positivity Archives - The ClearOut

The Humble Art of Reading the Room, or It’s Not All About You! – Episode 181

In this episode, Dara shares final thoughts on the US presidential election and speculates that the Democrats still haven’t shaken the patronising habit of belittling those who disagree with them. He argues that if you take this attitude in the world of martial arts, you are setting yourself up to fail – the assumption of superiority is a dangerous flex of ego that can result in complacency and abdicated diligence.

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You Have It So Easy! Resentment, Ease, and Reaching for the Good – Episode 176

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In this episode, Dara considers the elements that contribute to our resentment buckets and shoulder chips. He believes time and the ease of others are two key ingredients in the mix. He confesses to giving voice to some very uncharitable resentfulness around the time he became a father. He also speaks carefully around a significant source of resentment in his marriage.

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What Do You Do If You See a Space, Man? – Episode 173

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This episode is all about the presence of absence. How are your comfort levels with empty space and dead air? Do you struggle when the void isn’t filled with something to stimulate? And more importantly, with what do you fill empty spaces and awkward silences?

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The Existential Toolkit to Approaching the Unknown – Episode 164

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In this episode, Dara is wondering about what comes next. We can never truly know what lies in the future so how do we cope with that uncertainty? Are we willing to step into the unknown without the security of a plan? Do we trust we have the resources to deal with what we find?

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Scene from a Garden – Tall Trees, High Kicks, and Low, Low Wages – Episode 163

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In this episode, Dara is taking time to express thanks to a place that has served him well over the last few years, and he’s so determined to do so in a special way that he moves the podcast to the location he’s honouring! At the end, when a certain flying creature appears, it’s time to bring things to a close. No, it’s not a dragon…

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What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 4 – Episode 158

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In the fourth part of his series on masculinity, Dara tries to point out the hierarchical nature of masculinity when the idea of manhood is being discussed. The legacy of Western European colonial domination has resulted in the idealisation of white, straight, middle class masculinity. In other words, for many people when they’re asked to consider men and masculinity, they will default to the aforementioned model. But where does that leave other iterations and expressions of masculinity?

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Intentionality, Clarity, Self-Care, and The Belief in Positive Change – Episode 151

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In this episode, Dara is doing what he thinks he should have done last week; namely, reflect on the throughline of one hundred and fifty episodes of the podcast. His mission statement from the original blog iteration of The ClearOut in 2013 remains just as relevant over 10 years later – Decluttering. Clarifying. Connecting. Those three imperatives continue to assert themselves on the weekly attempt to offer something of use to the listener. They, attached to an eye-rolling scepticism about toxic positivity, are at the heart of the podcast’s subheading – Wellness with Attitude.

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The Absolute ‘Ick’ Episode – Going Granular on My War with Myself – Episode 140

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In this very personal and occasionally difficult episode, Dara decides he can’t not examine his near four-decade-old impulse to destroy himself. A follow-on from last week’s episode in which he spoke more generally and euphemistically about a recent onset of anxiety-fuelled depression, this time he wants more transparency, more openness, more keeping it real. He understands that for some people this type of sharing gives them the ‘ick’, hence the title of the episode.

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Collective Heartbreak and Tears of a Clown, or How I Baptised my Baby Daughter – Episode 126

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In this pendulum swing of an episode, Dara is dancing between joy and pain. It is a journey that takes him from Ireland’s expulsion from the Rugby World Cup last week to the birth of his daughter 10 years ago.

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Survival, Transcendence, and the Myth of Whatever Doesn’t Kill You – Episode 108

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In this episode, Dara talks about the affection for survival narratives and considers the respective legacies of the recently deceased singers and songwriters Tina Turner and Christy Dignam. He wonders whether we should be defined by what we’ve overcome in life. He also questions the value of legacy and argues for the need to be more concerned with our present-tense impact.

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positivity

The Humble Art of Reading the Room, or It’s Not All About You! – Episode 181

You Have It So Easy! Resentment, Ease, and Reaching for the Good – Episode 176

What Do You Do If You See a Space, Man? – Episode 173

The Existential Toolkit to Approaching the Unknown – Episode 164

Scene from a Garden – Tall Trees, High Kicks, and Low, Low Wages – Episode 163

What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 4 – Episode 158

Intentionality, Clarity, Self-Care, and The Belief in Positive Change – Episode 151

The Absolute ‘Ick’ Episode – Going Granular on My War with Myself – Episode 140

Collective Heartbreak and Tears of a Clown, or How I Baptised my Baby Daughter – Episode 126

Survival, Transcendence, and the Myth of Whatever Doesn’t Kill You – Episode 108

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