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Relationships 2.0 (2014 Q3)

 

 

My Radio Show

On my radio show, Relationships 2.0, I interview guests who present their unique perspectives and expertise on topics that cover all aspects of relationships. The authors and experts I chat with offer advice and tips for understanding ourselves and others better.

 

The show airs Thursdays on:

 

AM 1520 / 99.5 FM – Las Vegas, NV – 8:00 AM (PT)

101.5 FM – Long Beach, CA – 8:00 AM (PT)

96.3 FM – Boulder, CO – 9:00 AM (MT)

87.9 FM – Colorado Springs, CO – 9:00 AM (MT)
90.3 FM – Milwaukee, WI – 10:00 AM (CT)
AM 810 / 87.9 FM – Macon, GA – 11:00 AM (ET)

94.7 FM – Pittsburgh, PA – 11:00 AM (ET)

AM 1640 / 102.1 FM – Lancaster, PA – 11:00 AM (ET)
AM 1630 / 102.1 FM – Tampa, FL – 11:00 AM (ET)

90.3 FM – Jacksonville, FL – 11:00 AM (ET)

 

If you missed the radio station broadcasts, you can download my podcasts from iTunes, or go to the podcast archive page. Some past shows are also available on the video archive page.

 

Or subscribe to my podcast

 

If you would like to search for a past show using keywords, see my blog.

 


 

JULY– SEPTEMBER, 2014

Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday September 30, 2014

This week my guest is Linda Carroll, author of Love Cycles: The Five Essential Stages of Love.

 

About the book:

In Love Cycles, veteran couples therapist Linda Carroll presents a groundbreaking model of the five natural stages of romantic relationships — the Merge, Doubt and Denial, Disillusionment, Decision, and Wholehearted Love — and a guide for navigating through them toward lasting love. Love Cycles helps readers understand where they are in the cycle of their relationship and provides a clear strategy for how to stay happy and committed, even in difficult times.

 

About the author:

Linda Carroll, MS, has worked as a couple’s therapist for more than 30 years. In addition to being a licensed psychotherapist, she is certified in Transpersonal Psychology and Imago Therapy, the highly successful form of couple’s therapy developed by Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt. She is also a master teacher in the Pairs Psychoeducation Process, a nationally-recognized relationship education program for couples.

Linda has studied many modalities of psychological and spiritual work, including Voice Dialogue with Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, Holotropic Breathwork with Dr. Stan Grof, the Four-Fold With Angeles Arrien, the Diamond Heart Work of A.H. Almaas, and training with The Couples Institute of Drs. Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson. She is also certified in the Hot Monogamy program, which helps couples create or re-create a passionate connection between them.

 

Linda works with a limited number of couples regularly in a new style of “concierge therapy,” in which she travels to their home or office for 2-6 days per year for private, all-day sessions, offering ongoing Skype and phone sessions in between. She teaches workshops and delivers keynote addresses throughout the United States and is a frequent speaker at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

 

Linda lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with her veterinarian husband, Tim Barraud, and their dog, a Jack Russell Terrier. She has five children and nine grandchildren. In 2006, her memoir, Her Mother’s Daughter, was published by Doubleday. In 2008, Remember Who You Are was published by Conari Press in San Francisco Her recent book, Love Cycles:The Five Essential Stages of Lasting Love was released in the fall of 2014 by New World Library.

 

Find her on the web at lindaacarroll.com or lovecycles.org

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday September 23, 2014

My guest this week on Relationships 2.0 is Marie Williams, author of Green Vanilla Tea: One Family’s Extraordinary Journey of Love, Hope and Remembering.

 

About the book:

Green Vanilla Tea is a true story of love and courage in the face of a deadly and little understood illness. With literary finesse, compassion, and a powerful gift of storytelling, Marie Williams writes poignantly of her husband Dominic’s struggles with early onset dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 40, and how their family found hope amidst the wreckage of a mysterious neurological condition.

 

As the condition develops and progresses, the normally devoted family man and loving partner seems to disappear beneath an expressionless facade, erratic behavior, and a relentless desire to wander that often leaves him lost. The road to diagnosis is long and confusing, and what starts off as perplexing for the family then becomes frightening. The man they love is changing, and no one seems to know why. He no longer turns up to his sons’ high school events. He falls and bumps into things. He becomes verbally disinhibited, emotionally disengaged, and, at times, belligerent. He doesn’t seem to be able to read the social cues of other people. He gets lost in familiar places, as well as on obsessive work trips overseas. He recklessly spends the family money, leaving them in near financial ruin. Despite this, Williams and her children strive to find new ways to keep him safe and to connect with the husband and father they love so dearly.

 

While the family learns to cope with Dominic’s illness—which they call the Green Goblin—Williams is determined that her children reclaim the dad of their memories. She finds creative ways to make visible the stories of the man beyond the illness, and helps them remember him as the engaged, healthy, and loving man she fell in love with. She humanizes the experience through storytelling and assembling a quilt made up of transferred photographs, painted artwork, family footprints, and personal inscriptions from family and friends. This, along with tea rituals, music, and stories of fatherhood, love and value, support them as fierce advocates for Dominic’s dignity and give the family new ways to be together as they journey through his decline. Spanning between moments of intense joy and incredible sadness, this book is a passionate testament to one family’s unconditional love for one another. It is, “a tale of a strange place—the real world— in which green goblins and hope find a way to live together.”

 

Above all, it is a love story.

 

About the author:

Marie Williams has worked as a clinical social worker in health settings, nonprofit sectors, clinical education, and private practice. She is also an artist and believes in the power of creativity and story to transform. The Australian edition of Williams’ book, Green Vanilla Tea won the national Finch Memoir Prize in 2013. Williams lives in Brisbane, Australia.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday September 16, 2014

This my guest is Robert Moss, author of The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse.

 

About the book:

Join Robert Moss for an unforgettable journey that will expand your sense of reality and confirm that there is life beyond death and in other dimensions of the multiverse. Moss describes how he lived a whole life in another world when he died at age nine in a Melbourne hospital and how he died and came back again, in another sense, in a crisis of spiritual emergence during midlife. As he shares his adventures in walking between the worlds, we begin to understand that all times — past, future, and parallel — may be accessible now. Moss presents nine keys for living consciously at the center of the multidimensional universe, embracing synchronicity, entertaining our creative spirits, and communicating with a higher Self.

 

About the author:

Robert Moss is the pioneer of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of shamanism and modern dreamwork. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming and a lively online dream school. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home.

 

The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in gthe Multiverse, Moss’ personal narrative of his experiences of dying and coming back and seeking to live consciously in the multidimensional universe, will be published in March 2014.

 

Moss is also the author of Here, Everything Is Dreaming: Poems and Stories (Excelsion Editions, 2013).

 

Moss describes himself as “a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture.” He identifies the great watershed in his adult life as a sequence of visionary events that unfolded in 1987-1988, after he decided to leave the world of big cities and the fast-track life of a popular novelist (already the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Moscow Rules) and put down roots on a farm in the upper Hudson Valley of New York. Moss started dreaming in a language he did not know that proved to be an archaic form of the Mohawk language. Helped by native speakers to interpret his dreams, Moss came to believe that they had put him in touch with an ancient healer – a woman of power – and that they were calling him to a different life.

 

Out of these experiences he wrote a series of historical novels (The Firekeeper, Fire Along the Sky, The Interpreter) and developed the practice he calls Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of contemporary dreamwork and shamanic methods of journeying and healing. A central premise of Moss’s approach is that dreaming isn’t just what happens during sleep; dreaming is waking up to sources of guidance, healing and creativity beyond the reach of the everyday mind.He introduced his method to an international audience as an invited presenter at the conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams at the University of Leiden in 1994.

 

Core techniques of Active Dreaming include:

The “lightning dreamwork” process, designed to facilitate quick dream-sharing that results in helpful action; the use of the “if it were my dream” protocol encourages the understanding that the dreamer is always the final authority on his or her dream

 

Dream reentry: the practice of making a conscious journey back inside a dream in order to clarify information, dialogue with a dream character, or move beyond nightmare terrors into healing and resolution

 

Tracking and group dreaming: conscious dream travel on an agreed itinerary by two or more partners, often supported by shamanic drumming

 

Navigating by synchronicity: reading coincidence and “symbolic pop-ups” in ordinary life as “everyday oracles”

 

Dream archaeology: melding the arts of shamanic dreaming with scholarship and detective work to access other times and cultures and bring back fresh and authentic knowledge that can be tested and verified.

 

Exploring the multiverse and the multidimensional self.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday September 9, 2014

This week my guest is Alexandra Kennedy, MA author of Honoring Grief: Creating a Space to Let Yourself Heal.

 

About the book:

If you know someone who has suffered loss and is experiencing grief, simply sending a card or flowers may seem insufficient. Many people are unsure how to comfort a friend or loved-one in times of loss. This special book is filled with inspirational wisdom, practical self-help for healing, and makes a meaningful and comforting gift.

 

Written by psychotherapist and grief expert Alexandra Kennedy, Honoring Grief provides powerful and compassionate advice for dealing with loss. Compatible with any religious or spiritual orientation, this book aims to help readers create a sanctuary—a special space where they are free to work through the difficult emotions that accompany grief.

 

The act of grieving can be overwhelming. That’s why the self-help tips in this book are simple, brief, and effective—ideal for anyone suffering the emotionally and physically exhausting effects of grief.

 

About the author:

Alexandra Kennedy, MA is a psychotherapist in private practice since 1976 and author of Losing a Parent (HarperCollins, 1991) and The Infinite Thread: Healing Relationships Beyond Loss (Beyond Words, April 2001), Offerings at the Edge (iUniverse 2007), and How Did I Miss All This Before? Waking Up to the Magic of Our Ordinary Lives (iUniverse, 2010).

 

She was stunned by the power of her grief when her father was diagnosed with cancer in November 1988—even though she had been a psychotherapist for fourteen years and had attended death and dying workshops with Stephen Levine. Her father died three months later. She wrote Losing a Parent in the year following his death, sharing not only the story of her father’s dying and her grieving but also the resources and strategies that helped her move through her grief while raising a family. Since then, she has devoted much of her therapy practice, teaching, and writing to grief. In 2001 The Infinite Thread was published, with an emphasis on healing relationships beyond loss, along with issues not commonly explored, such as the grief handed down through generations. Her most recent book How Did I Miss All This Before?, an intimate account of courageous spiritual transformation in the midst of life’s common challenges, is written for everyone wishing to find greater openness to life in each precious moment.

 

Alexandra lectures at universities, professional organizations and major conferences. Weaving together inspiring case histories, practical advice, and experiential exercises, she provides a unique perspective to grieving through her work with the imagination. She also offers lectures, workshops and seminars on facing loss as an opening to the sacred, the loss of a parent, healing relationships beyond loss, dreams as messengers of the night, women’s spirituality, mid-life renewal, the power of the imagination, the empty nest, and related issues.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday September 2, 2014

This week my guest is Antonio Sausys, MA, CMT, RYT author of Yoga for Grief Relief: Simple practices for transforming your grieving mind & body.

 

About the book:

If you’ve experienced loss, you may feel intense emotional or even physical pain. In fact, it’s not uncommon for grieving people to experience depression, anxiety, fatigue, and a variety of other physical, mental, and spiritual symptoms. If you’ve tried other ways to move beyond your loss but have yet to find relief, you may be surprised to discover the transformative effects of yoga.

 

Yoga for Grief Relief combines over 100 illustrations of gentle yogic poses and the power of psychophysiology and neuroscience to help you recapture a true sense of well-being. You’ll also find breathing exercises, cleansing techniques, and self-relaxation tips to help you work through your loss and begin on the journey to self-knowledge and re-identification. At its core, yoga is about accepting change. If you are open to viewing your loss as an opportunity for growth, this book will help transform your grief with gentle clarity and awareness.

 

To find out more, visit yogaforgriefrelief.com

 

About the author:

Antonio Sausys, MA, CMT, RYT, is a somatic psychotherapist and yoga instructor specializing in one-on-one yoga therapy for people with chronic and acute medical conditions, as well as emotional imbalance. He studied with yoga masters and teachers such as Indra Devi, Swami Maitreyananda, and Larry Payne. He has continued his professional development with training in integrative grief therapy with Lyn Prashant, foot reflexology, Swedish therapeutic massage, and Reiki. Antonio teaches and lectures periodically at the University of California, Berkeley; at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. He is a member of the World Yoga Council, the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. He is the founder and executive director of Yoga for Health—the International Yoga Therapy Conference, and television host for YogiViews.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday August 26, 2014

This week I will be interviewed by my colleague and friend Shawn T. Smith, PsyD about my new book, Love Me Don’t Leave Me: Overcoming Fear of Abandonment and Building Lasting, Loving Relationships.

 

About my guest host:

Shawn T. Smith, PsyD, is a psychologist in private practice in Denver, CO. He is author of the book The User’s Guide to the Human Mind, and writes a blog at ironshrink.com. Smith enjoys various manly activities, including being a husband and father. He lives with his wife and daughter, and their dog.

 

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, is a therapist who lives and works in San Francisco. She has provided brief and long-term therapy for individuals and couples utilizing schema, cognitive, behavioral and mindfulness-based therapies to address interpersonal issues, weight management, anger, depression, anxiety, disabilities, and trauma. Skeen has studied schema therapy under Jeffrey Young PhD and Wendy Behary and completed her postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of Love Me Don’t Leave Me: Overcoming Fear of Abandonment and Building Lasting, Loving Relationships and The Critical Partner: How to End the Cycle of Criticism and Get the Love You Want. Michelle is coauthor of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Interpersonal Problems: Using Mindfulness, Acceptance and Schema Awareness to Change Interpersonal Behaviors and The Interpersonal Problems Workbook: ACT to End Painful Relationship Patterns. She is currently working on her fifth book for New Harbinger Publications. Michelle is part-time faculty at Notre Dame de Namur University. She hosts a weekly radio show called Relationships 2.0 with Dr. Michelle Skeen on KCAA-1050AM.

 

To find out more about Michelle Skeen, PsyD visit her website at: michelleskeen.com, “like” her on Facebook MichelleSkeenPsyD, and follow her on twitter @michelle_skeen.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday August 19, 2014

My guest this week is Christopher Willard PsyD, author of Mindfulness for Teen Anxiety: A Workbook for Overcoming Anxiety at Home, at School, and Everywhere Else.

About the book:
Being a teen is hard enough without anxiety getting in the way. You are changing more than ever before, not just physically, but mentally. And if you suffer from panic attacks, chronic worry, and feelings of isolation, it can be very difficult to meet your goals and succeed. The good news is that there are real, powerful ways that you can take control of your anxiety—and your life!

 

In Mindfulness for Teen Anxiety, psychologist and learning specialist Christopher Willard offers teens like you proven-effective, mindfulness-based practices to help you cope with your anxiety, identify common triggers (such as dating or school performance), learn valuable time-management skills, and feel more calm at home, at school, and with friends.

 

You’ll learn tips for dealing with specific situations that cause anxiety, such as public speaking, social anxiety, test anxiety, and more. You’ll also learn special breathing exercises to help calm you in moments of panic, and guided visualization exercises to help you stay cool and collected, even in the tensest situations.

 

If you are ready to move past your anxiety, panic, and worry and start living the life you were meant to live, this book will be your guide—every step of the way.

 

About the author:

Christopher Willard received his Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, where he first became interested in meditation. Over the past ten years, he has attended workshops and retreats with a number of Buddhist teachers including Thich Nhat Hanh, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chodron, Noah Levine, and others in both the U.S. and in Asia.

 

In the past few years, he has taught meditation to a wide range of people, from young children to recently paroled murderers, to psychotherapists. He completed his postdoctoral training in clinical psychology at Tufts University where he now works as a psychotherapist. He has consulted to and been quoted in a number of print and online publications. Christopher lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and when not working he enjoys traveling, cooking, hiking, reading and any combination of these he can manage.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday August 12, 2014

This week my guest is Jamie Beckman author of The Frisky 30-Day Breakup Guide.

 

About the book:

Bad breakup? You’re in good company! Women everywhere know that those first days after the end of a relationship can be the hardest. The Frisky 30-Day Breakup Guide takes the focus off of your ex and puts it back on you.

 

Each day offers fun activities to help you move on, including:

 

• Going on an exciting road trip – Day 5

• Buying a sexy new dress – Day 8

• Planning a fabulous, girls-only party – Day 15
• Donating your time to a worthy cause – Day 21

 

Plus advice and wisdom from celebrities like Audrina Patridge, Colbie Caillat and Vivica A. Fox. Hey, this is your sexy, vibrant, exciting life. So go ahead: get back to the real, fabulous you!

 

About the author:

Jamie Beckman is a freelance magazine writer, columnist for the women’s website SheKnows.com and its Sexcerpts relationships-news blog, and the author of the book The Frisky 30-Day Breakup Guide. She has worked as a writer and editor since she graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

 

Jamie has written about health, nutrition, fitness, relationships, sex, and style for publications and websites including Redbook, USA TODAY, the L.A. Times, Health, Men’s Journal, Men’s Health, Best Life, Better Homes and Gardens, First for Women, Publishers Weekly, The Frisky, BudgetTravel.com, CNN.com, The Good Men Project, CMJ.com, and Crushable.com. Her favorite interview was Animal House’s Flounder — very nice guy.

 

Jamie has been quoted as a relationships expert in media outlets including Seventeen magazine, the Orange County Register, FoxNews.com, the Seattle Times, the Sacramento Bee, CondéNastTraveler.com, and BlogHer.com and contributed a personal essay to the 2012 anthology Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop. She judged the 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel awards.

 

She lives in New York City.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday August 5, 2014

This week my guest is Mark Purcell PsyD, author of Mindfulness for Teen Anger: A Workbook to Overcome Anger and Aggression Using MBSR and DBT Skills.

 

About the book:

Do you ever feel so frustrated with school, friends, parents, and life in general that you lose control of your emotions and lash out? You shouldn’t feel ashamed. Being a teen in today’s world is hard, but it’s even harder when you’re unable to keep your cool in stressful situations. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make positive changes in your life.

 

Using proven effective mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), Mindfulness for Teen Anger will teach you the difference between healthy and unhealthy forms of anger. Inside, you’ll learn how to make better choices, how to stop overreacting, find emotional balance, and be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment. You’ll also learn skills for building positive relationships with peers, friends, and family.

 

As a teen, the relationship skills you learn now can help you thrive in the future. With a little help, and by cultivating compassion and understanding for yourself and others, you will be able to transform your fear and anger into confidence and kindness.

 

About the author:

Mark Purcell is a clinical psychologist, professor, and author.

 

He has been working with youth and families for over twenty years. His professional experience has ranged from providing psychotherapy to youth to developing specialized treatment programs and teaching professionals and graduate students. Mark has particular interests in Mindfulness based therapeutic approaches, such as DBT and MBSR, as well as treating trauma and substance abuse.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday July 29, 2014

This week my guest is Nicola P. Wright PhD CPsych co-author of Treating Psychosis: A Clinician’s Guide to Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Mindfulness Approaches within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tradition.

 

About the book:

Psychosis can be associated with a variety of mental health problems, including schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders. While traditional treatments for psychosis have emphasized medication-based strategies, evidence now suggests that individuals affected by psychosis can greatly benefit from psychotherapy.

 

Treating Psychosis is an evidence-based treatment guide for mental health professionals working with individuals affected by psychosis. Using a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach that incorporates acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT) and mindfulness approaches, this book is invaluable in helping clinicians develop effective treatment for clients affected by psychosis. The guide provides session-by-session clinical interventions for use in individual or group treatment on an inpatient, outpatient, or community basis.

 

The book features 40 reproducible clinical practice forms and a companion website with additional downloadable clinical forms and tools, guided exercises, case examples, and resources. The therapeutic approaches presented are rooted in theory and research, and informed by extensive clinical experience working with client populations affected by psychosis. The approaches outlined in this book offer clinicians and clients the opportunity to partner in developing therapeutic strategies for problematic symptoms to enable those affected by psychosis to work toward valued goals and ultimately live more meaningful lives.

 

This guide emphasizes a compassionate, de-stigmatizing approach that integrates empowering and strengths-oriented methods that place the client’s values and goals at the center of any therapeutic intervention.

 

About the author:

Nicola P. Wright, PhD, CPsych, is a clinical psychologist in the schizophrenia program of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (The Royal). She also held the roles of chief of psychology and director of training for the Royal’s Psychology Residency Program and served as president of the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs. Wright provides individual and group therapy, as well as professional training workshops, integrating acceptance and commitment; mindfulness; and compassion-focused approaches in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for people who experience psychosis. Wright is an active researcher and clinical professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa and a lecturer with the department of psychiatry, University of Ottawa. In addition, she is a founding member of the Canadian Association of CBT and a staff supervisor with the Beck Institute of CBT. Wright lives in Ottawa, Canada.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday July 22, 2014

This my guest is Amy J. L. Baker, PhD, author of Co-parenting with a Toxic Ex: What to Do When Your Ex-Spouse Tries to Turn the Kids Against You.

 

About the book:

There’s no question about it: your children are the most important thing in your life. But if you have gone through a messy divorce, your relationship with your children may become strained if you have to deal with a toxic ex. Your ex may bad-mouth you in front of the kids, accuse you of being a bad parent, and even attempt to replace you in the children’s lives with a new partner. As a result, your children may become confused, conflicted, angry, anxious, or depressed—and you may feel powerless.

 

In Co-parenting with a Toxic Ex, a nationally recognized parenting expert offers you a positive parenting approach to dealing with a hostile ex-spouse. You’ll learn to avoid the most common mistakes of coparenting, how to avoid “parental alienation syndrome,” and effective techniques for talking to your children in a way that fosters open and honest response. In addition, you’ll learn how to protect your children from painful loyalty conflicts between you and your ex-spouse.

 

Divorce is often painful, especially if your ex habitually tries to undermine your relationship with your children. But with the right tools you can protect your kids and make your relationship with them stronger than ever. This book can show you how.

 

About the author:

Amy J. L. Baker, PhD, is a national expert on children caught in loyalty conflicts and has written a seminal book on the topic, Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome, published by W.W. Norton and Company. In addition to conducting trainings around the country for parents as well as legal and mental health professionals, Baker has written dozens of scholarly articles on topics related to parent-child relationships and has appeared on national TV, including Good Morning America, CNN, and the Joy Behar Show. She has been quoted in the New York Times and US News and World Report, among other print media outlets. Baker graduated from Barnard College, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She has a PhD in human development from Teachers College, Columbia University. More information is available on her website at www.amyjlbaker.com.

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday July 15, 2014

This week my guest is Karen Maezen Miller author of Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life.

 

About the book:

It’s easy to think that meaning, fulfillment, and bliss are “out there,” somewhere outside of our daily routine. But in this playful yet profound reflection on awareness, the compelling voice of a contemporary woman reveals the happiness at the bottom of the laundry basket, the love in the kitchen sink, and the peace possible in one’s own backyard. Follow Karen Maezen Miller through youthful ambition and self-absorption, beyond a broken marriage, and into the steady calm of a so-called ordinary life. In her hands, household chores and caregiving tasks become opportunities for self-examination, lessons in relationship, and liberating moments of selflessness. With attention, it’s the little things — even the unexpected, unpleasant, and unwanted things — that count.

 

About the author:

Karen Maezen Miller is a wife and mother as well as a Zen Buddhist priest at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She and her family live in Sierra Madre, California, with a century-old Japanese garden in their backyard. She writes about spirituality in everyday life. She is the author of Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood, and her writing is included in numerous anthologies.

 

www.karenmaezenmiller.com

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday July 8, 2014

This week my guest is Thomas Roberts, LCSW, LMFT, author of Beginner’s Eye: Contemplative Photography for the Soul.

 

About the book:

Explore how photography can allow you to see things in ways that you may have otherwise missed.

 

Beginner’s Eye is a unique contemplative/meditation experience that utilizes photography to slow things down and enhance the way we see our world in novel and original ways. This allows us to uncover the color, texture and beauty that is normally hidden from view.

 

Beginner’s Eye is based on the Zen notion of “beginner’s mind; ” that open and spacious place when we are completely receptive, fearless, totally present and connected to the wonder of each moment. A pure clear contemplative seeing awareness where everything is fresh and new.

 

Cultivating Beginner’s Eye deepens our connection with our true selves and our world around us; ultimately emphasizing our “being serene in the oneness of things.” You do not need to be a photographer in order to become a comtemplative photographer through the experience of Beginner’s Eye. It is not about what you see; rather how you see it. The meditative/contemplative approach of Beginner’s Eye will help you notice things in the world as if seeing them for the first time.

 

Let the photograph find you!

 

From the author:

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: thomasrobertsllc.com

 

 


Relationships 2.0 on Tuesday July 1, 2014

This week my guest is Rona Renner RN author of Is That Me Yelling?: A Parent’s Guide to Getting Your Kids to Cooperate Without Losing Your Cool.

 

About the book:

Being a parent is hard work! And when your child refuses to do even the little things—like picking up their toys, taking a bath, or getting in the car to go to school—it’s easy to become frustrated. But what if there was a gentle, effective way for you to improve your kid’s behavior without losing your cool or raising your voice? In Is That Me Yelling? leading authority on parenting, Rona Renner outlines effective communication strategies that focus on your child’s unique temperament.

 

While most books on discipline are “one size fits all,” this book offers a tailored parenting approach. Inside, you will learn powerful mindfulness techniques based in cognitive behavioral theory (CBT) and temperament theory to help reduce conflict and foster cooperation, respect, and understanding in your family. You will also learn the real reasons behind your frustration, how your unique temperament, as well as your child’s, can contribute to you losing your temper, and how you can start feeling calm and connecting with your child in a positive way, right away.

 

As a parent, you are often under a great deal of stress. Between helping your child with their homework, running a household, and working, it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed at times. But that’s why you need real, practical solutions to help you communicate effectively and compassionately with your children in a way that will benefit you both. This book will show you how.

 

To learn more, visit www.nurserona.com.

 

About the author:

Rona Renner, RN, graduated from Brooklyn College School of Nursing in 1966, and she has since been dedicated to solving problems and helping people reduce their suffering. Her extensive experience includes working in medical hospitals and mental health programs in New York City and California; training women in childbirth preparation in Zaire, Africa (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo); helping to start a learning disabilities program in Pune, India; and providing parent education and ADHD and temperament counseling at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. Renner was the founder of the Childhood Matters and Nuestros Niños call-in parenting radio shows, and hosted the Childhood Matters radio show for ten years. She currently consults and teaches classes for mental health professionals, teachers, and parents throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Her greatest teachers have been her four children, two grandsons, and her husband Mick. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

 

 


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