everyday compassion with Henny Flynn

Today we're looking back to look forward - and I'm announcing the new podcast name. I'm not completely clear how these two things are related but I expect they are! This is still the same podcast, the same space, now naming its essence: everyday compassion with Henny Flynn.As today's episode unfolded, the three threads that emerged:I reflect on what it means to look back in order to look forward - not as nostalgia, and not as a refusal to move on, but as a discerning kind of attention. I share a conversation with my husband Anton over thirty years ago, sitting on a bench in Nottingham, where one of us said 'this feels more like a separation than a divorce' - and how being willing to look back changed the whole course of both our lives.I think out loud about a kind of discarding I notice in the world - how easily we decide an idea, a relationship, versions of ourselves, as though they no longer hold value simply because it belongs to the past. And how often what gets presented as something new is really something old, rediscovered. I'd love to know whether that resonates with you, or whether you see it differently.And I share that A piece of quiet is itself a living example of all this - a practice I created, let go of, and am now bringing back as something free and live, every Monday at 6.30pm (UK), starting this coming Monday.Henny xResources & Ways of ConnectingTo join A piece of quiet... every Monday, 6.30pm UK, free - https://hennyflynn.kit.com/14116fc6c3To discover Immerse... grounded in The Heart of Change - https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/immerseOn the Hilary Mantel novel... A Place of Greater Safety, if you'd like to find it for yourself (I loved this book)Tell me what resonated... I'd love to hear what landed for you - https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/contact ★ Support this podcast ★

It's been a busy week, and I'm recording this a little bit tired, but happy.As today's episode unfolded, there were three threads that appeared:The life imitating art moment when my co-host Grace's camera failed, right as we were about to deliver a free lunch and learn on the nervous system at work - and how these moments in life can become live, real-time demonstrations of the very thing we seeking to learn (or teach)I also share three simple techniques for vagal toning that came up in today's session - a gentle hold at the back of the neck, a hand resting on the heart, and a gentle press at the inner corners of the eyebrows. And I leave you with a question: what actually nourishes your nervous system when it's activated, rather than simply soothing or numbing it?Lastly, if this work on the nervous system resonates for you, I share a little about a four-week course Grace and I are running together, starting 5 November, on understanding the language of your own nervous system.Henny xResources & Ways of ConnectingTo find out more about the-nervous-system-at-work-4-week-course-with-henny-flynn-and-grace-loveday we begin Thursday 5 NovemberTo join the mailing list... hennyflynn.co.uk/contact for all the free things, including this podcast  ★ Support this podcast ★

I hadn't planned this episode - it seems to be the way, these days - it arrived instead, out of a small, quite ordinary battle with a piece of technology that simply wouldn't cooperate - and the frustration that came with it.As today's episode unfolded, there were three threads that appeared:What happens when something feels hard - not the BIG moments but those small things that thwart us - frustrating, annoying, irritating - and the choices we might forget we haveHow trying to enforce 'unenforceable rules' can lead us to 'pushing on through', when perhaps something else might serve the situation betterAnd I share my new book, everyday compassion (365 days of ordinary kindness), is published on 22 September. Pre-orders are open now, and I would love to inscribe a copy for you, or for someone you love.Henny xResources & Ways of ConnectingTo order everyday compassion... https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/everyday-compassionTo discover The Field... https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/enter-the-fieldShare where you go... when things feel like they're thwarting you, I'd love to hear https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/contact ★ Support this podcast ★

The response to last week's episode about fairy tales and voice notes has been extraordinary - so many of you shared your own stories with me, and I wanted to spend this episode reflecting on what came through, and inviting you a little deeper into mine.There are three threads running through today's conversation:I share the fuller story behind my own fairy tale - Little Red Riding Hood - including a sculpture that changed how I related to a part of myself I used to call anger, and how that part has since transformed from a black dog into a grey wolf who watches over me from the hillside.I reflect on some of the fairy tales you shared with me - Rapunzel, The Happy Prince, Parsifal, the Magic Porridge Pot and more - and what might be sitting underneath each one.And I share a little about the Weekend of No-Requirements, the retreat I'm running with Adam Lind this October - a space where nothing is required of you at all.Henny xResources & Ways of ConnectingDiscover the Weekend of No-Requirements... with Adam Lind, 16-19 October On animal parts work... if this resonates, Charlie Mackesy's The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and Richard Schwartz's Internal Family Systems (IFS) are both beautiful places to go deeperExplore Paul Smith's sculptures  Missed the fairy tale question... listen to last week's episode S21E1Share the Animal Parts who show up for you... by email, on YouTube, or through the contact form ★ Support this podcast ★

After our pause, I'm returning to a new season - literal and metaphorical. It's lovely to be back and to feel into what is asking to be shared. As I opened the channel for today's conversation, two themes began flowing through this episode. I reflect on connection - between writer and reader, speaker and listener, self and self - and I ask a question I'd love you to sit with: what fairy tale from your childhood has stayed with you, and what might it be reflecting back? I also share a new way I've been thinking about voice notes: the way they allow us to communicate - to connect - even more freely with each other. Inspired by a friend... who was in her turn inspired by another beautiful human. Lastly I share a little about Season Two of The Field. If you're curious about intentional change, grounded in compassionate self-enquiry, then perhaps it's a space that calls to something within you. You would be so welcome there.Henny xResources & Ways of ConnectingOn voice memos... from Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley - Can I send you a voice memo - with gratitude for the inspirationTo discover more about The Field... the gate closes for Season Two on 9 SeptemberShare the fairytale that speaks to you... I would love to share the reflections that might arise ★ Support this podcast ★