Pondering Life Adventures

Our nervous systems are contagious! Hold on tight to that cup of coffee or tea, as Dr. Denise Mitten jumps right in to invite us to think about everything that we do, and what are the ethical ends, and how do we want to use our gifts and education to further humanity. We talk about the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi concept of flow, which he explains, “a meaningful life is one where the person spends his time in a state of optimal experience called flow… when the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. These experiences are universal to all cultures and time periods.” Listen in as Denise ties this to self-esteem, how it connects to value, belonging, and competence, as well as what we can do to improve this for ourselves as an adult. Denise Mitten, PhD, describes herself as, “Using systems thinking, I combine my background in sustainability, ecology, corporate and non-profit management, counseling, complementary medicine, higher education, and adventure trip leading to help people discover the knowledge, tools, and skills they need to continue passionate, high-quality work that positively contributes to the global community.”

Grab your cup of coffee or tea and settle in for a conversation with Dr. Bobbi Beale, Dr. Maurie Lung, and our guest speaker, Dr. Tonya Elliot-Walker. “Being Tsalagi (Cherokee) and Pawnee, I love helping Native people rediscover cultural traditions and values and use them to find meaning and purpose in life. I love training my counseling interns via cultural immersion and not just book learning. I use cultural traditions, such as storytelling, basket weaving, drumming, singing and celebrating the ceremony of life. I empower my clients and my interns to be social justice advocates and stand up for what is right and true for them in the world and not dim their light to make other people feel comfortable. We all have a path and purpose and now more than ever this world needs is to fully show up and walk the talk.” We have some big conversations that dive into making meaning of today’s world, the development of our identities in the world around us, and the reminder that when we connect with our authentic selves, and truly make things personal, we have much more influence on what is happening in our experiences, especially as it relates to hope and suffering.

Grab your coffee or tea and settle in for a throwback episode from September where, even through their colds and cat bites and Halloween, Maurie and Bobbi still have energy to chat about pets, parenting – from nighttime rituals, to middle school transitions, to learning to play a musical instrument - and even tackle the tough topic of talking about death with children.

It’s time! Pour yourself that cup of coffee or tea and settle in for a chat that takes many paths along the way of parenting struggles big and small, while refocusing on the values of parenting and the techniques that help us to teach the lesson that we actually want to be teaching. Even when we are tired. And, let’s face it, many of us are tired right now. All of that with a little divergence to revisit connection, hope, and a hat tip to state of flow. All of which are also helpful when we are tired.

Join us with your cup of coffee or tea as we chat about Bobbi’s family camping trip. We take a loop around parenting differences in families and reminisce about our own childhood, including our fears and worries about being a parent. As Bobbi says, “Parenting is such a tricky thing because you have to progress and evolve.”

Grab that coffee (or tea) and join Maurie and Bobbi as they talk about decision-making in our current world, including when we become wishy-washy. Dive into exploring what we do when what we thought was true before after we have new information. Hint, is not a sign of inconsistency, it is a sign of intelligence. A flip-flop can actually be the way you update your ways of being when you have new information, and how all of that (plus trauma and marginalization) ties into our resiliency strategies, such as tiny changes, a double shot of dopamine, and instilling hope.

Grab that coffee or tea and settle down to find out what we have been up to lately and the upcoming plans we have for the podcast. Plus, have you been introduced to Polly Bagel yet?! Find out what a bagel has to do with neuroscience or just take a few minutes to listen to chat about the world around us. 

Grab your coffee and settle in to hear all about parenting during a family reunion! And, add in the complexity that all of the children are "diblings" (donor siblings). Hold on tight for this ride!

Listen in as Bobbi Beale and Maurie Lung chat about our recent activities, including travel, parenting challenges, and re-connecting with others. 

Grab your coffee and listen in as we talk about that feeling of overwhelm by so much that is happening in our lives so quickly! We explore responsibility and blame. We remind ourselves that a calm nervous system calms nervous systems. But little did we know what was to come shortly after this January 2021 recording.