If you are back at work - and perhaps commuting to the office - I’m happy to bring you three fresh interviews on the Out of the Clouds podcast, released over the summer.

Early on in working on my podcast, I decided to select some questions which I’d ask every guest at the end of each interview. My favorite question is ‘what brings you happiness?’ and my second favorite is probably ‘what song best represents you?’

Abigail James, London’s famed A-list facialist who’s been crowned ‘the queen of skin’ and ‘priestess of facial massage’, is also a well-being expert, yoga teacher, author, and single mother. In her absorbing interview with Anne, Abigail discusses her winding path to where she is now, the art of facial massage and power of positive touch, as well as the life philosophy she practices to keep going.

Do you know what you’d like your future self to look like? Sound like? Feel like? This very interesting article by Medium-made success, writer Benjamin Hardy, for HBR, leans on academic research papers to make the point that we need to choose what we want to be, in order to become that future self. He also points to the skill sets that can support this approach, including psychological flexibility, a topic I tackled before and that you can listen to in depth in my interview with Jonathan Kaplan.

NY Mag’s The Cut has a new series, which I discovered thanks to the Scribbling Buddha newsletter, written by author April Dàvila, an early guest of the podcast. The proposition is simple: ‘I tried it’ is meant to put some daily mindfulness tactics to the test, with the goal of reporting back.

In the latest Out of the Clouds episode, I interview licensed clinical psychologist, author and teacher Dr Jonathan Kaplan Ph.D. He is an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy practitioner, expert in cognitive behavioural therapy and works with the application of mindfulness and meditation in psychotherapy. He runs the Soho CBT Therapy + Mindfulness Center in New York.
You may even remember that thanks to Dr Kaplan's lecture, I'd written a blog post about why I want a flexible brain! Well, I emailed him to let me know and here we are :)

You may not think of Brené Brown as someone very corporate, yet this exceptionally successful lady is at the helm of a decent team and a number of big projects. Between books, podcasts, appearances, her own research and the Netflix special, to say she has her hands full is probably a wild understatement.

I was bewildered and rather in awe when she emailed her subscribers last week to share that she and her whole team were going on break. While I was writing my own version of I need space, I appreciated reading her words, another proof or reassurance that by preparing to take some time off, I too was making the right decision...

Part of coaching training (and I assume therapy) is ‘thought work’. Examining the veracity, the charge of our thoughts, and working things like cognitive defusion, aka taking a step back from believing the stickier things in our minds that may stop us from growth, happiness, etc.

The master of thought work is one Byron Katie. Discover her interview with Oprah, who ends up exploring her own sticky thoughts on friends and family wanting to borrow money. Fascinating. Listen here.

In this new episode of Out of the Clouds, I am delighted to share my interview with Wesley Faulkner. Wesley is a first-generation American, public speaker, and podcaster, and he currently works as a Head of Community at SingleStore, and much more.

A tech enthusiast since his teens, Wesley first trained as an electrical and computer engineer (despite growing up without owning a personal computer himself). He shares with me the arc of his multipronged career, from hardware to software, and how being an early adopter of Twitter led him to social media management and later to ‘dev rel’ (or developer relations), and how he managed it despite a late diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia - and why he is now an advocate for workplace inclusion for neurodiverse populations.

A very passionate, in-depth and honest conversation. Happy listening!

I am both a communications person and someone interested in what is happening in the world. I'm also a person who has occasionally moved on abruptly from friendships (not proudly may I add) and who was sadly once blocked and ghosted by someone who I cared about greatly, marking the end of what was a meaningful relationship.

So, of course, I felt compelled to write a short post to highlight this powerful piece by Jonathan Li, political journalist and commentator who’s written for the Guardian and the Washington Post among others.