PODCAST · education
The Haven
by The Haven
Join Andy Mort as he speaks with friends and partners about the 9 core Haven themes of gentle becoming through the year. Including change, belonging, serenity, strength, confidence, adventure, creativity, tranquility, and inspiration.
Episodes
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Big Feelings and Big Joy as a Highly Sensitive Person (with April Snow)
What does it mean to live well as a highly sensitive person without turning sensitivity into another thing to optimise? In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I’m joined by psychotherapist and author April Snow to talk about her book, Big Feelings, Big Joy: The Essential Practices to…
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Stop Letting Their Judgement Become Your Story
Have you ever felt judged by standards that simply don’t fit who you are? In this episode of The Gentle Rebel, we explore Aesop’s fable of the “useless tree” and unpack why introverted and highly sensitive people internalise criticism from those who don’t understand what they bring to the table....
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Is it Possible to Remain Apolitical?
I’m sure you’re aware of the controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran’s 2026 Loop Tour. The situation escalated after billionaire tycoon and sports mogul Robert Kraft blocked Ed Sheeran’s support artist, Macklemore, from performing at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, following Macklemore’s…
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Change, Overplanning, and Getting Stuck
Have you ever experienced the joy of unblocking a drain? I know, I know. But if you know, you know…it’s satisfying! Not least because a blocked drain is the opposite of satisfying. We’re not going to focus on blocked drains in this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, don’t worry. It’s just a...
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Why do you bother?
Why do we bother doing what we do? What tone do you hear in that question? To bother: taking the trouble or effort to do something. To be bothered: to be affected by something and/or to care about it. I hadn’t really thought much about this phrase until it came up in a conversation related to...
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Don’t Mistake Their Story for Yours
The movie Hook begins with the premise that Peter Pan has been away from Neverland for so long that he has forgotten who he is. He is all grown up, with two children and a high-flying legal job that leaves him little time or patience for them. When Captain Hook (Peter’s arch-nemesis, whom he now...
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Don’t Try to Remember
A post on Threads caught my attention this week. It spoke to me about a common form of stuckness that we may overlook. It felt like a good example of the insidious reach of toxic productivity. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I attempt to explain why… https://youtu.be/nBvFoHil9qM…
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Music Helped Me Make Sense of You, Me, and Everything That Happened
This episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast is a bit different from normal. It contains the audio from It Just Sort of Happens, the short film I produced for the HSP Gathering in Oulu, Finland, at the start of August. You can watch it here. https://youtu.be/NWaK8O4VLuo The film is an audiovisual...
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Losing Ourselves In The AI Mirror
What do people who believe they are writing songs when they use Suno AI, YouTuber Hank Green, and Narcissus from Greek mythology all have in common? Quite a lot, it turns out. And they can help us recognise a form of stuckness that’s becoming increasingly common as people’s relationship with...
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Feeling found in translation
There is something strange in the space between languages. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s fun to explore. It poses a question and presents a challenge…what am I actually trying to say here? When I started work on a video about the relationship between sensitivity and creativity for…
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Leave The Rage Bait Dangling
Imagine a piece of bait dangling in the water. A passing fish sees it. What a stroke of luck to stumble upon a free, unsuspecting meal. Believing it has found prey, it strikes, convinced it has the power and is acting on its own terms. Only after the hook pierces through does the reality set in....
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“Others Have It Worse”: A Tricky Story for Highly Sensitive People
Why nervous systems built to care about others can leave us feeling disconnected in a globally connected world. I’ve been dipping into Britt Frank’s book, The Science of Stuck, over the past week. It’s much more of a self-help book than I was hoping based on the title, but it’s providing some…
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Feeling Stuck is Not Always The Same as Being Stuck
Feeling stuck is not always the same as being stuck. We might respond to a feeling before we’ve identified its source, and when we do, we can end up reacting to the wrong problem. If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to quit your job, transform or abandon a creative project, change direction, or...
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When People ASSUME They Know You – Variety & Neurodiversity
In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, we explore the variety of neurodiversity. I’ve been staying with friends over the past few weeks, including Lucas, who is nearly 12. He is autistic, and after spending time trawling through the Gentle Rebel Podcast episode archive, we had a chat about...
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Feeling Stuck? Wondering What You Should Do Next?
I sometimes notice that I’m feeling stuck. When I’m frustrated, trying to figure something out. Stuck for inspiration when I’m attempting to create something or solve a problem. Stuck in thought patterns and loops. It’s tempting to give up or seek shortcuts when this feeling kicks in, as if it’s...
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The Strangest Secret
The Strangest Secret was released in 1956. Earl Nightingale’s 35-minute, six-and-a-half-thousand-word recording was one of the earliest motivational tapes. It sold more than a million copies and became the first spoken-word recording to achieve Gold Record status. The recording was released…
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Why These 4 Questions Shape My Daily Journaling Practice
I’ve been journaling more or less daily for the past fifteen years. As much as I love the romantic vision of pen on paper, I’ve always done it digitally because I could never keep up with a handwritten journal. I tried, but it never really worked. Over the years, I’ve come across plenty of advice...
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The Prosperity Lie of Positive Thinking
How did Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking, pave the way for the prosperity gospel and the law of attraction that still has its claws in today’s culture? That’s what we explore in this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast. Part One explored Peale’s foundations in the New...
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Creativity and the Art of Unfreezing
In the wake of burnout, Tuula Ahde found herself unable to move through the world as she previously had. And she got busy looking for ways to unfreeze. Ironically, it was ice that gave her a route back home. She found herself instinctively drawn to photography, particularly macro-photography…
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Life is a Walk of Art (with Amy Tsilemanis)
Walking art is a nice metaphor for the experience of experimentally oriented people. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I chat with Australian multi-form artist Amy Tsilemanis. I’ve known Amy for a few years and was excited to talk with her about the naturally curious approach she takes...
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Leave it There
This episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast is an introduction to “Leave it There”, this season’s theme. I share some of the initial topics it brought to my mind. I’d love to hear from you about what it brings to yours. What Does Leave It There Mean To You? Is there something you want to leave…
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Exploiting Trust With Storytelling Frameworks
The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is generally that liars aren’t believed even when they tell the truth. But I wonder if that story actually tells us less about the boy and more about the village. The boy’s behaviour didn’t change. What changed was how the village responded. Each false alarm...
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How do you know if you’re creatively satisfied?
What would you say makes something satisfying for you? How do you recognise that you’re satisfied? It’s not always easy to answer those questions. It’s something I’ve explored a lot over the past few years, both personally and in conversations with others who feel caught in a tug-of-war between...
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There’s No One To Blame But You – The True Power of Positive Thinking
Like other self-help gurus of the time, Norman Vincent Peal targeted the lonely travelling salesman. But his message was also marketed to corporate executives, who were promised that the true power of positive thinking lay in the great dividends it would yield if they could sell it to their...
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Finding Success Close-In
How do you tend to define success? Is it an external outcome you pursue, or is it something personal you feel ‘close in’? I’ve been preparing for our next set of Serenity Island Picnics. I’m considering how being more experimental might affect my understanding of success. I share a few of these...
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Do You Tend To Stumble Into Things?
Do you find that some of your most meaningful and important endeavours are accidental? Tuula and I unexpectedly made two short horror films earlier this week. And it got me thinking again about differences between experimental and conceptual approaches to life. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel...
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Is Coaching Really a Pyramid Scheme?
With increasing regularity, I see posts on social media criticising coaching as a pyramid scheme or defending it against such accusations. As people tend to do, they paint a nuanced field with a very broad brush, whichever side they support. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I discuss…
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Is Something Holding You Back?
What stops people expressing themselves authentically? This question has been on my mind over the past couple of weeks. I collected responses from a poll asking which statement feels most accurate to people at the moment. You might have seen it if you are subscribed to my mailing list or YouTube....
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The Religion of Positive Thinking
The Power of Positive Thinking promised liberation from feelings of inferiority and self-doubt. But did it simply deliver us a new set of demands and anxieties to adhere to? We often consider positive thinking as a beneficial mindset that enhances performance in sports and other activities....
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Finding Ourselves in the Fog of a Hundred Shades of Beige
If you’ve looked up stuff about the trait of high sensitivity online, you’ve probably been confronted by a sea of pastel colours and a hundred shades of beige. There’s nothing inherently wrong with those things. If that’s your bag, by all means fill it up. But other preferences are available, and…
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Using Mini Zines to Make Connections
This is Part 3 of a short series where I’m sharing how I’ve been using mini zines to generate ideas, make connections, and get accidentally creative in unexpected ways. In this post, I’ll take you through two exercises focused on making connections and using observations to better understand your...
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Does it Feel Like Winning a Silver or Losing a Gold? (A Ridiculous Question?)
In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I explore something that happened yesterday. I had another episode planned for this week, but I put it on the shelf for now because I’ve been drawn into a fascinating situation that did the rounds after the freestyle skier Eileen Gu was asked, by a...
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Brainstorming Ideas and Questions With Mini-Zines
Here is a follow-up to my previous video, in which I explored how I use foldable mini-zines to generate creative ideas. This time, I share two specific approaches I’ve found helpful for brainstorming and expanding ideas. The first is about expanding ideas in playful, often surprising ways. The...
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Why Is It So Hard to Say “I Don’t Know”?
“How do you tend to respond when you do not know?” We had this question in our Journal Circle a couple of weeks ago. It’s at the heart of many issues in our world right now. How do we hold it? When do we conceal it? Where do we turn for knowledge? And what do we do with it when we acquire it?...
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How I Use One-Page Mini-Zines To Generate Ideas Quickly
Do you want to generate ideas quickly, without overthinking, without requiring perfection, and without using AI tools? One-page mini-zines are great for brainstorming and exploring things with both speed and depth. In this post, I want to show you how I use this medium not only to structure our...
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People Keep Asking Me to Cancel Their Subscription To This App
Around Black Friday last year, I started getting strange emails from people asking me to cancel their subscription. Only, they weren’t from Haven members, and they were talking about a weekly charge of $7. After a brief panic and some investigation, I confirmed this was not possible. I assumed...
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7 Reasons to Start Drawing
I’m holding something very exciting in my hands. A physical copy of Sam Marshall’s beautiful book, Sketch: A Project Guide to Drawing With Confidence. Sam and I spoke about it a couple of weeks ago. I want to pause at the beginning because the first chapter, Why Sketch?, is packed with juice. It...
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Grow Creative Confidence Using Sketching (with Sam Marshall)
Would you like to develop more creative confidence? Have you ever embarked on, or considered, a sketching practice? In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, we explore the link between the two in conversation with artist, printmaker, and creative coach Sam Marshall. Sam is based here in the…
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Responding to the Contagion of Burnout Energy
I saw a reel earlier that made me notice how burnout spreads. An entrepreneurial self-help influencer told followers to demand more power, money, and visibility for themselves. You may be familiar with this flavour of message… “How dare you keep your impact hidden?” they said, “given the state of...
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David Bowie’s Search for Life, Death and God (with Peter Ormerod)
Peter Ormerod is a journalist and writer who has written extensively about culture and faith for The Guardian, and he is also an arts editor for NationalWorld. He’s a very close friend of mine, so it was a real pleasure to speak with him in this capacity for The Gentle Rebel Podcast. Peter has…
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Why You Can’t Articulate a Five-Year Plan For Your Life
Where do you see yourself in five years? Does that question fill you with excitement, or a sense of dread? We are wired differently. For many people, myself included, the question is not difficult to answer because we lack imagination. It is difficult because it speaks a different language from…
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The Cost of Loyalty
A theme that’s dominated 2025 for me (and for many) has been price rises across many subscription-based platforms and services. My correspondence with companies has made clear that loyalty stands for very little. In fact, rather than being rewarded, longevity is increasingly exploited and...
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Do Algorithms Create a Culture of Narcissism?
I hadn’t planned to revisit The Culture of Narcissism so soon, but a small niggle pulled me back into the subject. With Spotify Unwrapped everywhere, it struck me again how platforms, tools, and devices can become instruments of narcissism. Especially when social signals, algorithms, and...
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The Culture of Narcissism and Modern Self-Help
We hear a lot about “Narcissism” these days. Is it because there is more of it around? In his 1979 book, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, Christopher Lasch demonstrates how “Modern capitalist society not only elevates narcissists to prominence, it...
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No Missing Parts (with Justin Sunseri)
I’ve noticed Internal Family Systems (IFS) being mentioned a lot lately, following a significant shift in how it’s now presented as a spiritual philosophy for trauma healing. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I got Justin Sunseri back on the podcast, partly to talk about this recent...
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Who Will I Be in the Face of This? (with Jacob Nordby)
Who will you be in the face of a chaotic and uncertain world? In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I caught up with my friend and returning guest, Jacob Nordby. His article, “When Life Feels Heavy, Ask This Question,” provided a valuable thread for the conversation. “Who will I be in the...
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The Challenges of Measuring High Sensitivity (with Andrew May)
What are the challenges when it comes to objectively measuring high sensitivity in people? In this week’s episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast , I speak with researcher and lecturer Andrew May from Queen Mary University of London. Andrew has worked closely with Michael Pluess on studies exploring...
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Gentle Protest and Craftivism (with Sarah P Corbett)
Do you have a heart for change but find that the loud, confrontational, and extroverted norms of traditional activism don’t suit your natural temperament? In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I talk with Sarah P Corbett, the award-winning activist, author, and founder of the Craftivist...
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The Secret Behind Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
It’s time to dive back into the history of self-help and consider its impact on our understanding of how and who we are. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, we are looking at the 1937 book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Think and Grow Rich sits on millions of bookshelves…
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A Book For Sensitive Children (with Judith Orloff)
In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast , I speak with psychiatrist and author Dr Judith Orloff about her new book, The Highly Sensitive Rabbit . She wrote it to help sensitive children, their parents, and educators see sensitivity as a natural trait rather than a problem to be solved. She...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Join Andy Mort as he speaks with friends and partners about the 9 core Haven themes of gentle becoming through the year. Including change, belonging, serenity, strength, confidence, adventure, creativity, tranquility, and inspiration.
HOSTED BY
The Haven
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How many episodes does The Haven have?
The Haven currently has 50 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Haven about?
Join Andy Mort as he speaks with friends and partners about the 9 core Haven themes of gentle becoming through the year. Including change, belonging, serenity, strength, confidence, adventure, creativity, tranquility, and inspiration.
How often does The Haven release new episodes?
The Haven has 50 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to The Haven on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Haven?
The Haven is created and hosted by The Haven.
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