Have you ever felt as if your inner critic is running rampant, whispering doubts and fears that cloud your day? You're not alone, and this week, I'm thrilled to share the space with Alex Walton, the brains behind "The Kind Mind Method," as we address the all-too-familiar battle with negativity. Our heart-to-heart conversation journeys through my personal struggles with mental health and the techniques I've found unbeneficial, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and gratitude practices.
Alex Walton takes the spotlight, recounting his own quest for mental serenity and how it led him to craft an innovative approach for silencing those stubborn negative thoughts. The stories we exchange about simple yet powerful positive questions and Alex's unique method will empower you to shift your mindset towards a more peaceful and benevolent outlook. We also touch upon the joy that giving and receiving random acts of kindness can bring into our lives, an often overlooked yet potent remedy for the soul.
As we wrap up, we share a treasure trove of resources available at kindnessmatterspodcast.com, aimed at supporting your mental health journey and amplifying kindness in the world. I hope I can leave you charged with the uplifting truth that the smallest acts can wield the greatest transformative power. So join us on this episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast and let's turn the tide together—one act of kindness at a time.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
Have you ever felt as if your inner critic is running rampant, whispering doubts and fears that cloud your day? You're not alone, and this week, I'm thrilled to share the space with Alex Walton, the brains behind "The Kind Mind Method," as we address the all-too-familiar battle with negativity. Our heart-to-heart conversation journeys through my personal struggles with mental health and the techniques I've found unbeneficial, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and gratitude practices.
Alex Walton takes the spotlight, recounting his own quest for mental serenity and how it led him to craft an innovative approach for silencing those stubborn negative thoughts. The stories we exchange about simple yet powerful positive questions and Alex's unique method will empower you to shift your mindset towards a more peaceful and benevolent outlook. We also touch upon the joy that giving and receiving random acts of kindness can bring into our lives, an often overlooked yet potent remedy for the soul.
As we wrap up, we share a treasure trove of resources available at kindnessmatterspodcast.com, aimed at supporting your mental health journey and amplifying kindness in the world. I hope I can leave you charged with the uplifting truth that the smallest acts can wield the greatest transformative power. So join us on this episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast and let's turn the tide together—one act of kindness at a time.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
This podcast is part of the Deluxe Edition Network. To find other great shows on the network, head over to deluxeeditionnetworkcom. That's deluxeeditionnetworkcom.
Speaker 2:Kindness, we see it all around us. We see it when someone pays for someone else's coffee or holds the door open for another person. We see it in the smallest of gestures, like a smile or a kind word. But it's different when we turn on the news or social media. Oftentimes what we hear about what outlets are pushing is the opposite of kind. Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. Our goal is to give you a place to relax, to revel in stories of people who have received or given kindness, a place to inspire and motivate each and every one of us to practice kindness every day. Hello and welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. Everybody, I am your host, mike Rathbun, and I'd just like to start off by saying, if you would do me a kindness, if you would do me a favor and go to deluxeeditionnetworkcom and check out their podcast of the month. There are three of them this month. The first is Bev's Video Kingdom, and in that you'll join four small-town friends as they hilariously, unpretentiously, review movies they love and then hold highly competitive drafts on all categories. The second is Barrel-Aged Flicks, where Ron, stu, ragnar, chase and Lenny host a show about classic movies and review movie-themed adult beverages. New movies are featured weekly, spiraling into hilarious discussions peppered with movie trivia. Punishment shots never stop in these episodes. That's the Barrel-Aged Flicks and, of course, the final podcast of the month is the Kindness Matters podcast. Now let's get into the show.
Speaker 2:So I think it's fair to say that all of us over the last few years have all had some kind of issues in the mental health area. I know it's true for me. I think for most people it's true that we have all dealt with mental health issues over the last few years. And you know, sometimes it's that voice in your head that insistently, incessantly, something like that continuously tells you that you're not good enough or that you're a fraud, or you know all these voices and for a lot of people it's temporary. It comes and goes. But what if that voice is there all the time? You can't shake it. You try CBT Cognitive Behavior Therapy you try journaling, you try gratitude, and none of that works. I will say that my guest today has come up with a brilliant method to shake it and it works for him, but I'm sure it would work for a lot of people. He is the author of a newly released book called the Kind Mind Method, and I welcome Mr Alex Walton. Thank you for coming on, alex, I appreciate you being here.
Speaker 1:Hi there, Mike. It's an absolute pleasure to be here, so really thank you very much for inviting me and really looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and because I had my own mental health issues, your story really resonated with me and I've tried all those things. I tried gratitude, and I was really good for the first couple of weeks. I'm like, oh, thank you. I'm grateful that I woke up this morning and I'm grateful for this and that, but it seemed like I was just reusing a lot of stuff and I'm sure I just wasn't putting as much into it as I could to break out of this depression. I guess is probably the best way to put it. But, um, and you had some of that as well.
Speaker 1:I did and I think when you introduced it there, the way you were talking, that voice in your head, those thoughts, that was very much it. For me it was very much around negative thinking, that constant voice of worry, of fear, of anxiety, anxious about situations, social situations, were thoughts about what could go wrong, what I could do wrong, and I simply couldn't step out of those those thoughts. And as I look back now it's almost. It's quite strange, it's almost it was almost like a compulsion in. In some ways I felt like I was, I was chasing a thought and it was really difficult to sort of step out of that.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I would even think to myself those negative thoughts were, were helping me. I would often think, actually this I used to worry about my health and things like that, and sitting in front of Google looking at things, maybe I'm researching what it is and it was just all negative thoughts. And you mentioned CBT. I tried CBT, mindfulness, yoga, all sorts of things, and I would really stress that I have no negative conversations about any of those, because I think what works for someone is the answer and they they do work for many, many people, but they never quite answered the question for me.
Speaker 1:They they sort of soften the edges around things. They would maybe sort of briefly provide me a moment of of clarity, but I simply couldn't step away from them. And you know, cbt was always a good example. It sort of talks about seeing your thoughts and you recognize them. It talks a lot about seeing your thoughts as a fluffy cloud when I was speaking. You know, see that thought and then let it float into the distance. And I could do that and I would choose not to engage with that thought, but then there'd be another one right on its tail and there'd be another and another, and it wasn't. I didn't have a fluffy cloud, I had a thunderstorm there. I simply couldn't step away from them. And then, yeah, I've come up with this thought process that has allowed me to step away from them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you were talking about fluffy clouds. Yeah, again, this is probably, you know, some things work for some people and, yeah, and some things don't. You have found a method that works for you, and maybe it won't work for everybody, but maybe, and for those people that are experiencing this, it might, and, of course, I'm a little bit biased because of the subject matter that you attach to it, and that is the kindness aspect, yeah, so okay, let's back up a minute. At what point did you have this thought?
Speaker 1:Well, if it's okay, I'm going to go back in time a little bit and provide a bit of context, actually, because it really starts with these envelopes and I'm flashing up an envelope here and I appreciate this is on a podcast, so I'm going to give you the visual description for everyone listening.
Speaker 1:So it's a kind of A4 sized envelope. It's red and festive looking and it's got a message on the front. And in December 2015, a hundred of these envelopes appeared randomly scattered around my hometown city, which is Norwich in the UK, and on each of these envelopes there was a message on the front, and the message read as follows Several years ago, I received a Christmas gift in strange circumstances. It changed my life for the better. I'm now returning that favour by randomly distributing that same gift in equally strange circumstances. So wherever you may find this envelope, it is meant for you. Please take it, please open it, please read it. And then it says Merry Christmas For anyone who opened that envelope.
Speaker 1:Inside and again I'll describe these there was another small brown envelope with another message saying don't open me until you've read the story. And then inside there a story and it was an emotional story about a man called Matt who was going through a difficult time in his life and then, in almost magical circumstances, he received a gift from a stranger and that gift changed his life and he was now handing it over to you, the person who had the courage and curiosity to open his envelope. And that gift inside was the one inside of the, the little brown envelope and that was again I'm flashing this up for the listeners was the Star Tarot card. And the Star Tarot card is the symbol of hope, and there was a message on the back of it which I'll briefly read out. So the Star card represents hope. It suggests you have endured life's challenges and have been through a difficult time, but you are now open to change. Your ability to that go of damaging memories will be strengthened by contact with those closest to you. This card is saying to you that over the long term, you should have faith and trust in yourself. A better future is waiting for you, but in order to reach it, you must trust that it is indeed possible. Wow, so powerful.
Speaker 1:This was my project. So I wrote the story, I printed out the story, I bought the envelopes, I bought the stickers, I stuck the stickers on the envelopes and I randomly distributed 100 of them around the city of Norwich, and my hope was that I would find just one person, just one person who, who. This would mean something to them. It would find them at just the right time, and it became so much more so. Over the next five years I actually wrote two more stories.
Speaker 1:With the help of hundreds of volunteers, I distributed thousands of these envelopes and we made it all over the UK. We we managed to make some of them over there and we distributed some in New York. So that was myself and a couple of people who were on holiday there distributed some and I was inundated with profound responses from people who found one of these envelopes and it reached them at just the right time and it meant something to them and I'll just. I'll just dig. There's one of them that I'd like to just sort of briefly read out, and this was one of one of many, but it always really resonated with me because the original story about Matt had involved some, some grief and some loss he'd had. So I received this in the first year was distributing them. My 13 year old son found your story today. He lifted your envelope and kept it safe until he was back home. He opened the envelope and read envelope and read your story with baited breath to find out what was inside the little brown envelope the star tarot card, the card of hope, telling him he had been through a difficult stage. How apt could this be, for my 13 year old son lost his dad suddenly and tragically in August this year. The words on those cards mean so much to both of us Wow, yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:And all through this, I did this for five years and in December 2019. I was distributing the envelopes and what nobody knew not my colleagues, not my friends, family, not even my wife Was that the stories I wrote were very much a reflection of my mental health, the struggles I was going through, the anxiety, the negative thinking, the subsequent depression that it caused, and I was keeping it all bottled in. But I felt these envelopes gave me a little window, a little glimmer of respite. So every December I did them. It was a very festive thing. It felt like there was something positive there. But but after five years I just it just felt like nothing was nothing was changing. That that helped, but I maybe thought there'll be something else there. These, you know, is there go. Is this going to help me? Is it going to change? And after five years I just decided, actually I'm going to stop distributing my envelopes. They, nothing is changing. And I felt like there was a tipping point. I really felt that that something's going to happen, whether it's a bit of a breakdown, whether I'm going to take some time from work, whether I'm finally going to admit that that I've got this, this problem, sort of thing. And in the December I stopped distributing my envelopes.
Speaker 1:On January, the 10th, less than three weeks after I distributed the last one, I went away for a weekend and over the course of that weekend this thought process emerged within me and it is entirely based around kindness to others and I believe it is entirely inspired by the journey that I went on with those envelopes, the Helping all of those people, seeing the impact that it had, I think subconsciously, sort of brought something about.
Speaker 1:And this is how the thought process came about. I should probably say briefly what it is and then we can delve into some of the details, because because when I tell you it sounds so simple but there is so many layers to it. But the thought process is simply two questions that I ask myself, and I've asked them hundreds and thousands of times. I ask them every single day without fail. At first, when I was struggling with my negative thoughts, I just relentlessly asked myself all of the time and it snapped me into the moment and took me away from my thoughts. And those two questions are simply how can I help them? How can I make them smile? And I repeat it over and over again how can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I help them? How can I make them smile?
Speaker 2:like a mantra Absolutely absolutely. We'll be right back to my conversation with Alex Walton, but first Bacon is my podcast, another deluxe edition member. Hey man, what's your back? And think you tell everybody what that means. First, is that extra side topping a main course in life? It makes everything about your day better, whether it's movies, music, cooking, paranormal video games. Whatever it is that helps you unwind. Maybe you can get a little bit inspired. We talked to hot new bands.
Speaker 1:We are.
Speaker 2:And this is Bradley from Emorylsa TV personalities. Hi, my name is Rachel. Hi my name is Patty. Hi, everybody.
Speaker 1:I am Eric, all of it Actors.
Speaker 2:Mr Sean Kainan. Thank you for joining us. Hello podcasters. Emo social club. Ladies and gentlemen. Mr Dave Schroeder pretty much any like minding creative across all facets of the entertainment industry. You can check out Bacon is my podcast on all streaming platforms, as well as the Strangerhood TV YouTube channel. New episodes drop in every Monday, wednesday and Friday. Listen in. We find the answer to the question what's your bake? That's so. Those two phrases kind of like the rubber band snap on your wrist. It takes you away from whatever.
Speaker 2:That's so cool Now something I wondered and I've talked to you before, obviously and I was wondering so was there a way For people to reach out to you when in those envelopes did? Was it a? Was an email address? Was it a? If this has helped you, please respond to or.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So within the envelopes, I always felt that I I tried to make it. I always felt a little bit like a magic. I wanted to make it an experience for people when they found it. So the envelope and everything within it was created in a way that the story about Matt or the characters was was real. You're finding this, this strange envelope, this person has been through this, this journey, and they're handing you this gift that has changed their life, and I felt that that would make that gift have weight, emotional weight to it Within the story. The way they receive it was almost magical. It couldn't have happened. So there was this kind of dichotomy within within it. It's like, well, it's, it looks real, but then actually it's magic. It can't be.
Speaker 1:But at the end I provided Facebook details, email details where people could reach out, and I was always. When people did reach out, it was always very much. You know, this is a positive experience. It's a fictional story, but the intent is to provide a positive experience and a hundred percent across the board. All I had was positive reactions from people who'd found one of these and also, as well, the way that that then grew, was volunteers. So I had a small army of people who, for no better reason than just to do a good deed, reached out can I help you? And I would send them a little pack, five, ten envelopes all over the country and they'd go off and distribute them and then they would put little messages on Facebook and it would grow from there. So it was a little community of people doing good deeds.
Speaker 2:That's like. It's like a random axe of kindness flash mob. It is yes, yes, it was something else.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Okay. So back to your mantra, if you will. Yeah, so, and you had talked about this before. And standing in a grocery store, or what have you ready to, waiting to check out, and those negative thoughts creep into your head and you, just you look around, at all the people around you and those two phrases, you just repeat them over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, and that example. I think because when I talk to a lot of people, so those questions I'm sort of constantly asking them in my head and it really does snap me into the moment and there's so many different elements to it. But for that particular example, one of the first things that people say to me when I explain those questions is well, it's so simple, but that and almost the simplicity can be well, how can that have such a transformative change? Because I literally walked into that weekend struggling and walked out of that weekend totally transformed about three of thoughts, forward thinking in the moment, and I've never, ever in the three years since, gone back to that state of mind by simply asking those questions. And I think that that that people look at that and the first impression is, well, you're simply asking those questions and that's a that's a good, nice thing to do. And and there's often that thought that it's about being kind to others. And one of the things I always say to people is actually these questions, they are not about doing good deeds, they are not about being kind to other people.
Speaker 1:And the example I've given is is that one there that I stand standing in a supermarket and I'd often find I'm standing there, I've got two minutes as the queue winds its way down, and that would typically be a time where I would fill it with some negative thoughts. So I'd worry about something, maybe a work thing, something like that, anything. And now the difference is I've got a bit of time. There, I'm standing, I just ask those questions how can I help them? How can I make them smart? And I can daydream about my family or my friends, or quite often what I'll do is I pull myself into the moment. How can I help them? How can I make them smart? And I'll look around at the people that are there. They might all be strangers, but but there could be some way I could help them. There could be with some way I could make someone smart. And let's say, we get. I see the, the cashier there at the end of the line. I'll say, okay, I'll say something to that person, but it winds down, the queue takes a little bit longer. We get to the cashier and I might decide. Actually, do you know what? I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to, not going to ask if they're having a good day or anything like that. I'm in a bit of a rush. I'm going to go and I walk out the door.
Speaker 1:Now, if we've, if we've linked the outcome of these questions to doing a good deed and being kind, if we're thinking right, this is, this is a really nice thing. It's about being kind to others I would walk out that door and potentially think negative thoughts. I think hang on how many. I didn't say anything, I wasn't nice to that person, I haven't helped anyone and I haven't made anyone small.
Speaker 1:But if we actually change the the, the context of that a little bit, and if we think these questions have one purpose, one purpose only to stop me having negative thoughts, to pull me into the moment so I can see the world around me. And if I think of it that way, I walk out the door there and I'm jumping for joy. I've got two arms and, yes, I've stood there for two minutes and not had negative thoughts. I've stood there for two minutes looking at the world around me and the people around me and being in the moment, and all of that time I was thinking about doing kind, positive, good thoughts. You know there was no negative thoughts there. That's not a failure, that is absolute success of that thought process now.
Speaker 1:I always say, if I'd stepped out and had asked a question, then great, that's even better, I've done something and I've maybe I've spoken to that cashier and every little action that I do. Every time I just start a simple conversation or anything that's been triggered from those questions, I recognize that wouldn't have happened that moment would not have happened if I hadn't have been asking those questions. So it kind of embeds it a bit more. It helps me understand that you know, so many little moments in my life are just created from asking those questions.
Speaker 1:Oh, it is always about stopping or helping me to manage my negative thoughts absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. So I mean, this is, this is such a phenomenal story, alex, and I just love everything about it, so what point did you say I need to put this into a book?
Speaker 1:um, that's, uh, that's a really good question. So, um, it was probably. It was such an impact to to me and I felt within a few weeks I had so much freedom of thought from just asking these questions and it was relentless those first few weeks. Literally all of my thoughts were negative before and I would just ask the questions over and over again.
Speaker 1:I get up in the morning first thing. How can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I help them say something to my wife? How can I help them? How can I make them smile? Go downstairs, see the kids. How can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I say something to the kids? But I just found I'm not having any negative thoughts. It was great and I'd say, within a few weeks, when I'd realized there was something really there, it changed within me. I started thinking I think this is something that can help other people and I really wanted to sort of get that down into a book and went through quite a sort of you know, different approaches of what that book would be. But I was really keen to get the message across and something so simple can be as impactful as well. So it was a matter of weeks that I started thinking about that, but then it was about two and a half years to actually get to that journey of finally releasing the book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've written a couple of books, are very small, inconsequential, but the process of writing that book I mean I might write like a madman through a weekend and then not go back to it for a month yeah, yeah. So, but the book is successful and and I, it has the potential to help an untold number of people. It's available on Amazon, I assume it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, it's absolutely available on Amazoncom. So that's the kind mind method. So, and really positive feedback so far. So I've had a lot of feedback from people where they're just seeing this and and and it's, it's helping. And I think we talk about the kindness side of it. I've always sort of said there's three key areas why I really think that this is is something different from what what people have seen or used before, and for me that's kindness, simplicity and choice. So kindness, simplicity and choice, and obviously with with the name of your podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm going to start with with kindness, but there was a study done a few years ago over here in the UK, actually done by the University of Sussex in partnership with the BBC as well, and they did one of the largest studies that's been done on kindness and one of the things that they came out from the data was a clear correlation between doing good deeds, kindness and positive mental health. It's, it's it's a clear line and there's been many other studies as well, and the problem and the challenge a little bit with that is it's all well and good to tell somebody who's struggling to be kinder, that will, that will help your, your mental health, but how can you apply that on a day to day basis? How can you take that? And one of the challenges when you're struggling with your mental health is your, your. Your thoughts are all consumed with something else. So to go out there and say, right, I'll do this random act of kindness or be kind to this person, it's quite a leap. So that that principle here is ask yourself two questions how can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I make them smile? How can every single thing you think while you're asking those questions and every single thing you do if you actually do anything, at the end of it will be kind, will be a positive action.
Speaker 1:You know the thoughts that you're thinking are all about positive ways you can engage. So you know I spend a lot of time if I'm on my own and I ask those questions. I'm just daydreaming it could be my friends, could be my family, could be anyone, and I just think how can I help them out. And I know it doesn't matter if I'm out for a run for 20 minutes and just thinking those thoughts. All those thoughts are all positive, are all kind If I do anything, they will all be positive, they will all be kind and that's leveraging the power of kindness to enable me to focus on those thoughts rather than other ones. So that's the kindness side, so kind-less, simplicity and choice.
Speaker 1:So the other second one, simplicity, which we've mentioned there. So many things I've found when going through and looking at different ways to manage your thoughts and outside of it, there was a level of complexity to them and I think with this, you know, for me one of the key elements is that simplicity. There is nothing more to it and within the book I talk a lot about different ways you can apply it, the different contexts it's used in and things like that. So I'd encourage people, if anybody is interested, to read a bit more about it. But the principle is genuinely it's just asking those two questions constantly over and over again and just making you know a choice to engage positively.
Speaker 1:And then that last one so kindness, simplicity and the third one and actually you know, really key one is is choice. And this, this is something that these two questions gave me, because in the past, where I would be thinking these thoughts, the problem I had is I felt I didn't have anything else, I didn't have another choice, because if I didn't engage with that thought which is what CBT sort of tells you there'd be another one that would pop along, or another one, or another one, or another one. And there felt like no alternative, no choice. So I'm almost just saying to myself right, I'm going to repeat those questions just constantly, and it just gives me a choice. So if I have a, I have a worry about something and I've got this thought and it's going around in my head because they still happen, they're still there.
Speaker 1:And then I just asked the questions and the first thing is I've got my thought there, my worry, and then on the other side, I've got how can I help them, how can I make them smile? And I look at the two and I see those two different thoughts competing for my attention. You know one of them wants to keep hold of me and others and the other one is how can I help them, how can I make them smile? And I've got now I look at them that that positive thought helps me distinguish the other one as being negative. So it helps me look at those and think hang on a minute, you know I've got, I've got an option here, I've got a choice, and because it's a kind thought, I want to be kind, I want to be positive. It makes it easy for me to choose that positive kind of thought. And there's just one example I'd like to quickly give you, and you know this for me is is one of the key examples of something that, almost on a daily basis, I can see the tangible impact of these questions the school run with my children.
Speaker 1:In the past I would walk out the door and on one hand I'd have my worries, their redundancy, death, divorce, whatever it might be, and on the other side I've got my two children, dexter and Brody, and we'd take the 10 minute walk into school. Quite often in the past that could be in silence, with me worrying about work or whatever it is that's going through my head. And even if they asked a question or had a conversation, it would often feel like a bit of an interruption, like a sharp break in my thoughts. I'd have to step out of and snap an answer to them. And there's difference now. Every single day I walk out the door and my worries might still be there on my left hand side and my children there.
Speaker 1:But I now ask my questions and I walk out the door. How can I help them? How can I make them smile? How can I help them? How can I make them smile? On my one hand, is my worries, on the other hand. How can I help them? Dexter, how can I make them smile? Brody, the two people I love more than anyone in the universe. Stepping out of my thoughts to engage with them and think of ways that I can help them or make them smile is the simplest thing in the world. And whenever I'm with my family, my wife, my children now and I ask those questions, I am there, I'm present, I'm in the moment, and it's been utterly transformative. When there's people around and I ask those questions, it's the easiest thing. And when it's my family, the people I love, I see those, those worries for what they are just inconsequential thoughts that I don't want to be having. So I just step into the moment and I'm with them.
Speaker 2:Sure, Absolutely, Absolutely brilliant. I love that. I'm so happy for you, Alex, that you found this method and it works for you and, honestly, that's amazing and something to be grateful for, obviously. But, yeah, this is such a great book and there will be a link to it in the show notes. Alex, it was so awesome having you on here and I so much appreciate you coming on and talking about. Well, I mean, it's hard to open up about mental health sometimes and I think that's probably part of the problem with it. It stays so hidden is because people don't want to get help or they don't want to. They don't want to talk about it. There's a stigma attached to it, I think. But I'm so happy that you chose to come on and talk about it and to share a method that's worked for you, and maybe you know folks if you're having those negative thoughts, give Alex's book a shot. If you know somebody who's having a hard time struggling, it would make a great, very kind gift.
Speaker 1:It would. I'd say to anyone, even if you're listening to this and you get stuck a bit in your thoughts, next time you're with a group of people, or your friends, family, and you're maybe stuck inside your own head, just ask yourself those questions to try it, how can I help them, how can I make them smile? And just say to yourself I'm going to try and come up with one thing, one thing, and see if it helps you. Step into that moment and do that one thing and just remember that that one thing wouldn't have existed if you hadn't have asked yourself those questions. And, mike, it's been a real pleasure, a real pleasure to chat to you.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, alex. Again, all of your information will be in the show notes. We'll have links and I wish you much success with the book. Sir Brilliant, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2:Such an amazing conversation with Alex Walton. You know, let's make this the normal, shall we? Let's not be afraid to talk about mental health and things that we can do for ourselves and for others that can improve their mental health. It's so important, and I would encourage you to not only search out Alex's book, which is there's a link in the show notes, but also on my new website. Oh, did I say it mentioned?
Speaker 2:I had a new website, the kindnessmatterspodcastcom. There are a couple resources there for mental health organizations. Don't be afraid to go out and reach those out and share them with friends, family members, whoever might need that kind of help. Let's have a conversation that will do it for this episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast. Thank you for taking the time to listen to it. I appreciate it and I appreciate you. We will be back again next week with another episode, but, of course, until then, be that person who roots for others, who tells a stranger they look amazing and encourages others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters Podcast. I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.