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The Gentle Rebel Podcast

The Gentle Rebel Podcast

By: Andy Mort
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 The Gentle Rebel Podcast explores the intersection of high sensitivity, creativity, and the influence of culture within, between, and around us. Through a mix of conversational and monologue episodes, I invite you to question the assumptions, pressures, and expectations we have accepted, and to experiment with ways to redefine the possibilities for our individual and collective lives when we view high sensitivity as both a personal trait and a vital part of our collective survival (and potential).Andy Mort Art Personal Development Personal Success Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Using Mini Zines to Make Connections

    Using Mini Zines to Make Connections
    Feb 24 2026
    This is Part 3 of a short series where I’m sharing how I’ve been using mini zines to generate ideas, make connections, and get accidentally creative in unexpected ways. In this post, I’ll take you through two exercises focused on making connections and using observations to better understand your relationship with the areas of life, challenges, and decisions on your mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsbkFmEgs14 Exercise One: Word Association to Make Connections The core purpose here is playful exploration. This is about loosening the grip of overthinking and perfectionism and seeing how ideas might link up. Start by folding and cutting a mini zine from a single piece of A4 paper. (If you need guidance, refer back to the first part of this series or click below.) Pick a word to begin. I used sensitivity as an example, but it can be anything. Write it on the first page, then move through the zine using simple word association with one word leading to the next until each page contains a word. Once each page has a word, you can play with them… 1. Use Each Word for Self-Reflection Go through each panel and ask: If this word relates to something in my life right now, what could it be pointing to? 2. Expand Each Word Outwards Build around each word. Interpret it from different angles: How do we use this word?What does it remind you of?What is its opposite? Fill the page with associated words and doodles. 3. Combine Words (Jazz Fusion Style) Pair words from different pages. For example, combine 1 and 9, 2 and 10, 3 and 11, and so on. Then explore what each combination brings up. You might end up with things like: Sensitivity profitMicrophone taxSing pressureTalent show cooker Some will feel absurd. Some will spark something unexpectedly useful. There’s an abundance of combinations. (Also good if you’re looking for a band name.) You can create another mini zine and dedicate a page to each combination. You don’t have to choose just one way of playing. Try one, or all of them. The aim is to make connections you wouldn’t have made through deliberate logic alone. Exercise Two: Using Objects as Metaphors to Make Connections This second exercise helps you explore your relationship with a specific area of life or situation. We’ll keep this one simple and use just one side of the zine. Step 1: Choose Your Objects Pick seven ordinary objects from around you. Don’t overthink it. It helps if you can place them in front of you. Step 2: Choose an Area to Explore Select an area you want to understand more clearly. For example: My healthMy creativityMy work Or something more specific, like a decision you need to make or a challenge you’re navigating. Write the topic on the front. Step 3: Draw and Reflect On the next seven pages, draw one object per page. As you draw, consider: What is it used for?How does it help?What features does it have?How does it feel, smell, or look? Then go back through and ask: If this object were a metaphor for my creativity (or whatever topic you chose), what would it show? This is where you start to connect the physical items with your internal landscape and the situation you’re exploring. Deepening the Connections Once you’ve done all seven objects, reflect: What themes repeat across multiple objects?If I were to focus on one area first, what am I drawn to? One approach I love is adding these objects to a visual map. I treat each one as a region in a larger territory and play with the links between them. This creates a visual representation of where I am in relation to my challenges, desires, and options. The purpose isn’t to force answers. It’s to see your position more clearly so you can navigate it more meaningfully. There are no hard rules here. Follow your intuition. Let your imagination carry you. The point is to make connections that help you see where your strengths, resources, and choices fit with the bigger picture. If you try either of these exercises, I’d love to hear how you get on. Send me a message here.
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    12 mins
  • Does it Feel Like Winning a Silver or Losing a Gold? (A Ridiculous Question?)

    Does it Feel Like Winning a Silver or Losing a Gold? (A Ridiculous Question?)
    Feb 20 2026
    In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I explore something that happened yesterday. I had another episode planned for this week, but I put it on the shelf for now because I’ve been drawn into a fascinating situation that did the rounds after the freestyle skier Eileen Gu was asked, by a reporter after competing at the winter Olympics, what she described as a ridiculous question. The whole thing struck me as reassuringly messy and human. The reporter wanted to know if she considered the two silver medals she had won as two silvers gained or two golds lost. Within hours, the internet had blown up. People were calling this reporter misogynistic and celebrating Gu’s response, describing it as owning him after such a stupid comment. https://youtu.be/npRgyn19FvA What Happened? Eileen Gu had just competed in her second freestyle skiing event of the Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026. She won two silver medals. The reporter from Agence France-Presse asked whether she viewed those medals as two silvers gained or two golds lost. Gu responded by saying she thought that was a ridiculous perspective to take. She spoke about all her achievements and the pride she takes in being the most decorated female freeskier in history, doing things that have never been done before. She previously won two gold medals and a silver medal in the same events at Beijing 2022. A Standard Question The clip has split opinions. But whether or not you think it’s a bad question, it is familiar to those who follow sports coverage. It’s not a surprising question to ask an odds-on favourite, especially if they have won previous competitions. Studies have shown that silver medalists often feel more disappointment soon after an event than bronze medalists, focusing on what they could have won rather than what they almost didn’t win. There is something interesting in that. Something worth exploring if you want to understand the psychology of elite competition. The question picks up on the contrast between what someone feels going into an event and how they feel about the outcome. Understanding Perspective is Misread as Having a Dig In football here in the UK, after a team draws a league game, they are often asked if they feel like it was one point gained or two points dropped. It depends on expectations. It depends on whether they felt they ought to win it or whether they would have been happy to take something from the game. This is never considered a ridiculous or insensitive question. It is understood as what it is, which is a curious probe into the team’s or player’s mindset and perspective. It’s an invitation to reflect on performance against expectations and share that with listeners to provide greater context for the result. The question is worded as, “Do you see it as this or that?” It invited Eileen Gu to share her perspective. He did not state his opinion. He asked how she saw it. But Gu seemed to interpret this question as his perspective (criticism, judgement, etc.) and took exception to it. Why did it land in The Wrong Way? This might have been a matter of timing. A post-event press conference might feel like the wrong moment for philosophical reflection, which is what this question invites. In the rawness of the moment, having just competed, having just finished second when you had hoped for first, the last thing you might want is someone asking you to frame your feelings. Maybe in time, there would be an opportunity to think about how it felt to come second on this occasion. But in that moment, the question lands differently, perhaps feeling like a criticism. What we might be seeing in Gu is a projection of disappointment, aimed at the perspective she reads into this question. An external representation of an inner voice. It would be understandable if she were disappointed. She has won gold before. She knows what that feels like. And now she has two silver medals. It is a vulnerable thing to admit publicly, and anyway, why should she? She doesn’t owe anyone an answer to that question. Misunderstanding the Culture of a Sport There is another layer here. Like most sports, freestyle skiing has its own culture. It is a discipline where being the odds-on favourite does not guarantee anything. The athletes understand that many factors determine their fortunes when they are out there competing. There seems to be a wonderful sense of camaraderie among them. Great appreciation for the work they all put in, the tricks they attempt, and the fact that whoever wins deserves it on the night. A question framed entirely around winning and losing might feel ignorant of the spirit and values tied to a sport’s culture. It might feel like an outsider imposing a mainstream sports narrative on something more nuanced. Last week, Ilia Malinin had a huge amount of expectation heaped on his shoulders as he competed in the men’s figure skating. The pressure was a lot to handle. He made mistakes. The commentators ...
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    Less than 1 minute
  • Brainstorming Ideas and Questions With Mini-Zines

    Brainstorming Ideas and Questions With Mini-Zines
    Feb 18 2026
    Here is a follow-up to my previous video, in which I explored how I use foldable mini-zines to generate creative ideas. This time, I share two specific approaches I’ve found helpful for brainstorming and expanding ideas. The first is about expanding ideas in playful, often surprising ways. The second focuses on generating questions for personal inquiry, which I use to better understand and navigate challenges, decisions, and obstacles that leave me feeling stuck. Whether you want a creative way to spend a few minutes, free up your thinking, or shake some stagnation out of a project, these practices are simple and adaptable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H1lAByXzJU Exercise One: Expanding Ideas From the Inside Out This first exercise begins with a single prompt. The aim is to write one associated thought on each panel of a folded mini-zine. If you need instructions on how to fold and cut the mini-zine, watch the first video. For my example, I’m using our current Haven theme, Unfinished Maps. You can use any topic at all. If you’d like to keep it light, just pick something in the room that catches your attention. A standard mini-zine has 15 inside panels (not including the cover), leaving plenty of space to think literally, laterally, humorously, absurdly, or tenuously. Phase One: Generate Set a timer. Five minutes works well for me. It keeps me from overthinking while giving enough time to fill each panel. The aim is to let your first thoughts hit the paper without editing. Write down whatever comes to mind, however surprising or unrelated it may seem. You might notice memories, old stories, or long-forgotten ideas resurfacing. Pay attention to how words sound. Is there a pun to be played with? Or an alternative spelling? Phase Two: Expand Once every panel has something on it, spend a few minutes building on each idea. I usually give 3–5 minutes per panel. Stay focused on the single idea in front of you rather than how it connects to the original theme. Let your mind make associations and see where they lead. Phase Three: Bring It Home If it feels useful, finish by reflecting. Hold each panel up against your original prompt and ask: What stands out? Are there patterns emerging? Which threads feel alive? What might be worth carrying forward? You’re not forcing conclusions. You’re simply noticing what has energy. That’s it. Here’s what came out for me… Exercise Two: Brainstorming Questions for Personal Inquiry The second exercise aims to help with brainstorming questions for personal inquiry. It’s especially helpful when you want to open up a line of questioning around something specific: for example, a decision, a challenge, or an area you want to explore more intentionally. Questions are great for widening our perspective. They help us see familiar terrain from new angles. My example prompt for this one is: I’ve Lost My Momentum. As before, I fold a blank A4 sheet into a mini-zine and write the topic on the front. This time, instead of filling each panel with ideas, I fill them with questions. I spend around 10–15 minutes generating one question per panel. These are questions I would genuinely love answers to. Here’s what I came up with… I enjoy this approach because it gives me up to two weeks of journal prompts on a single theme. After writing the questions, I usually refine them slightly so they feel open, clear, and relevant. You can respond in whatever format suits you. I tend to bring one question into my morning journaling practice and see where it leads. It often feels like turning on a tap: insights connect, and new perspectives emerge naturally. Play, Experiment, and Adapt These exercises are shared as inspiration, not rigid instruction. They are methods I’ve found effective for expanding ideas and deepening personal inquiry, and I encourage you to adapt them to your own rhythms and preferences. Notice what works and what doesn’t. Adjust the timing. Change the prompts. Make it more visual, more absurd, more structured: whatever suits you. These are playful, exploratory processes. They aren’t outcome-driven or designed to guarantee a specific result. Often, the most valuable insights arrive as by-products: unexpected connections that emerge when given enough space.
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    Less than 1 minute
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