Sep 9

#51: Learning to feel instead of think my way through with Scott Ellis

Scott Ellis is back for round two and this conversation goes somewhere unexpected fast. It moves quickly into an old pattern many of us carry... shaping what we say, holding things back and managing conversations so nobody gets upset. Then there's the weird guilt that sits underneath it, often for things we haven't actually done wrong. From there, the conversation turns to something Scott's been practising more deliberately: trusting a feeling in his body over the endless planning and strategising in his head. A gut sense of yes or no that doesn't always make logical sense, but that he's learning to say out loud anyway, especially with the people he cares about most. In this episode: The pattern of managing conversations to avoid upsetting someone.Unearned guilt and the courtroom analogy that's stuck with Scott for weeks.What it takes to practise honesty in a relationship instead of managing the outcome.Learning to trust a gut feeling that makes no logical sense.Choosing love over fear, one decision at a time. Enjoy the episode and leave a comment if any of this chat resonated. Connect with Rick

Aug 26

#50: Permission to not have it figured out with Kate Johnson

Sometimes in life, we can get a bit paralysed from making a decision out of the fear of getting it wrong. In this episode, I chat with Kate Johnson and what her version of this used to look like and what she did about it. We also chatted about her old perfectionist and fixer parts like to jump in on the act with the best of intentions. Kate has a number of really practical examples of how she has found new ways to hang with these old parts. What we talked about in this episode: The four types of "FRACing" (fixing, rescuing, advice-giving, caretaking) and which one shows up most for Kate.What she got from being the fixer in her relationships and what it quietly cost her.Learning to listen instead of solve and the difference it made to her friendships.Giving her own kids permission to make decisions and change their minds, versus how she was raised.Quitting drinking nine years ago and what surfaced once the numbing stopped.Chronic pain, surgery recovery and how cutting off physical sensation bled into cutting off feelings generally.Anxiety and excitement feeling almost identical in her body and how she's learned to tell them apart.What it's felt like to have capacity again after years of running on empty.Making peace with the parts of herself that used to run the show, without needing to fight them. If you have ever felt like you needed to get all your life ducks in a row, this episodes is a great example of what life looks like when you let go of needing things to be perfect. Connect with Kate Connect with Rick

Aug 18

#49: Learning who I am all over again with Mark Achermann

Mark lost his business and his wife in the same week and life as he knew it turned upside-down. What followed was three months alone, hiking through New Zealand with no plan and a hell of a lot of space to feel. This episode isn't really about what happened to Mark, it's about what's happened since. We talk about self-sabotage he still can't fully explain, the mask he puts on to be liked and the strange, uncomfortable in-between of not being who he used to be but not quite knowing who he's becoming either. We get into: Why we sabotage the things we say we wantWhat it's actually like to lose your identity all at onceThe mask we wear to be accepted and what it costs usWhy solitude isn't always the same as peaceWhat it means to keep choosing to feel things, even when it's bloody uncomfortable.If you've ever felt like you don't know who you are anymore, or like you're stuck between the old version of yourself and whoever's next - this one's for you.Connect with Rick

Aug 11

#48 Getting closer to yourself and not taking it so seriously

Gracie Brown - Gestalt therapist, musician and artist known as Kalakari - joins me for her first ever podcast. We talk about what it means to get closer to yourself: the parts you perform, the parts you protect and what starts to shift when you stop treating all of it like something to fix. We get into calling yourself pathetic and what's actually underneath that - the strange kind of safety in staying small and what it costs to keep proving your own worst story about yourself right. We talk about the difference between managing your life and actually enjoying it and what it might mean if the opposite of anxiety isn't calm, but joy. Grace opens up about carrying a "professional" version of herself separately from the real one for years and what it's taken to let that gap close. In this episode: What it's like stepping into your first ever podcast conversation, nerves and all.Why calling yourself pathetic can actually feel safer than the alternative.The difference between managing your life and actually enjoying it.Being an artist and a therapist without needing to pick one.What years of group therapy training taught her about being seen.Learning to loosen up on yourself instead of tightening the grip.If you've ever taken yourself way too seriously and wondered what would happen if you just... didn't, this one's for you. Find Gracie (Kalakari): Insta Kalakari Insta (music, writing) Substack Spotify Connect with Rick: Instagram Website

Jul 29

#47: A practical way to understand yourself instead of fixing yourself

If you've ever caught yourself wondering why you keep repeating the same patterns, why you shut down emotionally when things get hard or why you keep self-sabotaging even when you know better, this episode is for you. Rick explores the difference between fixing or shaming yourself and actually understanding yourself and why that distinction changes everything about how we relate to our own repeating patterns. Using his own tendency to withdraw and go quiet under pressure as a live example, he walks through five questions that help make sense of the behaviours that feel stuck or automatic, without needing to force change or beat yourself up in the process. The five questions covered in this episode: What's the benefit? What do you get from doing this thing, even if it doesn't look like a benefit on the surface?What's the cost? What does this pattern actually cost you, including the quieter internal cost of how it makes you feel about yourself?Where did it come from? What's the origin or the ongoing story that keeps this pattern alive?What's the fear underneath it? What are you actually trying to avoid by doing this?What's the superpower? What skill or strength has this pattern given you, even as it's caused you trouble?This one's for anyone who feels stuck even though life looks fine on paper, who overthinks everything, or who's tired of trying to white-knuckle their way into being a different person. It's a conversation about getting to know yourself gently, without the pressure of having to arrive anywhere. Connect with Rick: ⁠https://www.rickwatson.com.au⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rickwatson_/⁠ Substack: ⁠https://therickwatson.substack.com/

Jul 22

#46: Grief, love, and what I've learned about emotional honesty (a six month update)

It's been months since I recorded an episode. Jo's dad got sick, then really sick, then he passed. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I lost the desire to sit down and talk into a mic. This episode is me picking it back up, unscripted, on a day it finally felt good to do it. I talk about what it looked like to let ourselves feel everything during that time instead of managing it - the grief, but also what showed up on the other side of it: gratitude, love and eventually a proposal. I get into the difference between accepting an emotion and actually welcoming it and why that difference matters in a practical sense. I also talk about emotional avoidance... what it actually looks like day to day (drinking, YouTube rabbit holes, staying busy for no reason) and why we're all so good at not catching ourselves doing it. I also explore that overthinking is often just under feeling. that automatic pattern of trying to figure something out instead of letting yourself feel it. If you've ever wondered why you overthink everything, why you shut down emotionally, or why you keep trying to manage a feeling instead of actually feeling it... this one's for you. I also mention a free connection quiz on my site if you want a starting point to see where your emotional avoidance is at. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions as you listen. Connect with Rick: https://www.rickwatson.com.au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickwatson_/ Substack: https://therickwatson.substack.com/

Apr 27

#45: Why is slowing down so hard?

Most of us know we need to slow down, we feel it and yet something keeps us moving anyway. This episode is an honest look at what's actually behind that. Not a list of tips or a lecture about self care. Just bite-sized conversation about why staying busy can feel so much safer than stopping and what might be quietly sitting underneath it. Rick shares a story from a client who came in burnt out and overwhelmed and another from his own weekend where he caught himself doing the same thing. What came up in both wasn't about workload, it was about fear and about what we've learned to do with it. If you've ever felt guilty for resting or found it hard to just be without doing anything, this one is worth a listen. In this episode, we explore... The stories behind the busynessThe potential fear underneathThe feeling being avoidedA different way of looking at itSome questions worth sitting withA practical experiment to exploreThis is new format of bite-sized podcasts that explores one simple questions in each episode. If this one landed for you, share it with someone who might need to hear it and follow along to make sure you don't miss future episodes like this one. To explore working with Rick: https://www.rickwatson.com.au/explore To hang out on socials: https://www.instagram.com/rickwatson_/

Apr 7

#44: Why being human is your most important skill right now

In a world shaped by social media addiction, rapidly advancing AI and growing economic uncertainty, staying genuinely connected to yourself has never been harder (or more important). In this solo episode, Rick gets honest about the forces pulling us away from our own humanness: the addictive design of short-form content and infinite scroll, the rise of AI tools and the way uncertainty and anxiety turn up the volume on our oldest emotional patterns. He also gets personal - sharing how building a social media presence this year made him confront his own role in the distraction economy, and why he's asking big questions about the future of human connection, therapy, and meaningful work in the age of AI. This isn't a doomsday episode. It's a nudge toward self-awareness and a reminder that emotional intelligence and knowing yourself might be the most important personal growth work you can do right now. What I cover in this episode: Why the current moment — AI, social media addiction, financial pressure, and uncertainty anxiety — is making genuine self-connection and human connection harder than ever.The distraction economy and how short-form content and infinite scroll are designed to keep you scrolling and disconnected from yourself.Rick's honest admission: how building a social media presence this year made him complicit in the very thing he's critiquing.AI vs human wisdom: why getting an answer from ChatGPT or Claude isn't the same as developing your own emotional intelligence and critical thinking.Why uncertainty doesn't create new patterns - it just turns up the intensity of your existing relational and behavioural patterns.The self-awareness practice that gives you back a sense of control when everything else feels uncertain.A simple mindfulness experiment to try this week"In a world full of uncertainty, I can have some certainty around how I show up — and that's why being human is the most important skill you can have right now." Try this after listening:Over the next few days, just notice...when do you reach for your phone? When do you outsource a question to AI instead of sitting with it? No judgment, just awareness. That's your starting point. Connect with Rick Instagram

Humaning with Rick Watson

#51: Learning to feel instead of think my way through with Scott Ellis

#50: Permission to not have it figured out with Kate Johnson

#49: Learning who I am all over again with Mark Achermann

#48 Getting closer to yourself and not taking it so seriously

#47: A practical way to understand yourself instead of fixing yourself

#46: Grief, love, and what I've learned about emotional honesty (a six month update)

#45: Why is slowing down so hard?

#44: Why being human is your most important skill right now

About

Information

Humaning with Rick Watson

Episodes

#51: Learning to feel instead of think my way through with Scott Ellis

#50: Permission to not have it figured out with Kate Johnson

#49: Learning who I am all over again with Mark Achermann

#48 Getting closer to yourself and not taking it so seriously

#47: A practical way to understand yourself instead of fixing yourself

#46: Grief, love, and what I've learned about emotional honesty (a six month update)

#45: Why is slowing down so hard?

#44: Why being human is your most important skill right now

About

Information