Your Great Journey

Today we're exploring the power of cognitive restructuring and ending anxiety by rewiring the brain. We're sharing an excerpt from the audio book "Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry." Thought patterns that are illogical or unhealthy can exacerbate anxiety or stress. Cognitive therapists focus on identifying and changing thoughts that are self-defeating or dysfunctional, particularly thoughts that lead to increased levels of anxiety or depression. This approach is known as cognitive restructuring. By changing your thoughts, you can establish new patterns of responding in the brain that become stable and lasting!

In this episode, author, coach and spiritual teacher Robert Rabbin explores the issue of addiction. He begins by breaking down the components of addiction and addresses our burning desire to break them. He asks us to look more closely. Instead of thinking of our addictions as problems waiting to be solved, he suggests that not only do we have more addictions that we may even realize, but that there is a spiritual view of addiction—addictive behavior is a sign of yearning for true freedom.

How often do you grab a meal and eat it in the car, or eat while standing over the sink, thinking about the thousand other things you need to do? When was the last time you truly savored a meal? Today we’re sharing the benefits of eating mindfully with an excerpt from psychologist Susan Albers’ audiobook “Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food.” Learn about the Buddha’s insights into mindful eating, and discover the joy of eating―and living―mindfully.

When you first meet someone special, it’s common to feel overwhelmed by your desire for them. It’s possible to fantasize a whole life with someone before we’ve ever even spoken to them! Often, our response to this attraction is, “This is the one!” But the problem with this type of desire is the danger of being caught up in romantic fantasies.

Dr. Jennifer Taitz, clinical psychologist and author of the audiobook “End Emotional Eating,” offers a four step process to help you learn how to handle urges of any kind, followed by an exercise to help you “urge surf,” to minimize the amount of self-control you need.

Psychologist Dr. David Klemanski tells us about two fields of psychological research—emotion regulation and mindfulness. Together they can provide a powerful framework for helping people gain mastery over anxiety. Dr. Klemanski is the author of the audiobook "Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life."

In this informative conversation, Dr. Karyn Hall, author of the audiobook “The Emotionally Sensitive Person,” talks about mindfulness, and why it is especially helpful for the emotionally sensitive person. She also discusses what she calls “emotional first aid” and offers some practical tips to stop feeding overwhelming emotions.

Authors of the best-selling audiobook “Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry” offer great advice about being mindful of your interpretations during stressful situations. Interpretations are often shaped by past experiences and expectations, so it sometimes takes practice to identify a more helpful way to interpret it. Having the ability to change your interpretations can often go a long way toward helping you to reduce anxiety.

What can you do when your mind is spinning and your thoughts just won’t stop? Today we’re offering a guided relaxation exercise by psychologists Dr. Colleen Carney and Dr. Rachel Mamber, authors of the audiobook "Goodnight Mind: Turn Off Your Noisy Thoughts and Get a Good Night's Sleep." This guided progressive muscle relaxation will teach you to relax muscles, release tension and experience a quiet mind.

Why do we practice meditation? When we practice meditation, what do we hope will change? In our own way, each of us is seeking liberation. If you’re seeking a life of greater introspection, freedom and love, then we hope you find inspiration in Robert Rabbin’s thoughts on the power of meditation. Robert Rabbin is the author of audiobook "The Sacred Hub: Living in the Shimmering Light of Your True Self."

There’s a "Panic Trick" that’s central to all phobias: You experience discomfort and treat it like danger. Anxiety expert and clinical psychologist Dr. David Carbonell has helped thousands of people overcome fears of all kinds. Today he’s sharing a simple, counter-intuitive approach to reducing fear, anxiety and panic.

Habit change can be challenging, so it helps to know if the benefit of a change will outweigh the effort involved. Today we’re sharing an exercise from the audiobook “The User's Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Make Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do about It,” written by psychologist Dr. Shawn Smith. This exercise will help you approach habit change the way a psychologist might: methodically and in small steps.

Bob Litwin, a Wall Street performance coach and world champion tennis player addresses the common misconception that change is difficult. In fact, change is fun and surprisingly simple. Bob offers insights from his audiobook "Live the Best Story of Your Life," about how to make change easy. Telling a new story can help you realize your unique and powerful potential. Lasting, positive change is only a story away! Bob is author of the audiobook “Live the Best Story of Your Life: A World Champion's Guide to Lasting Change.” This audiobook offers 33 personalized coaching sessions that will help you reach new levels of success in every area of your life. His groundbreaking technique of changing your story is a fast, easy and effective way to create lasting change.

Many of us have trouble regulating our intake of some foods, as well as anxiety about our eating habits. How do we get back to feeling sane and happy around food? How can we cope with the part of our mind that never stops craving and demanding more? Psychologist Dr. Lynn Rossy, author of the audiobook “The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution,” say the secret is in mindfulness eating.

Often the difference between making a rash decision and the right decision is a just matter of moments. It's much easier to break a habit when we learn to pause, assess, and then plan before we act. Even a pause of just a few moments can help us regain control. In this episode, we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook "The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit," written by psychologist Amy Johnson.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from "End Emotional Eating: Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy to Cope with Difficult Emotions and Develop a Healthy Relationship to Food" by Dr. Jennifer L. Taitz. If you’ve wondered about the science behind emotional eating, then you’ll appreciate this investigation into why we eat when we feel poorly, and how we can break free of that pattern.

Your mind is not built to make you happy; it’s built to help you survive. But in the process, it may have developed some bad habits—like avoiding new experiences or scrounging around for problems where none exist. Is it any wonder that worry, anxiety, and self-critical thoughts so often get in the way of enjoying life? Today we’re sharing an exclusive interview with psychologist Dr. Shawn Smith. He discusses his audiobook "The User's Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Make Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do about It," and offers helpful tips to eliminate worry and anxiety.

Most of us want to avoid being touched by loneliness. When we sense it coming into our awareness, we may feel nervous, fearful, angry, or frustrated—feelings we’d rather not experience. But Robert Rabbin, author of “The Sacred Hub,” has some inspiring words today about dealing with loneliness: when we make the tough decision to walk through loneliness instead of running from it, we realize there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.

Jeff Foster is a spiritual teacher and author of the audiobook Falling in Love with Where You Are. Today he asks: “What will you do with this one precious, fleeting gift of life?” The answer, he says, is simple, because life is short. Do whatever makes you feel passionately alive. Find a way – however much you have to struggle at first – of doing what moves you and connects you to the deepest truth of yourself.

What do you want more than anything in your life? You might be surprised to learn that it’s probably not what you first think! In this episode, noted psychiatrist Dr. Shelley Uram offers a simple exercise from her audiobook “Essential Living: A Guide to Having Happiness & Peace.” This exercise will help you peel back the layers to find what you want most.