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'everyday compassion with Henny Flynn' is a space to settle in, listen, and see where the episodes take you. It's an invitation to travel deeper, using compassionate self-enquiry.
Henny is a writer, teacher and guide. She shares insights from her own life, alongside practices that help us connect with our inner wisdom, explore our relationship with change and find a greater sense of flow. Henny believes we all hold our own answers, so you won't find one-size-fits-all solutions here. This is a space to be with what's true for you, and to grow from there.
Drawing on psychology, mindfulness, therapeutic coaching and flow journaling, each episode explores the small, everyday ways compassion can help us step further into our inner worlds, and shape the changes we seek in our outer worlds.
If you're drawn to slowing down, listening in and simply seeing what emerges, you're very welcome here.
I've been wondering what this episode of the podcast is going to be about. This is a very regular theme, isn't it? I really want to honor the pause that there's been and I want to honor this new season that we're coming into and I want to honor you for being here. I want to honor me for showing up you know this energy exchange that we each bring when we choose to lend our attention to something or someone. Welcome to the Henny Flynn podcast the space for deepening self awareness with profound self compassion.
Henny:I'm Henny. I write, coach and speak about how exploring our inner world can transform how we experience our outer world, all founded on a bedrock of self love. Settle in and listen and see where the episode takes you. And that something or someone chooses to lend its attention to us. Know that feels like a really beautiful thing to me.
Henny:It's something I often think about when I'm reading you know if I read a really beautiful book and and you feel as though you have a connection with the author that they have taken that time, committed that energy, really lent their whole self sometimes, often, maybe not always, but lent their whole self to the process of writing And that feels a real privilege. I don't know if that resonates with you, but you know as I as I say it, it really like speaks to something inside me this this beautiful human ability we have to connect in this way and how we can connect with people through the ether you know here we are here we are separate and yet connected. And Tara Brack often talks about the illusion of separation, this illusion of the individual. You know, and sometimes that can feel like a very real experience of loneliness or aloneness. And yet when we sink in to ourselves deeper and deeper and deeper maybe what we find is the true depth of connection that we all have between us.
Henny:Oh gosh that feels very beautiful. I'm recording this episode, I'm videoing this episode. I haven't done this for a long time. When we first started the podcast I did used to video it and I'd share it on YouTube and it just became this other layer of technology that I just didn't have capacity for. But for some reason I've been felt drawn to to come back here.
Henny:I'm also you're going to experience the reality of me letting Ronnie into the room. Hang on a second. So this is basically what I've decided to do is I'm going to run this as the podcast like we always do, know, like we've been doing for years. And I will share this very unedited video on YouTube too so if you prefer watching to listening then you'll get to see this. You get to see me in the stable with Ronnie beside me most of the time.
Henny:Yes, so this feeling I mean actually you know just that that experience just there you know that shared experience just there. It's very human. It's very normal. It's very real life and it's these things that can really enable our sense of connection with others. Know and so sometimes back to that thing about the book sometimes imagining the writer sitting there, you know, crafting their words, connecting with their muse, you know, whoever their muse, whatever their muse might be and feeling the inspiration, the R.
Henny:N. That enables their words to reach us on paper or you know ebook or audio like whatever your preferred route of consumption is. The initial process is the same of course and you know, and then from there that takes me into, you know, it's been the same forever since we ever had words, you know, the great verbal storytellers and then the written word and, you know people getting these ancient stories down onto parchment and papyrus and then the printing press and you know it's all rooted back into this way in which we use communication and stories to connect with each other and really that's what we're doing here of course listening and maybe you know thoughts of your own arising and wonderful stories that you know, that you've heard, that you've told. There's a really beautiful practice that I sometimes share or follow with clients with the one to one clients which is a union practice which is, you know, sometimes there's a there's a thread or a or an undercurrent in, you know, maybe a pattern of behavior that that starts to get revealed when I'm working with a client. Or maybe there are iconic elements, archetypal elements that seem to be showing up in their experience of of the world and and how they're experiencing the world.
Henny:And so then it can be really beautiful to ask, You know, if there was a story from your childhood, a fairy tale from your childhood that stayed with you, what would it be? I'd love to ask you that actually. If there was a story from your childhood, a fairy tale that has stayed with you, what would it be? What comes up for you? You know maybe there's just like a little glimmer, little glimpse of something, maybe it's something that feels like, oh gosh it's that one.
Henny:My head often goes to Little Red Riding Hood, that's one of the ones that really, really has stayed with me and if we've been connected for a while you'll know that I've got two pieces of art, two sculptures, Ronnie, it's okay, Two sculptures, maybe he wants to be the wolf. It's alright Ronnie. But yes, I have these two sculptures which really speak to that story of Little Red Riding Hood. And so what's what arises for you? I'd love to know actually, you know if you want to message me and just tell me what your story is.
Henny:You know maybe there's something there that we could reflect on further maybe here maybe in the next episode or next you know few episodes. You know maybe it's Sleeping Beauty. What could that say for you? Maybe it's Cinderella. What could that say for you?
Henny:And it's really an understanding of how these stories may have not simply informed us but maybe we've connected with them because something in them speaks directly to the experience that we are having and maybe that's very unconscious. Maybe we're more aware of it. So with something like Cinderella, maybe a sense that, you know, we're always the one that has to do the stuff for others. That we don't get the appreciation, that we don't feel valued. Maybe if it's Sleeping Beauty that there's this sense of like, gosh, I'm just waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen in my life to wake me up.
Henny:Maybe it's a feeling that we're surrounded by a wall of thorns and no one can get close. That we've placed those thorns there in order to protect ourselves for whatever reason. And so you know with little red riding hood, know for me, the fear of being lost arises from there. I've talked a lot about that, that's definitely one of my stories is a that you know I've worked with and worked on a fear of being lost, being lost in the woods but also when something presents itself as one thing and then reveals itself as something else it's it really activates my nervous system. So when people aren't honest about, you know, their feelings or their thoughts and they're hiding it in some way my nervous system gets very activated.
Henny:Which also might be one of the reasons why I do this work of course because that sensitivity is what enables me to go there's something else going on here. And so you know we do this without judgment. We of course we do all of this without judgment and without self criticism. We simply notice oh this story that's that's really resonating with me and so I suppose here I kind of start to see the thread of my sharing today is about how stories connect us with others and they connect us with ourselves or they have the capacity, the potential to connect us with ourselves. And so so where next?
Henny:Where does that take us next? The thought that arises for me is how this kind of communication is a really deep way of accessing, you know, my own thoughts like my own experiences, own reflections and how grateful I am that you choose to listen and maybe see like how it activates your own thoughts, your own reflections. And there was something that a friend of mine sent me yesterday, which was all about voice notes and she and I talk at each other regularly on voice note, at least two or three times a week. And often, you know, in a single sort of flow, there'll be a to and a from and a to and a from and a to and a from, you know, in one. So it's like having a conversation and we've, you know, sometimes those voice notes, they go on for several, many minutes and they become almost like a mini podcast with one of us, you know, or both sharing, you know, longer reflection sparked by what the other one has shared.
Henny:And they can be deep and they can be very thought provoking and they can be funny and they can be kind and they can be deeply caring and in this article that my friend sent me I'm going to I'll share a link to it actually in the notes. In this article that she sent me, this is exactly what the writer is saying that it's almost like a mini podcast because of course when we're in conversation one to one, we're often sort of, you know, we're having an immediate response to what someone is saying and either we want to speak that immediately, so there can be interruption or disruption to the other person's thought flow. And also we might have a kind of an idea that we want to share, but then the conversation moves on in another direction and that thing just never gets touched on again. And so the delicious thing about a voice note is that you can listen, you can digest it, or you can respond, you know, straight away safe in the knowledge that your thoughts will not get disrupted because it's just you and the machine and then something. And I just wondered like how do you use voice notes?
Henny:Is it something that that you love or is it something that you really don't like at all? Because obviously, you know, we all, communicate in different ways. Some of us love the written words. Some of us love to listen. Some of us love to speak.
Henny:Some of us love to feel you know the somatic experience of communication. I just wonder like how is it for you with the voice note and you know and I'd really love to use this place as, you know, or maybe that's already what this place is. So this is a new thought for me. Maybe this is basically an extended voice note, an extended love note out to you out into the world. But perhaps there are things that you have questions about.
Henny:Maybe something arises for you as you listen to something that I share and if you want to send me a voice note to tell me about that, record it, email it to me and maybe I can respond to that here, you know, to share some you know deeper reflections that might be really pertinent to you but could also be really supportive to others You know, let's throw that out into the universe and see if it's something that feels like it works for you. Maybe you just want to tell me what your fairy tale is. Maybe saying what it is about it that you sense resonates for you. I'd love to reflect back to you here on that. Yes, well there we go, I love it.
Henny:I love it when we don't know, when I don't know where I'm going. But storytelling that feels like a lovely place to close today. And before I close fully, just to say that the field is now open. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see I've been sharing quite a lot about it and I'll also share about it in the email this Sunday too because the response from season one has been exactly as I imagined or as I had like from my heart hoped the experience would be. It's really validated this idea that I have been nurturing and holding for the field, which is a place of non judgment, non comparison, non criticism you know simply a place for change that is rooted in compassionate self inquiry, A place where we can gather together online.
Henny:It's a virtual field you know we're always stepping into the field. This is a field that you and I are in now with all the other people who are listening. We're all in this field that we're creating here and we step into the field that we create. Each month we gather together in the field and we explore a theme that runs through that season and this season it's all about being with. How do we hold ourselves safely in amongst the whole of what we are experiencing?
Henny:How do we find the tools, the mechanisms, the framings that can really support us with being with the whole of our experience, whatever it might be. And not feeling as though we have to in an unhealthy way suppress or push away or segment or compartmentalize. And I say not doing that in an unhealthy way because sometimes we do need to just really gently park things. We just need to hold things in a special way to enable us to be with them. And for me, the kind of almost like the best description of that is, you know, it's not about letting things go, it's about letting things be.
Henny:We can't ever let go of something that we've experienced, you know, it's part of us. We've had that experience, we've got those memories, We've got that felt sense in our body, but what we can do is we can let it be. So we can provide, create, establish, nourish a space where we can hold the difficult things in life and we can hold them tenderly and with love and with kindness and with compassion to ourselves and maybe with compassion to the thing itself so that we can hold it safely and so our nervous system isn't endlessly activated by it. So that's the kind of stuff that we're going to be talking about in the field. The gate is open now and it closes on the September 9.
Henny:It's £111 to join for three months. It's such a beautiful way to get this kind of deep connection, but in a safe enough environment with a group of people who are all doing their work while you're doing yours. And there is absolutely no pressure on anybody to perform in any way. If you don't want to speak, don't speak. If you don't want to share anything, don't share anything, it's absolutely okay and if you have something that you just feel it could be useful for you to share, share.
Henny:It's really about a place of learning how we can listen in to what is truly important for us and you know I'm delighted that some of the people from season one are joining us in season two and this feels like you know this that to me is absolutely right and also that some people in season one that was right, was enough for them and maybe they return in another season and that is right too. So no pressure and if you'd like to join if you're thinking about it please do come along come and see how it is together in this way it would be an absolute honor and a privilege to have you there of course okay my darlings yeah connect if you're watching this on youtube put a comment into YouTube if you want to share what your your fairy tale is or the one that just stands out for you even if you have no idea what that might be I'd love to see that and if you're listening on the podcast and you want to email me then hennyhennyflinn dot co dot uk it would be lovely to hear from you. All right my loves take care and I send you a hug and a wing.