156: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 156

156: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 156

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and self-change when their own body seems to be fighting them? This conversation with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna turns the classic self-help slogan "fake it till you make it" on its head and asks why it so often leaves people stuck, exhausted, or feeling like a failure.

Liz opens by laughing (and fuming) about hearing a young neuroscientist claim that acting "as if" is the master key to changing your life. From there, she and Bill unpack why copying the behaviour of a "successful" version of yourself usually crashes into one huge problem: your nervous system. As Liz puts it, "acting in conflict with [your body] is like a very unfair fight.

You're taking a butter knife to a gunfight." You’ll hear them break down how feelings show up as sensations in the body and act like an "electric fence" that stops you from doing the very things you logically know would help – whether that’s starting a new habit, having a difficult conversation, or even just loading the dishwasher.

Bill shares stories of clients whose road rage, relationship blow-ups and lifelong triggers shifted only when they worked directly with the body, not by trying harder to think positive. The pair walk through the Cognomovement approach: using movement, eye positions, breath, sound and touch to "remap" old patterns so the brain no longer reads everyday life as a threat.

Liz’s examples – an 80-year-old inventor told she’s "too old", a woman whose shoulder pain hid spiritual fears, and a young man freed from rage on the motorway – make the ideas feel very real and very human. If you’ve ever tried to act confident, healthy or "over it" while your stomach was in knots, this conversation might leave you wondering: what patterns is your body quietly running, and are they the ones you actually want?