Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Alex Korb PhD author of The Upward Spiral Workbook: A Practical Neuroscience Program for Reversing the Course of Depression About the book: Positive life changes lead to positive brain changes. Drawing on the huge success of his groundbreaking book, The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb offers actionable, step-by-step skills to help you reshape your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life. Depression is defined by a collection of symptoms. You feel crappy most of the time. Nothing seems interesting, and everything seems overwhelming. You have trouble with sleep. You feel guilty and anxious and have thoughts that life isn’t worth living. Each symptom reinforces and inspires new symptoms, and this is a sign that your brain circuits are caught in the downward spiral of depression. So, how can you reverse it? In his first book, The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystified the intricate brain processes that cause depression and outlined a practical and effective approach for getting better. Based on the latest research, this evidence-based workbook takes the theory behind Korb’s breakthrough book and distills it into concrete, actionable exercises and skills. Just as one small trigger can drag you down, an effective intervention can start enough momentum to carry you back up. Exercise, attention to breathing, gratitude, sleep hygiene, and positive social interactions are just some of the offerings in this workbook that can help alter activity in specific neural circuits, setting you on the path toward an upward spiral to happiness and well-being. About the author: Alex Korb, PhD, is a neuroscientist who has studied the brain and mental health for over fifteen years, starting with an undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Brown University. He received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he wrote his dissertation and numerous scientific articles on depression. He is author of The Upward Spiral, and is currently adjunct assistant professor at UCLA in the department of psychiatry. Outside of the lab, he is a scientific consultant for the biotech industry, and is head coach of the UCLA Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team. He has a wealth of experience in yoga and mindfulness, physical fitness, and even stand-up comedy.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guests are Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce authors of Unleashing Your Dog: A Field Guide to Giving Your Canine Companion the Best Life Possible About the book: No matter how cushy their lives, dogs live on our terms. They compromise their freedom and instinctual pleasure, as well as their innate strategies for coping with stress and anxiety, in exchange for the love, comfort, and care they get from us. But it is possible to let dogs be dogs without wreaking havoc on our lives, as biologist Marc Bekoff and bioethicist Jessica Pierce show in this fascinating book. They begin by illuminating the true nature of dogs and helping us “walk in their paws.” They reveal what smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing mean to dogs and then guide readers through everyday ways of enhancing dogs’ freedom in safe, mutually happy ways. The rewards, they show, are great for dog and human alike. About the authors: The author or editor of thirty books, Marc Bekoff, PhD, is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a former Guggenheim fellow. The author of ten books and hundreds of articles, Jessica Pierce, PhD, is faculty affiliate at the University of Colorado Center for Bioethics and Humanities.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Rachel Howard author of The Risk of Us About the book: A poignant, dazzling debut novel about a woman who longs to be a mother and the captivating yet troubled child she and her husband take in. What is the cost of motherhood? When The Risk of Us opens, we meet a forty-something woman who deeply wants to become a mother. The path that opens up to her and her husband takes them through the foster care system, with the goal of adoption. And when seven-year-old Maresa—with inch-deep dimples and a voice that can beam to the moon--comes into their lives, their hearts fill with love. But her rages and troubles threaten to crack open their marriage. Over the course of a year, as Maresa approaches the age at which children become nearly impossible to place, the couple must decide if they can be the parents this child needs, and finalize the adoption—or, almost unthinkably, give her up. For fans of Jenny Offill and Rachel Cusk, The Risk of Us deftly explores the inevitable tests children bring to a marriage, the uncertainties of family life, and the ways true empathy obliterates our defenses. About the author: RACHEL HOWARD earned her MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson College and is the author of a memoir, The Lost Night. She is the recipient of a MacDowell Colony fellowship, and her fiction, essays, and dance criticism have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Lee Harris author of Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving and Awakening About the book: A powerful new voice providing clear and direct guidance for personal transformation Energy Speaks gives us a clear blueprint for growth and change. It provides practical guidance and inspiration on the things that matter most to us — including love, sex, money, personal power, self-expression and purpose, emotional healing and well-being, and how to have peace with our families — as well as more esoteric topics, such as how to invoke the help of our spirit guides and angels. This empowering book is the work of a great emerging spiritual teacher. It is filled with tools that you can use to break free of limitations and transform your life. About the author: Lee Harris is an internationally acclaimed speaker, transformational leader, intuitive medium, musician, and visual artist. In 2004, he began holding channeling sessions and readings in his home, and today his work and videos reach hundreds of thousands every month. A native of England, he is now based in California.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Thomas Roberts author of The Mindfulness Workbook: A Beginner's Guide to Overcoming Fear and Embracing Compassion About the book: Mindfulness is a powerful antidote to stress, anxiety and panic, chronic pain, depression, obsessive thinking, out-of-control emotions, and many other physical and mental health conditions. This ancient Buddhist technique can help anyone who struggles with fears, worries, and distractions refocus on the present moment and live happily, here and now. The Mindfulness Workbook is a step-by-step instruction book that guides you through simple practices that enable you to experience mindfulness not as a distant experience or concept, but as an attainable state of being in the world. You will discover the effectiveness of breath work, mindful eating, and thought-watching, and begin reaping the benefits of mindfulness right away. Over time, you will begin to notice that these small changes can bring about a bigger transformation, enhancing your sense of fulfillment and calm. About the author (in his words): I have a clinical psychotherapy practice in Onalaska, Wisconsin. I work with people who are determined to embrace their healing journey. I embrace and respect the mind-body connection and use mind-body therapies such as imagery, hypnotherapy, sounds, music and the like. I enjoy being in the presence of people on their healing journey! The people who have shared their journey with me have been my greatest teachers! > I also have a passion for teaching and conducting retreats. At this time in my life, I have come to realize that it is time to give back. All that I have been taught, learned, and come to understand, is now to be shared with others. Being able to share the mindfulness and healing journey with people is part of my own journey. I have taught hundreds of workshops and retreats around the country and have been enriched by the people I have had the privilege of meeting along the way. They too have been my teachers. > I am a practicing Buddhist and have been for 30+ years. Many teachers have helped me along the way. Yet at this point I have returned to my cushion and local Sangha as the true journey is the one to be embraced as you move through the flow of your own personal experience. I spent many years following teachers only to return to the true teacher: my life as it unfolds. This teacher has always been there, and I have realized there is really nowhere else to look. My book reflects this. So, i hope you enjoy. Visit my web site: www.thomasrobertsllc.com

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Diane Kirschner author of Love in 90 Days: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Own True Love About the book: Bestseller Love in 90 Days is even better in this expanded, updated version. It’s fun, savvy and based on the latest research as well as renowned psychologist Dr. Diana’s experience coaching tens of thousands of single women all over the world through her coaching team. Loaded with easy step-by-step instructions and assignments, this revolutionary love book has been called the dating coach’s secret weapon. Most singles unconsciously make the same mistakes over and over again in love, regardless of age, work success, or the type of man they are dating. Using her unique approach, Dr. Diana pulls no punches. She outlines a program that gets women on the path to smash through their self-sabotage and forge a healthy love relationship. About the author: Psychologist Dr. Diana Kirschner appeared regularly on the Today Show and starred in a PBS Special on finding love, based on her bestseller, Love in 90 Days. Dr. Diana successfully ran the 90 Day Love Challenge on the Fox Morning Show and her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Through her books and acclaimed Love Mentor® Coaching team, Dr. Diana has helped tens of thousands of women all over the world to create greater self-love and lasting passionate soulmate relationships. Her website is Lovein90Days.com, a leading source of dating and relationship advice. Dr. Diana has been happily married and in love with her husband for over 35 years.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Bill Philipps author of Signs from the Other Side: Opening to the Spirit World About the book: With stories and insightful suggestions, beloved psychic medium Bill Philipps demonstrates that our loved ones on the other side are available to us. He promises that, with an open heart and mind ready to receive, anyone can recognize the signs that spirits of the departed may be trying to send. Signs from the Other Side offers an in-depth explanation of how Bill does what he does, as well as practical advice on how to receive and interpret signs when they appear. By tapping into our intuition, we can experience deep connections that lead to forgiveness, reassurance, or simply one last moment with a loved one. The book also includes more than twenty inspiring examples of how others experienced comfort through such communications. About the author: Bill Philipps is a psychic medium who offers individual, small-group, and large-audience readings throughout the United States and the world. Bill’s fresh, upbeat, and direct approach perfectly reflects his warm and relatable demeanor, captivating audiences in person and as a guest on popular television and radio broadcasts. He lives in Southern California.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Marc Lesser author of Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen About the book: Today’s leaders are grappling with the pace and complexity of change, the challenge of supporting healthy collaboration and alignment among teams, and the resulting stress and burnout. The practice of mindful leadership may be one of the most important competencies in business today if leaders are to move beyond fear, anxiety, nagging self-doubt, and the feeling of constant overwhelm. Marc Lesser has taught his proven seven-step method to leaders at Google, Genentech, SAP, Facebook, and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies for over twenty years and has distilled a lifetime of mindfulness and business experience into these chapters. This incredibly practical yet accessible book draws on Marc’s experience as a CEO of three companies, as cofounder of the world-renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program within Google, and as a longtime Zen practitioner. The principles in this book can be applied to leadership at any level, providing readers with the tools they need to shift awareness, enhance communication, build trust, eliminate fear and self-doubt, and minimize unnecessary workplace drama. Embracing any one of the seven practices alone can be life-changing. When used together, they support a path of well-being, productivity, and positive influence. Practicing mindful leadership will allow you to achieve results — with more energy, clarity, meaning, and connection. Your intentions and actions will be more aligned. You will accomplish more with less wasted effort. After reading this book, you’ll understand why some of the world’s most successful companies routinely incorporate the Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader, integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and business savvy to create great corporate cultures, and even a better world. About the author: Marc Lesser is a CEO, Zen teacher, and author who offers trainings and talks worldwide. He has led mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs at many of the world’s leading businesses and organizations, including Google, SAP, Genentech, and Twitter.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Melissa Glaser author of Healing a Community: Lessons for Recovery After A Large Scale Trauma About the book: After the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, local caregivers, civic leaders, and first responders had the daunting task of navigating emotional and physical trauma as they stitched their community back together. The recovery process takes years, and as the coordinator of the Newtown Recovery and Resiliency Team, Melissa Glaser managed the town’s response. She developed a unique set of therapeutic and transferable best practices that other communities can learn from. The impact of an intense media presence and the long-term financial needs of recovery work are also included in Healing a Community. Through heartbreaking insights, Glaser conveys the importance of meeting traumatized individuals where they are at in the process. Lessons learned in Newtown can be used to create a universal community mental health disaster plan so leaders, therapists, and families know what to do the next time tragedy occurs. About the author: Melissa Glaser, MS, LPC is a licensed professional counselor and community response leader who ran the Newtown Recovery and Resiliency Team after the Sandy Hook School shooting. Previous to that, she served as clinical and behavioral health director for several non-profit institutions. Currently, she is in private practice delivering outcome-oriented psychotherapy to individuals, families, and couples, and actively consults organizations and communities on mental health services.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Carly Pollack author of Feed Your Soul: Nutritional Wisdom To Lose Weight Permanently and Live Fulfilled About the book: Countless diets, cleanses, and thirty-day challenges are geared to help people lose weight, heal their digestion, and have more energy. Yet these temporary protocols fall short when it comes to true transformation. Nutritionist Carly Pollack lived a vicious cycle of weight ups and downs until trial and error, and over a decade of formal study in health and healing, led her to the insights she has since shared with thousands. In Feed Your Soul, she presents her unique understanding of body science, brain wiring, and spiritual principles to facilitate real, lasting change. Carly helps you reframe your thinking to, for example, see comfort foods as the numbing toxins they truly are and focus on long-term goals rather than immediate gratification. This no-nonsense guide will show you how feeding your soul can change your life, your health, and your body. About the author: Carly Pollack is the founder of Nutritional Wisdom, a thriving private practice based in Austin, Texas. A certified clinical nutritionist with a master’s degree in holistic nutrition, Carly has been awarded Best Nutritionist in Austin five years running and has helped more than fifteen thousand people achieve their health and happiness goals

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is James Creighton PhD author of Loving Through Your Differences: Building Strong Relationships From Separate Realities About the book: Dr. James Creighton has worked with couples for decades, facilitating communication and conflict resolution and teaching them the tools to build healthy, happy relationships. He has found that many couples start out believing they like the same things, see people the same way, and share a united take on the world. But inevitably differences crop up, and it can be profoundly discouraging to find that one’s partner sees a person, situation, or decision completely differently. Although many relationships flounder at this point, Creighton shows that this can actually be an opportunity to forge stronger ties. In Loving through Your Differences, he draws on the latest research in cognitive science and developmental psychology to show how we invent our realities with our perceptual minds. He then provides clear, concrete tools for shifting our perceptions and reframing our responses. The result moves couples out of the fear and alienation of “your way or my way” and into a deep understanding of the other that allows for an “our way.” As Creighton shows, this way of being together, based on the reality of individuality rather than the illusion of sameness, sets the stage for long-term excitement, discovery, and fulfillment. About the author: In addition to working with couples, James L. Creighton, PhD, has conducted communication trainings, mediations, and conflict-resolution processes for universities, public schools, the Job Corps, Fortune 500 corporations, and government entities. He lives in Kihei, Hawaii.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Eva Hagberg Fisher author of How To Be Loved: A Memoir of Lifesaving Friendship About the book: A luminous memoir about how friendship saved one woman’s life, for anyone who has loved a friend who was sick, grieving, or lost—and for anyone who has struggled to seek or accept help Eva Hagberg Fisher spent her lonely youth looking everywhere for connection: drugs, alcohol, therapists, boyfriends, girlfriends. Sometimes she found it, but always temporarily. Then, at age thirty, an undiscovered mass in her brain ruptured. So did her life. A brain surgery marked only the beginning of a long journey, and when her illness hit a critical stage, it forced her to finally admit the long‑suppressed truth: she was vulnerable, she needed help, and she longed to grow. She needed true friendship for the first time. How to Be Loved is the story of how an isolated person’s life was ripped apart only to be gently stitched back together through friendship, and the recovery—of many stripes—that came along the way. It explores the isolation so many of us feel despite living in an age of constant connectivity; how our ambitions sometimes pull us apart more than bring us together; and how a simple doughnut, delivered by a caring soul, can become the essence of what makes a life valuable. With gorgeous prose shot through with empathy, pain, fear, and the secret truths inside all of us, Eva writes about the friends who taught her to grow up and open her heart—and how the relentlessness of suffering can give rise to the greatest joy. About the author: Eva Hagberg Fisher's writing has appeared in the New York Times, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Tin House, Wallpaper*, Wired, Guernica, and Dwell, among other places. She lives in California and New York City.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Cheryl Fraser, PhD author of Buddha's Bedroom: The Mindful Loving Path to Sexual Passion & Lifelong Intimacy About the book: In this playful and sexually savvy guide, “Dr. Cheryl” Fraser presents enlivening mindfulness exercises, techniques from couples and sex therapy, and the wisdom of Buddhist teachings to help you spark the passion and thrill you’ve been seeking in your relationship. With this book, couples can break free from the monotony of familiar routines and bring a little nirvana back to the bedroom for a more exciting, loving, and fulfilling connection. The beginning of a relationship is always thrilling—butterflies in the stomach; that sense that someone really gets you; that “love drunk,” “walking on air” feeling. But as time goes by, and the tedium of daily life intervenes, you may find yourself too busy, tired, or just unmotivated to devote quality time and attention to the connection you crave. So, how do you uncover the passion and thrill you’re longing for, and how can you make it last? Inside Buddha’s Bedroom, you’ll discover how the essential Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and awakening can be applied to your love life—showing that true passion absolutely is sustainable, if you’re willing to shift your perspective. By exploring your deepest desires and expectations, and also learning to see your partner as they really are, without the need for them to change, you’ll be able to create a deep and mindfully loving connection for a fabulous relationship. And with these spiritually scintillating tips and techniques, you’ll have the keys to igniting and sustaining all the thrill, intimacy, and sensuality you seek. About the author: Sharp, frank, and fearless, Cheryl Fraser, PhD, is a Buddhist psychologist and sought-after relationship expert. She has helped thousands of couples jump-start their love life and create passion that lasts a lifetime. A highly successful and awarded Fulbright scholar, she has conducted extensive research on sexual behavior and what causes love relationships to succeed or fail. With her groundwork, she created the Become Passion online workshop for couples. She has a thriving private practice in sex and couples therapy. A former talk radio host, Cheryl is a dynamic guest expert for television and radio, appearing on multiple programs, including The Experts, CBC Marketplace, Air America, the Loving Well podcast, and many more. As a columnist for Mindful and Best Health magazines, Cheryl explores love, sex, relationships, and the human experience. Her approach to life and to helping others is based in her practice of meditation and Buddhism, which she has studied for twenty-five years in both the Tibetan and Theravaden traditions. She was given permission to teach by her root teacher Namgyal Rinpoche, and she is resident meditation teacher for Island Dharma. Her work is encapsulated in the teaching of Mindful Loving, where she brings the Buddha’s teachings into the bedroom. When Cheryl is not in India, Tibet, or at a three-month silent Buddhist meditation retreat, she lives on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, with her man and their menagerie, practicing the passion she preaches. www.drcherylfraser.com

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Judith Belmont, MS author of Embrace Your Greatness: 50 Ways to Build Unshakable Self-Esteem About the book: It’s time to start feeling good about yourself! In this go-to guide, a licensed professional counselor offers 50 quick tips and tools to help you overcome self-doubt, silence your inner critic, be assertive, boost your self-esteem, and embrace your greatness. In our image-obsessed world, it’s easy to compare yourself to friends, celebrities, and models. Social media has skewed our perception of reality by only offering images of people at their best. But the truth is that most people struggle with self-criticism and self-doubt—at least some of the time. So, how can you stop paying attention to your inner critic and start focusing on what makes you truly great? In Embrace Your Greatness, you’ll find powerful—yet incredibly simple—tools grounded in mindfulness, acceptance, self-compassion, and positive psychology to help you start feeling good about yourself. The book includes unique and engaging activities and exercises to help you put a stop to that nagging inner critic, overcome perfectionism, and develop lasting self-confidence. You’ll also discover ways to be more assertive, develop healthy relationships that support a healthy you, and cultivate an unshakable sense of optimism about yourself and your life. If you need a quick confidence boost, this fun guide offers 50 ways to nix your nagging inner critic and start loving who you are. About the author: Judith Belmont, MS, LPC, has been a psychotherapist, motivational speaker, workplace wellness consultant, and mental health coach. Her message of positivity, healthy communication, stress resilience, and self-empowerment has reached thousands nationwide through her books, consulting, and interactive presentations. She is author of seven mental health and wellness books that offer therapists and their clients, as well as self-help readers, practical solutions to deal with common problems such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and relationship issues. In her books, she offers practical skill-building resources using experiential activities, visualizations, handouts, and worksheets. Belmont is founder of Belmont Wellness (www.belmontwellness.com) where she offers a variety of mental health and wellness presentations, as well as personal and professional coaching. Her mission to share important life skills and promote self-empowerment and positivity is followed by a wide audience due to her active social media presence on various sites, such as Facebook and Pinterest.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Kate Gustin, PhD author of The No-Self Help Book: 40 Reasons to Get Over Your Self & Find Peace of Mind About the book: It’s time to get over your self! Written by a clinical psychologist and student of Eastern philosophy, this handy little guide offers a radical solution to anyone struggling with self-doubt, self-esteem, and self-defeating thoughts: “no-self help.” By breaking free of your own self-limiting beliefs, you’ll discover your infinite potential. There is an insidious, global identity theft occurring that has robbed people of their very recognition of their true selves. The culprit—indeed the mastermind of this crisis—has committed the inside job of creating and promoting the idea that we are all a separate self, which is the chief source of our daily distress and dissatisfaction. No more than a narrative of personhood pieced together from disparate neural activations, the self we believe ourselves to be in our own minds—although quite capable of being affirming, inspiring, and constructive—often spews forth a distressing flow of worry and second-guessing, blaming and shaming, regret and guilt. This book offers an antidote to this epidemic of stolen identity, isolation, and self-deprecation: no-self (a concept known in Buddhist philosophy as anatta or anatman). The No-Self Help Book turns the idea of self-improvement on its head, arguing that the key to well-being lies not in the relentless pursuit of bettering one’s self but in the recognition of the self as a false identity born in the mind. Rather than identifying with a small, relative sense of self, this book encourages you to embrace a liberating alternative—an expansive awareness that is flexible and open to experiencing life as an ongoing and ever-changing process, without attachment to personal outcomes or storylines. To help you make this leap from self to no-self, the book provides forty bite-sized chapters full of clever and inspiring insights based in positive psychology and non-duality—a philosophy that asserts there is no real separation between any of us. So, if you’re tired of “self-help” and you’re ready to explore who you are beyond the self, let The No-Self Help Book be your guide. About the author: Kate Gustin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her education from Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley; and has worked in a variety of settings over the past twenty-five years as a mental health practitioner: outpatient psychiatry, community mental health clinics, VA Hospital, college counseling services, and currently in private practice. Gustin integrates the science of positive psychology into her psychotherapy, teaching, and consultation, and leads classes and trainings for students, patients, and health care professionals.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Evan M. Forman PhD co-editor/author of Mindfulness and Acceptance for Treating Eating Disorders & Weight Concerns: Evidence-based Interventions About the book: Disordered eating, negative body image, and problems with weight have become an epidemic—and research shows that traditional treatments are not always effective. This professional resource offers proven-effective interventions using mindfulness and acceptance for treating clients with disordered eating, body image, or weight issues—and for whom other treatments have failed. Millions of people in the United States suffer from eating disorders, and dissatisfaction with weight and body type—even in individuals whose weight is considered normal—is similarly widespread. In addition, more than half of Americans could benefit from healthy weight loss. Unfortunately, not all people with eating disorders or weight concerns respond to traditional therapeutic interventions; many continue to suffer significant symptoms even after treatment. What these clients need is an integrated therapeutic approach that will prove effective in the long run—like the scientifically backed methods in this much-needed clinical guide. Edited by Ann F. Haynos, Jason Lillis, Evan M. Forman, and Meghan L. Butryn; and with contributors including Kay Segal, Debra Safer, and Hugo Alberts; Mindfulness and Acceptance for Treating Eating Disorders and Weight Concerns is the first professional resource to incorporate a variety of proven-effective acceptance- and mindfulness-based approaches—such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)—into the treatment of persistent disordered eating, body image issues, and weight problems. With these evidence-based interventions, you’ll be ready to help your clients move beyond their problems with disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and weight management once and for all. About the editor/author: Evan M. Forman, PhD, is professor and director of graduate studies for the department of psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, as well codirector of the Laboratory for Innovations in Health-Related Behavior Change. His research, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Obesity Society, focuses on using technology and new behavioral frameworks to enhance interventions for health behavior change, especially obesity.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Ellen Grace O'Brian author of The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga About the book: Although millions of Westerners practice yoga simply for its health benefits, the philosophy and wisdom behind the multifaceted discipline have far more to offer. In The Jewel of Abundance, award-winning author and Kriya Yoga teacher Ellen Grace O’Brian reveals an overlooked aspect of yoga: its powerful teachings on prosperity. She draws upon the ancient Vedic tradition of yoga philosophy and practice and shows how spirituality and earthly success can complement each other, leading to realization of the higher Self. O’Brian presents a clear explanation of both the philosophy of yoga and the nuts and bolts of practice, such as setting up a daily meditation routine, incorporating mantras, discerning how to cooperate with universal principles for complete well-being, and cultivating mindfulness in action. Along the way, she illustrates her lessons with personal stories and timeless sayings from great sages, both Eastern and Western. With O’Brian’s insightful guidance, readers will discover an inexhaustible source of abundance that is available to them whenever they look within. About the author: Ellen Grace O’Brian is a teacher, writer, poet, and the spiritual director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose, California. Ordained by a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, she has been teaching Kriya Yoga philosophy and practice for over three decades.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Cindy Stulberg author of Feeling Better: Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships with Interpersonal Psychotherapy About the book: When it comes to treatment for depression, we have been getting it all wrong. Instead of focusing on just the biochemistry, we need to focus on the importance of relationships. Feeling Better offers a step-by-step guide using a research-proven approach called interpersonal psychotherapy, or IPT, which can help you deal with the issues that may be contributing to your unhappiness. Therapists Cindy Stulberg and Ron Frey have used IPT with clients for more than twenty years and achieved dramatic, lasting results after only eight to twelve weeks. They have now created this accessible, first-of-its kind guide. Feeling Better teaches skills and tools that will allow you to set and achieve goals, articulate feelings, and make constructive decisions. You’ll learn to identify and engage with allies and supporters, deal with difficult people, and, if need be, walk away from harmful relationships. Cindy and Ron have taught clients — diagnosed with depression or not — to use these skills in virtually every life situation, from preventing divorce to “consciously uncoupling,” raising healthy children, coping with loss, and dealing with addiction. Writing with wisdom, warmth, and humor, they are savvy coaches and inspiring cheerleaders who can offer a lifeline to the depressed and life enrichment to anyone. About the author: Cindy Goodman Stulberg, DCS, CPsych, is a psychologist, teacher, wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother. With Dr. Ronald Frey, Cindy cofounded the Institute for Interpersonal Psychotherapy, which trains, supervises, and certifies mental health clinicians in interpersonal psychotherapy. She lives in Ontario.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Linda Glassel VP of Operations for Back on My Feet About this organization: Back on My Feet seeks to revolutionize the way society approaches homelessness. Our unique model demonstrates that if you first restore confidence, strength and self-esteem, individuals are better equipped to tackle the road ahead. For all in need, we aim to provide: practical training and employment resources for achieving independence; an environment that promotes accountability; and a community that offers compassion and hope. For all with the capacity to serve – volunteers, donors, community and corporate partners – we seek to engage you in the profound experience of empowering individuals to achieve what once seemed impossible through the seemingly simple act of putting one foot in front of the other. Operating in 12 major cities coast-to-coast, Back on My Feet uses running and community to motivate and support individuals every step of the way from homelessness to independence. Our success is measured not only by the health impact of miles run, but also by how many individuals obtain education, employment and housing. Our National Leadership team manages the local chapter affiliates, providing overall strategic direction, program, marketing and operational guidelines and allowing local teams to focus on delivering their local program, meeting their local financial and programmatic goals and building local relationships. This business model seeks to build a consistent and successful program, brand and experience in each chapter as well as benefiting from shared services and economies of scale. Back on My Feet has one National Board of Directors, which is the legal governing body of Back on My Feet. Each chapter also has an independent Advisory Board to provide fundraising guidance and support. Back on My Feet is privately funded, and it’s 2017 operating budget was $7.8 million. The organization was originally founded in Philadelphia in 2007 by Anne Mahlum.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Mitch Abblett PhD (PART 2) author of The Five Hurdles to Happiness and the Mindful Path to Overcoming Them About the book: A practical approach to becoming aware of the “five hindrances”–the negative qualities that inhibit living the awakened life–and to breaking free of them in order to live more mindfully, effectively, compassionately. Five obstacles stand in between you and true happiness. What are they and how can you overcome them? Buddhist traditions teach that there are five negative qualities, or hindrances, that inhibit people from living an awakened life. Here, Mitch Abblett gives this teaching a modern, secular interpretation and helps you identify the hurdles that are blocking your contentment—desire, hostility, sluggishness, worry, and doubt—and how you can take your first steps to overcoming them. Combining traditional wisdom with contemporary psychology and using examples from his psychotherapy practice, Abblett uses the hurdles as a frame for engaging you in a process of contemplating your own life and learning to lean into your experience rather than merely repeating bad habits. By doing this, you can break free from the hurdles and live more mindfully, effectively, and compassionately. About the author: Dr. Mitch Abblett is a clinical psychologist, author, consultant and speaker. As a clinician, his services focus on work with children, teens, parents, families and adults with whom he creates solutions for a range of concerns or desired growth areas. A clinician in the Boston area for over 15 years, he brings a wealth of clinical experience from various settings (hospitals, outpatient clinics, residential facilities and therapeutic schools) to his practice. For 11 years he served as the Clinical Director of the Manville School at Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston – a Harvard-affiliated therapeutic school program for children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. As a consultant and speaker, Dr. Abblett empowers changes clients through collaborative, tailored interventions. His consultative and training work focuses on mindfulness, compassion and value-driven action and empowering clients to communicate skillfully and authentically. He improves clients’ school and work effectiveness, reduces the effects of stress, and increases skills for health self-management and daily productivity. Dr. Abblett’s writing includes a mindfulness-based book for clinicians (The Heat of the Moment: Mindful Management of Difficult Clients; WW Norton & Co.), Mindfulness for Teen Depression and Helping Your Angry Teen (both with New Harbinger), five decks of mindfulness practice cards such as Growing Mindful: A Deck of Mindfulness Practices for All Ages: PESI Publishing). His upcoming book, The Five Hurdles to Happiness-and the Mindful Path to Overcoming Them will be released by Shambhala Publications in August 2018. He also blogs regarding mindfulness applications in family and relationships on Mindful.org.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Margaret Winslow author of Smart Ass: How a Donkey Challenged Me to Accept His True Nature & Rediscover My Own About the book: How do you resolve a midlife crisis? Margaret Winslow, an overworked college professor in New York City, answered a for-sale ad for a “Large White Saddle Donkey.” Hilarity ensued, along with life-threatening injuries and spirit-enriching insight. Walk with Winslow and Caleb the donkey through training traumas, expert-baffling antics, and humiliating races, and share in Winslow’s gradual understanding of Caleb’s true, undeniable gifts: a willingness to be true to himself no matter the circumstances, to trust, and to forgive. As she and Caleb learn to thrive, you’ll learn the importance of being true to your own pure and powerful self. About the author: In addition to an unwitting wrangler of a rambunctious donkey named Caleb, Margaret Winslow is a field geologist with over thirty years of wilderness experience in Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Antarctica, Alaska, and the Caribbean. Her award-winning travel memoirs have been featured on interviews on NPR's "West Coast Live," Bonnie D. Graham's "Read My Lips" on blogtalkradio, and the Tony Kilgallin Show on NapaTV. She has published over thirty papers in international scientific journals. Her fieldwork on earthquake hazards and archaeological settlement patterns in Alaska and Chile is featured in the PBS series “Fire on the Rim.” She is Professor Emerita of Earth Sciences at the City College of New York. She lives in the lower Hudson valley of New York with her husband, Joe Stennett, a retired oceanographer. Her hobbies include continuing attempts to train her donkey, memoir and mystery writing, singing, and hiking.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest host is Shawn T. Smith PsyD who interviewed me about my book Love Me Don't Leave Me: Overcoming the Fear of Abandonment & Building Lasting, Loving Relationships About the book: Everyone thrives on love, comfort, and the safety of family, friends, and community. But if you are denied these basic comforts early in life, whether through a lack of physical affection or emotional bonding, you may develop intense fears of abandonment that can last well into adulthood―fears so powerful that they can actually cause you to push people away. If you suffer from fears of abandonment, you may have underlying feelings of anger, shame, fear, anxiety, depression, and grief. These emotions are intense and painful, and when they surface they can lead to a number of negative behaviors, such as jealousy, clinging, and emotional blackmail. In Love Me, Don’t Leave Me, therapist Michelle Skeen combines acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), schema therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to help you identify the root of your fears. In this book you’ll learn how schema coping behaviors―deeply entrenched and automatic behaviors rooted in childhood experiences and fears―can take over and cause you to inadvertently sabotage your relationships. By recognizing these coping behaviors and understanding their cause, you will not only gain powerful insights into your own mind, but also into the minds of those around you. If you are ready to break the self-fulfilling cycle of mistrust, clinginess, and heartbreak and start building lasting, trusting relationships, this book will be your guide. About the author: Michelle Skeen, PsyD, has a doctorate in clinical psychology. She is author of seven books, all designed to enhance relationships by emphasizing the importance of identifying core values and valued intentions, limited thinking, mindfulness, self-compassion, empathy, and effective communication and conflict resolution skills. Her passion is coaching individuals in creating and maintaining healthy relationships by bringing awareness to obstacles (fears and beliefs), which often work unconsciously to limit connections with others. Michelle believes that an early introduction and education in core values and healthy communication are essential life skills for success. To that end, Michelle and her daughter, Kelly, coauthored Communication Skills for Teens and Just As You Are. Skeen completed her postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco. She codeveloped an empirically validated protocol for the treatment of interpersonal problems that resulted in two books: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Interpersonal Problems and The Interpersonal Problems Workbook. Michelle’s work has appeared in more than thirty publications around the world. She hosts a weekly radio show called Relationships 2.0 with Dr. Michelle Skeen that airs nationally. To find out more, visit her website at www.michelleskeen.com.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Allie Rowbottom author of The Jell-O Girls: A Family History About the book: In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. The sale would turn out to be one of the most profitable business deals in American history, and the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege - but they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and mysterious ailments. More than 100 years after that deal was struck, Allie's mother Mary was diagnosed with the same incurable cancer, a disease that had also claimed her own mother's life. Determined to combat what she had come to consider the "Jell-O curse" and her looming mortality, Mary began obsessively researching her family's past, determined to understand the origins of her illness and the impact on her life of Jell-O and the traditional American values the company championed. Before she died in 2015, Mary began to send Allie boxes of her research and notes, in the hope that her daughter might write what she could not. JELL-O GIRLS is the liberation of that story. A gripping examination of the dark side of an iconic American product and a moving portrait of the women who lived in the shadow of its fractured fortune, JELL-O GIRLS is a family history, a feminist history, and a story of motherhood, love and loss. In crystalline prose Rowbottom considers the roots of trauma not only in her own family, but in the American psyche as well, ultimately weaving a story that is deeply personal, as well as deeply connected to the collective female experience. A "gorgeous" (New York Times) memoir that braids the evolution of one of America's most iconic branding campaigns with the stirring tales of the women who lived behind its facade - told by the inheritor of their stories. A New York Times Editors' Choice One of People Magazine's Best Books of Summer An Amazon Best Book of the Month An Indie Next Pick A Real Simple Best Book of 2018 About the author: Allie Rowbottom received her BA from New York University, her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and her PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston. Her work has received scholarships, essay prizes and honorable mentions from Tin House, Inprint, the Best American Essays series, the Florida Review, The Bellingham Review, the Black Warrior Review, The Southampton Review, and Hunger Mountain. She lives in Los Angeles.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Alexia Vernon author of Step Into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World About the book: Step into Your Moxie is a soul-stirring call to action to speak up for yourself and the ideas and issues that matter most to you. Dubbed a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement for her potent approach to women’s empowerment, Alexia Vernon has helped thousands of women (and men) slay diminishing self-talk and cultivate confidence. She has created a timely, refreshingly playful guide for women to communicate with candor, clarity, compassion, and ease every time they open their mouths to speak — in their careers, communities, and homes. Step into Your Moxie is the book women want by their side as they have that daring conversation, give an important presentation, run for office, or simply tell the people closest to them to step back from the boundaries they’ve trespassed. About the author: Alexia Vernon is a sought-after speaking and leadership coach to executives, entrepreneurs, media personalities, and changemakers. The creator of the Spotlight Speakers Collective and Spotlight Speaker Accelerator coaching programs, she has delivered transformational keynotes and corporate training for Fortune 500 companies and professional associations, spoken at the United Nations, and delivered a TEDx talk.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is William Powers author of Dispatches from the Sweet Life: One Family, Five Acres, and a Community’s Quest to Reinvent the World About the book: Many fantasize about dramatically changing their lives — living in accordance with their ideals rather than the exigencies of job, bills, and possessions. William Powers actually does it. In his book Twelve by Twelve, Powers lived in an off-grid tiny house in rural North Carolina. In New Slow City, he and his wife, Melissa, inhabited a Manhattan micro-apartment in search of slow in the fastest city in the world. Here, the couple, with baby in tow, search for balance, community, and happiness in a small town in Bolivia. They build an adobe house, plant a prolific orchard and organic garden, and weave their life into a community of permaculturists, bio-builders, artists, and creative businesspeople. Can this Transition Town succeed in the face of encroaching North American capitalism, and can Powers and the other settlers find the balance they’re seeking? Dispatches from the Sweet Life is compelling, sobering, thought-provoking, and, no matter the outcome, inspiring. About the author: An author, speaker, and expert on sustainable development, William Powers is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and an adjunct faculty member at New York University.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Ann E. Grant, JD author of The Divorce Hacker’s Guide to Untying the Knot: What Every Woman Needs to Know about Finances, Child Custody, Lawyers, and Planning Ahead About the book: Family law attorney Ann Grant presents the practical information every woman needs to protect herself as she navigates through a divorce. Feelings of loss, grief, and rage are common during divorce. But one of the most debilitating feelings experienced by women going through divorce is paralyzing impotence. Grant will help you take back your power and rights concerning finances, home, children, and work life. With compassion, insight, and tough-minded realism, she breaks down the process and provides step-by-step assessments, checklists, and inspiring stories of successful lives post-divorce. Her goal is to give you insider information that will not only make your divorce “successful” but also establish your life firmly and confidently on a positive, fresh new standing. About the author: Ann E. Grant, JD, began her career as a corporate litigator specializing in unfair business practices and consumer fraud. After her divorce, she created her own firm, focusing on family law and a holistic approach to this life transition. She lives and practices in Manhattan Beach, California.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Jennifer Skiff author of Rescuing Ladybugs: Inspirational Encounters with Animals That Changed the World About the book: Countless times throughout our lives, we’re presented with a choice to help another soul. Rescuing Ladybugs highlights the true stories of remarkable people who didn’t look away from seemingly impossible-to-change situations and instead worked to save animals. Prepare to be transported to Borneo to release orangutans, Brazil to protect jaguars, Africa to connect with chimpanzees and elephants, the Maldives to free mantas, and Indonesia, the only place where dragons still exist in the wild. About the author: Jennifer Skiff is an award-winning journalist who traveled the globe as a correspondent for CNN for more than a decade. Passionate about animals and their welfare, she serves as a trustee, adviser, and spokesperson for charities around the world while working with lawmakers to create positive change.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Linda Graham author of Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster About the book: Whether it’s a critical comment from the boss or a full-blown catastrophe, life continually dishes out challenges. Resilience is the learned capacity to cope with any level of adversity, from the small annoyances of daily life to the struggles and sorrows that break our hearts. Resilience is essential for surviving and thriving in a world full of troubles and tragedies, and it is completely trainable and recoverable — when we know how. In Resilience, Linda Graham offers clear guidance to help you develop somatic, emotional, relational, and reflective intelligence — the skills you need to confidently and effectively cope with life’s inevitable challenges and crises. About the author: Linda Graham, MFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and mindful self-compassion teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. She integrates neuroscience, mindfulness, and relational psychology in her international trainings, conferences, workshops, and webinars.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Jonice Webb, PhD author of Running On Empty No More: Transform Your Relationships With Your Partner, Your Parents & Your Children About the book: Since the publication of Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect, many thousands of people have learned that invisible Childhood Emotional Neglect, or CEN, has been weighing on them their entire lives, and are now in the process of recovery. Running on Empty No More: Transform Your Relationships will offer even more solutions for the effects of CEN on people’s lives: how to talk about CEN, and heal it, in relationships with partners, parents, and children. About the author: Jonice Webb, PhD is a licensed psychologist, and author of the groundbreaking bestseller, Running on Empty: Overcome your Childhood Emotional Neglect. Dr. Webb has been interviewed by NPR and the Chicago Tribune, and featured in Psychology Today and Elephant Journal. She writes the Childhood Emotional Neglect blog on psychcentral.com. Dr. Webb has an outpatient psychotherapy practice in Lexington, Massachusetts.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Lindsey Stanberry author of Money Diaries: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Your Finances…and Everyone Else’s About the book: Does it feel like you’re NEVER going to finish paying back your student loans? Do you spend more on coffee per month than you put into your 401(k)? Do you avoid looking at your bank balance because it’s easier to live in denial? The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend. Money Diaries, the breakout series from Refinery29, offers readers a revealing and often surprising look at the personal finances of others: what they spend, how they save, and even the purchases they hide from their partners and friends. Featuring all-new Money Diaries, valuable advice on how to get rich (and afford life in the meantime) from a handpicked team of female financial advisers, and money challenges that will save you up to $500, Refinery29 Money Diaries will empower you to take immediate control of your own money, including: • Why budgets are bulls&!t and what to do instead • How to make repaying your loans as painless as possible • How to start an emergency fund even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck • How to effectively ask for a raise and make sure you’re being paid fairly • How to have fun without going broke • The joy of saving for future you With a vision of what your dream bank account balance looks like, some expert advice to help you achieve it, and the support of a powerful community with the same goal, you’ll be a step closer to taking control of not just your wallet, but your life. About the author: As Work & Money Director at Refinery29, Lindsey Stanberry provides millennial women with the smart, entertaining, financial and career advice they deserve. She developed her passion for these topics after her story “How I Saved $100,000 To Buy an Apartment” received a massive response from R29 readers. In 2015, she launched Refinery29’s first Work & Money vertical, covering everything from retirement funds and paid family leave to the inspiring female entrepreneurs she met in Haiti while interviewing Chelsea Clinton. She recently appeared on CBS This Morning as part of the Refinery29 series on the financial lives of millennials. She lives in Brooklyn with her frugal husband and one-year-old son. Refinery29 Money Diaries is her first book. Refinery29 is the leading digital media and entertainment company focused on women with a global audience footprint of 550 million across all platforms. Through a variety of lifestyle stories, original video programming, social, shareable content, and live experiences, Refinery29 provides its audience with the inspiration and tools to discover and pursue a more independent, stylish, and informed life. Money Diaries has been featured on CBS This Morning and in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and more.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Mitch Abblett PhD author of The Five Hurdles to Happiness and the Mindful Path to Overcoming Them About the book: A practical approach to becoming aware of the “five hindrances”–the negative qualities that inhibit living the awakened life–and to breaking free of them in order to live more mindfully, effectively, compassionately. Five obstacles stand in between you and true happiness. What are they and how can you overcome them? Buddhist traditions teach that there are five negative qualities, or hindrances, that inhibit people from living an awakened life. Here, Mitch Abblett gives this teaching a modern, secular interpretation and helps you identify the hurdles that are blocking your contentment—desire, hostility, sluggishness, worry, and doubt—and how you can take your first steps to overcoming them. Combining traditional wisdom with contemporary psychology and using examples from his psychotherapy practice, Abblett uses the hurdles as a frame for engaging you in a process of contemplating your own life and learning to lean into your experience rather than merely repeating bad habits. By doing this, you can break free from the hurdles and live more mindfully, effectively, and compassionately. About the author: Dr. Mitch Abblett is a clinical psychologist, author, consultant and speaker. As a clinician, his services focus on work with children, teens, parents, families and adults with whom he creates solutions for a range of concerns or desired growth areas. A clinician in the Boston area for over 15 years, he brings a wealth of clinical experience from various settings (hospitals, outpatient clinics, residential facilities and therapeutic schools) to his practice. For 11 years he served as the Clinical Director of the Manville School at Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston – a Harvard-affiliated therapeutic school program for children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. As a consultant and speaker, Dr. Abblett empowers changes clients through collaborative, tailored interventions. His consultative and training work focuses on mindfulness, compassion and value-driven action and empowering clients to communicate skillfully and authentically. He improves clients’ school and work effectiveness, reduces the effects of stress, and increases skills for health self-management and daily productivity. Dr. Abblett’s writing includes a mindfulness-based book for clinicians (The Heat of the Moment: Mindful Management of Difficult Clients; WW Norton & Co.), Mindfulness for Teen Depression and Helping Your Angry Teen (both with New Harbinger), five decks of mindfulness practice cards such as Growing Mindful: A Deck of Mindfulness Practices for All Ages: PESI Publishing). His upcoming book, The Five Hurdles to Happiness-and the Mindful Path to Overcoming Them will be released by Shambhala Publications in August 2018. He also blogs regarding mindfulness applications in family and relationships on Mindful.org.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Dan Millman author of The Life You Were Born to Live: A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose Revised 25th Anniversary Edition About the book: Dan Millman presents an entirely new way of understanding life and the forces that shape it. The Life-Purpose System, a modern method of personal growth based on ancient wisdom, has helped thousands of people find new meaning, purpose, and direction in their lives. The Life You Were Born to Livefeatures: the thirty-seven paths of life how to determine your life path and the life paths of others core issues, inborn talents, and special needs of each path, including health, money, and sexuality guidelines for finding a career consistent with your innate drives and abilities the hidden dynamics of your relationships how to live in harmony with the cycles of life The Life-Purpose System explores key spiritual laws — universal principles specific to each life path — that help you clarify the past, understand the present, and shape the future. It can generate a quantum leap in self-understanding and may even change the course of your life. About the author: Most people who’ve read Way of the Peaceful Warrior (or seen the movie) already know a few aspects of my life. And you may have seen the following bio at my website: “Dan Millman, a former world champion athlete, gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor, is author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior (adapted to film in 2006), and 16 other books read by millions of people in 29 languages. Dan teaches worldwide and has influenced people from all walks of life. The author and his wife, Joy, live in Brooklyn, NY. His most recent work includes The Hidden School, completing the ‘peaceful warrior saga,’ as well as an audio program, “The Complete Peaceful Warrior’s Way,” available through Audible.com.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Kelly Skeen co-author of Just As You Are: A Teen’s Guide to Self-Acceptance & Lasting Self-Esteem. Carolyn Twersky with Seventeen.com and her mother Laura Twersky join us to discuss some of the challenges faced by teens. About the book: Stop comparing yourself to others—you’re special just as you are! In this fun, practical guide, you’ll learn how to silence your nit-picky inner critic, cultivate self-compassion, and discover what really matters to you. If you’re like many teens, you probably feel pressured to live up to the impossible standards set by our culture, the media, and even by your peers. After all, everyone wants perfect hair, a perfect body, cool friends, and good grades. But while it’s okay to strive to be your best, it’s also easy to get caught up in a never-ending comparison game that can feed your inner critic and rob you of your happiness. So, how can you break free from negative self-criticism and learn to appreciate your strengths? In Just As You Are, psychologist Michelle Skeen and her daughter, Kelly Skeen, offer simple tips to help you overcome feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, stop comparing yourself to others, and be more open and accepting of all aspects of who you are. You’ll also learn how to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment using powerful mindfulness tools, and build a plan of action for the future based on your values. Sometimes it’s hard to see yourself with clarity and kindness. With this important guide, you’ll learn to move past your faults, celebrate your true strengths, and discover what really matters in your life. What are you waiting for? About the author: Kelly Skeen is a recent graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, DC. As an American studies major, she concentrated in art and museum studies, and plans to pursue a career expanding access to the visual arts. She is also coauthor of Communication Skills for Teens with her mother, Michelle Skeen. Skeen strives every day for greater self-acceptance and to embrace who she really is! To learn more, visit her website at www.kellyskeen.com.

This week on Relationships 2.0 I'm replaying a previous episode with David A. Carbonell, PhD author of The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It About the book: Are you truly in danger or has your brain simply “tricked” you into thinking you are? In The Worry Trick, psychologist and anxiety expert David Carbonell shows how anxiety hijacks the brain and offers effective techniques to help you break the cycle of worry, once and for all. Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question ourselves and our decisions, causes us to worry about the future, and fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this book is designed to help you break the cycle of worry. Worry convinces us there’s danger, and then tricks us into getting into fight, flight, or freeze mode—even when there is no danger. The techniques in this book, rather than encouraging you to avoid or try to resist anxiety, shows you how to see the trick that underlies your anxious thoughts, and how avoidance can backfire and make anxiety worse. If you’re ready to start observing your anxious feelings with distance and clarity—rather than getting tricked once again—this book will show you how. About the author: David Carbonell, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is the founder and director of the Anxiety Treatment Center, Ltd., a small group of psychologists which offers treatment of all manner of fears and phobias at several locations in and around Chicago, and the “coach” at www.anxietycoach.com, a self help web site for people troubled by fears and phobias. Dr. Carbonell is a recognized expert in this field, and has conducted training and seminars for a variety of professional groups, including the Anxiety Disorders Association of America; the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy; the United Airlines Employee Assistance Program; the Rockland County and Suffolk County Psychological Associations in New York; the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association; the Illinois Employee Assistance Professionals Association; the Illinois Psychological Association, the New York Psychological Association; and Northwestern University Medical School, among others. He regularly offers a day-long workshop for professional therapists on the treatment of anxiety disorders at locations around the country, sponsored by Pesi Healthcare, Inc. Dr. Carbonell is the author of Panic Attacks Workbook (Ulysses Press, 2004) and The Worry Trick (New Harbinger, 2016). He is a member of the American Psychological Association; the Anxiety Disorders Association of America; the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science; the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy; the Illinois Psychological Association; and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation. He is licensed as a clinical psychologist by the States of Illinois and New York.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Kelly Skeen co-author of Just As You Are: A Teen’s Guide to Self-Acceptance & Lasting Self-Esteem About the book: Stop comparing yourself to others—you’re special just as you are! In this fun, practical guide, you’ll learn how to silence your nit-picky inner critic, cultivate self-compassion, and discover what really matters to you. If you’re like many teens, you probably feel pressured to live up to the impossible standards set by our culture, the media, and even by your peers. After all, everyone wants perfect hair, a perfect body, cool friends, and good grades. But while it’s okay to strive to be your best, it’s also easy to get caught up in a never-ending comparison game that can feed your inner critic and rob you of your happiness. So, how can you break free from negative self-criticism and learn to appreciate your strengths? In Just As You Are, psychologist Michelle Skeen and her daughter, Kelly Skeen, offer simple tips to help you overcome feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, stop comparing yourself to others, and be more open and accepting of all aspects of who you are. You’ll also learn how to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment using powerful mindfulness tools, and build a plan of action for the future based on your values. Sometimes it’s hard to see yourself with clarity and kindness. With this important guide, you’ll learn to move past your faults, celebrate your true strengths, and discover what really matters in your life. What are you waiting for? About the author: Kelly Skeen is a recent graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, DC. As an American studies major, she concentrated in art and museum studies, and plans to pursue a career expanding access to the visual arts. She is also coauthor of Communication Skills for Teens with her mother, Michelle Skeen. Skeen strives every day for greater self-acceptance and to embrace who she really is! To learn more, visit her website at www.kellyskeen.com.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Dean Sluyter author of Fear Less: Living Beyond Fear, Anxiety, Anger, and Addiction About the book: These days there’s so much fear in the air, you can almost taste it—along with all the varieties of anxiety, anger, and addiction that grow out of it. How can you navigate your way through the fear and confusion, and find your way to peace? In Fear Less, acclaimed teacher and award-winning author Dean Sluyter shows how to use simple meditative techniques and subtle tweaks of body, mind, and breath to open your life to deep, relaxed confidence. Drawing on ancient enlightenment teachings as well as contemporary research, he lays out practical, easy-to-follow steps for addressing such issues as: • letting go of compulsive overthinking • loosening the bonds of addiction (including smartphone addiction) • overcoming the fear of death • finding meditative stillness in the thick of activity About the author: Dean Sluyter (pronounced “slighter”) has taught natural methods of meditation and awakening throughout the U.S. and beyond since 1970, from colleges and yoga studios to corporate offices and maximum-security prisons. Dean is known for his warm, funny, down-to-earth style, and for making authentic, life-transforming teachings accessible and easy. His previous books include The Zen Commandments and Natural Meditation. Dean lives in Southern California.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Matthew Dick author of Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling About the book: Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small). He shows that anyone can learn to be an appealing storyteller, that everyone has something “storyworthy” to express, and, perhaps most important, that the act of creating and telling a tale is a powerful way of understanding and enhancing your own life. About the author: Matthew Dicks is a bestselling novelist, thirty-six-time Moth StorySLAM champion, and five-time GrandSLAM champion. In addition to his widespread teaching, writing, and performing, he cofounded (with his wife) Speak Up, which produces sold-out storytelling performances throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York at least once a month. He lives in Newington, Connecticut.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Karen Bluth, PhD author of The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness & Compassion Skills to Overcome Self-Criticism & Embrace Who You Are About the book: Your teen years are a time of change, growth, and—all too often—psychological struggle. To make matters worse, you are often your own worst critic. The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens offers valuable tools based in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you overcome self-judgment and self-criticism, cultivate compassion toward yourself and others, and embrace who you really are. As a teen, you’re going through major changes—both physically and mentally. These changes can have a dramatic effect on how you perceive, understand, and interpret the world around you, leaving you feeling stressed and anxious. Additionally, you may also find yourself comparing yourself to others—whether its friends, classmates, or celebrities and models. And all of this comparison can leave you feeling like you just aren’t enough. So, how can you move past feelings of stress and insecurity and start living the life you really want? Written by psychologist Karen Bluth and based on practices adapted from Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion program, this workbook offers fun and tactile exercises grounded in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you cope more effectively with the ongoing challenges of day-to-day life. You’ll learn how to be present with difficult emotions, and respond to these emotions with greater kindness and self-care. By practicing these activities and meditations, you’ll learn specific tools to help you navigate the emotional ups and downs of the teen years with greater ease. Life is imperfect—and so are we. But if you’re ready to move past self-criticism and self-judgment and embrace your unique self, this compassionate guide will light the way. About the author: Karen Bluth, PhD, earned her doctoral degree in child and family studies at the University of Tennessee. She is currently research faculty in the Program on Integrative Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Her work focuses on the roles that mindfulness and self-compassion play in promoting well-being in teens. Bluth was awarded a Francisco J. Varela research award from the Mind and Life Institute in 2012, which allowed her to explore the effects of a mindfulness intervention on adolescents’ well-being through examining stress biomarkers. In spring 2015, she received internal University of North Carolina funding to explore relationships among mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotional well-being in teens in grades 7–12. With current NIH funding, she is part of a research team at the University of North Carolina that is studying the teen adaptation of Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion program. In addition to her research, Bluth regularly teaches mindfulness and mindful self-compassion courses to both adults and teens in the Chapel Hill, NC, area and regularly gives talks and leads workshops at schools and universities. In collaboration with Lorraine Hobbs, Bluth has adapted Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion program for an adolescent population. A former educator with eighteen years classroom experience, Bluth is currently associate editor of the academic journal Mindfulness.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Sarah Anne Shockley author of The Pain Companion: Everyday Wisdom for Living With and Moving Beyond Chronic Pain About the book: Where do you turn when medication and medical treatments do not relieve persistent, debilitating pain? What can you do when pain interferes with work, family, and social life and you no longer feel like the person you used to be? Relying on firsthand experience with severe nerve pain, author Sarah Anne Shockley accompanies you on your journey through pain and offers compassionate, practical advice to ease difficult emotions and address lifestyle challenges. Her approach helps reduce the toll that living in pain takes on relationships, self-image, and well-being while cultivating greater ease and resilience on a daily basis. Dozens of accessible, uplifting practices guide you every step of the way from a life overcome by pain to a life of greater comfort and peace. The Pain Companion also offers profound insights for medical practitioners and invaluable guidance for anyone who loves or cares for others in pain. About the author: Sarah Anne Shockley is an award-winning filmmaker and former university instructor who has lived with debilitating neuralgia from thoracic outlet syndrome for more than ten years. Because her condition was unresponsive to existing traditional or alternative therapies, she developed a unique method of pain management and pain reduction not reliant on pharmaceuticals or medical intervention. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Mary DeMocker author of The Parents' Guide to Climate Revolution: 100 Ways to Build a Fossil-Free Future, Raise Empowered Kids, and Still Get a Good Night’s Sleep About the book: “Relax,” writes author Mary DeMocker, “this isn’t another light bulb list. It’s not another overwhelming pile of parental ‘to dos’ designed to shrink your family’s carbon footprint through eco-superheroism.” Instead, DeMocker lays out a lively, empowering, and doable blueprint for engaging families in the urgent endeavor of climate revolution. In this book’s brief, action-packed chapters, you’ll learn hundreds of wide-ranging ideas for being part of the revolution — from embracing simplicity parenting, to freeing yourself from dead-end science debates, to teaching kids about the power of creative protest, to changing your lifestyle in ways that deepen family bonds, improve moods, and reduce your impact on the Earth. Engaging and creative, this vital resource is for everyone who wants to act effectively — and empower children to do the same. About the author: Mary has reveled in an artistic life, performing the harp, dressing sets for NYC films, and now using the arts to mobilize for climate justice. Mary is the co-founder of 350 Eugene, where she leads interactive art projects and rallies, including one featured in a PBS NewsHour broadcast about children suing the government for their right to a livable planet. In conjunction with Paris climate talks, Mary led the Climate March & Public Art Project featured in the London-based global art festival ArtCOP21 and included in the Avaaz video shown to world leaders entering UN talks. A National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient and winner of the 2008 Kay Snow Award for Nonfiction, Mary lives with her family in Oregon. She is available for workshops and lectures and can be reached through her website at www.marydemocker.com.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guests are Charlie and Linda Bloom authors of That Which Doesn’t Kill Us: How One Couple Became Stronger at the Broken Places About the book: That Which Doesn’t Kill Us is the story of a couple’s ten-year journey that took them through a series of ordeals that crippled their family and nearly destroyed their marriage. Trained as psychotherapists and practicing relationship counselors, both Charlie and Linda found that their professional training wasn’t enough to liberate them from the challenges they encountered. Alternating chapters, the authors illuminate the experiences they endured as well as the process that allowed them to finally heal from the damage caused by their prolonged period of stress and conflict. In the end, they were able to not only salvage their marriage; they also managed to establish a connection that brought their relationship a depth of intimacy, trust, and integrity far beyond what they had ever experienced before. The process of their miraculous recovery is presented in vivid detail and reads like a riveting novel. The Blooms’ unfolding story provides the essential steps necessary to breathe life back into a failing marriage and move into a deep, loving connection that surpasses even the dreams that each partner had dared to hope to fulfill. About the authors: Linda Bloom LCSW and Charlie Bloom MSW are considered experts in the field of relationships. They have been married since 1972. They have both been trained as seminar leaders, therapists and relationships counselors and have been working with individuals, couples, and groups since 1975. They have been featured presenters at numerous conferences, universities, and institutions of learning throughout the country and overseas as well. They are regular faculty members at the Esalen Institute, the Kripalu Center, the California Institute for Integral Studies, and many other learning facilities. They have appeared on over two hundred radio and TV programs and are co-authors of their latest book, “Happily Ever After…and 39 Other Myths about Love: Breaking Through to the Relationship of Your Dreams”

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Matthew McKay, PhD co-author of The CBT Anxiety Solution Workbook: A Breakthrough Treatment for Overcoming Fear, Worry & Panic About the book: You are stronger than your anxiety! In this important workbook, best-selling authors Matthew McKay, Patrick Fanning, and Michelle Skeen offer a breakthrough anxiety solution based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you understand and overcome your fears and worries, rather than try to avoid them. If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, you may try to avoid situations that cause you to feel worry, fear, or panic. You may even believe that terrible things will happen to you if you face the things that make you anxious. But avoidance isn’t a long-term solution, and in the end it may result in more anxiety. This book shows you how the simple belief that you can endure your worries and fears—both mentally and physically—can be an extremely powerful treatment. Using a breakthrough approach combining proven-effective CBT and exposure therapy, this workbook helps you understand how worry and rumination drive anxiety, and offers practical exercises to help you adopt new habits of observing your thoughts, rather than accepting them as the “ultimate truth.” You’ll also develop mindfulness and self-soothing coping skills to help you manage anxiety in the moment, rather than avoid it. Over time these practices will show you that you are more powerful than your anxiety. If you’ve been stuck in a cycle of anxiety and avoidance, this workbook will help you make the changes you need to get your life back. About the author: Matthew McKay, PhD, is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. He has authored and coauthored numerous books, including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Self-Esteem, Thoughts and Feelings, When Anger Hurts, and ACT on Life Not on Anger. McKay received his PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, and specializes in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and depression. He lives and works in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Michael A. Tompkins, PhD author of The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens: CBT Skills to Help You Deal With Worry and Anxiety About the book: Today’s teens are totally stressed. Based on the self-help classic, The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, this evidence-based guide will help you develop a game plan for reducing stress so you can focus on reaching your goals. Are you feeling stressed out? You aren’t alone. Between school, tests, friendships, dating, the latest drama on social media, college applications, and a bunch of confusing physical changes, it’s no wonder that stress is a major mental health issue for many of today’s teens. The good news is that there are simple ways you can reduce your stress and reach your goals. This workbook will show you how. With The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens, you’ll learn to understand the underlying causes of your stress. You’ll discover practical mindfulness and breathing techniques to help you calm your mind and body in moments of worry and anxiety. You’ll also find tips for moving past “what ifs” and “shoulds,” strategies for managing negative thoughts and emotions, and tools to help you develop your own personalized plan for dealing with stress. If you’re ready to move past stress and worry and start focusing on your bright future, this workbook has everything you need to get started today. Teens need mental health resources more than ever. With over 1.2 million copies sold worldwide, Instant Help Books for teens are engaging, proven-effective, and recommended by therapists. About the author: Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, ABPP, is codirector of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy; assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley; and a diplomate and founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Tompkins specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders in adults, adolescents, and children. He is author or coauthor of numerous articles on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and related topics, as well as seven books, including three books published by New Harbinger Publications: Digging Out, OCD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed, and Anxiety and Avoidance. Tompkins serves on the advisory board of Magination Press, the children’s press of the American Psychological Association. He is a certified supervisor and trainer for the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Tompkins has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on NPR, and has presented over 250 workshops, lectures, and keynote addresses on CBT and related topics.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Michelle Fondin author of Chakra Healing for Vibrant Energy: Exploring Your 7 Energy Centers with Mindfulness, Yoga and Ayurveda About the book: Tap into your body’s vital source of energy and wellness Positioned along the spinal axis, from the tailbone to the crown of the head, the seven main energy centers of the body are called chakras. Author Michelle Fondin explores and explains each one in the seven chapters of this book, demystifying their role in facilitating healing, balance, personal power, and everyday well-being. She offers meditations and visualizations, yoga postures, breathing exercises, and Ayurvedic dietary practices to learn about and work with the chakras. You may choose to follow the healing practices for seven days, devoting one day to each chakra; for seven weeks, focusing on each chakra for a week at a time; or at your own pace, spending as long as you need on each chakra. Whether you are experiencing an illness brought on by imbalance, feeling sluggish because of seasonal changes, or simply wishing to deepen your study of the subtle body, you will find healing and rejuvenation while discovering the power of these vibrant energy vortices, your chakras. About the author: Author of The Wheel of Healing: An Easy Guide to an Ayurvedic Lifestyle, Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide for Lovers, Family, & Friends and owner Fondin Wellness, Michelle Fondin practices as an Ayurvedic Lifestyle Counselor, yoga and meditation teacher. She holds a Vedic Master certificate from the Chopra Center and has worked with Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon at Chopra Center events teaching yoga and meditation. Michelle also writes for Chopra.com. Michelle regularly sees clients in Herndon, Virginia, teaching them how to live an Ayurvedic Lifestyle and achieve optimal wellness. She’s a member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, The Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America and Yoga Alliance. Check out all of Michelle Fondin’s videos on YouTube on Ayurveda, Yoga, Loving an Alcoholic, and Healthy Living: https://www.youtube.com/user/MichelleFondinAuthor.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Gail Straub author of The Ashokan Way: Landscape’s Path into Consciousness About the book: The natural world has the power to awaken, restore, and transform us, and nowhere are these capacities more evident than in the thirty-six luminous essays that make up The Ashokan Way. Written in the form of journal entries that take place over the course of a year, the essays explore both the outer landscapes of the awe-inspiring Ashokan Reservoir, a vast open space surrounded by the ancient bluestone peaks of the Catskill Mountain Watershed, and the equally awe-inspiring inner landscapes of our own most personal terrains. Each of the book’s evocative entries describes a walk along the ever-changing reservoir, illuminating the natural world as a portal to self-understanding, restoration, and meaning. Some walks take us deep inside to trek the hills and valleys of our aspirations and sorrows, our joys and confusions. Others offer a profound antidote to an interior landscape that has become crowded with distraction and overstimulation. Still others seem to seem usher us into the realm of the mystical. As surely as we would perish without the water and air that the earth provides, we are at risk of perishing without the spiritual sustenance that the natural world provides through its ability to stir and astonish us. In a world that is ever faster, noisier, and busier, The Ashokan Way is a balm, an inspiration, and an invitation to discover greater intimacy with inner and outer landscapes alike. About the author: Gail Straub is the Executive Director of the Empowerment Institute, which she co-founded in 1981. As one of the world’s leading authorities on women’s empowerment, she co-directs the Empowerment Institute’s School for Transformative Social Change empowering change agents from around the world to design and implement cutting-edge social innovations. As part of this focus, she co-founded IMAGINE: A Global Initiative for the Empowerment of Women to help women heal from violence, build strong lives, and contribute to their community. IMAGINE initiatives are currently under way throughout Africa, Afghanistan, India, and the Middle East. Gail has consulted to many organizations furthering women’s empowerment including the Chinese Women’s Federation, Women for Women International, World Pulse, and the Omega Women’s Leadership Center. Gail is the author of five books including, with her husband David Gershon, the best-selling Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life As You Want It which has been translated into over 14 languages, the critically acclaimed The Rhythm of Compassion, and the award-winning feminist memoir Returning to My Mother’s House. She lives in the Hudson River Valley in New York.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Shawn T. Smith, PsyD author of The Tactical Guide to Women: How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage. About the book: For men, love is a high-stakes gamble. The right woman can be the best part of a man’s life, and the wrong one can lead to personal and financial ruin. In today’s climate, no man should venture into romance without a reliable risk-management strategy. The Tactical Guide to Women delivers a solid plan for allowing the right women into your life, and keeping the wrong ones at a safe distance. You’ll discover how to: Identify good women of low drama and high character Reduce your vulnerability to women who seem perfect for you—but aren’t Spot the early warning signs of emotional instability You’ll also learn: Critical techniques for seeing women clearly The most common mistakes that lead men into disastrous relationships How to reduce the odds of a good relationship going bad Impeccably researched and backed by the author’s decade of clinical experience, The Tactical Guide to Women provides men with desperately needed, rarely discussed strategies for finding sanity, joy, and companionship. This is not another book about getting laid. This book is about not getting screwed. About the author: Shawn Smith is a clinical psychologist in Denver, Colorado and the author of five psychology books. He also writes a blog at docsmith.co, where he has answered important questions such as: Can dogs learn to read? Why do I feel amorous when I have a cold? Is my ex possessed? Shawn’s writing is light-hearted, impeccably researched, and always useful.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Yvonne Tally author of Breaking Up With Busy: Real-life Solutions for Overscheduled Women About the book: Make the time for what matters most by breaking up with busy Overbooking and undersleeping have almost become status symbols, and having it all seems to be synonymous with doing it all, yet what do we really accomplish with so much busyness? Yvonne Tally wants to give you back your life by helping you break the busyness habit. She offers realistic, step-by-step, and even fun ways to get off the busyness hamster wheel and reclaim your time. Yvonne shows how the benefits of living a more balanced life can improve your longevity and spiritual well-being. She outlines ways to shift and calm your mind, learn how to say no, and create your own “busy-busting solutions.” With fifty-two refreshers and reminders, Breaking Up with Busy provides incremental ways to change habits, transform thinking, and reconnect with your unique, personal sense of play and pleasure. About the author: Yvonne Tally leads meditation and mindfulness programs for corporations, private groups, and individuals in Silicon Valley and throughout the United States. She is an NLP Master Practitioner and cofounded Poised Inc., a fitness and lifestyle company. She lives in Northern California.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Julie M. Simon (PART 2) author of When Food Is Comfort: Nurture Yourself Mindfully, Rewire Your Brain, and End Emotional Eating About the book: If you regularly eat when you’re not truly hungry, choose unhealthy comfort foods, or eat beyond fullness, something is out of balance. Recent advances in brain science have uncovered the crucial role that our early social and emotional environment plays in the development of imbalanced eating patterns. When we do not receive consistent and sufficient emotional nurturance during our early years, we are at greater risk of seeking it from external sources, such as food. Despite logical arguments, we have difficulty modifying our behavior because we are under the influence of an emotionally dominant part of the brain. The good news is that the brain can be rewired for optimal emotional health. When Food Is Comfort presents a breakthrough mindfulness practice called Inner Nurturing, a comprehensive, step-by-step program developed by an author who was herself an emotional eater. You’ll learn how to nurture yourself with the loving-kindness you crave and handle stressors more easily so that you can stop turning to food for comfort. Improved health and self-esteem, more energy, and weight loss will naturally follow. About the author: Julie M. Simon, MA, MBA, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist and life coach with more than twenty-seven years of experience helping overeaters stop dieting, heal their relationships with themselves and their bodies, lose excess weight, and keep it off. She is the author of The Emotional Eater’s Repair Manual and the founder of the popular Twelve-Week Emotional Eating Recovery Program. She lives in Los Angeles.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guests are Rebecca Williams PhD and Julie Kraft MA, LMFT (part 2 of a 2 part interview) authors of The Gift of Recovery: 52 Mindful Ways to Live Joyfully Beyond Addiction About the book: If you’re recovering from addiction, The Gift of Recovery offers quick, in-the-moment tips and tricks to help you cope with daily stress and stay firmly on the path to wellness. With this gentle, easy-to-use guide, you’ll learn how to navigate relationships, take time for self-care, and build a mindful, sustainable, and joyful recovery. Deciding to get help for addiction is the first step toward recovery. But addiction recovery doesn’t happen all at once—it’s something that must be worked for, every day. Sometimes, it will be easy. When things are going well, you may not be tempted to give in to your cravings. But when life is stressful, you’ll need strategies to help you cope. Written by the authors of The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction, this on-the-go mindfulness guide offers fifty-two powerful and effective meditations to help you manage the stress, depression, and strong emotions that can get in the way of a full and lasting recovery. You’ll also find skills based in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you stay grounded, as well as links to online resources. Deciding to overcome an addiction can feel like leaving a relationship. It’s hard and sometimes lonely—but it is truly an act of courage. This book will help guide you as you continue making courageous steps toward peace, joy, and fulfillment. About the authors: Rebecca E. Williams, PhD, is an award-winning author, consultant, and clinical psychologist specializing in healthy recovery from mental illness and addiction. Her work focuses on building resilience and embracing well-being. She is associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and program director at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health Care System. Julie S. Kraft, MA, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She has been working in the fields of addiction and mental health since 2008. Julie is an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Diego, where she teaches systemic treatment of substance abuse. Julie has a private practice in San Diego, CA, where she works to help her clients find all the gifts that they deserve. Williams and Kraft are coauthors of The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction, which won the San Diego Book Award. Their workbook has been translated into Korean.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guests are Rebecca Williams PhD and Julie Kraft MA, LMFT authors of The Gift of Recovery: 52 Mindful Ways to Live Joyfully Beyond Addiction About the book: If you’re recovering from addiction, The Gift of Recovery offers quick, in-the-moment tips and tricks to help you cope with daily stress and stay firmly on the path to wellness. With this gentle, easy-to-use guide, you’ll learn how to navigate relationships, take time for self-care, and build a mindful, sustainable, and joyful recovery. Deciding to get help for addiction is the first step toward recovery. But addiction recovery doesn’t happen all at once—it’s something that must be worked for, every day. Sometimes, it will be easy. When things are going well, you may not be tempted to give in to your cravings. But when life is stressful, you’ll need strategies to help you cope. Written by the authors of The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction, this on-the-go mindfulness guide offers fifty-two powerful and effective meditations to help you manage the stress, depression, and strong emotions that can get in the way of a full and lasting recovery. You’ll also find skills based in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you stay grounded, as well as links to online resources. Deciding to overcome an addiction can feel like leaving a relationship. It’s hard and sometimes lonely—but it is truly an act of courage. This book will help guide you as you continue making courageous steps toward peace, joy, and fulfillment. About the authors: Rebecca E. Williams, PhD, is an award-winning author, consultant, and clinical psychologist specializing in healthy recovery from mental illness and addiction. Her work focuses on building resilience and embracing well-being. She is associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and program director at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health Care System. Julie S. Kraft, MA, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She has been working in the fields of addiction and mental health since 2008. Julie is an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Diego, where she teaches systemic treatment of substance abuse. Julie has a private practice in San Diego, CA, where she works to help her clients find all the gifts that they deserve. Williams and Kraft are coauthors of The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction, which won the San Diego Book Award. Their workbook has been translated into Korean.

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Rachel Hershenberg, PhD author of Activating Happiness: A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression, or Just Feeling Stuck. About the book: It’s not just big choices that can radically change our lives—sometimes it’s the small ones. Activating Happiness offers powerful, evidence-based strategies to help you conquer low motivation, nix negative moods, and defeat depression by actively making positive choices in small, everyday moments. If you have depression or just suffer from low mood and lack of motivation, you know that your life isn’t going to change with one grand, sweeping gesture. But you can make important decisions every day—whether it’s getting off the couch and going for a walk, signing up for a course in pottery or screenwriting, or just setting aside some time to meet and chat with a good friend over coffee. These little things won’t change your life all at once. But over time, they will shape the way you live and see the world and keep you on a path to wellness. In Activating Happiness, you’ll find solid strategies based in behavioral activation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break the cycle of avoidance, guilt, shame, and hopelessness that can take hold when you’re feeling your lowest. Using this guide, you’ll find little, doable ways to “show up” to your life, get the ball rolling, and start really feeling better, instead of just reassuring others. You’ll learn to set healthy goals for your body like eating and sleeping well, as well as healthy goals for your mind. Most importantly, you’ll discover how to view your life through the lens of your own deepest values, which will spark a commitment to real, lasting change. The best thing about change is that you can start anywhere. By building a life—moment by moment—of rewarding behaviors that correspond to your values, you have the recipe for getting and staying well at your fingertips. This book will guide your way. About the author: Rachel Hershenberg, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the research and treatment of depression. She is assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, and director of psychotherapy in Emory’s Treatment Resistant Depression program. She has published over twenty-five peer-reviewed publications and has appeared as a guest specialist on local radio.