Have you ever felt like one part of you wants to do something… but another part completely disagrees?

Maybe you’re trying to eat healthier, but another part of you wants to eat a piece of cake. Perhaps a part of you is excited about a new opportunity, but another part is filled with doubt and fear.

These inner conflicts actually make perfect sense—and they’re not a sign that something is wrong with you, but rather a natural part of how your mind works.

In today's episode, we will discuss a new way to interact with ourselves and others. It's called Internal Family Systems or IFS.

IFS was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, and it’s transformed how we think about the mind. Instead of seeing ourselves as having just one personality, IFS teaches that we all have different parts inside us—almost like an internal family. And just like in any family, these parts sometimes work together… and sometimes, they’re in conflict.

At the core of all of us, beneath the self-doubt, is the Self—a calm, compassionate, wise presence that can heal all our parts.

Today, we will break it all down in a simple, relatable way. In this episode, we will talk about:
✔ What IFS is and how it works,
✔ Why we all have different ‘parts’ inside us,
✔ How to recognize these parts in your daily life,
✔ And how this approach can help you understand yourself in a whole new way.

We’ll also be weaving in real-world examples, insights from Dr. Richard Schwartz and Jenna Riemersma, and practical ways to use this framework in your own life.

Altogether You: Experiencing personal and spiritual transformation with Internal Family Systems

It's been a busy week. I have practiced deep breathing meditation, mantra meditation, and meditation to sleep. I have also reminded myself, "It is here, and it is now." Given all that meditative behavior, I thought I'd do a podcast to remind us of the scientific benefits of mindfulness.

Get a mindfulness practice and do it every day, or more days a week than not.

Thanks for joining me today for an interesting discussion about perfectionism. While striving for excellence can be a positive trait, perfectionism can lead to significant stress and anxiety, impacting our lives and the lives of our loved ones in various ways.

In this episode, we'll discuss how perfectionism manifests in children, adolescents, teenagers, and adults. We’ll explore its causes, symptoms, and effects and, most importantly, how we can help bring balance to the lives of perfectionists. Finally, we’ll look at the long-term consequences, both favorable and unfavorable.

Join me this week and enjoy an interesting podcast conversation with Kylee, Lindsay Regan, and Carson. They talk about their experience attending a high-achieving school and how they saw themselves in this environment. They all seemed to have experienced their own internal buffer from the pressure a lot of others may have felt. Yet, they also had times when they got caught up in the energy of competition and performance.

They talk about what success means to them now and how all their life experiences have contributed to where they are now.

This week let's talk about the challenges many parents face in our fast-paced, success-obsessed world. First, how we as parents might contribute to achievement culture through our expectations and demands. Second, how to help bring balance and reduce the hustle and striving that is so destructive to the mental health and happiness of our children.

From academic pressure to extracurricular overload, kids are increasingly caught in a "more is better cycle." But as parents, how can we provide balance, foster self-worth beyond trophies and test scores, and teach our children that rest, curiosity, and joy are as important as hard work?

Join me and explore the signs your child might be struggling under the weight of achievement culture, practical ways to set healthy expectations, and strategies to create a home environment that values effort, growth, and emotional well-being over constant results. Whether it's rethinking schedules, encouraging downtime, or redefining success as a family, this episode offers actionable tips to help your kids—and you—find balance in a high-pressure world.

Tune in to learn how to raise resilient, well-rounded kids who know they are more than their accomplishments!

In this week's episode, I discuss achievement culture, what it is, who it impacts, and its causes. Using Emily Sohn's article "Perfectionism and the High Stakes Cost of Success: The Hidden Toll on Parents and Kids" in Monitor on Psychology, I talk about the pressures and expectations that can lead to perfectionism, anxiety, and burnout in kids.

Achievement culture, fueled by social media, parental anxiety, and societal expectations, can create an environment where children feel like they're never good enough, which often leads to anxiety, depression, and perfectionism.

Researchers have identified three types of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism, a version that describes people who set high self-standards and then strive to reach them; other-oriented perfectionism, which describes the projection of unrealistically high standards onto other people; and socially prescribed perfectionism, which is the perception that other people expect you to be perfect and that you need to meet that demand to get acceptance and approval.

An achievement culture fueled by social media, parental anxiety, and societal expectations can create an environment where children feel like they're never good enough.

We'll examine competitive extracurricular activities, and the pursuit of academic excellence on a child's self-esteem, stress levels, and overall happiness.

Next week, we will discuss what can be done about it and how to build resilience and immunity to the harmful effects of achievement culture.

⁠Perfectionism and the high-stakes culture of success: The hidden toll on kids and parents

Join me this week to talk about some things that have been on my mind lately. I discuss spiritual growth and how mental health knowledge, interventions, and skills have impacted my spiritual growth in a meaningful way.

In this episode, we'll explore some dynamics that can shape our relationships with our children. We’ll start by examining the issue of rescuing—a well-intentioned but ultimately limiting approach that creates disconnection and prevents our kids from developing their own coping skills and independence.

Additionally, we’ll address traditional parenting practices that rely on rewards and punishments. While they might seem effective in the moment, these methods can create fear-based behavior and damage the trust between us and our children, leading to a disconnected form of communication.

As we navigate these topics, we’ll emphasize the importance of shifting from a “power over” mindset to one of “power with.” This means fostering collaboration and understanding instead of control, allowing for nurturing dialogues.

Join me, and let's rethink our communication habits and discover ways to cultivate a more empathetic and supportive family environment.

Welcome to the podcast. Today, let's explore some powerful techniques from nonviolent communication that can transform your relationship with your children. We'll discuss how to cultivate a genuine quality of connection, move beyond moralistic judgments, and navigate the pitfalls of coercion and resistance. These tools can help create a more harmonious home environment built on mutual understanding and respect. So, let's dive in and discover how to communicate more effectively with the little ones in our lives.

Join me this week for a lively conversation with Lindsay and Aspen as we discuss Chinese Medicine, counseling, spirituality, friendship, connection, and the ecology of health and wellness in all its facets.

This is a great podcast that has something for everyone. I'll get back to NVC and parenting next week or so.