Better Than Yesterday with Osher Günsberg

Allan Sparkes is Dep Commissioner - Mental Health Commission of NSW. Cross of Valour, OAM & Commendation for Brave Conduct recipient. He’s a Best selling Author & Speaker. And self described Rugby Tragic.Find him on Twitter @AllanSparkes and on IG @Allansparkes_cv Allan Sparkes OAM is one of Australia's most highly decorated citizens and a leader in the shift toward the inclusion of lived experience in the areas of mental wellness and suicide prevention.  Allan is one of just five Australian heroes in the past 43 years to be awarded Australia's highest bravery decoration and civil award, the Cross of Valour. In January 2017, Allan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (0AM) for service to mental health support organisations and the community. In August 2016 he was further awarded Australia's 4th highest bravery decoration, The Commendation for Brave Conduct for saving the life of an aboriginal man who had fallen onto train tracks at Redfern Railway Station in Sydney.  His life story is extraordinary. He is also a sailor who has circumnavigated the globe, a survivor of PTSD and a best selling author with Penguin Books. Allan's book, 'The Cost of Bravery' was released on May 22, 2013 and reprinted in January 2015. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Johann Hari is the author of two New York Times best-selling books. His first, ‘Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs’, is currently being adapted into a major Hollywood feature film, and into a non-fiction documentary series. You can search for his Ted Talk “Everything you know about addiction is wrong” online or in the show notes. His most recent book, ‘Lost Connections: Uncovering The Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions’ really struck a chord with me - because he describes that depression and anxiety are a less about what’s going on in your brain but more about what’s going on in your environment. That the causes of Anxiety and Depression while in some parts indeed genetic - environment and how we live goes a long way to affect us. To quote him directly: "If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of us, together, to begin to meet those human needs – for deep connection, to the things that really matter in life.”Over the course of the book, Johann identifies nine different causes of Anxiety and Depression and offers solutions to the issues he talks about, but at the bare minimum, what he’s found over his exhaustive research is stuff we all seemed to know already:We as humans need to feel we belong. We need to feel we’re good at stuff. We need to feel valued by others. We need to feel secure about the future.We need to feel that our life and work has meaning.Take those five things away, and it’s easy to see how you can slip off the edge of the world.Two quick notes: We talk about medication in this conversation. Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor. We discuss the helps and hindrances of medication - and I disclose as I have done with you many times that meds saved my life, they helped me incredibly, until they didn’t. And then it was time to find a way to live without them. But that is my journey and my journey alone - it was a decision made by me and my doctors together over the course of many months. I’ll say it again, Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor.Also: This conversation covers issues such as severe childhood trauma, including sexual assault and violence. So if that’s a trigger for you when you hear Johann say “this is tough for me to talk about but I’ve been trying to do it more in interviews” - skip forward about ten minutes and you should emerge ok on the other side. I can’t thank Johann enough for being on the show. His new book Lost Connections is out NOW in Australia in Paperback , and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a total game-changer. We did catch up over Skype and internet being what it is in my country - there’s a few glitches here and there, apologies - we can Fax Scott Morrison and ask where out information superhighway is. I hope the glitches don’t detract too much from your enjoyment of this superb chat - Enjoy part one of my conversation over Skype with Johann Hari. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Johann Hari is the author of two New York Times best-selling books. His first, ‘Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs’, is currently being adapted into a major Hollywood feature film, and into a non-fiction documentary series. You can search for his Ted Talk “Everything you know about addiction is wrong” online or in the show notes. His most recent book, ‘Lost Connections: Uncovering The Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions’ really struck a chord with me - because he describes that depression and anxiety are a less about what’s going on in your brain but more about what’s going on in your environment. That the causes of Anxiety and Depression while in some parts indeed genetic - environment and how we live goes a long way to affect us. To quote him directly: "If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of us, together, to begin to meet those human needs – for deep connection, to the things that really matter in life.”Over the course of the book, Johann identifies nine different causes of Anxiety and Depression and offers solutions to the issues he talks about, but at the bare minimum, what he’s found over his exhaustive research is stuff we all seemed to know already:We as humans need to feel we belong. We need to feel we’re good at stuff. We need to feel valued by others. We need to feel secure about the future.We need to feel that our life and work has meaning.Take those five things away, and it’s easy to see how you can slip off the edge of the world.Two quick notes: We talk about medication in this conversation. Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor. We discuss the helps and hindrances of medication - and I disclose as I have done with you many times that meds saved my life, they helped me incredibly, until they didn’t. And then it was time to find a way to live without them. But that is my journey and my journey alone - it was a decision made by me and my doctors together over the course of many months. I’ll say it again, Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor.Also: This conversation covers issues such as severe childhood trauma, including sexual assault and violence. So if that’s a trigger for you when you hear Johann say “this is tough for me to talk about but I’ve been trying to do it more in interviews” - skip forward about ten minutes and you should emerge ok on the other side. I can’t thank Johann enough for being on the show. His new book Lost Connections is out NOW in Australia in Paperback , and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a total game-changer. We did catch up over Skype and internet being what it is in my country - there’s a few glitches here and there, apologies - we can Fax Scott Morrison and ask where out information superhighway is. I hope the glitches don’t detract too much from your enjoyment of this superb chat - Enjoy part one of my conversation over Skype with Johann Hari. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

@Michael_McQueen is a speaker, author and futurist from Australia. The majority of his work centres around helping organisations prepare for what’s to come, to look beyond the horizon at how trends in society, in politics, in technology will change the way they work. This applies to not only the private sector but also the public sector. I’m happy about this because ideas can sometimes move faster through the private sector and then into public policy when enough of the community demands it. Michael’s sixth book “How to prepare now for what’s next” is well worth your time, and I hope this conversation tickles a few tendrils of your curious brain so that you might think a little differently about what’s around the corner .For more about Michael - go to michaelmcqueen.net until then, enjoy the show….  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Taylor made world headlines a few years ago when in seeking to battle food addiction, he lost over 50kg by eating nothing but potatoes for a whole year. It’s a simple headline however his story goes much deeper than that. Speaking to Andrew, I learned that even though in my case the addiction was alcohol - our stories were very similar, and the abstinence model was what worked for us both. During our conversation, I heard many parallels with my own life, my own relationship to food and indeed what I use food for - beyond just sustaining my body to live another day. I should say upfront, the way Andrew tackled his food addiction is what worked for him - however, there are other ways to deal with this issue, including Overeaters Anonymous which I know has worked well for people close to me. On the whole I love this conversation because it’s a perfect example of someone who saw what effect their own habitual actions was having on his life, saw where he was going to end up if he didn’t do something about it, and took action by creating a system of behaviour that was simple to follow and if practiced daily gave him spectacular results. He’s a great bloke and I’m stoked he took the time to fly down to see me. If you like what you hear, please hit him up on IG @spudfitAnd enjoy this conversation with Andrew Taylor.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you need to talk please take it seriously and start with your GP or call lifeline on 131114. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kath Koschel is an incredibly inspiring human. She’s the founder of kindnessfactory.com and has a story that will break your heart three times before it lifts you up into the glowing warm of the collective love of humanity. This conversation deals with suicide and the effects of road trauma, so if you do need to talk to anyone please seek help from your doctor or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.Kath’s story is one of the incredible power of human resilience and the overwhelming kindness of our community at large. We’re so polarised to believe it’s Left vs Right, Liberal vs Labor, Sustainability vs Environmental pillage, but there’s actually a vast and overwhelming feeling of joy and compassion in our country and Kath’s story proves it. A world-class athlete struck down by crippling injury at the height of her career, Kath has learned to walk three times in her life. Once as a toddler, and twice as an adult. She’s also had to face the devastation of losing the love of her life to suicide just as the rays of sunshine were starting to warm things up again. Yet Kath’s outlook on the world, her attitude to kindness, forgiveness and trust in the goodness of the community at large will make you feel a lot better about the world as a whole. Because Kath’s out to show you, me and everyone else that kindness is indeed what we naturally have in our hearts and it’s something that on a self-centred level - actually feels good. Help her get to 1,000,000 acts of kindness over at kindnessfactory.com, and enjoy this conversation with Kath Koschel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Lu is the founder and CEO of online fashion retailer Showpo, a company valued at over $30M dollars. You can find her on Instagram @thelazyceo and I can tell you first hand that this woman is a powerhouse. A quick scroll through her feed will show you she’s living the dream, surrounding herself with an incredible staff and working damned hard to make her business not only grow but be a great place to work. Was it always this way for her? No way. Did she come from incredible adversity? Did she face failure? A dead-end job? The disdain of her parents for quitting what looked like a stable career? Yes, yes, yes and yes. You might not want to start an online fashion empire in 2019 - but you most definitely can take a listen to this and have it put the bellows to the fire in your belly. What were you dreaming of doing this year? After listening to this episode I have no question that you’ll get right to it. Enjoy this conversation with the incredibly inspirational human that is Jane Lu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eiji Han Shimizu is a highly successful publisher, film maker and lecturer. Find out more about him at latinsamurai.comHis exceptional Manga biographies of influential world figures have been published in 25 countries & 10 languages.At 35, working with the biggest media companies in Tokyo his life resembled a picture perfect example of what a highly successful person would have. Following a moment in his life which we talk about, Eiji changed course and embarked on a global search for sustainable happiness, where he and his director Roko Belic traveled the world searching for what makes people genuinely and sustainably happy.www.thehappymovie.comThis is a wonderful conversation that took place in an Air BnB in Amsterdam when I was working at the THNK school of creative leadership there, there's tea, there's crunchy biscuits, there's mic noise - but there's also bombs of wisdom. Enjoy this conversation on Harlemmerdijk in Jordaan, Amsterdam - with Eiji Han Shimizu.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Baccon is a photographer based in Sydney, Australia. Find him on IG @bacconphotoOver the years you would have seen his work on numerous magazine covers, ad campaigns, billboards and book covers - including my own. In fact the photo that became the cover of my book has been named as a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize and will be exhibited at the national portrait gallery in Canberra from Feb 22. The story behind that photo is worth hearing, which is why I got Steve in as my guest this week. A quick note about that - I know this is not the photography podcast - however it just happened to turn out that we had two shooters in a row on, however the way my guest last week approaches photography vs the way Steve approaches photography - they’re two entirely different things. And while you may not ever take a photo on anything other than your phone - what Steve has to teach us about approach to work, humility when it comes to applying yourself to work and indeed how to cope when everything is going horribly wrong - it’s worth the price of admission. Steve’s a warm, humble, kind man - he was my first choice to shoot the cover of my book and you’re about to hear why. Enjoy a great cup of coffee and a great chat with the wonderful human from Sydney that is Steve Baccon.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.