This Miraculous Life

This episode Chris Price and Omari Francis continue the conversation with Sara on overcoming childhood trauma. We delve deeper into how to overcome past trauma in order to create a thriving, happy adulthood. Specifically this show reveals how to develop a practice of self love; it’s both easier and harder than you think. You will also learn how and why you must integrate accepting the opinions of others into your cultivation of self love. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Today Sara is joined by special guests Omari Francis and Chris Price: hosts of The Window Seat Podcast. Together with Omari and Chris, Sara discusses the reality of childhood trauma and how it often seems hopeless to recover to achieve a happy, thriving adulthood after such negative experiences. Omari shares his own story and the steps that have helped him to grow into a happy and healthy adult in spite of childhood abuse and upheaval. Tune in to learn the steps for grappling with, and ultimately liberating yourself from the shame of past trauma. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

The science of positive psychology gives us clear data on the positive to negative emotional ratios that are necessary for a human being to report that they are thriving, and also the positive to negative emotional ratios that are necessary in order for humans to report that their relationship is thriving. And guess what? There is a huge difference between those two ratios. This data can help us understand why we struggle so much to achieve satisfying relationships. It also holds within it the keys to overcoming those limitations and creating truly flourishing romantic partnerships. Listen to learn the data and the solutions it holds to helping us build the type of relationships we all crave. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Research psychologist Barbara Fredrickson discovered that in order to thrive human beings require about three positive emotional experiences for every one negative emotional experience. Sara teaches us how to apply this data in order to tap into the 3:1 ratio for ourselves. This episode gives specific tools for increasing your positives, and diminishing the unnecessary negatives! Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Naturally, our brains our wired to focus more heavily on the negative. We are more sensitive and attuned to what goes poorly than what goes well. While this bias may help us to survive, it severely inhibits our ability to thrive and feel happy. Today Sara teaches how to overcome the negativity bias with positive mental prompts. These prompts are a necessary tool for all who want to go beyond merely functional to live joyous, flourishing lives. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

A breakup is almost never easy and nearly always painful. And yet it is such a consistent part of the human experience. Often we find ourselves stuck in a cycle of pain or regret post breakup. Or pressuring ourselves to find someone new as “proof” that we made the right choice. Today Washington, DC psychotherapist Anne Howard joins Sara to help us understand that a breakup is a genuine grief and how to navigate it healthily without avoiding our pain or getting suck in unhealthy patterns. This episode is essential for all who may need to navigate a breakup, but also for their friends and family to help understand what type of support is actually helpful! Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Whether directly or indirectly, pretty much every life has been touched by a divorce. Today Sara is joined by local psychotherapist and coach, Robin Tucker, to talk about divorce. This episode answers everything from how to know if it’s time to get divorced, how to protect your children during a divorce, and even how to navigate dating someone who is divorced. The bottom line: no one hopes for a divorce, but if divorce becomes part of your life there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Faith Hunter (international yoga and meditation instructor, influencer, authentic soul, and African American woman) joins This Miraculous Life to discuss how she created herself a life for which she had no blueprint. We learn from Faith how becoming hugely successful may, in fact, be about focusing our energy on everything but the ultimate success. We also learn today about the role of privilege and representation - yet how to create whatever your heart desires whether your level of privilege and representation is a whole lot, or almost none. Powered and distributed by Simplecast

This episode Sara responds to a letter asking: how can I be less distracted by anxieties and thoughts about the past and future? Sara is joined by life coach and “presencing” expert Brian Piergrossi (www.Brianpiergrossi.com), author of The Big Glow & The Wow Of The Now, who teaches us that everything within the human experience is, indeed, happening in the present. And with that, he guides us on how to maximize our ability to savor the present moment and detach from our distracting thoughts. You will learn exercises, such as moving meditation, for becoming more present but also - Brian offers key questions we can use to prompt our brain to snap into the present! Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Today we learn a happiness lifehack: how to make space for the necessary negative emotions of navigating life’s ups and downs and how to distinguish those from the unnecessary negativity that will rob us of our potential for a happy life. Which is which? And how do we avoid the other? Tune in to find out! P.s. don’t forget to send us your own life questions at sara@thismiraculouslife.com. Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Last episode we learned why the science of optimism matters in the face of difficulties and setbacks. This week we learn why it is also, and perhaps equally, relevant when things are going WELL. Sara teaches how optimistic thinking in the face of good things can enhance our overall life as well as our future outcomes. And most importantly, she teaches how to prompt our brain to think optimistically about good things. Bonus: Sara’s argument for why optimism is neither hypocritical nor unrealistic. Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Today Sara delves into the science behind optimistic thinking and its power to prevent us from feeling stuck and helpless in our own lives. Together with Studio Engineer, Alexya Brown, Sara breaks down how all of us can prompt our brain to think more optimistically in the face of disappointing experiences. This episode clarifies why optimism is an essential tool, not just a fun personality trait, and specific strategies to make that tool accessible to anyone - including you. Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Powered and distributed by Simplecast

Today Sara is joined by psychologist Dr. Rebekah Montgomery - expert on attachment style. Attachment styles describe how we approach our closest, most intimate relationships: whether we feel comfortable and confident in them, whether we require constant reassurance, whether we prefer to keep people at arms length - or all of the above. Tune in to learn the hallmarks of each attachment style so that you can identity our own. And then delve into how attachment style can be actively worked on to become more secure - the attachment style that is ultimately most adaptive and healthy!

The words “resources” and “money” are used interchangeably. This is a mistake. There are far more resources at our disposal than just money. Money is one resource, but it is far from the only one. In this show Sara breaks down her belief that money is not the only valuable resource and shares how to shift your thinking about resources. Finally Sara illuminates why this new resourceful belief is an essential ingredient to your overall liberation.

Do you ever feel like you are getting in your own way? Or at a stand still? This episode Sara teams up with life & achievement coach Craig Cassey to respond to a listener in need of strategies for overcoming self paralysis and progressing toward their goal in the face of fear. Sara and Craig share the five (plus) steps to take as soon we notice that we have gotten stuck!

Today’s episode is part of Sara’s “Things I’ve Come to Believe” segment. In this short show Sara shares a truth that has revealed itself in her own life that helps her attune to the miraculousness IRL. Today she shares her realization that there is no prize we can work toward that is more grand than the prize of life itself. Thus, we are already experiencing the grand prize!! Tune in to apply this radical truth to your own reality.

Today’s episode marks the start of Sara’s new segment on This Miraculous Life called “Things I’ve Come to Believe.” In this short show Sara will share some fundamental truth that has revealed itself in her own life that allows her to attune to the miraculousness of life IRL. Today she shares why we must all remember that we are not victims of life. We have agency.

Perseverance for deeply meaningful, long term goals is an essential life skill and essential component of thriving. We call it Grit. Today Sara is joined by Grit Expert: Caroline Adams Miller, author of Getting Grit and Goal Setting Professor at Wharton. Caroline helps Sara respond to a parent whose child is struggling with a disappointing setback. Caroline teaches how we can help our loved ones and ourselves become more gritty. Caroline clarifies that there is good grit and bad grit, and how we can know the difference! This episode helps us understand how to pursue our most meaningful goals with pure persistence and how to see when our motivation may be harmful.

There are no “right” words to discuss suicide, self harm, and mental illness/ struggle. But, not talking about it is not the answer. Rather, not talking about it is dangerous, damaging, and perpetuates a culture that stigmatizes mental struggle and therefore accidentally increases shame, while decreasing access to support and help for everyone who is struggling. Struggling with thoughts of self harm is neither rare nor is it shameful and wrong. In today’s episode Sara and her guest Louis Alloro: change-agent social entrepreneur and doctoral student in Positive Psychology, strive to start the conversation that we must all practice challenging ourselves to have.

How do you deal with a bully at school or work? How will you help your child who is facing a bully? How can you fully recover from a childhood experience of receiving or even initiating cruel behavior? In today’s episode a group at all life stages, including Sara’s nephews age 8 and 13, help respond to a teenager who is being badly bullied. Listen to learn how you can deal with a bully you can’t get rid of, how to extricate yourself from a toxic situation, and how to avoid becoming mean, bitter, or unhappy amidst poor treatment.

We spend a tremendous amount of time and resources trying to minimize and eliminate our anxiety - but is that even possible? What if living a life of bravery and growth naturally produces anxiousness? What then? While Sara believes in treating anxiety and examining its origins, she has also learned to celebrate and congratulate her own anxieties. Listen to find out why and how.

Sure, saying YES is sexier and more “positive” than saying NO. But mastering the skill of saying no is absolutely essential to living our best life. If we are not capable of giving clear and timely “no’s” then we will end up drained, overextended, and resentful. In this episode you will learn not only the benefit of saying no, but also 3 fail-proof ways to make sure that you never regret saying yes again!

Body weight is a focal point of our society to an extreme extent. So how can we continue to thrive when body weight is something that we are struggling with? In this episode Sara responds to a listener grappling with just that: “I am overweight, how to I keep from feeling worthless?” Joined by Andy Carton, who is a doctoral student in clinical psychology and has lost 103lbs himself, Sara unpacks this question. Tune in to learn their tips for how to thrive at any weight while still prioritizing health.

We all have negative thoughts and emotions - they are part of the human experience. This episode, Sara hears from someone who is dealing with a breakup and seeking release from rumination and negative emotions like regret and jealousy. Sara takes this opportunity to teach us a little known truth: that negative emotion is not the absence of positive emotion and that the two actually live on completely separate spectrums! This episode will change the way you perceive your most difficult thoughts and emotions and give you a framework for integrating them into a full, fulfilling life. It may even change the way you define happiness.

What is the secret to a well-lived life? How about a long marriage? What privileges and challenges do we have today that we did not have 60 years ago? In today’s episode we hear from Lorraine Mullaney, Sara’s grandma. Because who better to give life advice than a woman who has been alive and happy with her life for over 95 years? To be honest, Grandma’s secret to a well-lived life brought me to tears.

Have you ever felt like you lack confidence in your professional life? How about socially? In this episode, Sara hears from a listener who has experienced a major life event, the loss of her mother, and can’t seem to recover her spirit and confidence. Along with expert guest, Louisa Jewell, author of Wire Your Brian for Confidence, Sara discusses how to navigate emotional events like the loss of a loved one, and shares science-based confidence building tips that are relevant for all of us!

Engaged? Married? Horrified to even consider your name near the word marriage? This episode has actionable advice for all of the above! The prolific life coach, Dr. LaVerne Adams, joins Sara to share her expertise in couples and pre-marital coaching as well as her own personal story of what she wishes she could have known prior to her young marriage! The final “must know” is life changing.

Does networking really work? How do you avoid wasting hours of your valuable and scarce free time? Is it possible to grow your network or are you better off just making the best of things with people you already call friends? Ashtan Moore, co-founder of digital marketing agency Model B (and “master connector” in Sara’s opinion), joins Sara to discuss the How of effective networking. Ashtan shares not only his 3 keys to successful networking - but also his innermost secret networking weapon!

Rob Montz, founder of Good Kid Productions and local DC documentarian joins Sara on this episode as she continues to de-mystify the question of how one finds a career that they actually care about. Rob adds practical tips to the discussion and Sara describes how to harness the supportiveness of the universe. Founder of Full Service Radio, Jack Inslee, even chimes in with his experience of pursuing a passion career - both the delightful and the difficult sides. Listen to find out what might be possible for YOU. And to consider what you are willing to invest in pursuing a “dream” career.

Do you ever wonder how in the world you are supposed to figure out a job that you will actually enjoy while still managing to pay all of your bills? Or maybe you feel pressure to pursue a certain type of job because it is what society deems as “professional.” Today Sara delves into how to eliminate distractions from the career conversation in order to truly discover what is possible for your life. Ultimately, she explains how to start down a path of passion rather than settling in for a lifetime of drudgery.

Psychotherapist and expert in interracial relationships, Huma Sikandar, joins Sara once again to help fill in the gaps of WHY interracial relationships are different and HOW to navigate those unique challenges. During this show Huma shares tips that apply not just to romantic relationships, but also to your interracial friendships. This episode will challenge you to delve deeper into your own racial identity and awareness, as well as challenge you to hold space for the emotions of your loved one even when you yourself are hurting.

Sara breaks down the root cause of chronic burnout and how to tame the beliefs and behavior patterns that drive it. Sara discusses her own battle with “contingent self worth” and then presents her original formula for finding freedom from the nagging need to be constantly doing, proving, or achieving. Surprisingly, Sara explains why we should all be more willing to feel inferior.

How do we stay connected when our families are at odds? Are most people in America actually racist? How do we prevent people of color from having to carry the burden of discussing and standing up for racial justice? Together with interracial relationship expert, Huma Sikander, Sara responds to a listener who has reached out for advice about how to navigate a strained interracial relationship post-trump. Learn the two most important keys to successfully navigating an interracial relationship.

Sara takes up Anne Helen Peterson’s insight-breaking Buzzfeed article on Milennial Burnout. Building on the article Sara shares what Millennial Burnout is and how it came to be. Then, Sara begins to step toward what the brilliant Buzzfeed article could not quite uncover - how to OVERCOME and free ourselves of this never-ending burnout cycle! Liberation awaits.

Sara shares how to get SO clear on your intention and resolutions for the coming year that you can distill it down into just one word. She also shares why and how taking this approach to resolutions is helpful. Can you accept her challenge to hone in on your one word?

This week’s episode begins with a question about how to create “love” and “space” with a partner who is not “out of the closet.” Together with two amazing guests: Louis Alloro, Positive Psychology doctoral student, and Melissa Sampson, critical care nurse, Sara provides tips and research to help the writer tap into love even amidst pain. Both Louis and Melissa share their own deeply personsl experiences as members of the LGTBQ community as well as their loving advice.

The holidays are expected to be a blissful, joy-filled, time of perfect baking, perfect decor, and perfect family/friend memories. But, in truth, it rarely works that way. This week Sara responds to questions about how to manage this division between the expectation vs. the reality of the holiday – including the essential step of learning how to set boundaries! Tune in to learn how to embrace the imperfection of the holidays, and plan accordingly!

Have you ever had a friend in trouble, but not know how to help them? In today’s episode, Sara hears from someone who is concerned that a friend is going to get married to an abusive partner. Looking from the outside-in, it may be obvious how bad or dangerous a relationship has become. However, those involved may not be able to separate passion from poison. In this episode Sara invites Michell Stanley, holistic psychotherapist and licensed social worker to help understand how we can be there for our friends in an extremely difficult situation while still not abandoning ourselves - and how to separate helpfulness from judgement. Finally we will learn what is actually helpful - and what just makes us as the outsider looking in - feel better.

Have you ever felt your insecurities run away from you? Or feel that your flaws were outside of your control? In this week’s episode, our writer, ​Ugly Duckling,​ expresses frustration that their appearance is affecting their life, especially professionally. The writer wonders how to make peace with the fact that they may receive fewer opportunities or different treatment due to not being traditionally attractive. In response, Sara discusses ways to build confidence, take initiative, and methods for confronting and coping with unfair treatment. Finally Sara reveals how to liberate yourself from concerns about your looks, once and for all.

Have you ever looked around only to notice all of your friends are either married and talking about kids, or single and talking about getting married? You try to connect and understand them but something tells you that cookie cutter “find a mate, get married, have kids, live happily ever after" life just isn‘t for you. So... if that‘s not for you, then what is? Do you even want a long term relationship? If not about that picture perfect life then what are relationships about? Sara breaks down how to figure out these big life questions - especially when you sense that your answer is different from everyone around you! And ultimately reveals her take on the real WHY behind saying Y or N to a romantic commitment.

Have you met someone attractive and charming, but still struggle to determine whether or not they are a compatible partner for you? Aren’t you supposed to​ just know​ when you’ve got a good catch? Not necessarily. When first meeting a potential partner, people may experience a range of emotions: excitement, nerves, lust, etc. Amongst these feelings, how can you really decide if someone is right for you? In today’s episode, Sara hears from a woman who has recently been on a first date, but is unsure of the criteria she should use to decide whether or not to continue on to second or third dates.

"Have you ever felt like social media is sucking away your happiness? Sometimes it’s your best friend and makes a bad day brighter? But other times it’s your worst enemy and diminishes the joy in what would have otherwise been a great day!? In today’s episode Sara responds to a listener who is trying to navigate the comparison trap that social media brings along with it! A trap that we have all fallen into at some point in this social media era. Sara discusses, in this era, how do we protect our happiness? How do we stop comparing ourselves? And if/ how we can use social media in a way that is conducive to a happy life!"

Have you ever felt lonely? In a society that equates time with money, disdains idleness, and prizes social connections, for many, the simple state of being alone without other people around can be a foreign feeling. But does alone have to mean lonely? Today Sara hears from a career-focused individual who has a strong friend group and an array of social activities to look forward to, but has become aware of their lack of a romantic partner and feels increasingly lonely. In responding, Sara helps the writer explore how they can open themselves up to all the opportunities that may lay before them. The discussion also touches on the importance of not attempting to achieve self-fulfillment with external substitutes.

Pursuing sexual connection is a natural and exhilarating human inclination. However, humans are not only sexual creatures but emotional as well. Can sexual connection be conflated with emotional fulfillment? Does one impact the other? In this episode, Sara responds to a young woman who wants to enjoy her sexuality, but fears that having too many sexual partners may be damaging her emotional well-being. Sara helps the writer sort through some complex questions on balancing a healthy sex life with emotional stability. This episode features special guest Kate Warren, renowned DC photographer and the host of sex podcast: Insert Here!

Most people imagine that they are the master of their own destiny. But what happens when life gets in the way and dreams become just that-- dreams? In this episode, Sara hears from a recently engaged “baker,” who happens to be an accountant. Feeling financially locked into his current profession and life trajectory, this aspiring baker wonders how normal people are actually able to pursue their dreams against a backdrop of other real world responsibilities. Sara proposes some coping strategies to help the baker have a more positive outlook on his current circumstances, as well as some exercises to help him work towards long-term fulfillment. This episode features special guest Jamal Robinson of Desiar Eyewear - local DC entrepreneur and true optimist!