Mind the Gap

How do people really heal? Not through dramatic breakthroughs, but through small, ordinary moments. In this episode, Michael Comyn reflects on personal recovery from a recent experience of gossip and intrusion, and explores how humans heal through connection, routine, purpose, and everyday emotional intelligence. A gentle, optimistic reflection on resilience, wellbeing, and the quiet work of becoming a little quicker to mend.

Why do so many people feel exhausted even when nothing obvious is wrong? In this opening episode of Season 4 of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn explores what it means to live in permanent alert mode, a state of constant urgency driven by 24-hour news cycles, notifications, and global uncertainty. This episode looks at how the human nervous system reacts to modern life, why being informed is not the same as being emotionally overloaded, and how chronic low-grade stress quietly shapes our thinking, relationships, and leadership. Drawing on emotional intelligence, psychology, and neuroscience, Michael reflects on why we feel wired but tired, why reactivity has become the norm, and how to pause between stimulus and response in a world that never switches off. The episode references insights from Daniel Goleman on emotional reactivity, Viktor Frankl on choice and response, and Robert Kegan on our ability to live with uncertainty. If you feel tense, overwhelmed, or permanently on edge, this episode offers reassurance, perspective, and practical ways to regain calm without disengaging from the world. In this episode Why constant urgency exhausts the nervous systemHow news and notifications trigger stress responsesThe difference between being informed and being emotionally inflamedWhy reactivity feels normal but costs us clarityA simple emotional intelligence pause practiceWhy calm is a form of discernment, not indifference Mind the Gap is a podcast by Michael Comyn exploring emotional intelligence, psychology, and modern life with clarity, warmth, and practical insight. New episodes are released regularly.

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael reflects on a small moment in a bank queue that reveals a much larger shift in how we connect. As more organisations encourage us to use apps and digital services instead of speaking to real people, something subtle is happening beneath the surface. Drawing on recent research from almost seventeen thousand young adults, a global dataset of twenty-eight thousand people across one hundred and sixty-six countries, and long-term trends in emotional intelligence studies, Michael explores what experts are now calling an emotional recession. The conversation looks at how declining everyday interactions weaken the emotional skills we rely on for empathy, patience, and presence. Stoic ideas from Musonius Rufus and Cleanthes help frame the episode, reminding us that character is shaped in community and that emotional intelligence is learned through contact with others. This episode asks an important question. What happens when convenience replaces connection, and how do we protect the emotional muscles that only grow through real human interaction? Books by Michael Comyn, Mind the Gap, The Next Station Is, and Between the Lines, are available on Amazon.ie. https://amzn.eu/d/hNBGotF

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael explores the hidden layers of communication that sit beneath the words we speak. Tone, timing, silence and posture often tell the true story long before language ever arrives. Drawing inspiration from the first chapter of his upcoming book Between the Lines, Michael invites us to notice the subtle signals that shape our conversations and influence our relationships. This episode asks an important question. Are we responding to the words someone uses or to the meaning they are trying to express underneath? When we slow down and listen with curiosity, we become better leaders, better colleagues and better companions. The episode is part of the journey toward Michael’s full trilogy of books. • Mind the Gap and The Next Station Is are available on Amazon • Mind the Gap is also on Audible • Between the Lines arrives this December If the podcast resonates with you, follow the series and share it with someone who might enjoy the reflection. Mind yourself, mind each other, and mind the gap.

There is a moment on every journey when the light fades and the world outside disappears. The train slips into a tunnel, and for a few seconds, it feels as if everything has stopped. Yet even in the dark, the train keeps moving. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn delves into the quiet power of limiting beliefs, those inner convictions that tell us what we cannot do or who we cannot be. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, modern psychology, and emotional intelligence, he examines how these beliefs take hold, how they narrow our vision, and how we can begin to challenge them. From Marcus Aurelius to Daniel Goleman, the message is timeless: we may not control the darkness, but we can control how we see it. The tunnels of the mind are never endless, and the next station is always waiting. 📘 Mind the Gap and The Next Station Is… are both available now, with Mind the Gap also released as an audiobook on Audible.com.

In the opening episode of Season 3, Michael Comyn introduces The Next Station Is… — a new season of Mind the Gap inspired by his latest book. Standing on a railway platform one winter morning, Michael reflects on how so many of us travel through life on tickets written long before we learn to choose our own destinations. Drawing on the work of psychiatrist Eric Berne and the Stoic wisdom of Epictetus, he explores the “life scripts” we inherit — the quiet rules and expectations that shape our choices, our confidence, and the stops we miss along the way. This episode is an invitation to pause and ask: whose handwriting is on the ticket you’re holding? Themes: – Life scripts and early conditioning – Emotional intelligence and self-awareness – The courage to question inherited beliefs – Stoic and psychological approaches to choice and change Quote to Remember: “The next station is always ahead. The question is whether you’ll believe the ticket in your pocket, or dare to write your own.” Related Reading: This episode is based on Chapter 1 of Michael Comyn’s new book The Next Station Is…. Find it now on Amazon in paperback, hardback, and eBook editions: https://amzn.to/478Ru9G

Even the sharpest minds can be fooled — not because we are careless, but because con artists know how to pull the emotional levers that make us human. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael explores how scams old and new trick us into lowering our guard, from the classic infomercials that promised six-packs in six weeks to today’s deepfakes that use familiar faces and voices to convince us to click. You’ll hear why trust can become a trap, how urgency, flattery, and hope can override logic, and why emotional intelligence is one of our best tools to pause, reflect, and verify before we act. This is the sixtieth episode of Mind the Gap, and after this one, we’re taking a short break to practice what we preach. If you miss us while we’re away, now is a great time to revisit earlier episodes — or dive into the Mind the Gap book, available in paperback, hardback, and ebook here.

Betrayal cuts deep, whether it’s a colleague taking credit for your work, a promised promotion that never arrives, or the quiet exclusion from a team. Inspired by the hit television series The Traitors, this episode of Mind the Gap explores how we respond when trust is broken. Michael Comyn unpacks the sting of betrayal in both personal and professional life, weaving together insights from philosophy, modern psychology, and emotional intelligence. Are we too quick to label others as traitors? And what does it really mean to be faithful in a world where loyalty is tested daily? If today’s reflections resonate, you can dive deeper into the companion book Mind the Gap, available worldwide in paperback, hardback, and Kindle editions. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, when Michael explores another of life’s hidden challenges with the same mix of wisdom, wit, and humanity. Book available at https://amzn.eu/d/irNfaHO