called Institute after the show aired and arranged a visit, and before long, he was learning from them. Their approach influenced his first two books. Another great influence was
the Scottish thinker Sid Banks, Michael recalls. “He just said something so simple... he said: ‘Every human being has innate mental health.’” For Michael it just hit the spot. He’d spent so much time trying not to be depressed working out how to handle depression - and now he realised: “I was born happy... Babies don’t need therapy.” He explains: “We learn to be
unhappy. And the truth is the second we stop thinking the way we’ve learnt to think, we’re right back to the default.” This is the central point
to his book: The Inside Out Revolution, in which he shows people how to change what’s going on in their minds rather than changing what’s going on “out there”. It sounds familiar, similar to the early realisation Michael had as a suicidal teenager that something was going on “up there” in his head to make him unhappy, since his life was fine. Michael speaks fondly of his great relationship with his wife and kids. He talks of clients who come to him having not found that balance yet. One client realised there was something out of balance when
her five-year-old daughter said: “Let’s play mummies and daughters.” After announcing she would be the mummy, she picked up her mummy’s purse and said: “I’ve got to go now honey, bye.” For others, the source of their happiness and inspiration is the thing they are so far removed from.
These days, he says that his
role as a coach is to wake his clients to their soul, “to wake them up to the power inside them, to that intelligence and energy and life that we’re all a part of.” He contrasts this with the more standard approach to happiness: “...We try and find this power, this willpower and make ourselves succeed and be happy and do things, when actually we’re hooked up to this much, much greater power that everyone has access to.” He compares trying to do things “the empowered way” as being like blowing to try to move a sailboat. Sometimes when it catches a current it moves quickly and you think you’ve made it happen. “But sailboats aren’t designed to run that way; sailboats are designed to catch... that creative force, that wind, that power of mind that all of us have, if we let it. If we get that it’s there... it will take us places.”
It’s an approach that has certainly worked for Michael.
ABOVE
Michael thrives on helping people
BELOW
Michael did a lot of work for the BBC in his acting days
Throughout his life he has followed the inner voice that has instinctively told him what to do and which path to follow. Life has worked better when he hasn’t set specific goals – it is more that he has a mindset open to opportunity and a deep driving curiosity. His own view seems to be that you don’t give people the seven effective habits of success or similar, but that you wake people up to the genius inside. So perhaps there is no secret to success, except for authenticity and happiness. This central part of The Inside Out Revolution is also what guides his views on people trying to make their ways in the world. Asked what young people leaving school nowadays need to know, his answer is simple: “Recognise, a) there is an absolute fool- proof way to navigate through life; that if you learn that inner guidance system it will take you places way beyond what you could create with a goal list... The other is recognising that the next great idea isn’t out there... it’s going to come into your head when there is nothing much else on your mind...” It’s a straightforward message – having these two pieces of insight means you’ll be able to go out and enjoy your life. “Then you might wind up having a wonderful life and driving a Porsche, you might wind up having a wonderful life driving a bicycle... either way, you get to have a wonderful life.”
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