “It is so plain to me that eloquence, like swimming, is an art which all men might learn, though few do.” While we might not set our sights quite as high as ‘eloquence’ in the office, clear and effective communication is not beyond reach.

Episode 17 - Tell my story

This episode is on telling our stories. Hannah Arendt once wrote “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” Telling our stories can help us communicate the meaning we have derived from our experiences and struggles to others and, more importantly, to ourselves.

Episode 18 - Focus on others

This episode is on serving others. Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways, it can change someone’s life forever. So follow Thomas Guthrie’s advice when you feel the impulse towards kindness, “Do it now. It is not safe to leave a generous feeling to the cooling influences of the world.”

Episode 19 - Take it slow, but steady

When it comes to managing stress there are no instant fix-its which will work long-term. Developing good stress management skills is a lifelong journey towards developing healthy habits and helpful routines. By integrating helpful habits and ways of thinking into daily life, we reduce our reliance on motivation and pure grit to “be good” and build healthy resources that will serve us well when things get tough.

Headington Institute Approved by APA: The Headington Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and the Board of Behavioral Sciences of California (#PCE2823) to offer continuing education for marriage and family therapists and social workers. The Headington Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.