Alternative (Elementary) Schools & Learning Styles with Jenn / February 13, 2018 by Mandy Wintink

A few days before this conversation Jenn and I (along with our partners and kids and friends) attended an open house for an alternative school in our neighbourhood that we both want our kids to get into. The conversation natural meanders through a variety of topics including school ratings, learning styles, starting a new school, starting a summer school, tracking how kids learn, neuropsychoidiology, strength-based approach to learning...

3 Part Series on Quitting Ultimate: Part 3 with the Community / February 2, 2018 by Mandy Wintink

So I made a big decision recently, which was to quit playing competitive ultimate this summer. The process was gruelling for me and it brought up a lot of interesting things for me. I start with wrapping my mind around letting go of an identity (in my own monologue) to discussing my body with Mike and ending with confidence in how I want to grow old with my body and try to embrace death with Mike, Lindsey, and Bronwyn (and the kids in the background). Who knew it would be a spiritual journey to quit ultimate? Actually, it’s not that surprising when we consider how our egos get wrapped up in identities… and it failing to let go. The last conversation gets into so peripheral topics about what is an athlete and is it different for men and women? I also liked the deeper conversation about growing old with yoga.

3 Part Series on Quitting Ultimate: Part 2: Getting Out of My Head with Mike / February 2, 2018 by Mandy Wintink

So I made a big decision recently, which was to quit playing competitive ultimate this summer. The process was grueling for me and it brought up a lot of interesting things for me. I start with wrapping my mind around letting go of an identity (in my own monologue) to discussing my body with Mike and ending with confidence in how I want to grow old with my body and try to embrace death with Mike, Lindsey, and Bronwyn (and the kids in the background). Who knew it would be a spiritual journey to quit ultimate? Actually, it’s not that surprising when we consider how our egos get wrapped up in identities… and it failing to let go. The last conversation gets into so peripheral topics about what is an athlete and is it different for men and women? I also liked the deeper conversation about growing old with yoga.

3 Part Series on Quitting Ultimate: Part 1 Saying Bye to My Sports Identity with Mandy / February 2, 2018 by Mandy Wintink

Process Learning (take 1?) with Jenn / January 1, 2018 by Mandy Wintink

Jenn and I were meeting for a brainstorming session over “report cards” for home learning. We both highly value the importance of process a long with the outcome or the product. We decided to start discussing a tool to help parents (including ourselves) document the process of learning in their children, with a focus on learning that’s done at home. We don’t cover the nitty gritty of what we come up with — we’ll save that for later — but we discuss the value of process, other ways people/disciplines document learning, how to reward process,

Depression and Anxiety with Dawn / December 9, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

There are so many things I love about Dawn sharing all of this but one thing that I think deserves extra attention is how articulate and wise she with her mental illness. It’s like she sees it both through her own eyes and experience but also through the eyes of some looking from outside and also someone looking with a clinical lens. We cover quite a few topics including what it actually feels like to live with depression and anxiety. She paints a very visceral picture of what it feels like in her body and the thoughts that go through her mind. If someone has ever questioned the physicality of depression and anxiety, they should hear how Dawn describes it. But I want to make it clear that this took A LOT of courage for Dawn to share this and then allow her name to be attached to it. She’s so articulate and seems to comfortable with all of this that it’s hard to really tell with her. But she deserves a huge applause for doing this. I am truly grateful and know her sharing her story is of benefit to others, whether it’s people with similar experiences feeling less alone or for people without these experiences to grow more compassion.

Everything is exactly how it should be / November 17, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

We’re at Merchants of Green Coffee in Toronto. Just before I started recording Mike said that he had the thought that everything is exactly how it is suppose to be. So I start recording as we are launched into a conversation about enlightenment, objective truth, and activism. Because we’re at a coffee shop, we have some great background music that sets a nice atmosphere, I think. The conversation ends with Mike's distraction.

Privilege with Bronwyn, Lindsey, and Mike / November 7, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

We’re having a house breakfast. It starts off with Ashar and Nyjah getting stuck while crawling under the couch. We’re talking about our white privilege and some of our resistances to our white privilege, particularly in comparison to disadvantages we might feel because of our gender and/or sexuality. Throughout the conversation you also get to hear us parenting our kids squabbles and requests.

Craft, Apprenticeship, & Mentorship with Mike / November 1, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

Mike and I somehow end up in a debate on “what is a hipster?” It’s an old conversation, from 2014. I honestly can’t remember how it started but it did lead to a deeper (?) conversation about craftship, apprenticeship, and mentorship. You have to wait about 10 min to get to that part but I found listening to us figure out what a hipster is, kind of amusing. Then, we talk about the difference between craft, apprenticeship, and mentorship compared to design-based problem-solution-type business models.

The neuroscience lens of coaching with Coach Quinn / October 25, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

This was a planned discussion about the role of neuroscience in coaching between myself and my friend and colleague Quinn Simpson. Quinn is a coach who works primarily within education. We cover a lot of topics including creativity, neuroplasticity, change and capacity for change, stress, decision-making, intuition, empathy, how to be present with others, and how to self-reflect on our own biases as a coach. We end with a look at how neuroscience can provide tolerance and compassion for others.

Podcast coaching with Paul / October 20, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

Paul’s coaching me. We start this session with Paul discussing his proposed coaching process and then we talk about Mandyland. He helps me figure out some of the details and clarify some of the concepts. We cover why I did not feel inclined to be very niche-like with this podcast. Why cover the “why” of what I am doing. Paul also challenges me with the fractured aspect of my work as he tries to wrap his head around all that I do. I resisted it, as I typically do. He asks the questions I hate the most: What’s the common thread? What connects all these things that I do?

Talking about work with Jenn / October 15, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

Jenn rants about her job for the first 13 minutes. So skip ahead if you don’t want to hear that. We eventually cover topics such as leadership, managing others, reference letters, challenges of being a working mom, brining your whole self to work, working/busy too much, life in balance, being addicted to work.

Prototyping Your Career? with Mike / October 11, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

This was recorded back in the summer of 2014, long before Mandyland was conceptualized. At the time, I thought I would have a podcast with mine and Mike’s conversations. You can tell it’s old because I refer to Jian Gomeshi as the host of the Q back before we knew what kind of asshole he was. Most of what we talk about is the career of ranting and my desire to have pursued that, had I known about it at the time.

Do You Have To Be Passionate About What You Produce? Talking With Life Coaches / October 7, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

We are all over the map in our conversation. We spent a great deal of time talking about poop, which I’m actually not ashamed of. I think we should talk about EVERYTHING as a culture, poop included. And this isn't even about baby poop. Just plain old regular adult poop. And the anxiety that provokes it! But that’s not all we talk about it. We started talking this conversation with a focus on authenticity in our writing and other projects and we actually do come back to that. I think the conclusion was that we write for ourselves... and maybe others care about it too.

Thinking about new models of child education with Jenn / September 29, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

This is an older recording from when our babes were under a year old and you can hear them in the background. What feels like a long time ago, Jenn and I were very active in alternative education systems, but at the time it was focussed on Post-Secondary Education. In this conversation, we talk about early childhood education. We play around with some ideas for how can we create a new education system distinct from the public school system and distinct from the homeschool system. We also just hash out education in general, as we typically do.

The Effects of Early Life Experiences on Mental Health and Self Regulation in Children with Fellow Neuroscientist, Greer / September 24, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

Greer currently lives in LA and was back in Toronto so we decided to meet at Riverdale Park to discuss parenting practices. We cover a lot of parenting topics in our hour and 20 min conversation including sleep training, responsive parenting, discipline, self-regulation, co-sleeping, childcare, and how to balance being a mom with work. We include personal anecdotes about my 2 year old and her dog!

Privilege with Jenn / September 17, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

The conversation starts off with a reaction that Jenn had to a facilitator that I brought in for a retreat day for the staff of my company, the Centre for Applied Neuroscience. It sparked a whole conversation on privilege, which I admit was tough for me to have. I personally feel like it’s hard to talk about this, especially publicly, because out of fear that we might say the wrong thing. So I venture into this conversation feeling vulnerable. I think we dive into a few good points about it and I also feel more comfortable talking about it with Jenn, who I am very open with and who is a women of color (Chinese). So it was a great conversation to have!

Doing what you love without any other agenda with Mike / September 15, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

We’re up at the cottage driving back from town. We start talking about my podcast but that leads into talking about doing things just for doing them, without another agenda. This leads into a conversation about science and how basic science is just for the sake of curiosity and how there is value in that. Despite this deviation into science, the conversation actually relates to people doing what they love and seeing where it goes. This is a belief I have held for a long time and it is the foundation of my coaching practice and how I personally navigate through life. At one point Mike also suggests that “Mandyland” sounds like a self-centred circus event! After listening to this podcast after the fact, I have to defend my desire to use Mandyland as an umbrella term. I don’t think it’s self-centred in the negative way we think of it but I do think it is self-centred in the sense that it is centred on me and my thoughts. And I stand by Mandyland as my playground! The conversation ends when we arrive at the cottage!

Expanding Identities In Motherhood with Lindsey / September 14, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

We started off with Lindsey reflecting on her maternity leave (which is about to end) and the anxiety she felt during her time off from work. It fed into a discussion about body image, which Lindsey and I have covered to a great extent through our co-founded organized, Body Monologues. The theme of this conversation was our “Expanding Identity”.

Welcome to Mandyland / August 8, 2017 by Mandy Wintink

An overview of what to expect on Mandyland.