Building Psychological Strength

When someone asks you, “How are you feeling today?” How do you typically answer?  

If you’re like many of us, you answer with a simple, “Good.” But, that doesn’t convey nearly the entire story, does it? 

The fact is, we experience incredibly complex emotions, and our ability to recognize our own emotions and the emotions of others is called emotional intelligence, and it’s what we’re focusing on with this week’s guest. 

This week, we’re speaking with Dan Hill. He’s an internationally recognized expert on the role of emotions in politics, business, sports, and pop culture. He’s spoken to audiences in over 25 countries, and to capture and quantify emotions, Dan pioneered the use of facial coding (the analysis of facial expressions) with his company Sensory Logic. 

Dan is also the author of the book “Famous Faces Decoded: A Guidebook for Reading Others,” which we dive into during our conversation. 

We also talk about: 

• What emotional intelligence is and how it relates to many facets of life 
• Facial coding and the 23 different emotional markers on our faces.
• The specificity we can get to when we label emotions. BTW, did you know there are SEVEN different types of anger? 
• Finally, Dan gives us numerous examples of famous people and their “signature emotions” and how to recognize them in their expressions. 

This was such a fascinating conversation, particularly when you think about it from the context of how strongly it impacts our day-to-day lives. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

Have you ever wondered how some of the best mental well-being apps came to be? Apps like Happify, Headspace, and Muse. How did they come to be, and how did they scale to the point that they’ve touched over 100 million people? 

Today we’re getting a little glimpse behind that curtain as we speak with Charlie Hartwell. Charlie is a partner within the influential investor group, Bridge Builders Collaborative. This group was the first to see, understand, and invest in startups within the consumer technological health market. They are now pioneers in the new arena of health and well-being centered around human consciousness. 

Charlie also works alongside his wife in the ShiftIt Institute, an organization aimed at raising the consciousness of the world.  

During our conversation we talk about: 

• The importance of mental health and well-being and how the science behind it is becoming so much more available, making it an area that people are willing to invest their time and energy in. 
• Charlie’s own personal story of aligning the work he’s doing to his strengths and value system 
• What it means to “go deeper” and use his work to make a bigger, global impact 
• The big reason why he invests in companies in the mental health and well-being space and what he’s trying to accomplish on a global scale 

This is such a valuable conversation as we think about the importance of the work we’re each doing in our own lives. It’s a testament to the importance of building psychological strength and practicing life design.  

Relevant Links: 

• Life Design after COVID 
• My interviews with the founders of the company Muse: Ariel Garten and Patricia Karpas 
• My interview with Peter Montoya containing our discussion of intentional social connection. 

Today we’re going deep. Into the depths of our minds to talk about the fundamental processes that govern more of our behavior and more of the results and outcomes in our lives than we even realize. We’re sifting through the core of our psychological profiles that makes up the basis or the foundation for most of our lives. And we’re showing how this core, these fundamental processes, can be used to both better our lives and to navigate through some of the most difficult days that life will throw at us. 

Today, we’re speaking with Elizabeth Benton. During our conversation, Elizabeth shares how she was depressed, deeply in debt, and obese. As a nutrition expert and educator who binged on junk food every time she put gas in her car, she felt like a fraud and a failure. Desperate to start her life, she decided to believe in her potential rather than her past. She lost 150 pounds, paid off $130,000, and remains debt-free as a successful entrepreneur. 

What I love most about this episode is that it wasn’t the surface level behaviors that needed to change first. It wasn’t about the food or the budget. Rather, to see changes manifest in those areas, Elizabeth had to focus on the core: her identity, her values, her mindset. By doing that, she saw how everything could change. 

Today, Elizabeth is the owner of Primal Potential. Through her platform of podcasts, coaching, and live events, she has fueled her deepest struggles into a burning passion to help people create transformations and live more fulfilled lives. 

I should also mention that Elizabeth very recently lost a child. She shares a bit about that experience in this conversation and how the same mindset techniques that helped her lose weight and get out of debt are the ones she’s relying on to get her through the most difficult time in her life.  

Please approach this episode with care. There is depth and value here, but we’re talking about real topics – difficult topics – topics that might be hard for some listeners to hear.  

There are a few topics that just feel….”yucky” to talk about sometimes, and money is one of them. 

Think about it, we don’t talk about how much money we make, nor do we ask other people how much money they make. We have a tough time asking for what we’re worth, or even knowing what we’re worth in the first place. 

We’ve all heard dozens of sayings that portray people who are trying to build wealth as greedy people.  

No wonder why this topic is so off-limits! 

Not today! Today, we’re speaking with Shannon Foreman, founder of Forethought Planning. Shannon founded Forethought Planning with the dream to radically change how people consume their financial education and feel financially empowered! Shannon strongly believes that money is personal and the physical, mental, relational and financial aspects of your life need to work in harmony. 

In her personal time, Shannon enjoys fitness and personal development— self-care is a huge topic of conversation throughout the client experience at Forethought and Shannon wants to lead by example.  

In this episode, we dig into some of the core psychological principles that impact us when we make decisions about our financial future. Things like: 

• The beliefs we have about money and where they came from 
• Our self-identity and what that means for the goals we’re likely to set and achieve 
• How fear and too much of a security net can actually make you less financially secure 
• The importance of having a meaningful ‘why’ that drives your whole financial plan. 
• How a true financial plan needs to encapsulate your physical, mental, and relational aspects of life as well. 

I hope you take away a new sense of empowerment from this episode! 

Relevant Links: 

• Forethought Planning on Facebook 

Stop. Stop right now. Consider for a moment the opportunity that stands before each and every one of us. 

Life is about to go back to “normal” after COVID. We’re about to go back to our jobs, begin shopping, interacting, and living in a way that is closer to the way we lived before COVID.  

However, we’ve been through a formative experience, and if you’re like me, you’ve learned a few things over the past few months. 

There are things you want to change. 

Alignments to be made. 

You’re ready to live the next chapter of your life by DESIGN, and not by DEFAULT. 

Friends, the time is NOW to do just that, and this episode will help you do it. 

This episode is the audio from a recent workshop we hosted for the members of our Starter Pack. Specifically, we walked through a 60-minute, hands on exercise to align the next chapter of your life with your unique values system. 

Now this exercise is just scratching the surface of what Life Design can actually do, but it’ll get you a heck of a lot closer to an aligned life than if you leave it up to chance...which is what most people will do. 

Don’t live this next chapter of your life by default. Dig in. Do the work. And live this next chapter by DESIGN. 

Join the Peak Mind Starter Pack by visiting this link & you’ll find the module containing the download for this week’s episode. Follow along with us, and let us know what you’re going to do going forward! 

As many of us are either reemerging after the pandemic or contemplating what our lives will be like as we go “back to normal,” many of us are thinking through the aspects of our “normal” lives that are worth going back to. 

Yes, the situation we’ve all been through has been difficult. We’ve endured tremendous hardship as a globe, but this adversity has likely illuminated changes you want to make in your life as you move forward. 

Effectively making those changes requires knowing exactly what you want…and asking for it in an effective way. 

Because of this, I’m so excited to welcome AmyK Hutchens back to the podcast.  

AmyK is an international award-winning speaker, Amazon bestselling author, and has over 10 years’ experience training, coaching, and consulting. With over 75+ speaking events per year for some of the biggest global brands. AmyK travels the world helping leaders become Master Communicators so they can lead, innovate, sell, and collaborate more effectively. One. Conversation. At. A. Time. 

In this interview, AmyK shares some key phrases and tips to construct a more effective conversation to get what you want. She also dives deep into our worth and the value of stepping into and using our own voice. She gives a powerful lesson about the importance of going on a “conversation diet” in order to create a more beautiful life experience, and we follow it up with a quick conversation about her brand new book: “Get It! Five Steps to the Sex, Salary, Success You Want.”  

I’m thrilled to welcome AmyK back to the podcast to help us all as we transition into the next phase of our lives. 

Today’s episode is a deep one. We’re diving straight to the heart of a set of topics that are responsible for more suffering, stress, and anxiety in people’s lives than any others. 

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Nima Rahmany. Dr. Rahmany is a chiropractor turned educator whose goal is to help people locate, understand, and heal their own inner suffering and trauma so that they might live better and connect to others on a deeper level. 

In this episode we talk about: 

• Radical responsibility and how we all must take 100% responsibility for 100% of the situations we find ourselves in 
• Intergenerational suffering and the ways in which our past trauma and experience dictate the ways we relate to our children and other close relationships around us, perpetuating unhelpful patterns. 
• The involuntary or unconscious way many of us live – So much of our life is spent on auto-pilot, and Dr. Rahmany gives us tactical tools for breaking that cycle 
• Triggers – What they are, the role they serve in our lives, and how we can become “trigger proof.” 

You’re going to want to listen to this episode twice. There’s so much value in it. Please take this episode as a wake-up call to be an active driver of your own life.  

Relevant Links: 

• Free Trigger-Proof Facebook Group 
• Trigger Proof Virtual Workshop (use code TRIGGERPROOF at checkout)  

Peak mind is currently offering bi-weekly (2 / week) psych strength building workshops absolutely FREE. Sign up for the Peak Mind Starter Pack at www.peakmindpsychology.com/start to get all the details about how you can join us and to access the replays from past calls.   

If you’re like me, you’re a “doer.” When something needs to be done, you do it. When someone needs help, you’re there. When you see something that can be improved, you’re on it. 

There’s a shadow side to all that “doing.” 

Many times, we take on more and more at our own expense. We feel obligated to tend to others’ needs at the expense of our own. We try to control and manage things that are in actuality not ours to control and manage.  

This is called “over-functioning,” and it’s one of the key topics we’re talking about in today’s episode. 

Today, we’re speaking with Mandy Barbee. Mandy is a hypnotherapist, the founder of Palladium Mind, and perhaps more importantly, a recovered over-functioner.  

Mandy brings her personal transformation and her expertise to this episode to talk about a number of important topics that are likely influencing us right now: 

• We talk about the committee of voices we all have in our mind that drives us to over-function 
• We talk about self-sabotage. What causes it and how we can use it as input to move forward toward what we really want. 
• We go in depth on the real role of self-care. It’s more than bubble baths and manicures 
• And, finally, Mandy shares a free resource she’s put together just for us, which you can access here. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stretched thin, this is the episode for you. 

Peak mind is currently offering bi-weekly (2 / week) psych strength building workshops absolutely FREE. Sign up for the Peak Mind Starter Pack at www.peakmindpsychology.com/start to get all the details about how you can join us and to access the replays from past calls.  

We’re in an unprecedented time of “social distancing.” Many of us are experiencing the effects of spending time away from family and friends, and loneliness is one feeling so many of us are having. 

Because of this, I’m thrilled to welcome Peter Montoya back to the podcast. Peter was actually with us for a past episode that you can access here. Peter is a best-selling author, a keynote speaker, and the CEO of Thrive Union. Most importantly for today’s conversation, he’s an expert on social connection. 

In this very candid conversation, we talk about some important topics and share our own personal experiences: 

• The importance of social connection and how much we actually need 
• The different levels of social connection and how they influence our well-being 
• How we can meet our social needs during this time of “distancing” 
• What the silver lining of the pandemic has been 

No matter what your circumstances, I want you to know that I’m thinking about you and this community often. Please don’t be a stranger. Reach out and let me know what other topics you’d like me to cover during this time. 

I’m here for you! 

Peak mind is currently offering bi-weekly (2 / week) psych strength building workshops absolutely FREE. Sign up for the Peak Mind Starter Pack at www.peakmindpsychology.com/start to get all the details about how you can join us and to access the replays from past calls.   

This episode was created for and is dedicated to our front-line healthcare workers.   

The responsibility you are being asked to shoulder amidst a time of incredible uncertainty and rapid change is overwhelming. We see you. We see the sacrifice you’re making. We can attempt to empathize with the emotional toll this must all be taking.   

When you play such an important role supporting others, it’s important that others support you. We support you. 

This week, I’m speaking with Lisa Wimberger, the founder of the Neuroscultping Institute. Lisa created neurosculpting using a combination of meditation and brain science to develop a hands-on technique that can reset and retrain your brain and your nervous system to down-regulate during times of stress. 

She originally created neurosculpting in 2007 to help first-responders cope with the incredible intensity of their jobs. Too many first-responders suffer emotional trauma and PTSD from simply doing their jobs, and the neurosculpting technique can help guard against that.  

You can see why I asked Lisa to join me for this special episode of Building Psychological Strength. I wanted to give our front-line medical professionals tools they can use to remain balanced during a time of excruciating pressure.   

During our conversation, we: 

• Acknowledge the different situations healthcare workers are in and how stressful they all are, regardless of whether the “surge” has hit your area or not, 
• We talk about what we can do as community members to support healthcare workers 
• Lisa covers the role our nervous system is playing in this situation, including the way it is supposed to work, and the way it does work in a period of sustained stress. 

• What healthcare workers can be doing to help down-regulate their nervous system during this time.  
• Known ways you can tune your vagus nerve. 
• The 3 keys to successful neuroplasticity 

This episode is packed with resources for everyone, but in particular, for front-line healthcare workers.  

We also highlighted a number of resources 

• Peak mind is currently offering bi-weekly (2 / week) psych strength building workshops absolutely FREE. Sign up for the Peak Mind Starter Pack at www.peakmindpsychology.com/start to get all the details about how you can join us and to access the replays from past calls.  
• Lisa’s original episode on the podcast where she dives in-depth into the neurosculpting approach 

• Lisa’s book: Neurosculpting: A Whole-Brain Approach to Heal Trauma, Rewrite Limiting Beliefs, and Find Wholeness 

Finally, Lisa announced the upcoming launch of her new neurosculpting app. Learn more at: www.neuropraxis.com  

Peak mind is currently offering bi-weekly (2 / week) psych strength building workshops absolutely FREE. Sign up for the Peak Mind Starter Pack at www.peakmindpsychology.com/start to get all the details about how you can join us and to access the replays from past calls.