Every doctor and high-achieving professional knows what it feels like to lie awake with a brain that refuses to stop – replaying a decision made that afternoon, running tomorrow’s list at midnight, scanning ahead for what might go wrong. Our ingrained programming tells us that more thinking keeps us safe and keeps things running. But there is a cost to that, and our analytical brains (the very thing that makes us good at our jobs) may be the reason we can’t rest.
In this conversation with Giles Croft, former NHS surgeon and coach, we explore what happens when the brain’s analytical, planning, threat-scanning part takes over completely – and what your right brain already knows how to do that most of us have never been properly introduced to.
We cover:
- The difference between left-brain and right-brain consciousness, and why doctors and high achievers are trained to default to the analytical mode
- Giles’s own experience of a TIA – and what the temporary loss of his left brain revealed about the default state that sits underneath all the thinking
- Why “just stop overthinking” is advice that doesn’t reach the actual problem
- How the brain “pre-lives” the future, and why this feels like vigilance but functions like anxiety
- What it actually feels like to step out of left-brain dominance – and the small, practical ways to do it
- Why our default state is not stress – it only feels that way because we’ve been away from calm for a long time
This episode is for you if you lie awake replaying a conversation with a colleague, a patient or a client; if you find yourself planning three weeks ahead on a Sunday evening, or even on holiday, your mind is running its usual commentary. What we discuss may help you understand what is really beneath all that noise, and whether the calm you’re looking for has been there the whole time.
Giles is a former NHS surgeon and coach who works with individuals and organisations on the human experience of work. His firsthand encounter with a transient ischaemic attack gave him a unique, embodied understanding of how the brain’s different modes of consciousness shape our wellbeing. He helps people understand how they are experiencing the world – and who they really are. Find Giles 
