» Listings for 2019

1. David Mitchell talks about why people smoke and hits the nail on the head.

   Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 24th Apr 2019

   David Mitchell talks to Adam Buxton about why Teenagers smoke and hits the nail on the head.

   How can you stop a teenager from smoking when they think it is cool?

   I stopped listening to much talk radio a while back. I think it was possibly because it seems to be just a roundabout of Brexit, Trump and local council bin collection problems. I needed to listen to something a little more positive and entertaining.

   So, I started listening to podcasts. At first it seemed strange that people would listen to these when they could listen to strangers moaning but after a while you start to realise that they are much more entertaining, informative and also perfect when walking the dog.

   

   Adam Buxton has been one of the most well known podcasters for quite a while and when a new podcast of his drops (I think that’s how the hip kids term it), it is always worth a listen. This morning whilst walking the dog I started to play his latest podcast with comedian David Mitchell, and heard him talking about why young people smoke. As well as both being funny David made some great points about smoking that I think are well worth listening to and sharing. If you have a teenager and are unhappy they are smoking, it may have some ideas that you can use to help deal with the problem.

   He was talking about why young people start smoking and why they want to do it even though it can kill you.

   “I always think that the genius of smoking is that it is dangerous, there is a cool element to it. It’s to do with death, and therefore you can seem like a rebel. At the same time the danger is on a time scale that can’t possible impact on the teenagers who are thinking of taking it up. This could take years of the end of your life. Well, I’ll stop at some point. That warning I think actually adds to the cachet of the product.

   If they said..well it doesn’t do you any harm, but it’s smelly..you would go oh yeh, it is smelly, maybe I should stop..but no, it’s dangerous!”

   There’s lots more about this and of course many other topics that make the whole podcast a great listen. If you have teenagers who are starting smoking and you want to help, maybe you should not lecture them on the health issues, but just tell them they are smelly instead. Of course, some teenagers are not known for their hygiene standards but, hey you can try something different.

   You can listen to the whole podcast with Adam Buxton and comedian David Mitchell here: http://adam-buxton.co.uk/podcasts/ep89-david-mitchell

2. Why do we have weird and obtrusive and inappropriate thoughts?

   Posted on 3:00pm Wednesday 27th Mar 2019

   

   Have you ever been somewhere up really high and just wondered about jumping off and what would happen.

   Or have you ever stood on the side of a train track and wondered about if you could jump in front of a train, or even what would happen if you pushed someone else off the platform ?

   Maybe you have been driving a car and the idea has flashed into your head about driving straight into incoming traffic or off a bridge.

   Sounds crazy doesn’t it. It all sounds quite scary. But if you have then you are not alone and you are not really going mad.

   Here's my latest video that shows you exactly what is going on and why you don't need to worry about those thoughts. You can watch it right here...

    

   So, what’s actually happening? Well, all of our thoughts have to come from somewhere. They are based on our experiences in life and what path we want to take as we move forward.

   So, in order for us to decide what we want to do, what we want to happen ,we have to think about what we don’t want to happen.

   Imagine that the dragon from game of thrones was Pink and fluffy and had rainbow coloured wings.

   You don’t need me to show you a picture though do you? You can already imagine it for yourself.

   You didn’t know you were going to think about a pink rainbow dragon but now you are thinking about one. I made you do it just like advertisers may make you think about things. Things that you didn’t know you wanted.

   I really fancy some Pringles or a coke.. do you as well now?

   So our unconscious mind is thinking of all sorts of things. It wants to keep us safe. This is so that we can rule them out and not do them. So, pretty much everyone may find they get thoughts that seem a bit random and even inappropriate

   It’s just your brain thinking... do I want that or not?  It’s a bit like if you start to wonder if you fancy your best friends wife..or husband.  Or both!  It doesn’t mean you are going to do anything. You are just processing everything and deciding what is the right path for you.

   So of course this stuff can actually be really beneficial because it helps us to decide to step away from the platform or not to get to close to a really high edge. It keeps us safe.

   Sometimes when we think about what we don’t want then it helps us to think about what we do want.

   Spend more time thinking about the stuff you want to happen and then you can make that stuff more likely to happen.

   So don’t fret about those weird thoughts. Just think about what you really want to do rather than what you don’t want to do and all will be great.

   Thanks for watching and don’t forget to like and subscribe for lots more stuff all about our amazing minds.