Hand Baggage Only

S1 Ep6 - Friendships and the student experience

In this sixth episode of Hand Baggage Only, host Suzette Shahmoon speaks to her youngest daughter Gabriella.
Suzette asks her daughter about the experience she had as an introvert trying to make lasting friendships in her first year of university. Why don't people talk about this topic more? Is it normal to feel left out of the 'university experience'? 
Gabbi ended up dropping out of University and has shared her story of the impact it had at the time, and how she has bravely changed direction in both her studies, and her attitude to making friends.
 

S1 Ep5 - Friendships and coming out

In the fifth episode of Hand Baggage Only, host Suzette Shahmoon speaks to James Page, an internationally renowned interior designer and close personal friend.
They explore the complicated situation of what happens to our relationships when we share a secret about ourselves, specifically focusing on James' journey of coming out as gay and what it's like to share something so deeply personal about yourself to those around you and perhaps anticipating a negative result.

S1 Ep3 - Friendships that no longer work

In the third episode of Hand Baggage Only, host Suzette Shahmoon speaks to Aviva Elias; entrepreneur and founder of the Grey Icon movement. 
They talk about Aviva's fearlessness when dealing with difficult situations, and their opinions on what to do if you think a friendship might not be working anymore. Perhaps we could all do with taking a step back from time to time. 

S1 Ep2 - Friendships post-breakup

In the second episode of Hand Baggage Only, psychologist and cognitive hypnotherapist, Suzette Shahmoon, talks to Oliver Baum, a Psycho-Spiritual Therapist and Systemic Facilitator.
 
They discussed the complicated situation of what happens to our friendships when we suddenly find ourselves single again. What if your partner was the one in control of the social diary? Is it inevitable that friends will opt to take sides? And what happens when they don’t.  And how do we deal with the realisation that people now regard us differently, perhaps we’re a threat, or we’re no longer associated with that friendship group.

S1 Ep1 - Friendships across cultural divides

In the first episode of Hand Baggage Only, psychologist and cognitive hypnotherapist, Suzette Shahmoon, talks online to Dr. Deborah Egerton, an internationally respected best-selling author who works in inclusion, diversity and equity, and is an anti-racism consultant, and spiritual teacher.
Suzette spoke to Deborah to explore friendships across cultural division. They discussed why having people in our lives who don’t reflect our own experiences is the only way we can grow as a society. 

Trailer: Hand Baggage Only with Suzette Shahmoon

Our experiences shape us. So many of our interactions make us form beliefs about our self and the world we live in. That moment when you put up your hand in class to answer a question only to get it wrong and face the humiliation of a class full of snickering, can leave you questioning your intelligence for decades to come. Each time you are put on the spot to speak up in public or make your thoughts and beliefs known to others can leave you feeling vulnerable thanks to the emotional baggage that classroom experience has left you with. 
Or maybe you were the kid who was teased by others because of your looks and as a result you struggle to accept a compliment and any kind comments by your friends about your looks are interpreted as disingenuous or inauthentic.
We all carry suitcases of these issues around with us all day long. It’s experiences like these which can  cause us to pack harmful beliefs into our emotional bags. 
The list of what can trigger an emotional response and a harmful belief is as never ending as our ability to find things to place into our emotional bags. Sometimes these issues will weigh us down so much we end up mentally and physically exhausted. The emotional burden can manifest as a rise or drop in blood pressure, head aches, stomach aches, joint pains. Any physician will tell you; emotional baggage can affect any and every system in our physical body. 
However our emotional baggage can also affect the way we interact with others. It can affect the way we process conversations and make us react to innocent comments in negative ways.
Think about it… have you ever made a casual comment to a friend which has caused upset and distress? Has someone ever triggered you in the same way?
If we don’t take the time to unpack our emotional bags from time to time we sometimes buckle under their weight, and that is the reason why I have released this series of hand baggage only.
In this series my wonderful guests each discuss different aspects of friendship. How is friendship affected after the onset of a chronic illness? How do you maintain your friends after divorce or separation? How do you make friends when you don’t have the structure of school to support you?