Inside My Wardrobe

Conversations on marrying up the person we are on the inside, with the person we are on the outside. Join broadcaster Pipa Gordon taking a rummage through who we are and how we do life.

075 Ways To Find Yourself 09/24/2020

075 Ways To Find Yourself Following on with the theme of people pleasing and discovering who we are so that we can have the courage to be our true selves, today’s episode is brimming with ways for you to peel back the layers and release the real you who has been slowly disappearing behind the layers of life that often result in us losing touch with ourselves and what matters to us most. It’s not mid-life crisis, it’s a wonderful time of enlightenment that can be hugely liberating if we are brave enough to go on the journey. Gayle Johnson talks with me during this episode about how writing, as an an act of mindfulness can enable us to condense our worries and anxieties in a powerful way that helps us manage our mental health and day to day lives, be it the requirements of our general hectic lifestyles or something such as depression and anxiety. Reflective and personal writing is equally as powerful during good positive times as much as it is during the more negative and stressful periods of our lives too. It can help with clarity in so many forms, using lists, mind maps, prompts and jumping off points all of which are devices that can trigger the creative mind and access our deeper feelings. The power of writing a letter that you know you’re never going to send is another fantastic way of releasing emotion and resentment and accessing some tricky feelings that ordinarily we might not know how best to process. It’s all very well saying things don’t matter however too an overly positive attitude, toxic positivity, doesn’t do us any favours. We need to learn to accept and be with the things that have happened in life, get understanding and then move forwards – as Anna sang in Frozen 2, what’s the next best thing? The world offers so much to our imagination but as Anthony Robbins says: “You will get there in 10 years, but where is there?” There is so much we can do in life, but it doesn’t mean we can do it all, we need to exercise deliberate consciousness by intentionally and deliberately choosing our next steps. On a scientific note, there is also a neurological pathway between your hand and your brain, so taking pen to paper as an exercise is very helpful not only in accessing emotions and feelings, but also in creative problem solving. We talk about stream of consciousness, lists and mindmaps, writing letters and even using devices such as the Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry that forces us to simplify and consolidate. Writing can be a really helpful way to increase self-awareness, help to identify personal values, the decision making process, why we do what we do, recognise limiting beliefs and negative narrative that we replay to ourselves over and over etc. I hope you enjoy this podcast and are inspired to use the skills of self-work that will enable you to go deeper. Do feel free to reach out to Gayle, I know she will love to hear from you. Her website is here, and you can also find her Facebook group called Finally, remember to sign up for the 2021 news on my website and join in with our Facebook group page COPYRIGHT 2020 PIPA GORDON /episode/index/show/insidemywardrobe/id/16139264

074 Stop Pleasing and Start Living 2/4 09/17/2020

073 Stop Pleasing and Start Living Part I 09/10/2020

072 A Beginners Guide To The Menopause and HRT 07/30/2020

072 A Beginners Guide To The Menopause and HRT What is the menopause? When does it start? When does it finish? Is HRT as dangerous as they once said or is it true that the majority of the information was misinformation? We go right back to basics in this episode with Dr Zoe Hodson, GP and menopause specialist who works with Dr Louise Newson on training GPs in how to recognise, diagnose and treat the menopause and more importantly, the peri-menopause which takes up a huge chunk of our lives impacted dramatically by hormone deficiency. I have a feeling we will revisit this topic again but this episode is jam packed with information and advice on where to go and what to do – and why we have been so poorly informed until now …. Other resources: – browse through this site for podcasts with Dr Louise Newson and many experts plus other resources – is the psychologist Dr Zoe referred to, she is on Instagram as @menopausepsychologist and her website is she is well worth checking in to for retreats too Dr Sarah Molly Ball, is the one delving into the WHI study @drsarahmollyball on Instagram and also #makemenopausematter on her other website Then Dr Zoe talked about the new Balance App to track your symptoms which you can The UTI Doctor – Dr Catriona Anderson can be found Books Dr Zoe mentioned were: Me and My Menopausal Vagina by Jane Lewis Why Oestrogen Matters: Why Taking Hormones in Menopause Can Improve Weomen’s Well-Being and Lengthen Their Lives without Raising the Risk of Breas Cancer by Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris to find out more about your bone health Edinburgh University There is heaps on the You can download the cancer genetics app from Guys and St Thomas And not forgetting, to join in with Dr Zoe Hodson’s community and blog called which you can also find on Instagram Phew! There’s a lot to keep you going there ….we will do more 😊 If you want to come and find me, I am Pipa Gordon on social media or you can visit Enjoy :) /episode/index/show/insidemywardrobe/id/15337382

071 I May Destroy Me 07/23/2020

070 Healthy Selfish with Mandy Saligari 07/16/2020

069 Lower Your Drawbridge 07/09/2020

068 The Beauty of Hindsight and Elephants 07/02/2020

068 The Beauty of Hindsight and Elephants Yay us, we have survived 100 days of lockdown!! But if it takes between 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit we are in danger of slipping back into our old ways unless we consciously make the effort now to pinpoint those changes and commit to them. So I decided to come up with a checklist to hold myself accountable and remind myself, hence the title, that this year has truly given us the gift of hindsight and we don’t want to forget what we have learned. They say elephants have amazing memories like humans, they mourn their dead – they literally have funerals, they bury them with branches and leaves, they have an incredibly advanced emotional memory as is their ability to problem solve. I don’t want to forget what I have gained from this pandemic which has brought so much trauma and devastation to many lives. Like a war, there is a cost and we remember those who gave their lives – in a similar vein, people have lost their lives to Covid whilst others have had the chance to improve their lives, in so many ways it has been grossly unfair and so rather than wanting everything to go back to normal – which in so many ways can’t happen but at the same time, will happen unless we put the effort in to learn from what we have experienced. Life has continued to be busy for me, but I have been massively impacted by the change in pace and vibe around me – I have been really fortunate as we have all been free from illness so I’ve been really lucky to enjoy the benefits that I’ve been able to draw from this time - its felt peaceful in so many ways. So, I have used the word PEACE as an acronym to remind me of the ways I have benefitted from slowing down and I intend to use it so that I can continue to embrace peace in my life, rather than become super busy again: P – PAUSE – just stop, read, listen to music, lie down and look at the sky. Even 3 minutes here and there in the day makes a huge difference E – ENGAGE with the moment. Listen, hear, talk, stop rushing to the next thing A – ADMIRE the world around you. Seeing the good around you, admire means “to feel respect and approval” so whether that’s family members, colleagues, friends, your home etc. I’ve been admiring trees and flowers like never before and it does something internally when we see good – like the law of attraction, you find what you are looking for. C – CREATE – you may not feel artsy, but I believe we are all creative in some way and there is something about being in touch with our creativity that gives a sense of wellbeing and fulfilment. Elizabeth Gilbert’s BIG MAGIC is a great book to encourage this, whether it’s baking, painting, sewing, writing, redecorating ….find your inner creative! E – EMBRACE – love on each other, cherish those who matter, spend time together, connect with our community – walking, talking, board games, sending letters, making gifts, sharing tomato plants and tray bakes – giving of ourselves to each other rather than closing our doors at the end of the day – an Englishman’s house is his castle – actually (metaphorically) keeping our bridges down and our doors open to one another And like the elephants, their leader is normally the oldest in the pack. They live up to 60/70 years and they pass on their wisdom – we can glean wisdom from those who have been here before Socrates 400BC Greek Philosopher “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” “He is richest who is content with the least, for contentment is the wealth of nature.” Plato: 400BC “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” SENECA “True happiness is… to enjoy the present without anxious dependence on the future.” I heard something this week, a quote from the wonderful Wayne Dyer who I was very lucky to work with on a number of occasions whilst he was still alive. I always loved his wisdom as it was so simple, outside of religious constraints and beyond ancient scripts, he just made a lot of sense to me. One of the things I remember him saying was that when you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice, and when you squeeze a lime, you get lime juice ….and when we are squeezed by the inevitabilities of life, what is on the inside is what oozes out from us. We have heard that hard times bring out the best and the worst in us ….we have seen both haven’t we? We are not just body and mind, we are body, mind and soul/spirit, depending on which you choose to call it. It’s easy to focus on the body first, it’s what we see. We understand about physical health, physical surroundings and physical environment that affects how we feel. We are slowly getting our heads around mental health, as the pressure of life has become more intense over the years with the onset of working 24/7 and technology, we’ve begun to realise the importance of maintaining our health at that level too. Then there’s the other bit, the bit we don’t tend to like to talk about as much because it can then tip into the territory of religion and let’s face it, not everyone has had positive experiences there – however, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t another part of us, there’s this spiritual side that also warrants care and I definitely think that is something we have all become more in touch with during this pandemic – if only just by going for more walks and slowing down a bit, we’ve allowed ourselves to discover this deeper connection with what I call our spirit self, not our physical body, not our mind, something deeper that connects with something bigger – when we slow down and uncomplicate our lives, we find we are able to get in touch with that other part of us that so often gets neglected. The Year of less – how I stopped shopping, gave away my belongings and discovered life is worth more than anything you can buy in a store – by Cait Flanders 12 months – only bought groceries, toiletries and petrol – alng the way she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping, she decluttered her home, got rid of 70% of her belongings, learned how to fix things rather than throw them away, researched the zero waste movement and even completed a television ban – at every stage she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt. I think we have all touched on this over the last 100 days – but the question is, what lessons have we learned and what are we prepared to continue to work on? Enjoy x Links And as always, come and find me and stay in touch, either via or by searching for Pipa Gordon on Social Media Back next Thursday! /episode/index/show/insidemywardrobe/id/15059525

067 There's More Than One Way with Bibi Lynch 06/25/2020

067 There's More Than One Way with Bibi Lynch Being single, childless, navigating online dating, face yoga, threesomes, fear of another recession, losing parents and dealing with grief alone – we go everywhere and believe it or not, manage to laugh our way through a chunk of it! So This episode comes off the back of one of your suggestions earlier in the year about living an alternative life, not getting married or having children – so I invited an old friend and colleague of mine, journalist Bibi Lynch on as she regularly writes about this in magazines and newspapers …. We actually cover a huge amount of ground, she talks about how the recession in 2008 wrecked her life, the early loss of parents, how she’s not had the chance to have children, she's had abusive neighbours, a real 10 year slog …and then the pandemic hits and how you deal with all these things when you’re on your own – we talk a lot about being single and how society still doesn’t make space for the 25% of women who will never have children, we talk about online dating, face yoga, we talk about the concerns of what life is going to look on the other side of all this and we somehow find ourselves talking about sex and threesomes too … Journalist Bibi Lynch has been called one of the funniest women on twitter, she’s often controversial and never fails to make you think. We first met when working together at BBC London Radio just over 10 years ago, she currently hosts 2 radio shows, one for Soho Radio and the other for BBC Sussex, she also hosts a podcast called Good Sex Bad Sex, she writes for the likes of The Telegraph, The Guardian and Stella, over the years has been columnist to various magazines such as Marie Claire and Elle, she’s co-wrote various TV shows, hosts monthly panels at The Groucho Club – she’s unstoppable! The importance of being kind to each other isn’t just a notion, it’s a necessity – we don’t know what is going on in each other’s lives, we don’t know what wounds are being carried or battles are being played out I think we’ve seen with the “black lives matter” movement, even with “me too” a couple of years ago, that it’s easy to turn and look the other way when we feel uncomfortable or that we don’t understand but I really hope that we are learning that when we do that, we increase the pain being suffered and if we can be brave enough to allow one another’s pain to come into the light, it might just get the chance to heal so that they can move on One of the things that I really hope for our new normal, is that we begin to make way for each other more, where we become better at listening, where we become more open to hear and slower to judge. Links: Bibi on Twitter and Instagram: @bibilynch Join the page Come and find me on social media or via /episode/index/show/insidemywardrobe/id/14962661

066 Everything Is On The Menu with Natalie Roy 06/18/2020

066 Everything Is On The Menu with Natalie Roy Finding ourselves, properly discovering who we are, deep beneath the surface is the very beginning of an awakening to life so much fuller than we may have ever imagined. In fact I imagine this will be one of those episodes that we revisit and listen to again and again as it’s a treasure trove of much wisdom. To hear more from Natalie, to try her meditations or classes, you can visit or you can listen to her podcast called In a nutshell, we hear a LOT of thought provoking things in this episode, we talk about the impact of life before lockdown and why we often felt so empty and unfulfilled and how if we are willing to, we can learn to expand into ourselves so that we can feel more deeply, listen to and connect with our instincts and that inner voice more regularly, Natalie talks about how to truly find ourselves so that we can BE ourselves, there’s so much in here that I know you’ll love! is a Canadian actress and brings such a rich conversation to this episode. I invited her on last year after hearing her speak on our emotional anatomy and instantly knew she was someone we would enjoy hearing more from. We had talked about doing something around last Christmas but it didn’t pan out which looking back, I’m really glad about as I think the timing is so much better now as I think we are all that much more open to discover or at least consider that deeper connection within ourselves with the hopes of finding peace from within, because calming the storm on the inside is surely the only way to survive the storm on the outside – and boy does it feel like we are in the midst of one at the moment! So Natalie is an actress who lives in New York, you might recognise her from Law and Order, The Affair or Finding Erica, she’s an author, a fellow podcaster and most importantly is someone who embraces all aspects of what it means to be human – she’s a teacher of yoga and meditation and has some fantastic insight into what it means to be human, we cover a lot of ground from the spiritual to the practical, to how to go about creating our new normal to be one that serves us well, understanding why we meditate and that 3 minutes really is enough, we touch on the quantum realm, holding loss and fear at the same time as growth and opportunity – there is so much ahead and I really hope that you enjoy listening. If you’d like to check out some of those meditations or courses that Natalie spoke about, go to and don't forget the podcast I think a great take away from this is being curious about the evidence we are collecting and I’d love to hear how that impacts how you feel going forwards so please do reach out to Natalie and also do continue with conversations on our . My or you can find me on social media by searching for Pipa Gordon. Thank you for listening /episode/index/show/insidemywardrobe/id/14874842