It's an Inside Job
Are you overwhelmed by managing career and leadership challenges, overthinking decisions, or facing uncertainty? I'm Jason Birkevold Liem, and welcome to It's an Inside Job—the go-to podcast for coaches, leaders, and professionals striving for career and personal growth.
Whether you're caught in cycles of rumination, dealing with uncertainty, or under constant pressure to perform at your best—whether as an individual or a leader—this podcast provides practical skills and solutions to help you regain control, find clarity, and build resilience from within. It's designed to enhance your coaching, communication, and collaboration skills while helping you thrive both personally and professionally.
Every Monday, we bring you long-form discussions with thought leaders on resilience, leadership, psychology, and motivation, offering expert insights and real-life stories. Then, on BiteSize Fridays, you'll get shorter, focused episodes with actionable tips designed to help you tackle the everyday challenges of leadership, stress management, and personal growth. So, if you're ready to build resilience, equanimity, and well-being from the inside out, join me every Monday and Friday.
After all, building resilience is an Inside Job!
It's an Inside Job
Critical Thinking & Personal Security: Lessons from Inge Solheim
Get in touch with us! We’d appreciate your feedback and comments.
Do you ever wonder how personal security experts stay calm and focused in the most intense environments? What if resilience and equanimity were the keys to navigating chaos and protecting others? If you're ready to explore the fascinating world of personal security and learn from a seasoned expert, this episode is for you.
In this episode of the It's an Inside Job podcast, we welcome back adventure guide and personal security expert, Inge Solheim. We dive into the world of personal security and explore the role of resilience and equanimity in this profession. Inge shares insights on situational awareness and emphasises the importance of preparation and self-awareness in handling intense environments.
Inge also discusses the need to fight for our rights, choose competent leaders, and actively participate in democracy. We summarise the key themes of resilience and equanimity discussed throughout the conversation and express gratitude to Inge for his insights. Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for more episodes that help you navigate life's challenges with resilience and confidence.
Imagine being able to stay calm and focused in chaotic situations, effectively managing stress and protecting those around you.
By listening to this episode, you can:
- Enhance Situational Awareness: Learn how to block out distractions, focus on what truly matters, and observe your environment for anomalies and patterns.
- Regulate Emotions and Tension: Discover the importance of regulating emotions and maintaining equanimity in high-pressure situations.
- Project Calm and Confidence: Understand how projecting a sense of calm can help calm anxious clients and manage chaotic environments effectively.
Three Benefits You'll Gain:
- Improved Situational Awareness: Develop skills to enhance your awareness of surroundings and recognize potential threats early.
- Emotional Regulation: Learn techniques to manage and regulate your emotions, maintaining calm and focus under pressure.
- Strategic Preparedness: Gain insights into the importance of preparation and self-awareness, and how these qualities contribute to effective personal security.
Are you ready to enhance your resilience and equanimity, and become more adept at navigating intense environments? Scroll up and click play to join our enlightening discussion with Inge Solheim.
Learn valuable strategies for improving situational awareness, regulating emotions, and projecting calm in high-pressure situations. Start your journey towards becoming more resilient and effective in personal security today!
Inge Solheim's contact info:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ingesolheim
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingesolheim
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com
Eye-Opening Moments are stories of adversity, encounters, and perspectives. They are...
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[0:09] Welcome back to It's an Inside Job podcast. I'm your host, Jason Liem.
Now, this podcast is dedicated to helping you to help yourself and others to become more mentally and emotionally resilient, so you can be better at bouncing back from life's inevitable setbacks.
Now, on It's an Inside Job, we decode the science and stories of resilience, into practical advice, skills, and strategies that you can use to impact your life and those around you.
And with that said, let's slip into the stream.
[0:37] Music.
Starting the week with a returning guest, Inge Solheim
[0:45] Hey, welcome back to the show, folks. Here we are at the starting line of a fresh new week.
Well, this week I have a returning guest, Inge Solheim.
He first appeared on It's an Inside Job in season one, episode six.
I will include those links in the show notes.
But Inge and I are back to have another great discussion and just like other returning guests We were not able to capture everything in one episode, Well for those who are not familiar with Inge, Inge Solheim is considered to be one of the world's leading adventure guides, He's the professional people are direct to when they wish to undertake pioneering journeys in the most extreme environments on earth, Inga is best known for leading the walking with the wounded expeditions to the North and South Poles with Prince Harry.
He is also featured in or managed safety and logistics for numerous TV shows including BBC's Blizzard and 71 Degrees North.
[1:41] Yet it's Inga's private client's work that keeps him busy. Many of the world's leading sports people, music personalities, scientists, environmental organizations and business people turn to him to take them to discreet adventures in the wilderness.
He's also a full-time ambassador for Breitling and is part of their explorer squad alongside Bertrand Piccard and David de Throthschild. In this week's episode we will be diving into the world of personal security and close protection. And part of what Inge does professionally is to work with dignitaries and celebrities in some intense and demanding situations.
And we will be exploring what it takes to build a mindset of resilience and equanimity, that are must-haves for such a profession.
So without further ado, let's slip into the stream and meet Inge Solheim.
[2:27] Music.
Introduction to Inge Solheim's diverse professional career
[2:36] Back to the show. I have a former guest on and a close friend, Inge Solheim. Inge, welcome back to the show.
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
You know, the last time we spoke, which was many moons ago, we talked about more of that professional side of yourself, where you were an expeditionary leader and how you take people to the South Pole and the North Pole to learn about themselves, to learn about the challenges that they can face to push the limits of their envelope.
But today, I'd like to shift to maybe another part of your professional career that many people may not know about, but that I think is very important when we talk about resilience and equanimity and such.
You've worked in personal security and close protection. I was wondering if we could start our conversations by you defining what that is and what you do more specifically in that regards?
[3:35] Yeah, not many people know about this. But you know, for many years, I have, I've been working in close protection. And, it's been taking care of people, especially when they've been traveling. So I most of the time I'm hired by an agency or someone to to show up and escort usually celebrities or politicians or someone when they're out traveling. And it's very similar to the expedition leader job and it's all about being well prepared and to foresee the unforeseen, being ready for whatever unforeseen events that comes up and most of the time it is just making sure that everyone's comfortable and everyone has what they need. It's not what you see in the movies. We're not going around, dodging bullets. As you said, you know, whether it's an expeditionary leader and you're going into some severe climate such as the South Pole, you said you You need to be prepared.
You need to have a plan. You need to have fallback plans, I guess, too, like a plan B, plan C, plan D, if things go sideways. All right.
[4:54] You know, in the preparation of being personal security or close protection, you know, if we can maybe make the leap or bridge between, you know, some of the situations you find yourself in and I'm sure you go into some intense areas of the world where they need more close security and how we can sometimes draw some lessons to that.
[5:15] I think that's the most important part of my job is to understand the situation. So situational awareness, where am I ongoing, what are the potential risks? What are the perceived risks? What are the real risks? I know, as in expedition life, I try to relate to the world as it is not as I fear it is or as I wish it was. So just staying fact-oriented, gather as much data as possible, and then not being hijacked by worries or other practical things, just make sure that when you land on the ice, you're well-prepared, when you land in a new city, you're well-prepared to absorb and handle any situation that might come up. And most of the job, I think, on both expeditions and other kinds of security jobs is that I have to make my clients or the expedition members feel comfortable, you know, if everyone's calm and feel comfortable and they feel safe, half of the job is done. Yeah, and some areas like, so there has been trips to what we call war zones, short visits, nothing dangerous, no bullets flying, and.
Inge's experiences in war zones and intense arenas
[6:43] And there has been intense arenas like rock concerts.
[6:50] Like two years ago I found myself in a big arena with 80,000 people and quite intense.
But you know, you have to forget about the noise.
[7:05] And be calm and then you will notice the little things that matter.
If you're overwhelmed by the noise, you will not notice what matters and then things will pop up that you didn't see.
Obviously, this comes from practice and experience, but at the same time, I guess there are some situations where you have to be very cognizant, very self-aware as to what you're telling yourself.
So the mind talk, you talked about, you know, it's you have to not get hijacked by hijacked by your emotions, by your feelings.
You have to forget about the noise so you can pick out the signal from the noise, right?
So you can focus on what you have to focus on.
That's just a challenge you that's obviously this, this is something that you've trained for and you have experience and it comes more natural to yourself.
If you were to advise someone actually how to do that, because it sounds easy, but it's for me, I could, I could understand working with so many clients how difficult it is not to be hijacked by emotions, not to get distracted by all the static and the noise and try to to pull out the signal from the background noise. What sort of nuts and bolts in you? What do you suggest for people to try to be able to think about as you've used it the situational awareness to focus on what is important?
[8:31] I think there are some universal rules and if you're a football player, and you are very nervous before a match, you know, that might, that tension might be to your advantage. And sometimes it's crippling. So like, you have to learn how to regulate the tension and the emotions, I think in your body. And that can best be regulated by knowing yourself as good as possible. So, you you know, what triggers your emotions? Do you know what, what makes you better and what is working against you.
I think that the universal rule is that whoever trains the most wins.
[9:23] You can say that some people are born with certain attributes and certain skills, but I think training and consciousness, like consciously working every day to get better what you want to be good at. I know a lot of artists that are crippled by fear before they go on stage. Most of them release that fear on stage or they manage to brush it off when they come on stage. But a lot of people are crippled or very nervous, very nervous before they go on stage.
[10:03] I think knowing yourself is the first thing and then work on the things that you need to improve.
Individual approaches to achieving control and calmness
[10:11] So make these little gap analysis. Where am I today and where do I want to be? What do I want to feel when I go on that stage? What do I want to feel when I'm working? Like I want to feel in control, I want to feel calm and get that flow. And how to reach that is quite individual. But there are some universal rules, I think. One is stay fact oriented, like count things. If.
[10:40] You go if you're the first person to car crash, you have options, you can rush into the situation, head, like, very intense rush into it. Or you can walk up to the situation, count things, give practical instructions to whoever is around, you can assess the situation. And if you if you activate that part of the brain, which is analytical and curious and, and counting things in fact oriented, you're not as easily hijacked by the emotions or the situation. So, so I tried to stay fact oriented. So I count things, I gather data, I observe people, by observing other people, you also move some of the attention away from your stomach and your gut feeling and like, not not your gut feeling, but your own, your own emotions by observing other people's emotions. And that's that curiosity about so I wonder, I wonder what goes through the other person's mind now.
I wonder how that feels.
[11:55] Yeah, in an arena situation, which is a lot of the time I've been on big arenas with lots of people, I try to calm down and just non...
Like neutrally observe people, just let my instincts observe more than my consciousness.
[12:19] So it is possible because I separate out all the other noise, so it's possible.
So then, and when you're in that zone, you will notice, your subconscious will notice if one person is looking the opposite direction of everyone else. If someone seems nervous or in discomfort, you know, sometimes it's a little kid that is squeezed between two massive adults, you want to observe that. You want to notice and either fix the situation or instruct someone else to go and fix that situation. Other times, you know, the crowd is smiling and laughing and looking in one direction when someone else is distracted by something and looking in a different direction, you, you want to double take on that person, and then do a conscious observation of it, of that person to find out if if this person needs help, or if this person has evil intentions.
Counting, focusing on others, and slowing down for pattern recognition
[13:26] As you said, you said three things to become fact oriented, sort of count, count things in your environment as you're approaching something or what have you. The other one was to focus on others' emotions, see how they are reacting. Thus, in yourself, it draws away from your own anxieties or concerns.
And the other one is what I also heard is you said to sort of slow down. And that might be to observe other people, right? To pick out because the brain is a pattern recognition machine. And I understand that probably in close protection in that whole area, you're looking for the anomaly, you're trying to figure out the small patterns or as you said it, the signal from the noise to see if there is any clear and present danger that's picking up through patterns.
[14:11] And I think what you're saying is very important and this can apply to the everyday person's life.
It's sometimes slow down and be present to things in your environment just to observe.
Even if it's just a stop up, take a break and look around.
And sometimes that might be to reassess your own emotions and thoughts and where you are. Are you rushing?
Or do you need to tap the brakes a little and just slow things down?
Because also what I found also interesting, you said, you know, some of these big artists before they get on a stage with whatever 80,000 people in the stadium, you know, they're, they're almost maybe they're, they're a shivering wreck.
But once they get on and something kicks in, a pattern kicks in, is that what you're, you're speaking about where they kind of find their own sort of calmness in the chaos of that stadium.
[15:01] I think it happens a lot and that for some people it's a superpower to be a little bit nervous and on the edge, you know, and.
[15:09] No, you've been practicing some martial arts as well. So you know that if you're, You can be Zen and you can become but at some points you sometimes need to Raise your attention level and find that aggression that you know, maybe not naturally have inside. So I, haven't felt a natural aggression much in my life.
So if I want to raise my tension level, I have to have techniques to raise my aggression.
So I have those little tricks, you know, when I breathe through my nose and just raise my tension level and feel anticipation.
And I find those feelings that I need to get. I think artists do the same sometimes.
I think they push the buttons that make them perform better.
[16:05] Obviously, you also talked about, you know, you prepare for situational awareness when you're going into some sort of situations, whether it's a refugee camp or a war zone or a stadium filled with sort of crazy fans, right?
And some of those fans can be very rabid in the sense of the intensity they have when someone walks in.
And then you also mentioned at the top of this conversation where you try to use your skills in psychology and communication to calm down the person you are protecting as in personal security.
When you see the person hiring you is in an anxious, nervous state, how do you try to get them to be more sort of centered and not so dispersed in their attention as they're about to go into an intensive situation.
[16:58] I think different people need different help and for some people it's enough to see, because some people tune in on other people really well and for them it's enough that I am calm you know if I'm calm they are calm so they tune in on your vibrations I don't know, like you know the physiological that is probably some kind of neural mirroring they will tune in in on your vibes, you know?
Being calm as a way to calm others
[17:28] So by being calm, people usually get calm.
So you can't tell people to calm down. I heard a quote once, like, "'Never in the history of calming down "'has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down.'", Hey, relax, man, relax.
That ain't gonna work, right? That doesn't work, it doesn't work.
So the example, of course, is powerful, the power example.
And people tune in on each other's energy levels. So I think by being calm, also directing their attention on things that they can control and can do something about, so that they feel that the situation is under control.
[18:11] Sometimes you can, of course, use tricks like distracting them to other things.
So they move away from that fight, flight, freeze process, to maybe asking them questions about things where they have to resonate or or like they always call it, they have to.
[18:31] Think about things and reflects and memory, memories and facts, you know, if they have to do that, and the mind is distracted by that, they are not able to be like, having, having a fight, flight or freeze reaction at the same time as they're being analytical or pulling out a memory from a couple weeks ago.
[18:57] Yeah, and what I hear is like when you reflect calm in your body language, in your breathing, it is a form of what we call emotional contagion.
So when someone's very nervous or very scared and they walk into a room, that can affect everyone. It can literally act as almost an emotional virus and affect everyone.
That's why a lot of the times you see on a plane, even though it's sort of crazy turbulence, you see the flight attendants, they're kind of calm, they make their way back to things because people look to them. And I think that's part of their training. I'm not too sure, but it seems like that would be essentially a part of their training. Because if you look to the flight attendants and you see they're calm, even though in the chaos of that, you know, the planes bumping around, you can stay and remain calm. But if all of a sudden you see them freak out, it's not gonna be good when you're in a, you know, a flying can 40,000 feet up in the air. So I completely agree. And you said...
I'm sorry, please. When you have the responsibility for other people, whether Whether you're a bus driver, you're a parent, you're a brother.
[20:08] Or an expedition leader. It's just being conscious about the effect you have on other people.
A lot of parents, you know, they're not conscious about how they transfer their own anxieties or they project their feelings onto their children. And it's so powerful that if parents knew that how positive or negative effect it would have, it could have. I think a lot of parents would try to change, but most people are not conscious about the effect they have on other people.
[20:47] You know, one of my favorite books ever was a Norwegian book called The Effects, you know, and it talks about the effect we have on other people. It talks about the effect people have have on us. And even more importantly, the effect we have on ourself, you know, how our inner dialogue, how we do things, how it affects us. And then, like, I know that you and I both listened to a lot of podcasts. And I heard a little clip from john Joe Rogan the other day, and where he says, that, I train hard, so that for a few moments in, in, in my day, I can be proud of my own effort and just feel strong. And you you're a kind of person that can take pain, you can take hardship, and it's just giving yourself these opportunities to feel in the zone and to feel good about yourself, you know, that those little things has a beautiful effect.
So we have to be conscious about the effect we have on ourself as well, how we everyday program ourself, or in a difficult situation, we program ourselves and approach the situation.
The preparation and training for effective responses to stress
[21:58] I think a lot of it comes down to the preparation, as you said, it's, you said the best person on top, forgive me, I'm just paraphrasing, is that are those who train the most. And those who train the most will be the most prepared because it'll be a habitual response to whatever shows up.
And I agree with what you're saying, because I know you're very active and you're different sports and such. And for me, that's also part of my daily routine, whether it's climbing, whether it's running, whether it's cold showers, it's to constantly stress the system, it's to inoculate myself against stress. Because if the body understands, if the mind and the body understands how to react to different situations, but you sometimes control those situations through stress inoculation, your body responds in those intense situations in a much more manner that you want, right? It's not just sort of shooting at the hip. It's a much more reflective and controlled response to the uncertainty.
And I think part of equanimity and the ability to find that comfort in discomfort actually comes from a lot of what you're also talking about and your philosophy that you put to action is prep.
It's all the prep work, whether it's obviously on the expeditions you take people, on the.
[23:22] Training that you do and the sports that you do, but also this other part of this job you have, the close protection. Everything comes down, sounds like to me, it comes back down to the prep work that you put in, the investment of time and effort and energy.
[23:37] Yeah, I think it's crucial. And so, you know, you mentioned cold plunges and cold showers and and stuff. And, and I know that there are some obvious physiological effects of that, like the body really responds well to it. The dopamine boost that you get in the morning, if you start with the cold plunge is unbelievable, it lasts hours and hours through the day, you know, sets you up for something, sets you up for greatness, you know, and the I think the most important things.
I'm quite allergic to ceremonies and bullshit, you know. So other people want to have the ceremonies around what they do. There's this Austrian guy, what's his name? Who does this cold plunging thing.
[24:25] Oh, Wim Hof. Wim Hof. Yes. Yeah. I think I think he's actually Dutch. He's Dutch.
He's Dutch. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I have no idea. But he has made a massive global brand out of taking cold plunges and you know and I think he's done the world huge favors from a lot of people who's he's given them such an easy tool to self-development and I don't care about the the ceremonies or the breeding or anything like that but by introducing people to this little magic pill of a cold plunge he has given people so the the physiological effect but also the the psychological effect, you know, a lot of people have learned that if they push through the barriers, there is something on the other side that is useful that is transferable to other parts of life, you know. So if you're really good at forcing yourself to ignore the cold, and to just do what it takes to get out in that bath, and you do it regularly, you.
[25:31] Make it into your routine that sends signals to the brain that you're a kind of person that does what it takes. And you want yourself to know yourself that way. You want to feel that you are and you want your subconscious to know that you're a kind of person that does what it takes when it's necessary. If you if you tell yourself, yeah, I can take some discomfort. I do cold plunges every day. You know, the brain doesn't differentiate that the next time the brain is in a difficult situation. You're like, he will remember those neural patterns Like, no, I'm the kind of person that pushes through and I do what it takes and I ignore the discomfort.
[26:13] And that's a magical, that's a superpower. I don't set myself up for breathing if I swim on the North Pole or in the lake below my house here.
I don't start a ceremony, I don't do any breathing. I just do, I just jump in and my body responds and that's it, and I calm down and everything is good.
But of course, Wim Hof has been teaching people to read right, to think right, and that has probably other physiological and psychological effects that I haven't tapped in on, and maybe I'll try his program one day.
But in the meantime, I just unceremoniously just jump in the lake and feel the benefit, and it just feels amazing.
[26:59] You know, there is a lot. I mean, with this physical inoculation to stress, this also
Building Resilience through Cold Showers
[27:05] helps us immensely, you know, because I don't like cold showers, but I do it every morning for whatever it is, five to 10 minutes. You know, you get in and you just your body screaming, right? Your dopamine just drops off, adrenaline kicks up, and you're just sitting there. But, over time, you know, I started with whatever, 15, 20 seconds. And over time, you build up, up, you build this strength, this resilience to it. You know, where I can stand in a cold shower or whatever for 10 minutes, right? But it's amazing to see how over time you can shift from the storm in which your brain is in, I mean, which physiologically you are in. It is in fight and flight mode. That's why the adrenaline is kicking in. But you can slowly over time see yourself mentally shift into the eye of the storm. You can't to escape the storm because it's you're you're plunged in it.
[28:00] But it's that that ability to mentally find the calmness, the eye of the storm, even though your body's raging, but you're mentally, you know, you're thinking, I'm controlling the situation, I've put myself in this situation, even though the body knows it. But in such a simple thing, it's just a step under a faucet of cold water, that we can do this, anybody can do this, if you've got a shower and you've got cold water, which everybody does, then, then I think this is a really good way.
It's a, I think it's a...
[28:36] If more people were doing it, pharmaceutical companies would see it on their stats immediately, because it is a little bit of a magic pill. It gives you more resilience, and more resilience will give you less need for medical interventions and psychologists. There are many things like this that you can do every day in your life that to build your resilience and to to make you also feel better about yourself and and I think feeling better about yourself is very important you know if you like yourself you're more you're nicer to the world around you, you are stronger to to take take on the difficult tasks that will come every not every day but In everyone's life, there will be times and challenges that are going to require the best of you.
And setting yourself up to be that strong person with a toolbox to fix problems.
And it's taking a cold shower will not solve everything. But it's one of those many things where you tune in and you tweak your machinery to perform better when it's necessary.
[30:01] And I think it comes back to something I asked you previously, you know, how do you help people as they're about to move into an intense situation?
Well, it's not telling them to calm, but you're saying is to shift their attention onto something they can control.
It's something as simple and as easy it is to have a cold shower.
At the end of that, even if you just step in for 10 seconds, you know that's something you control.
That's something that you put effort in and the outcome is just that.
All of a sudden, when the adrenaline dies down, dopamine kicks up just to find that homeostasis again. And as you said, you have this dopamine rush, it can last hours, right?
And so I think that is also, it also helps with mental fortitude, it also helps with mental tenacity to put ourselves sometimes through physical strain to inoculate our bodies to anxiety and to stress.
Mental Fortitude and Inoculating Ourselves to Stress
[30:58] Now, just to shift the conversation here for a second, Inge, I've seen after COVID there's a level of anxiety that people walk around in society.
Now, this is just my anecdotal things, but when I'm working with clients, and these are men and women that are highly educated, very professional, very knowledgeable and experienced, But there's still sometimes an anxious state.
And I think sometimes we take in a lot of the social media, we get trapped in these echo chambers.
[31:28] And sometimes we need to take sort of, you know, stay away from the news a little or be very selective of when and how we watch the news, because people don't realize it. And I think people, logically, people realize it, but emotionally, we can get caught up into these sort of echo chamber of news cycles, sometimes knock out the stability that we sometimes feel. But as we've talked about sort of physical inoculation as you've been talking about, I was wondering maybe you could speak a little to this mental inoculation sort of being more cognizant as to what we allow into our brains, what we pay attention to. So I'm not an expert like you are, so what I have is a set of experiences, and I've been trying to understand my own response to things, you know, so I have felt emotionally hijacked by news. I have felt uncertainty, you know, in new situations. So trying to understand what's happening inside me, observe myself in situations and also observing other people. So I've been fortunate to, to have a little bit of a glass, like a kind of glass bowl to observe people in.
[32:49] Extreme situations, in hostile weather or hostile environments, and you observe people in their raw form, you know, the layers are peeled off and you see human beings as they are deep down, and the nature of us all comes out in extreme situations.
All the facade and all the pretense is just gone.
I love that glass bowl and I observe people in my space.
[33:22] Music.
The Importance of Situational Awareness and Emotional Control
[33:31] Inge Solheim works as a personal security and close protection specialist for dignitaries and celebrities.
He sheds light on the vital importance of understanding the often intense and unpredictable, situations his clients can find themselves in.
His role demands a high level of situational awareness, which involves asking fundamental questions like where are they going and assessing both the perceived and real risks in the surroundings.
In doing so, Inge stresses the significance of viewing the world objectively, free from emotional biases and wishful thinking.
He emphasizes the need to avoid being hijacked by emotions and fears, a crucial aspect of his profession.
Being well-prepared and adept at handling unexpected situations is at the core of his job.
[34:17] In fact, he underscores that half of the job revolves around making clients feel safe in uncomfortable and challenging environments.
Inge emphasizes that in intense situations, maintaining calm demeanor is the key to discerning what truly matters amidst the chaos.
To prevent succumbing to overwhelming situations, Inge shares valuable insights into the importance of self-awareness. Knowing one's triggers and staying fact-oriented by counting and observing are critical.
Additionally, he encourages a focus on curiosity about other people's feelings.
As a diversion helps individuals keep their composure and minimize their own fears.
Inga also delves into his approach to helping people, redirecting their focus towards elements they can control.
This shift in perspective aids in preserving a sense of calmness.
He introduces physical practices such as cold showers and controlled stress exposure to build the necessary tolerance and equanimity required for his line of work.
Inger also introduced the concept of mental inoculation, highlighting the need to be discerning when consuming news and information.
In order to avoid undue anxiety and uncertainty, he emphasizes the importance of safeguarding one's mental well-being by controlling what enters their mind.
[35:36] In essence, mental and physical inoculation to stress is not something given to us, it's something we earn through experience.
And through this, we can build our fortitude, our tenacity, our mental resilience and equanimity.
So with that said, let's slip back into the stream part 2 with...
[35:54] Music.
Influence and Interference: The Pressure of Information Overload
[36:03] Is that we are, none of us are immune to influence and interference from the outside world.
[36:12] And never in the history of human beings, I think we have been bombarded with more signals, and more influence. And there has been times where, of course, the pressure has been greater.
You know, if you lived in a religious little town in Norway in the 18th century, history, you were under enormous pressure as well, you know, and, and influence from other people. Now today, the difference is that you're receiving a lot more information on many, many more channel channels. So it's quite confusing for people. And we don't know, we don't know what our feelings and thoughts and opinions are based on. Because none of us are conscious enough to understand what effect maybe like a one-sided media has, what effect does our friends and family have, our religious community, what kind of effect, how strong is that effect, how does that form my opinion. So when we see the world, through those filters that we have, a lot of conscious and subconscious and unconscious filters that we apply when we see the world. And my world can look so very different from yours, from the subconscious filters that I apply.
[37:40] And I feel that in my lifetime might have something to do with my consciousness about the topic, but in my lifetime, there's never been more polarization.
You have to choose a side. And when you choose a side, you're fighting for that side, ignoring all other nuances, nuances or everything and the polarization, the echo chambers that you talk about is, they're so strong.
So the exercise that I try to do daily is to try and lift myself out of this, try to recognize echo chambers around me, try to consciously seek information from many different sources.
[38:37] Try to understand if I have a news source, what is their agenda?
What do they want me to feel?
Why do they do this? I think it's quite naive of people to think that the news on TV is for them for free.
Nobody makes news to make you informed.
They pretend to do that, but most of the news has an agenda.
It represents a point of view, it represents a group of people, or a philosophy, or a commercial agenda.
Very often there's a commercial agenda behind the news.
[39:18] And we have to see it as what it is, and its influence. And everyone wants your attention, commercial companies, religions, political parties.
Today is election day in Norway.
And for weeks, we have been bombarded with political messages, very similar to last election or 50 years ago, same kind of, because they They know which triggers that we have and what buttons to push.
We have been bombarded with noise.
It will be much worse when we get to the state election here in Norway in two years.
They really distract people away from the topics and issues.
[40:12] Have you noticed how little people are talking about Corona now during this election?
Even if we know that some mayors and bureaucrats and municipalities were extremely strong in how they enforced Corona measures, you know, they don't want to talk about it.
They don't want to talk about how they denied people access to their cabins.
They don't want to talk about how they were using enormous amounts of resources to get people to take some experimental vaccines.
There was so much misinformation, disinformation, and of course, who has the most power and influence to do this?
The political parties, the states, the government, the municipalities, they had the biggest bandwidth to our brain during COVID.
And now they don't want to talk about it.
And Arne Soerberg doesn't want to talk about how she said that good Norwegians got vaccinated.
[41:21] I know the best Norwegians I know, they were skeptical to the vaccine.
Strong, independently thinking, autonomous people are skeptical.
When everyone agrees, the truth is suffering.
And everyone, if you didn't agree to the propaganda during COVID, you were stupid. You were an enemy.
You were killing your grandmother. There were so many, so many things that were said about autonomous, free thinking people during those days.
And now nobody wants to talk about it.
So.
[41:56] Understanding why people want to give you a message, what is their agenda, what effect it has on you, try to understand that and try to stay calm and save those very emotional outbursts or very emotional reactions to things that matter.
You don't have to have a strong opinion about everything.
Because I know that companies and political parties and others, they want you to have strong opinions about things. They want you to click. They want you to purchase something.
They want you to follow dogma or doctrine.
I think that we are safer if we have little bit of a skepticism to.
[42:57] What people are trying to tell us. Yeah, I've always found the most powerful
Scrambling to Respond to COVID
[42:59] role in any sort of group is the observer, the listener, and they speak when they really only have something important to say. At the same time, I can understand when something crazy like COVID lands on society, nobody really knows how to respond to it.
And I think there was a lot of scrambling in those early days.
And yes, things got polarized and such, but I think on both sides of the fence or even sitting on the fence, I think with time now we can reflect back on what was good practices and what was questionable practice.
I think- Is that allowed now?
I'm sorry? Is that allowed now these days to reflect on what was bad.
[43:48] I'd like to think so because I definitely reflect on it, but on a greater level, I can't really speak to that, but I think if we bring this down to the individual, you know, when we've had experiences, whether we've had good experiences or not great experiences, you know, one thing my father always said to keep this simple was, you know, Jason, every time you move into a situation, there's only two outcomes, you either succeed, or you learn, right? It's okay. He used to say to me, Jason, it's okay.
If you fumble, you mess up, you screw up, whatever you did, it's okay to feel those feelings, but learn from that.
So the next time you move into it, you know, apply those lessons learned.
And I think that is whether it's a skill or it's a mental way of seeing things.
For me, it's just that it's taking what I've learned and it may be to be more cognizant, more self-aware of what I'm telling myself and to shift it.
And I think back to what you're saying, when someone's very nervous about moving into an unknown situation, it's okay to be nervous.
[44:56] But the power is asking yourself, what is the narrative I'm telling myself?
Are you focusing, Jason, on all the things you don't control, all the uncertainty?
Or as you said, Inge, with your clients or whoever you're working with, is to shift them on what they can control.
Maybe it's counting things. Maybe it's what are the facts? What are the assumptions, right?
Maybe focusing on the breath, focusing on things that they can control.
That in itself, again, at the trailhead of this part of the conversation, I think this can mentally inoculate us, make us stronger with fortitude and tenacity to deal with chaotic situations.
And every time we meet a situation, if we can learn from it, I think that even strengthens us.
Bulletproof, far from it, but it makes us resilient.
Yeah, on an individual basis, but also as a society, you know. I'm not saying that our society should stop and breathe, but you know.
Reflecting on Society: Observing Our World
[46:01] Kind of in a metaphorical way, like our society now should stop and breathe a little bit, and consciously and critically observe ourselves. What in today's world do we want to bring into the future, and what should we have a critical view on and maybe leave behind.
COVID-19 Exposes Leadership Failures
[46:24] You said something that is, for me, an observation as well, that going into COVID, which was a new situation for all of us, because very few of us had been in a pandemic or something similar, you know. And then you could see that it really took people and systems by surprise. I also think that it showed that the kind of people and culture that we have built around our leadership, you know. So there are other criterias to choose political and bureaucratic leaders than, leaders in sports, in military, in business. And I think it showed that we are not necessarily led by the best of us. Our political leadership were scrambling, they were, they were like, deers in headlights, and they were trying to over, compensate and they were they were one they were wanted to be be seen as doing enough. Some of them were scared. Some of them were overwhelmed by the sudden responsibility they had.
[47:47] And I think that the only way to learn and move forward more consciously to the next crisis, is to critically think about how we recruit people to bureaucracy, how we.
[48:03] Choose leaders in the political world. And today, in the light of our election today, it's very very important to talk about it. Because I think we have failed to elect competent leaders.
[48:20] So we have a pseudo democracy in Norway where we think we choose our leaders. But we indirectly choose our leaders from a very little pool of self selected, groomed politicians. And who were the first to raise their hand in the school elections when they were 12 years old. And, and it's, and I think we, we really have to consciously think about how we choose our leaders going forward, and what skills and what skills and traits do we do we want from them? Because we see in a crisis, we see how much power they have over our lives.
And I'm not comfortable giving that culture so much power over my life.
And as one of the main reasons, you know, I live on a little farm in the outside, outside like in a not the wilderness, but in a quite remote place in Norway is the autonomy behind that, you know, like, yeah, our leaders, our technology, and our society can crumble and fail. But the strength in having an.
[49:39] Autonomous place where I can grow food, take care of myself, I have water, I don't, yeah, we have a tight knit community around me here. That's one of the reasons is because I really don't trust the resilience and the fabric of our society today.
I think it's very weak and fragile.
And that's not me being pessimistic, it's just if things go well, I have a beautiful life here on the farm.
If shit hits the fan, I have a safe life here on the farm.
[50:18] And I agree, but I don't think everyone has the privilege nor, you know, the opportunity to have such things. You know, most of us are kind of, we choose urban centers, yes, and we do it, and some things it's not so easy to move out. I agree with your point that, you know, there are definitely lessons to learn of how different governments around the world and power bodies address during that crisis because this is not going to be the last crisis and I think.
[50:50] Part of what I want to get to is that change is inevitable. Change at these larger scale, just at a larger scale, are I think are just inherently part of the DNA of our societies as a global community moving forward. But back to your point, but I think it's very important that we can reflect, that we can figure out what are the facts and what are the assumptions. As As you said, to understand what are perceived or real threats, and if we can learn as a, society, whether it's better hiring practices, whereas finding stronger people to lead municipalities or at national levels, I think this is all part of the discourse that we need as healthy democracies moving forward.
And I completely concur.
We can draw from these experiences, but a majority of people, as I said, again, we need to rely on society and the infrastructure and the connective tissue of society to see how we can move forward.
Honesty and Constructive Conflict for a Strong Society
[51:51] And so, yes, it's all part of the discourse. I think a key to learn is to be honest.
The only way to learn from the past is to have an honest, critical look at the past, or your present. And today I think a lot of people, they take the blue pill.
[52:14] They want to see the world in a comfortable way, like they want to trust the government, they want to trust their employer, they want to trust the news cycle and the story that is coming on the news.
[52:35] And I understand that, it's more comfortable, it's comfortable and for many people that's important. In a stressful world, you may be anxious. The last thing you need is a reality check. You really don't want to know how bad things are. You don't want to relate to, the new surveillance powers of the government because it's just going to freak you out.
You don't want to know that the process behind the corona measures are now are still, secret for another 47 years. You don't want to know that, you don't want to relate to it.
For me, I have that surplus energy and capacity and I have that curiosity and will to know.
Well. So I critically analyze what's going on in society. And I I choose to red pill every day, try to see the world as it is.
[53:41] And that doesn't mean that I understand the world better than anyone else. But of information data, because I consciously dig for more from even sources that I don't like, from people I don't respect just to understand, how are they thinking? What is their agenda? What's going on in this world?
So if we on a society level are honest, and critical about how we build our society, how we behave towards each other, what are the values that we have, what works and what doesn't We can build a tomorrow that we want.
But if everyone goes into their trenches and if certain ideas and thoughts are forbidden, honesty is squashed.
[54:38] Because the narrative is more important than people's critical questions, then we're in a really bad state. And that's what I see these days. So every one of us have have the responsibility to in our families and friendship groups or political activism through political activism, we have the responsibility to actually pull things back to to mean because I think it's gone too far in some directions. And we get the politicians we deserve. We get.
[55:12] The friends we deserve. So be conscious about what you attract what you choose. Because at the end of the day, we, we have to live together on this planet. And we have enormous influence and effect on each other. Yeah, yeah. And for me, you know, one of the tenets of resilience is the ability to have constructive conflict. And as you said, if we get so polarized on, and we listen to our little echo chamber of whatever narrative narrative it is that we get ourselves wrapped up to, and then the social media kind of feeds into that narrative, then I don't think we're having constructive conflict.
All I think is we're having a shouting match and no one's actually listening.
And that's why I said, you know, one of the most powerful people that I can see in a room is those that are listening and observing. Not because they are afraid of speaking up. I'm not talking about those people. Those are people who may have a little low confidence and something that they need to build up. But the person in the room you can see has confidence, who has experience and knowledge, but is also reflected, who is listening and has a balanced way of saying things.
And he or she is the one that speaks up when they feel they need to speak up, and only when they have something to say, not just because they want to blurt out and hear their own voice.
And back to what you said. I think.
[56:41] If to avoid polarization, you know, everyone can have conflict, but that's a negative type of conflict. One of the tenets of true democracies, of a strong organization, of strong teams, of families, is the ability to have constructive conflict. And what I mean by that is that we can address things. We're not always worried about the delicate flower or walking on eggshells or or offending someone.
Because if you think you can walk through life without being offended, how privileged is that thinking?
Because that's not gonna happen.
And I see that, at least, you know, I just, I was in Colorado a little while back and I was talking to some Americans there.
And I have also my friends in Canada, how sometimes universities, especially in North America, there's certain things you can't even talk about.
And universities have always been a place where you could have debate, where you could learn, where you could confront and debate about things, right?
But now you're almost seeing this veil pulled over things where it's not allowed to say certain things because you're going to offend someone's sensitivities. And how fragile and brittle does those organizations become? But you could take this to a bigger point where it's nation states and governments and such. And if you can't have constructive conflict, then I think we are, honestly, I think we're fueling fragility.
[58:10] I think so. I think you're right. And, and the institutions that we, we both of us talk about, you know, you talk about the universities, powerful institution where a lot of people are in a very, not fragile, they're very receptive.
Lack of Brave Teachers in Universities
[58:32] They're very susceptible, I don't know, to new ideas, and because their opinions are being formed in a way, and they're under enormous influence.
And I think, as in politics and bureaucracy, we have failed to recruit good leaders of universities and conscious, brave teachers, you know?
The conscious, brave teachers are being squeezed out now because if you have a controversial opinion, you're not welcome in a university setting anymore.
And we don't let young people be exposed to a variety of opinions because there's a correct opinion then there's the wrong opinion. And tolerance and respect has been weaponized. So if I tell you that that I disagree with you, you will say that I'm disrespectful.
And if I don't understand you or if...
If my opinion is not seen as empathetic, you have weaponized, you can silence me because.
Canada's Dangerous Shift in Freedom of Speech
[59:50] The institution, the universities, the government has given you now tools to silence people who disagree with you. And it's very dangerous, extremely dangerous. Canada is a big black hole of freedom of speech now. The tolerant, beautiful Canada has become a fundamentalist intolerance, you know, to opinions. As a Canadian, I've seen this, you know, I've been home recently and you can you can hear it, you know, sometimes you have to, it's kind of crazy, but you have to sometimes whisper certain things if you're sitting in a restaurant. But I think, you know, when the pendulum swung so far one way, what you're going to do, you're going to see the pendulum swing back in the other way. And then you're going to have such a voracious response to this. You, know, and I that's what I think you can see the parliamentary debates in Canada where you see more conservatives and what is going on, right? And you see the pendulum swing so far the other way, that I think there will always come back from this.
The elite will always underestimate that because they have been So when I say the elite, I'm not talking about the intellectual elite. I'm talking about the, power elites the people who owns the companies and the political parties and the news media the elites will.
[1:01:19] Be too comfortable in their situation. They will go too far and the left leftist elite has has gone way too far and I'm afraid of the counter-reaction will be extreme as well.
But I think that's just it's right because it's when you have something swing so far to the left, To find balance it usually swings so far to the right not in every case But that's how systems generally tend to work. You know, I have friends who are, conservative who, Have been labeled as white supremacists racist that the most ironic thing. One of my best friends is is is, is black. Well, his father was black. And just because he's conservative, is like every now and then is being called a racist. And just because he has conservative views, you know, and, and it's, so they weaponized a few things that are for any free thinking normal person, you like you consciously know that this is wrong. But they pulled it so far that it's we're living in a post truth society. So emotions count more than facts. And that's very dangerous.
[1:02:44] You know, I think this polarization and we keep talking about I think everyone sees it, you know, as simple as just picking up your smartphone and flipping through Instagram, you can see how this echo chamber is how you choose, you know, the algorithms obviously this I mean this is spoken ad nauseum but how these these algorithms choose that but when you have when you can't have a liberal and a conservative talking about their different ideas it doesn't even have to in the political realm. It can be in whatever realm.
[1:03:15] And you can't, and you have to racist someone as a sexist, or racist, or Martianist, I don't know, whatever is, right? Then you can't have a debate.
I mean, if you can't speak about things, how fragile is that?
Because then you're not dealing with the underlying animosities that are bubbling up, and we just paint over it.
And what happens is then you get this volatility, this turbulent reaction to things because people feel they can't express it.
And when they can't express something through intellectual debate, through intelligent discourse, even if it is of different opinions, then what you do, you get the radical nut jobs coming out of the woodwork doing their own thing, right?
But if you can have discourse and you can allow people to feel what?
Listened, respected, understood, even though they don't agree, but they can have that ability to what is it, to agree to disagree.
[1:04:21] But if you can't have that, it percolates underneath and it blows up.
You can just see this in organizations when people feel that they are listened to, that they're respected and they're understood, even though their ideas may not float, some may and some may sink.
What you have is a healthy team, you have a healthy organization.
It's not a big leap to take from a small team to blow up to a national level.
It's still the individuals. For me at least, it's still the same psychological dynamics in play.
I'm very fortunate because I get to visit a lot of different...
[1:05:01] Companies, societies, countries, you know, and I see that there are so many good people who see things as they are, and who want the best for each other who understand that, at the end of the day, we're very similar people, you know, and we, even if the news media and certain parts of the internet are very tribal and very extreme, most people are moderate, most people are respectful, they are conscious that they're concerned about the like, not normal little things, they want to get their kids to, to football practice, they, they are active in their community helping out and like, most people are good.
Most people are moderate, you know, but because of the loud people are so take up so much space, and extreme people with extreme opinions on both sides take up so much of the bandwidth on on the internet, we get the impression that everyone is just like going crazy. So maybe like you started out by saying maybe tuning out sometimes tuning, like, lowering the noise, and.
[1:06:17] Putting on a radio station with classical music instead of heated debate about transgenders, you know, that could be a nice mental exercise.
Coming back to that, I just find like, obviously everyone, I talk about running all the time, ad nauseum, but, you know, for me, sometimes just turning off and just lacing up on trail shoes, and then going running in the woods surrounding Oslo.
And you just get lost, and it kind of resets things. All the noise gets disappeared because life is just there.
It's around you and you're just kind of in the present.
It's hitting the pause button on the news channels, you know, that's what I'm thinking.
That's as easy it is. You find and you immerse and you lose yourself in your passions.
I do that sometimes too. It's still, we still have to have two thoughts in the head at the same time.
We take our pause and we distance ourself from some of it, but we cannot distance ourself from the responsibility that we shape the future.
We shape our future.
We shape the society around us. It doesn't mean that we get that free pass to not get involved when things are wrong.
And if you sleep in a democracy, you wake up in a dictatorship.
[1:07:38] Yeah, well said, well said. We are in a very critical time now where we have to fight for our freedoms.
We have to fight for our autonomy and our privacy, because our governments and our bureaucracy that monster or creature has a life.
[1:08:02] In itself where they want to have more of more power more control and more influence of our lives.
[1:08:10] And for some people that's really comfortable to know that we're being taken care of from from cradle to grave. But for me it's very scary to see how the boundaries are being moved every day now. Now they can access all of the data going in and out of my computer, all my emails, all my text messages. They're even allowed to store all my conversations and the sound bytes that they can tap in from the apps that I have. And that's okay until there's an extreme situation where they use that toolbox to restrict your movements, your freedom, how you spend your money, where you travel, who you speak to.
So don't sleep in our democracy. We live in a very peaceful little corner of the world today, but that's not necessarily the case.
I think, I think you can already see some of what you're saying playing out at a point where it's not a democracy, where it's almost a dystopian society.
And you can see these certain nation-states where it has developed.
And I think, as you said, don't sleep in the democracy. Take active participation.
Have the debates. Have the talks.
And, you know, hopefully the polarization itself, you know, the pendulum doesn't have to swing so far the other direction.
[1:09:39] Where it creates even more challenges, which it can.
We have to fight for our rights to have private conversations.
We have to fight for our rights to use cash.
[1:09:50] We have to fight for our rights to move freely in this country and abroad.
Like the Norwegian Parliament is recruited from a very narrow band of society, you know, Like the competent, strong, wise, good people that lead companies and organizations around Norway, there's no place for them in politics, you know.
They will be the people who are competent and wise, and there's no place for them.
If you own a private business and you've been very successful, even if you could get into politics you would be squeezed out because you're not a team player in the political system.
If you have controversial ideas, if you want to change things up, there's no space for you.
So this today, this election, the next election, elections in Canada.
[1:10:58] They're extremely important. We have to choose competent, good leaders going forward, because the world is complex. It's moving fast. We cannot rely on this culture of groomed politicians to take care of our interests going forward. They have their own interests. And I'm very, very skeptical to wait the way that we have elected our leaders the last 30 4050 years.
Sustaining and Protecting Democracies: Our Role as Wardens
[1:11:30] Well, Inga, thank you very much for your time. I'm very respectful as we come to the top of the hour. I think you've, you know, you've left us with a lot to think about a lot of us to consider, and to decide on an individual level how we move forward and how we contribute and participate in the democracies that we have to sustain them because we are the wardens of those democracies that our parents and our grandparents have had down to us. And as wardens, we need to take a vibrant role in being protecting and being the warrant of those democracies. So thank you very much for your time today. And I really appreciate it.
I think it's, it's a beautiful way to start the week to have a conversation with you. And some people might think that I'm a pessimist now, but you know, I'm a really huge, like, naive optimist. But what I would because I've seen some ways that.
[1:12:29] Reality can hit sometimes, I would feel so stupid if I wasn't prepared for a future that is different than what I wish for.
[1:12:38] Music.
Bridging Polarities and Constructive Conflict for Resilient Societies
[1:12:47] We wrap up our exploration of resilience and equanimity in this episode by emphasizing the need to bridge polarities in our societies.
Inga underscores the importance of actively seeking information from both sides of an issue to foster a more resilient and balanced society.
He believes that constructive conflict is essential for societal growth and transformation.
It reminds us that the most powerful person in any interaction is often the one who listens and observes keenly.
These insights from the second part of our conversations connect seamlessly with the lessons we learned in part 1.
Inge Solheim's experiences in the world of personal security and close protection highlight with the significance of staying.
Oriented, staying calm in intense situations and focusing on what truly matters.
[1:13:35] And in both parts, the core message is clear, resilience, equanimity, and the ability to handle high stress situations, while it requires a balanced and open minded approach to understanding and engaging with the world around us.
Well, folks, that brings us to a tail end of another great conversation.
Inge, personal thank you from me to you for a brilliant and engaging conversation as usual.
Folks, any of you wishing to reach out to Inge, I will leave all his contact information in the show notes.
[1:14:04] Well folks, as we wrap up this week's episode, I just want to take a moment and I want to express my heartfelt thanks.
You know, this year I've been truly humbled by the numerous requests to speak on resilience, and equanimity to various organizations.
You know, your interest and support mean the world to me.
So if you've found our discussions on these topics insightful and would like to explore, for them further, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
You know, as a coach and as a sparring partner, working with MindTalk for 20 years and as a host for the last two years, for this podcast, it's an inside job and having so many great guests and clients.
I've learned so much about the altitude and latitude about resilience and equanimity.
And if you feel this is a subject that you'd like to address with your team, with your organization, please reach out to me.
I'd be very pleased and honored to help you build resilience and to foster equanimity amongst your team and your organization. So once again, thank you for your continued interest and trust.
I'm very much looking forward to the possibilities that lie ahead as we journey into the fifth, season of It's an Inside Job.
So thanks again for your support and your listenership.
And until the next time we meet on this channel, the next time we continue this conversation, keep well, stay healthy.
