Podcast #76: Fun vs. Depression and Scaring People in the Street

Welcome to Episode 76 of Brain Software with Mike Mandel and Chris Thompson!

The rash is getting moist and moving inland with alarming speed, so stay out of its way, or face a lifetime of hypnotic itchiness!

Check out the show notes below and scroll down to listen to the podcast directly on this page. Keep sending us topic suggestions and show feedback. We love hearing from all of you!

Here are the show notes for this episode:

  • Chris begins brilliantly with the following introduction:
  • Mike is back from the Canadian Wilderness, is into Neoclassical Dark Wave (but who isn’t these days?) and is secretly hoping he’s black.
  • The Trio is addressed…Mike loves the music of Dead Can Dance. You will too…
  • Mike coughs as he says Microsoft, so nobody hears him. He’s having his DNA analyzed and wants black blood to justify his obsession with the blues and the poetry of Langston Hughes. If he has any black DNA, Mike is going to claim to be black from now on, as his personal kick into the very pouch of racism and racists everywhere.
  • We’re talking all about FUN today. Chris attempts to talk about Ego States but Mike keeps control.
  • Is your life too full of activity? If there’s no fun, what’s the point? You are the author of the fun in your life! Make yourself your number one project!
  • Chris goes back to the relationship discussion in the last podcast. He references people who are in competitive or un-fun states. Mike asks What is the point of your life?
  • Mike references a friend who’s now overloaded with the work of 2 people. He referenced Mark Twain to contrast fun and work. Chris asks How do you know you’re having fun? 
  • Toronto Blue Jays just got knocked out of the playoffs. Mike segues to hockey, and makes an incredibly brilliant Comet Kohoutek joke, which Chris pretends to get.
  • In a hypothetical hockey game, a rubber disk has a completely different effect on Detroit and Toronto.
  • Mike preframes Ego States…Paul Federn, Watkins and Watkins and Gordon Emmerson.
  • These are sub-personalities. They aren’t psychological. They are part of the physical structure of the brain. They are digital, and only one can be Executive at a time.
  • Chris explains the Classroom Metaphor. Mike interrupts him for his own amusement.
  • Chris presses on, and amazingly, avoids doing a Ken Sweatman impersonation.
  • Mike commends Chris and seizes control. All metaphors are imperfect though, as Chris points out.
  • Which state is Executive? You need the right one for the task at hand. Mike explains with the dog story…Teacher stuck in the Executive!!!
  • Mike says that depressed people have a depressed state that hogs the Executive.
  • Chris points out the obvious, and says that you’ll be happy with a happy state in the Executive. Mike humours him. They invoke Griffin and Tyrrell of the UK  (Human Givens Theory) and John Grinder. Move and breathe to change your state.
  • Mike and Chris are not doctors, psychologists, or therapists. They’re educators and unconscious coaches.
  • Mike talks about the girl at the funeral and the inappropriate comments of the Executive Ego State.
  • Make a shopping list of things that are FUN. The boyz move to discussing Retail Therapy. Mike sometimes buys stuff to feel better. Now he keeps the price scaled down. Cold Steel knives are awesome!
  • Chris goes back to the shopping list of fun stuff from the past. He says that no-one is infected with FUN. Mike likes this, and says FUN sounds better and more active than happiness.
  • Mike wants to go downtown with Paul Pacific and twitch to scare people as he saw on YouTube. Mike finds it hilarious to scare people in non-threatening ways. Practical jokes are awesome!
  • Chris and Mike continue laughing, because even the thought of scaring people is fantastic.
  • Get sad people having fun! Chris mistakenly says “Retail therapy” and tries to pass it off as intentional, but Mike jumps on it. When Chris is in the zone, he doesn’t even realize how competitive he is (insensitive to others).
  • Mike is studying meteorology and loves learning. Chris reminds us that we all had fun as children.
  • Get a recipe list, and build the FUN back into your life. Moving and breathing to support this will help. Chris mentions that Mike is in his 60s. He then says TEE-vee, which sounds weird.
  • Family board games are awesome. Mike especially likes beating Michael C. Anthony at backgammon for money…
  • John Grinder taught Mike to overwhelm bad states with good stuff. Silvia Hartmann does this too! Buy her book Positive EFT.
  • Commercial Break.  
  • Newsflash! You can’t be depressed while you’re having fun…Get out there and build the FUN back into your life. Make fun for other people too, or at least scare them.
  • Coming up in the next podcast: The Power of Laughter with James Hazelrig. Add intentional laughter to your life!
  • Mike does the scarecrow laugh to terrify Michael C. Anthony, and now you can too!
  • Empowering Question: What did you used to do to build a high level of FUN into your life, and what are you going to do today to get it back?
  • Gus Grissom Update – Byron Bay Australia! Send your sightings of Gus Grissom to GusGrissom@Mailinator.com
  • Ending: What becomes of you my love?

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