Your Great Journey

How many times a day do you criticize or judge yourself? In this episode, psychologist Dr. Lynn Rossy shares a short guided meditation from her audiobook "The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution: Proven Strategies to End Overeating, Satisfy Your Hunger, and Savor Your Life." This guided mindfulness practice will help you notice thoughts without judgment or trying to change what arises. You can learn to not be affected by your thoughts and relate to them in a way that ends their control of you and your behavior.

We all have access to a deep well of inner wisdom—a source we can draw on for clarity when determining the best course of action in any area of life. But when we’re in the midst of stressful and challenging times, it can be difficult to access inner wisdom. 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. Dr. Johnson draws on a powerful combination of neuroscience and spirituality to illustrate a profound truth: your mental patterns are the result of simple brain wiring that can be easily changed. Today Dr. Johnson discusses the spiritual component of breaking a habit—though the advice she shares applies to any area of life where we need to access inner wisdom—the deep knowing of our true self.

We know we should probably meditate, but we may find ourselves distracted by dozens of different impulses the second we try to clear our minds. The benefits of practices like mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are well known, but many people still struggle to keep up a consistent meditation practice. Today we’re sharing an excerpt from an audiobook full of mindfulness techniques: MBSR Every Day: Daily Practices from the Heart of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction by Dr. Elisha Goldstein and Dr. Bob Stahl. In this episode, Drs. Goldstein and Stahl address the problem that many people have with meditation: it’s harder than it seems! They identify five common obstacles that can derail your best efforts to meditate, as well as five antidotes to those obstacles. If you’re looking for a little less frustration on the path to being more present, today’s episode is a great place to start!

How many times have you heard people say that change is hard, or painful? In today’s episode, Bob Litwin, a Wall Street performance coach and world champion tennis player, addresses the common misconception that change is difficult. In fact, if you tell a new story, change can be fun and surprisingly simple. 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.

What are you really hungry for? Is it food, happiness, or something else? Dr. Lynn Rossy is a clinical psychologist, expert in mindful eating, and author of the audiobook “The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution.” Dr. Rossy has discovered a few simple truths: diets don’t work, and mindfulness is the secret weapon that will help to revolutionize your relationship with food. Today we’re sharing an exclusive interview with Dr. Rossy. She offers her insights on mindfulness and specifically, mindful eating, which helps create healthy eating patterns. She talks about one of the most freeing and radical ideas in her audiobook: there are no forbidden foods. She gives some actionable tips that will help set you on the road to a healthy, nourishing relationship with food. If you’re ready to say goodbye to confusion, shame and despair, and open the door to peace, enjoyment and self-acceptance, then you’ll appreciate this lively and information-packed interview.

Have there been times when you found yourself so angry that you couldn’t see straight? Have reactions that seemed justified in the moment later turned out to be inappropriate and damaging, leaving you feeling regretful? If you’ve had these experiences, today’s episode can help you understand overreactions and choose healthy responses instead of flying off the handle. Today we have an excerpt from the audiobook "Stop Overreacting: Effective Strategies for Calming Your Emotions" written by marriage and family therapist Judith Siegel. "Stop Overreacting" helps you learn how to neutralize overwhelming emotions and choose healthy responses instead of losing control. In this episode Judith Siegel discusses the factors that can lead to overreacting. She talks about two different patterns of overreacting: exploding and imploding, as well as why we react the way we do. Understanding overreactions is a helpful step in learning to respond rationally in moments of stress and crisis.

The amygdala is a part of the brain that is the source of many of our emotional reactions—both positive and negative—and it plays an influential role in anxiety. Understanding the amygdala is an important foundation in learning how to change your brain—and reduce anxiety. In today’s episode we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook “Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry,” by Catherine Pittman, PhD and Elizabeth Karle. This audiobook is an evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety based in cutting-edge neuroscience and research. You’ll learn how anxiety is created in the brain, as well as techniques to overcome it. Your brain is a powerful tool, and the more you focus on changing the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you’ll become. This excerpt offers an understanding of the amygdala and anxiety, which is an important step in learning to change your brain and overcome anxiety.

Do you feel caught in a trap where life looks like a never-ending to-do list without enough time to do get everything done? Pushing yourself too hard for too long can lead to fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout. Today we’re sharing a short guided meditation you can listen to anytime you need to take a brief time out from other people and endless tasks—and restore your energy. In this episode, we present an excerpt from the audiobook “The Awakened Introvert: Practical Mindfulness Skills to Help You Maximize Your Strengths & Thrive in a Loud & Crazy World” by psychotherapist and mindfulness expert Dr. Arnie Kozak. While it is primarily for introverts, it’s a helpful resource for anyone looking to feel more calm and peaceful. 
Dr. Kozak offers tips for how to protect your energy throughout the day, followed by a short guided meditation that will help you feel rested, recharged and renewed.

What is the secret to overcoming loneliness? How can you can learn to live with, or even embrace, those moments when you feel alone? In this episode, we're sharing a helpful excerpt from Dr. Karyn Hall’s audiobook "The Emotionally Sensitive Person: Finding Peace When Your Emotions Overwhelm You." In this audiobook, Dr. Hall shares proven-effective cognitive behavioral and mindfulness techniques designed to help you cope with intense emotions. In this episode Dr. Hall addresses one of the most pervasive and least discussed taboos in our culture: loneliness. In her discussion of loneliness, Dr. Hall lifts the veil and reveals how common it is to feel lonely, and she offers some inspiring and helpful tools for overcoming loneliness.

Do you ever find yourself wishing your life were different than it is? If only we could wave a magic wand and fix the annoying job, the inconsiderate friend, or the distant partner. But we can’t. The good new is, we don’t need to. Chuck Hillig, author of the audiobook "Seeds for the Soul: Living as the Source of Who You Are" shares a profound insight: the key to how to live your best life isn’t outside you—it’s within you. Chuck speaks to those who are looking to take control of our lives and escape the feelings of helplessness that often plague periods of stress and pain. He believes that you can live your best life by beginning to look at your feelings and experiences differently. He inspires us to explore our own vast potential and start taking ownership of our lives and live as the source of who we are.

We all know the gnawing feeling of needing to have a difficult conversation with someone. While the conversation could improve things in the long term, in the short term our fear can win out and cause us to avoid it. The good news is that there are simple skills that can help us learn how to have difficult conversations. Today we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook “The Assertiveness Guide for Women: How to Communicate Your Needs, Set Healthy Boundaries, and Transform Your Relationships” by psychotherapist Julie de Azevedo Hanks. If you’ve ever been bothered by a friend, coworker, child or partner, but found yourself uncertain about how to have a difficult conversation with that person, you’ll appreciate these concrete steps. You'll learn how to create a situation where your message, intent, mind, and heart will be heard and respected by another person. You can feel comfortable having even the most challenging conversations!

What if, instead of trying to fix the problems in your life, you decided that you wanted to do something different? What if you wanted to be miserable? How would you go about it, and what would you learn about yourself? This counter-intuitive approach to how to feel happy can actually point you in the direction of a life of contentment. Today we have a conversation with psychologist Dr. Randy Paterson author of the audiobook “How To Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use.” Dr. Paterson talks about his new audiobook and the power of flipping the question and asking: If I wanted to, how would I make myself miserable? He shares tips and exercises to identify the ways you may already be sabotaging your well-being, as well as ways to break out of old, unhealthy patterns. Gaining insight into how to feel happy can be found in this simple and unusual technique.

Many of us over-think the problems in our lives. Maybe you over-think your relationships or eating habits. Perhaps you worry compulsively. You may even have started to over-think over-thinking! If you’ve ever wished you could stop over-thinking, this simple guided meditation may help. In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Taitz discusses the pitfalls of rumination. Dr. Taitz is the author of the audiobook, “End Emotional Eating: Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Cope with Difficult Emotions and Develop a Healthy Relationship to Food.” Today she walks us through the links between over-thinking and suppression, avoidance, and distress—and offers a way to stop over-thinking with a soothing and centering guided mediation. This meditation is designed to bring you out of your thoughts and into the present moment.

Many destructive habits that you might feel are self-sabotaging, are actually a misguided attempt at self-love. According to psychologist Amy Johnson, “It’s you doing the best you can in the moment to feel better, driven by love for yourself and a deep desire for wellness.” In this episode we present an excerpt from Dr. Amy Johnson’s audiobook “The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit.” Drawing on a powerful combination of neuroscience and spirituality, this audiobook shows you that your habits and addictions are the result of simple brain wiring that can be easily changed. Dr. Johnson shares an enlightening new way of understanding what you might think of as destructive habits. You’ll see them as useful indicators that you’re in a low state of mind. In those moments, there is a solution—you can step back and let your natural, peaceful state of mind take over.

Mindfulness is a "superpower" that has been proven to help reduce anxiety, depression and stress while strengthening emotional stamina. In this episode, mental health therapist Sheri Van Dijk introduces the basic techniques regarding how to practice mindfulness. You’ll learn where to start and what mindfulness can do for you. You will learn three basic mindfulness exercises, which will help you become more present and receptive in the moment—and calmer in an emotional storm.

Most us go through life trying to avoid pain, but it inevitably finds us. When we experience the crisis of heartbreak, illness or misfortune, often our impulse is to despair and sink into ourselves. However, there is often a transformative power in pain and crisis. Your struggles can become the personal growth that influences your life for the best. In this episode we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook “Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life,” by Doctors Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok. If you’ve been touched by tragedy or set back by challenges, we hope you’ll find this episode inspiring.

Being kind to yourself and opening your heart to others are two important aspects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a clinically proven program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Simple mindfulness practices can enhance the experience of connection we feel with ourselves and with others. In this episode, Drs. Elisha Goldstein and Bob Stahl discuss the power of small acts of kindness and generosity — for ourselves and for others. The best place to start practicing these simple mindfulness practices may be with yourself!

In this episode, Chuck Hillig takes on a big, amorphous subject: Feelings. If you’re hesitant to feel your feelings or address them head on, then this audiobook excerpt may inspire you to investigate your own misconceptions about feelings. Chuck asks us to consider the possibility that there is no such thing as a “good or bad” feeling. In fact, there is liberation in feeling everything!

What is it about ambiguity that sends us into spirals of anxiety, depression or panic? How do we overcome the unexpected, and the unplanned? If you wake up tomorrow morning and your life is fundamentally different than it is today, how would you fare? In this episode, we discuss why ambiguous situations often trigger anxiety. You’ll come to have a better understanding of your fear of the unknown, and learn how to live freely and confidently in a world full of unexpected happenings.

We're all imperfect. What would life be like if we practiced more self-kindness—instead of fear and hate—toward our imperfections? While stress is an unavoidable part of life, practicing self-compassion is an effective way to reduce reduce stress. Although we often consider it normal, stress can actually lead to anxiety, depression, and even chronic pain.