Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Helene Segura author of The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer About the book: Slay Procrastination, Distraction, and Overwhelm! Who doesn’t want more time and energy for family, friends, and personal passions? Author Helene Segura coaches real people in the real world to operate more efficiently during the workday, so they can have a life outside it. Her engaging time management program caters to diverse learning styles, offering case studies that allow readers to self-diagnose and zero in on the strategies most appropriate for them. Anyone wanting to streamline workflow and improve productivity can employ her wonderfully doable techniques — for clearing task lists, handling reminder systems, scheduling a variety of priorities, and even managing emails and phone calls. Thanks to Segura’s astute attention to personality, The Inefficiency Assassin meets readers where they are struggling and details quick and easy-to-imple

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Cara Bradley author of On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine About the book: In the final race of her college track career, Cara Bradley beat her personal best by a remarkable six seconds. Until then Bradley had been a so-so athlete hampered by pre-race jitters and self-doubt. But on this day Bradley was buoyed by a sense of calm confidence. She set about understanding how she could replicate this experience in every area of life. She has distilled what she found into four practices, four shift strategies, and a series of gut-check reminders for moving out of over-thinking and over-doing and into being fully awake and alive– clear, bright, confident. These techniques for settling busy mind, putting body and mind in sync, and cultivating awareness and strength are simple but require practice and attention, which Bradley coaches readers to apply daily. The reward is what she calls “high definition, high voltage living,” the ability to experience what Bradley did o

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Emma Seppälä PhD author of The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success About the book: A leading expert on health psychology, well-being, and resilience argues that happiness is the key to fast tracking our professional and personal success. Everyone wants to be happy and successful. And yet the pursuit of both has never been more elusive. As work and personal demands rise, we try to keep up by juggling everything better, moving faster, and doing more. While we might succeed in the short term, it comes at a cost to our well-being, relationships, and, paradoxically, our productivity. In The Happiness Track, Emma Seppala, the science director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, explains that our inability to achieve sustainable fulfillment is tied to common but outdated notions about success. We are taught that getting ahead means doing everything that’s thrown at us (and

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Donald Altman author of Clearing Emotional Clutter: Mindfulness Practices for Letting Go of What’s Blocking Your Fulfillment and Transformation About the book: A Fresh Start to a Healthy Emotional Life Is emotional clutter blocking success in your personal and professional life? You’ve likely heard about the psychological benefits of clearing out the clutter in your surroundings, but how do you handle your emotional clutter — the psychological version of the jam-packed closet or impenetrable garage? Shutting away and trying to hide old pains and traumas creates toxic patterns that can keep you from having the life of your dreams. Integrating mindfulness and cutting-edge neuroscience, international mindfulness expert Donald Altman teaches how to modify entrenched habits and patterns with only a few minutes of attention daily. Altman first helps you realize what your baggage consists of and how to transform or jettison it. He then shows how to avoid the daily dange

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Hugh Byrne PhD author of The Here and Now Habit: How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealthy Habits Once and For All About the book: Bad habits can take a hefty toll on your health and happiness. In The Here-and-Now Habit, mindfulness expert Hugh Byrne provides powerful practices based in mindfulness and neuroscience to help you rewire your brain and finally break the habits that are holding you back from a meaningful life. Have you found yourself doing something and thinking, Why do I keep doing this? We all have an unhealthy habit—or two, or three. Yours may be as simple as wasting time on the Internet, constantly checking your e-mail, or spending too much time in front of the TV. Or, it may be more serious, like habitual drinking, emotional overeating, constant self-criticism, or chronic worrying. Whatever your harmful habit is—you have the power to break it. The Here-and-Now-Habit provides proven-effective techniques to help you stop existing on autopilot an

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Matt McKay PhD author of Seeking Jordan: How I Learned the Truth about Death and the Invisible Universe. About the book: If you have lost someone you deeply love, or have become strongly aware of your mortality, it’s hard to avoid wondering about life after death, the existence of God, notions of heaven and hell, and why we are here in the first place. The murder of Matthew McKay’s son, Jordan, sent him on a journey in search of ways to communicate with his son despite fears and uncertainty. Here he recounts his efforts — including past-life and between-lives hypnotic regressions, a technique called induced after-death communication, channeled writing, and more. McKay, a psychologist and researcher, ultimately learned how to reach his son. In this book he provides extraordinary revelations — direct from Jordan — about the soul’s life after death, how karma works, why we incarnate, why there is so much pain in the world, the single force that connects us, and our f

About the book: My teacher gave me an A… by mistake. What do I do? Teens face tough choices like this one every day. Help’s arrived! Whether it’s about the use of the internet (downloading music? copying homework papers?) or sports (steroids?), friendship, family, school, or affairs of the heart, kids often find themselves asking: What’s the right thing to do? With five simple and clear ethical principles as a foundation, and plenty of out-of-real-life dilemmas as examples, Dr. Bruce Weinstein offers answers and an approach to things that teens will find useful, reliable, and commonsensical. About the author: Dr. Bruce Weinstein, The Ethics Guy, believes that the key to success in business is having not just emotional intelligence, but ethical intelligence, too. He shows how to improve your ethics IQ and leadership skills, which will strengthen the relationships you have with colleagues, clients, family, friends, and folks in the community.He is a contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek’s Management Blog. H

This week on Relationships 2.0 my special guest is James R. Doty, MD author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. About the book: Extraordinary things happen when we harness the power of both the brain and the heart. Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the br

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Kira Asatryan author of Stop Being Lonely: Three Simple Steps to Developing Close Friendships and Deep Relationships About the book: Loneliness isn’t something that happens only when we are physically alone. It can also happen when we are with people. Online friends, followers, or “likers” don’t necessarily add up to much when you crave fulfilling interaction, and satisfying, long-term relationships are not a mystery to be left up to chance (or technology). The good news is that, according to relationship coach Kira Asatryan, loneliness has a reliable antidote: the feeling of closeness. We can and should cultivate closeness in our relationships using the steps outlined in this book: knowing, caring, and mastering closeness. Whether with romantic partners, friends, family members, or business colleagues, these techniques will help you establish true closeness with others. The simple and straightforward actions Asatryan presents in this wonderfully practical book wi

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Linda Carroll author of Love Cycles: The Five Essential Stages of Lasting Love. Whether you are in a new relationship or you’ve been partnered for years, you will benefit from Linda’s relationship expertise. 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

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Dan Millman, author of The Four Purposes of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World About the book: The literal millions who have read Dan Millman’s books know that he approaches the complex topic of life’s meaning with a unique and exceedingly appealing blend of wisdom, wit, and practicality. His insights connect with people where they are — and then move them forward. Those at a crossroads, facing a challenge, or simply seeking a deeper understanding of themselves and the workings of the world will find realistic, doable action steps. These practices amount to the kind of “Humanity Curriculum” many of us never studied. As readers Learn Life’s Lessons, Find Career and Calling, Discover Life’s Path, Attend to the Arising Moment, and for “extra credit,” Explore Spiritual Purpose, insights accumulate. Direction is clarified and the authentic and unique life purpose each of us is meant to live illuminated. About the author: Most people who’ve read Wa

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Shawn T. Smith, author of Is He Worth It? How to Spot the Hidden Traits of Good Men. About the book: Where are the good men? Good men are everywhere, and they are looking for terrific women. So why are they hard to find? And why do so many women make life-altering mistakes by choosing the wrong men? The answer is distressingly simple. Good men don’t always know how to attract women, and women don’t always recognize good men. It’s as if there is a wall between the most compatible people. But don’t despair! Is He Worth It? holds time-tested wisdom for spotting good men who are searching for great relationships. You’ll learn… The three pillars of a good man. Great relationships begin with the best raw material. Men of character possess these basic traits. The twelve-point man inspection. Men who succeed in relationships have the right tools for lasting romance. This quiz will help you evaluate his relationship readiness. Ten self-deceptions that lead to costly r

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guests are SARK and Dr. John Waddell authors of Succulent Wild Love: Six Poweful Habits For Feeling More Love More Often About the book: A new philosophy of love and relationships for everyone Relationships do not require compromise or sacrifice You can create joyful solutions instead SARK has made a career out of sharing her personal, journal-like writings and art, and inspiring others with her vulnerable and honest journeys toward self-acceptance. She has helped her legions of fans craft lives filled with joy, creativity, and self-love — and she even married herself in a “statement of self-liberation” described in Succulent Wild Woman. And yet SARK had one big secret wish: overcoming her fears to commit to an intimate life partnership. So she embarked on a “Covert Love Operation,” and, after much soul-shaping, it culminated in her meeting psychologist and spiritual teacher Dr. John Waddell — and discovering Succulent Wild Love. They now teach and mentor together using the

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Ruth Danner author of Making a World of Difference One Quilt at a Time: Inspiring Stories about Quilters and How They Have Touched Lives About the book: Quilts exemplify precious things: comfort through the warmth they provide; community, since they are often created by groups; and love, given the time and effort they require. With this in mind, legions of kindhearted quilters all over the world choose to donate their labors of love to people in need. Ruth McHaney Danner has gathered fifty-four heartwarming stories of quilters who make their compassion tangible one stitch, square, and quilt at a time. Each story introduces a quilter or group of quilters, ranging from a blind woman in Texas to preschoolers in Australia. Their gifts have the power to make recipients feel cherished and supported, even though they may never meet face-to-face. These wonderfully inspiring stories show that every quilter who has ever wondered, “But what can I do?” can do something that wil

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Kelly Skeen co-author of Communication Skills for Teens: How To Listen, Express & Connect for Success. About the book: If you’re like most teens, a ton of your communication is done through texting and social media. But when you spend so much time looking at a screen, it’s easy to forget how to engage in real-life, face-to-face communication — a critical skill for your future success! As you become more dependent on your phone and the Internet, your ability to connect in person may diminish. Communication Skills for Teens is a must-have guide for keeping your communication truly real. With advice from teen coauthor Kelly Skeen, you’ll have everything you need to communicate more effectively in every area of your life — with friends, family, dates, and on job interviews. Packed with practical tips and exercises, this book offers powerful communication techniques and shows you how to apply them in the real world — without technology. If you’re ready to be the best

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Laura T. Coffey author of My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts. About the book: “No Dog Should Die Alone” was the attention-grabbing — and heart-stirring — headline of journalist Laura T. Coffey’s TODAY show website story about photographer Lori Fusaro’s work with senior shelter pets. While generally calm, easy, and already house-trained, these animals often represent the highest-risk population at shelters. With gorgeous, joyful photographs and sweet, funny, true tales of “old dogs learning new tricks,” Coffey and Fusaro show that adopting a senior can be even more rewarding than choosing a younger dog. You’ll meet endearing elders like Marnie, the irresistible shih tzu who has posed for selfies with Tina Fey, James Franco, and Betty White; Remy, a soulful nine-year-old dog adopted by elderly nuns; George Clooney’s cocker spaniel, Einstein; and Bretagne, the last known surviving search dog from Ground Zero. They may be slower moving and a tad less e

It is to be loved, celebrated, anticipated, and welcomed as a gift of love and nurturance to you. Can you envision pleasure with food with this much potency? So, how to get out of the stressed-state (the battle) and in the pro-active pleasure state of eating? Let’s get practical: 1. Slow way, way down. Relaxation and slowness are key to increasing attentiveness, sensuality, and pleasure. This then optimizes your ability to truly taste, digest, and set up the proper hormonal cues for pleasurable satiation (in contrast to feeling bloated and engorged from unaware-hurried eating). 2. Notice fearful thoughts and/or body sensations. Pause and send some thanks to these thoughts and feelings. They are your cues for you to get on track to joy, peace, and pleasure again. But, in no way are the fears going to drive and determine your actions this season. Instead, breathe into them instead of fighting them. Then try some gentle challenges to shift the energy…”Is this really true?”, “What is that I do want?”,

This week on Relationships 2.0 my guest is Robert James author of Next: The Search for My Last First Date. About the book: Bob's book is a chronicle of his dating adventures as a "normal" middle-aged man living in Florida. Here is Bob's description of his situation following his divorce: In my forties, with a few extra pounds, I had concerns—I hadn’t dated in well over twenty years. Could I get the mojo back? Were all the good girls already taken? Holy crap! What was I going to do? I had to get back into shape! If I did find women who had potential, would they find me interesting? Attractive? Sexy? I’m a pretty confident guy, have a good job, know lots of people. But what did I know about women and dating? I thought about dating the same way I did in college. But I was going to soon find out things had changed—a lot. Where was I supposed to start? Bob found himself navigating a new (for him) online dating world. Besides the few time he was fixed up by well-meaning friends, he had no shortage of first dates fr

About the book: Write to celebrate, heal, and free the wild woman within. In her years as a writing coach, Judy Reeves has found twin urges in women: they yearn to reclaim a true nature that resides below the surface of daily life and to give it voice. The longing to express this wild, authentic nature is what informs Reeves’s most popular workshop and now this workshop in a book. Here, you will explore the stages that make up your life, from wild child, daughter/sister/mother, and loves and lovers, to creative work, friendships, and how the wise woman encounters death. Both intuitive and practical, Wild Women, Wild Voices responds to women’s deep need for expression with specific and inspiring activities, exercises, and writing prompts. With true empathy, Reeves invites, instructs, and celebrates the authentic expression — even the howl — of the wild in every woman. About the author: Judy Reeves is a writer, teacher and writing practice provocateur whose books include A Writer’s Book of Days, which was n

About the book: Mind over matter. We’ve all heard the stories: A guy is diagnosed with incurable cancer and his doctors give him only months to live. The family gathers, praying for a miracle while bracing for the worst, yet despite the odds, the guy survives. In June, 2012, mere days before he was set to graduate from high school, Jordan Young faced just such a scenario when an aggressive, stage IV lymphoma spread through his body, choking his lungs with tumors. Every treatment option had failed, and he was spiraling toward death. The thing is, Jordan did not die. You remember that story you probably heard about “the guy who survived” a terminal diagnosis? Jordan is that guy. Helping him fight and heal was an experience that changed my life forever, and the results convinced me more deeply than ever that all true healing, on every level—whether physical, circumstantial, or psychological—derives from love and spiritual awakening. When the patient is ready, the right medication will be found; the perfect heal