Diagnoses are a frame of reference for looking at behavior, and therefore often limit us to understanding one another and ourselves. When it comes to gun control, the focus on mental health by both sides is accurate, but not for the reason ei

Navigating Social Change: An Interview with Jeff Fullington

Aug 19th, 2021 1h 5m

Discussed nature of mental health work, autism, seeing people as wholes rather than parts, and learning to experience life through different understandings of social influence. Links for Jeff: Twitter: @primalhex Email: jeff.fullington@gm

43: Interview with Juan Lee

Apr 26th, 2021 52m 56s

Juan Lee is an author and teacher on the powerful principle of love. Raised within the Christian church, Juan has turned to teachings about love over the years to find strength, understanding and hope. As a child, Juan was the youngest of f

3 Things to Know Before Entering Therapy

Mar 9th, 2021 58m 20s

Interview with Bryan Nixon, a therapist at and founder of Mindful Counseling GR in Grand Rapids, MI. Here we discuss therapeutic modality and the relationship with the client. Things to consider: 1. Philosophy of the therapist 2. Therapist idea

How We Can Deepen Intimacy and Why It's Important

Mar 3rd, 2021 35m 45s

We've been exploring habits and steps for building and maintaining healthy relationships. Here we continue that journey by looking at intimacy and its connection to authenticity. We can learn to express different parts of ourselves in differen

Healthy Communication: 4 Steps to a Strong Relationship

Feb 15th, 2021 33m 38s

Exploring the work of John and Julie Gottman on the "4 Horsemen" of relationship communication errors and working through steps to build healthy connections for personal and relationship growth. We work through four steps beginning with identi

3 Ways to Define Love and Why They Matter

Feb 10th, 2021 33m 3s

We all know love when we feel it, yet often it's the emotion most connected to confusion and heartache. The confusion and uncertainty, hurt and life search, is largely because while we think we know what love is, we rarely take a hard-stop to a

How to Win: Life is Not a Battle Between Good and Evil

Feb 2nd, 2021 34m 22s

Exploration of the third untruth in Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book "The Coddling of the American Mind." That untruth, "Life is a battle between good people and evil people" will be explained and an alternative truth given, of

Question Your Feelings, but Don't Dismiss Them

Nov 30th, 2020 39m 9s

Looking at the "untruth" of "Always trust your feelings" from the book "The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. In response, I offer an alternative principle to live by, one that is grounded in science and provi

Consequences are Inevitable, Learn From Them

Nov 17th, 2020 35m 35s

As noted by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book "The Coddling of the American Mind," there is an untruth of "what doesn't kill you makes you weaker." To that, we will instead embrace a deeper appreciation for how our brain/body syst

Why Hatred Feels So Good and What To Do About It

Nov 10th, 2020 28m 35s

An exploration of hatred within an understanding of our very human need to shape reality to suit our vision of what we believe it to be or should be, and seeing then how anything that gets in the way of that vision invokes our passions.

Election Thoughts - Voting 2020

Nov 2nd, 2020 22m 57s

Democracy is a Value-based interpersonal construct for guiding human behavior. As such, democracy exists at the intersection of humanity's greatest potential and all our foibles. We can aspire to be the best versions of ourselves that we know t

Self-Care Instead of Self-Harm

Sep 14th, 2020 24m 24s

Working through the stories that bring us down, that make it difficult to cope with adversity. Exploring three basic truths concerning how we deal with consequences, create meaning/purpose and learn to accept our feelings without having them be

Accepting and Rebounding from Failure

Aug 24th, 2020 24m 24s

Looking at failure, it's inevitability in our lives and how you can accept, learn from and not define the whole of who you are by it. Will tie the nature of failure to last episode's discussion of behavior and go over six steps to working throu

The Values of Behavior

Aug 10th, 2020 33m 1s

Ever wondered what behavior was all about? Here we explore Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) through the relational structure of Values - Narrative - Behavior. We'll be challenging the usual understanding of behavior for one that takes in

Pathologizing Human Behavior

Sep 22nd, 2019 28m 34s

Our desire for simple answers is funneled through the intrinsic psychology of having the stories of our lives be consistent. This consistency is always self-serving, in the sense of providing a feeling of 'being right,' of having perception pro

The Story of Your Anger

Jul 15th, 2019 18m 44s

Anger is often maligned as "negative" and "destructive," looked at as morally suspect and commonly sought to be removed from the lives of those coming in for therapy. Exploring these stories, we can come to see anger as a tool for assessing wha

The Mighty Anecdote

Apr 24th, 2019 25m 19s

Exploring the nature of 'anecdotal evidence,' why it's so enticing and why we all engage in it. Connection made with bias and why bias doesn't mean there's something wrong with our rationality or our minds.

Setting Goals within Your Values

Mar 22nd, 2019 25m 6s

Setting goals too often leads us into shame and self-doubt. I want to encourage you to possibly stop goal-setting for a moment and focus on what you care about. Start livable goals from a place of what you're already doing, succeed from a place

Change Is As Fundamental As Gravity

Mar 12th, 2019 20m 53s

The pursuit of change is as varied as New Year's Resolutions and almost always focused on what we consciously are doing. Looking at change as a foundational law of life can help us on our journey's of discovery and see others more clearly.

Feelings and the Hope of Relationship

Aug 27th, 2018 24m 51s

What is happening when we have "feelings" about someone? What should we do about them? Do they require anything of us or of the other person? These questions do not have to generate the angst they so often do. A reminder that our humanity is al

A Replication Problem

Jul 11th, 2018 20m 5s

Exploring the so-called "replication problem" in psychological research, in particular focusing on "the Marshmallow Test." Looking at issues about replication, definition and the nature of complexity in studying people.

23: Stop Hiding Behind Labels

Jun 20th, 2017 16m 27s

The struggle between the individualistic and collectivist pressures of our humanity, as seen through reading C.G. Jung’s “The Undiscovered Self” and how the subsuming of a whole person to one or another label, one or another characteristic, how

22: Shifting Perspective to Avoid Shallow Judgment

Jun 13th, 2017 17m 25s

How our ability to shift perspective includes others and our own future selves. Trap is in thinking such stories about intent are anything more than guesswork. Reading from The Atlantic article “Self-Control is Just Empathy with Your Future Sel

Self-Control and the Judgment of Our Future Self

Jun 8th, 2017 27m 58s

Exploring the nature of self-control, the connection it has to empathy and the picture we have of our ideal self. Reading from The Atlantic article “Self-Control is Just Empathy with Your Future Self” by Ed Yong. Just as we get trapped in the p