Today’s episode is all about fear and how it holds us back in all aspects of our life. My guest is psychologist, Dr Pippa Grange, who has been hailed by the media ‘the doctor who helped transform the England football team’. Pippa is also author of the compelling book, Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself.

Fear is one of our body’s natural early warning systems. It alerts us when we’re under threat and need to take action. A bit like stress or inflammation, it’s something that’s useful to us in certain circumstances. But not when it becomes chronic and disrupts our entire sense of wellbeing. Pippa believes that behind every negative emotion, is the fear that we are not good enough. She sees fear as ‘the constant companion’ in our lives. Whether it manifests as loneliness, jealousy, dissatisfaction, perfectionism, judgement or shame, the root cause is actually the same. We discuss how we can all leave fear behind and gain what Pippa calls ‘mental freedom.’

We delve into how shame evolves in childhood, and how we need to shake out some of the narratives of how we ‘should’ behave. We also talk about how so many of us conform to societal ideals in order to avoid criticism but in so doing, we can strip ourselves of who we really are. In fact, by pretending to be someone else, Pippa believes we are only performing at life, not living it.

We explore the concept of a ‘scarcity mindset’ – the false idea that there’s not enough to go around, whether that be love, success, respect or admiration. We also talk about how schools would be the best place to instil these ideas, and help our children understand that winning and losing are just outcomes and not their worth.

Finally, Pippa explains how by noticing and sitting with our own fears, we can find our real passions and deeper fulfilment. This conversation is full of wisdom and insight and I am sure you are going to really enjoy it!

Disclaimer: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.*

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Watch the video version of this interview – click below.

Connect with Pippa:

Instagram  

Pippa’s books:

Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself^†

Ethical Leadership in Sport^†

Interesting Articles:

• Vogue – How To Conquer Your Fears – By The Woman Who Helps Athletes Overcome Theirs
• The Telegraph – Meet Pippa Grange, the doctor who helped transform the England football team.
• The Guardian – How the psychology of the England football team could change your life
• The Psychologist – The world cup demonstrated what changes when people feel differently.
• The Times – World Cup: psychologist helped to break penalty curse

Related Feel Better Live More podcasts:

• #119 Esther Perel: Relationships and How They Shape Us
• #121 How To Break Free From The Limitations Of Your Mind with Peter Crone

Dr Chatterjee’s resources:

• Feel Great Lose Weight is available to pre-order now! Click here for the UK version^† and click here for the US & Canadian version^†
• Dr Chatterjee’s book Feel Better in 5 is out now. Click here for the UK version^† and click here for the US & Canadian version^†
• Order Dr Chatterjee’s book The Stress Solution^†
• Find Dr Chatterjee’s 4 Pillars of Health in The 4 Pillar Plan^†
• Available in the US & Canada with the title How to Make Disease Disappear^†
• Click here for Dr Chatterjee’s YouTube channel
• Join the Dr Chatterjee 4 Pillar Community Tribe Facebook page

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*DISCLAIMER: Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

†Disclosure: All books marked with a † are hyperlinked to an affiliate program. We take part in Amazon’s affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon’s website. You are not charged any extra by using these links to purchase books.