Relationships Let's Talk About It!

Codependency is rather insidious: though many people are familiar with the term, they don't know how it manifests in families and impacts relationships. Awareness, Corey Costanzo stresses, is key to healing it. Corey is a licensed addictions counselor and bodywork therapist, somatic experiencing practitioner, a master didgeridoo player, and a good friend of mine. Together with his wife, Robin, Corey co-owns Still Point Wellness, a premier Esalen Massage and Salt Water Floatation spa in Asheville, North Carolina.

Today, Corey and I explore the hallmarks of a dysfunctional family and how it breeds codependency. We illustrate the dynamics of codependent relationships and their children and explain why dysfunctional families find it difficult to navigate difficult emotions and situations. We describe the characteristics of codependent behaviors and illustrate their impact on relationships. We also share our experiences in dealing with codependent relationships and emphasize the role of awareness in breaking the cycle of codependency.

"Codependency is an emotional and behavioral condition that affects an individual's ability to have healthy, mutually satisfying relationships." - Corey Costanzo

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Codependency as a learned behavior in families and how it can be passed to generations
• The relationship between codependency and addiction
• The consequences of codependent behavior
• Codependent relationships between children and parents
• Why parents need to deal with their own emotions
• The characteristics of a dysfunctional family
• What makes families afraid of discussing difficult emotions and experiences
• Detachment and fear of connection in dysfunctional families
• Experiencing codependence in my family and learning to talk about emotions
• How Corey cultivated trust between himself and a teenager in his practice
• Breaking the cycle of codependency in couples
• Witnessing our partners' experiences with emotions
• What enmeshment in a relationship looks like and what it takes to be differentiated
• Relationships with people with diagnosed mental illness and how to navigate them
• The fear of abandonment and the experience of isolation in codependent relationships
• The characteristics of codependent people and how codependency manifests in a couple's sex life

Related Content:

• Expressing Needs
• Emotional Regulation
• Do the Right Thing
• Is Stress Affecting Your Relationship?
• The Importance of a Personal Practice
• Addictions and Their Effects on Relationships
• Sound and Attunement Healing in Relationships

Resources Mentioned:

• Headspace App
• Al-Anon Family Groups
• Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie
• Facing Love Addiction: Giving Yourself the Power to Change the Way You Love by Pia Mellody

Connect with Corey Costanzo:

• Still Point Wellness
• Still Point Wellness on Facebook
• Still Point Wellness on Pinterest
• Still Point Wellness on Instagram
• Corey Costanzo on LinkedIn

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Benjamin Haynes is a wonderful example of today's young generation. He is a meditator, yogi, and evangelizer of "authentic relating." I was impressed by his presence, groundedness, and the intentional manner in which he spoke when we met about a year ago. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill and teaching in Malaysia under a Fulbright grant, Benjamin recently joined Authentic Relating Training, an organization dedicated to the practice and production of authentic relating programs.

In today's episode, Benjamin and I explore the meaning and purpose of authentic relating. We discuss what led him to authentic relating and share tips to help you relate with others with presence and authenticity. We illustrate how meditation can impact our lives and benefit the way we communicate with each other. We also emphasize the power of leading with presence and the value of focusing on what matters.

"Authentic relating transforms yourself and your relationships through communication." - Benjamin Haynes

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• My first meeting with Benjamin
• How he cultivated his groundedness and authentic relating
• Benjamin's introduction to meditation, how he built it into a daily practice, and how it has benefited him
• The relationship between meditation, mindfulness, and authentic relating
• Taking authentic relating to another level and the three different levels of a conversation
• The power of taking pauses in conversation
• Gender dynamics and its relationship with communication
• How the dynamics of Benjamin's relationship with his father has changed over time
• The challenges of a parent-child relationship
• The need to face our fears and take risks and what made me transition from the corporate world to my counseling practice
• How authentic relating can lead to a more profound connection between people
• How Benjamin's fascination with mindfulness led him to Authentic Relating Training
• Integrating non-violent communication and mindfulness
• The importance of leading with presence, coming with curiosity, and focusing on what matters

Related Content:

• The Challenges of Workplace Relationships
• Generosity: Contemplating on How We Show Up in Our Relationships
• The Relationship of Business Through the Lens of Giving
• Couples Communication: Circling Techniques

Resources Mentioned:

• Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer
• 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works - A True Story by Dan Harris

Connect with Benjamin Haynes:

• Authentic Relating Training

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Adley Gartenstein is the former president and co-owner of Film Movement, a distributor of independent, award-winning films from around the world. Over the last two decades, Adley has been a counselor, trainer, and workshop leader in the co-counseling community. My friendship with Adley goes back to 25 years ago when we met at the Esalen Institute. Since then, we've formed a friendship so profound that he has become the godfather of my son, Zander.

In this episode, Adley and I discuss his journey with healing as he took care of his dying mother. We explore how he had assumed the role of caretaker for his mother since he was a child and describe how that impacted his sense of self-worth. We illustrate how Adley committed to becoming a great son, regardless of his mother's shortcomings as a parent. We also discuss my experience with my father's death and underscore the honor that comes with being present in a person's final moments on Earth.

"Being around a dying person is, in a way, a transition into adulthood; to play that role of caretaker, to make it about somebody else, and to care about that person." - Adley Gartenstein

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Assuming the role of caretaker for his mother from childhood
• How feeling responsibility for his mother's well being affected Adley's self-compass
• Claiming Adley's right to be a great son, regardless of childhood experiences
• Understanding how trauma gets passed down through generations
• The beginnings of Adley's journey into healing
• My experience with the death of my father
• Deciding not to be the victim of one's circumstances and breaking the cycle of darkness and trauma
• The power of spending time with a dying person and the lessons it can teach us
• Feeling liberation from trauma and fulfillment of duty

Related Content:

• Is Love a Choice or a Feeling?

Connect with Adley Gartenstein:

• Adley Gartenstein on LinkedIn

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Questions about the meaning of trust and how couples can establish it in their relationships frequently come up in my practice as a couples counselor. Trust is a cornerstone of long-term relationships. My wife, Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky, is a fashion designer, artist, and owner of the Artsy Goddess Studio. In the 25 years I have shared with her, trust - in each other, and ourselves as individuals - has carried us through better or worse. Part of Rainbow's mission is to help heal ourselves and the world we live in. And sincere apologies, she says, not only bring healing to couples but are also an essential ingredient to a relationship's longevity.

In today's episode, Rainbow and I emphasize the importance of trust in relationships. We discuss the value of trusting yourself in bringing the kind of partner you want to be in a relationship. We share some of the challenges and issues we have navigated throughout our life together and underscore the need to trust that each person will help move the relationship through conflict. We also illustrate the power of cultivating friendship with your partner and how appreciation can drive a relationship through the years.

"Apologizing well is a huge key to good long-term relationships. It brings so much healing." - Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• How longevity allows a relationship to go deeper and create foundational trust
• Open and honest communication as a key to friendship between a couple
• How welcoming our vulnerabilities in deep conversations fostered trust in our relationship
• Giving each other the space to speak and using "I" statements
• What it means to trust yourself in a relationship and advocate for what you want
• Cherishing the good times and paying attention to your partner's likes and preferences
• The role of trust in moving through crises, navigating grief, and financial crises
• Choosing each other and the partner you want to be
• Trusting in working through challenges and how overcoming issues makes a couple stronger
• Capturing beautiful moments, giving compliments, and the power of appreciation in long-term relationships
• Navigating parenthood and raising a child
• Growing together in the relationship and allowing each other to grow on their own
• Trusting in your connection when you're apart and not physically together

Related Content:

• Expressing Needs
• The Power of Appreciation
• The #1 Relationship Booster
• The Importance of Apologies
• Setting Boundaries Without Feeling Guilt
• Maintaining Connection Through Conflict: Relationships in a Pandemic

Connect with Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky:

• Artsy Goddess Studio
• Yvonne on LinkedIn
• Yvonne on Facebook
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

We all have needs. We all have different ways we want our partners to treat us. But sometimes, when we express our needs and wants, it comes out as biting or accusatory, even if we didn't mean for it to. And instead of getting what we wanted, we are met with defensiveness, if not blame. We can't control how others receive us, but we can always control how we express our needs to our partners. It falls to us to be open to learning how we can better identify our needs and properly communicate them.

In this episode, I discuss different ways we can express our needs and wants to our partners without blaming or criticizing them. I explain why it's important for us to know our own needs and explore why some people feel guilt or shame from having them. I also describe how we can use nonviolent communication as a tool to foster a conversation around our emotions and desires, as well as illustrate how we can encourage our partners to express their own needs.

"You have a responsibility to yourself and to your partner to be clear about your needs because you are an expert on what you want and what you need." - Pripo Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The difference between expressing a positive need and a negative need
• Expressing needs to make them positive and why negative needs come from a victim mindset
• The value of identifying your needs and how our emotions derive from our needs
• Why some people feel guilt or shame over having needs and wants
• Playing with the difference between needs, wants, and preferences
• The principle of nonviolent communication and its relationship with unmet needs
• How to communicate more consciously to express your needs and wants
• Identifying and requesting specific behaviors and actions for a specific need to be met
• Differentiating an expression of need from criticism
• Why we shouldn't expect our partners to know what our needs are
• Expressing your needs as a form of self-care and how to encourage your partner to express theirs more
• Understanding your partner's uniqueness and quirks and being open to them
• The importance of boundaries in getting needs met in a healthy relationship
• Why the phrase "You make me feel..." is disempowering and how to take responsibility for your emotions
• Inviting curiosity into your inner feelings and opening the path to self-discovery

Related Content:

• Conscious Dating
• "It's Not Fair"
• Setting Boundaries Without Feeling Guilt

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Life isn't fair. So, it's only natural for us to want things to be just. We do our best to create fairness in different areas of our lives: in the economy, in opportunity, and even in our relationships. In our shared life with our partners, we want things to be 50/50, to be equitable. I am a staunch advocate of cultivating balance, but seeking fairness in relationships is different, and attachment to the idea can negatively impact a couple and their connection.

In this episode, I explore why we attach to the idea of fairness and explain how it can be detrimental to our relationships. I share some of my experiences with wanting things to be fair and recount the story of a couple who worked through the idea of equality in their relationship. I differentiate seeking balance against seeking equity in relationships and why keeping scores can lead us to getting stuck. I also discuss how the power of appreciation and curiosity can help us overcome our attachment to fairness and find balance in the relationship.

"If you're willing to let go of what is fair and instead focus on what's loving, you'll discover connection, understanding, and transformation." - Pripo Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Experiencing the vulnerability of not being in control
• Our tendency to give based on equality and how fairness can be detrimental to a relationship
• Treating the relationship as a third entity
• Focusing on the needs of the relationship versus being fair and keeping score
• How being honest with your needs and capacity will help your relationship work as a team
• How our childhood experiences shape our notions of fairness
• The difference between seeking balance and seeking fairness in the relationship
• The role of effective communication skills in maintaining a relationship's balance
• The impact of bringing, and complementing, each others' strengths in a relationship
• The story of a couple who overcame the need to be fair in their relationship
• How we bring our ideas of fairness to workplace relationships
• Looking at a relationship through the lens of kindness and trusting in the process of giving and receiving
• Bringing curiosity in relationships and how it can help us move beyond the scorekeeping
• Making room in the relationship where dreams could be realized and needs could be met

Related Content:

• The #1 Relationship Booster
• Self-Compassion Can Improve Your Relationships
• Stop Playing the Blame Game: Take Responsibility In Your Relationships
• The Secret to Love is Just Kindness

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

A lot of people are in tremendous stress as a result of the global pandemic. Some people find themselves falling back to some old behavior patterns that they thought they had already let go. This is what's called regression: a defensive mechanism for coping with stress. It's a common phenomenon many of us experience unconsciously. Corey Costanzo - a licensed addictions counselor and good friend of mine - believes that a significant part of managing our regressive responses to stress is mindfulness. Corey is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist, somatic experiencing practitioner, and co-owner of Still Point Wellness, a premier Esalen Massage and Salt Water Floatation spa in Asheville.

Today, Corey and I discuss our tendency to regress when we are under stress. We highlight the different ways regression can manifest in our lives and how they can impact our relationships. We share some of the tools you can use to learn how to recognize regressive tendencies and manage them. We also draw from our personal experiences with regression and illustrate how we work with it, as well as emphasize the parents' roles in teaching children how to cope with stress and negative experiences.

"It's important for everybody to figure out the resources to be able to stand up in the face of uncomfortable sensations and thoughts." - Corey Costanzo

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• How a stunted developmental stage can result in adult regression
• The collective stress resulting from the pandemic and how stress triggers regressive behavior
• Substance use and addiction as a form of regression and the importance of bringing regressive behavior into the consciousness
• Regression and self-sabotage
• The difference between a regressed response versus a partnered response
• The value of communicating our needs and meeting them ourselves
• How mindfulness can help the awareness of regression and recognition of stress
• The neuroscience of stress and meditation and how our brain regresses to primitive lifeforms when we're stressed
• Corey's experiences with regression and how he transforms them
• How our regressive behaviors are exhibited when we're with family
• My tendency to shut down and get defensive under stressful situations
• Experiencing tension, anxiety, and regression in the body
• What it means to resource for ourselves
• Regression in children and teenagers and how parents can model calm and mindfulness for their kids
• The importance of seeking support in times of stress

Related Content:

• Anxiety in Families
• Emotional Regulation
• Do the Right Thing
• Is Stress Affecting Your Relationship?
• Addictions and Their Effects on Relationships
• Sound and Attunement Healing in Relationships

Resources Mentioned:

• Headspace App

Connect with Corey Costanzo

• Still Point Wellness
• Still Point Wellness on Facebook
• Still Point Wellness on Pinterest
• Still Point Wellness on Instagram
• Corey Costanzo on LinkedIn

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Laura Morton has been in the entertainment industry for more than 25 years as a writer, producer, and entrepreneur. She has written over 40 books, 19 of which have become New York Times bestsellers, including The Truth Is…: My Life in Love and Music, an autobiography she co-authored with Melissa Etheridge. Today, Laura is on a mission to bring anxiety out of the darkness and help normalize it: a mission she carries through writing and producing Anxious Nation, a forthcoming feature documentary film on anxiety and its impact on families.

Today, Laura and I explore the anxiety crisis that many families, teenagers, and children experience. We consider the spike of anxiety among young people today and the role of parents in managing it. We discuss social isolation, how it impacts our mental health, and how human connection can be a rich source of happiness. We also discuss Laura's film, Anxious Nation and the ideas that inspired her to write and produce it as well as the need to destroy the stigma enveloping mental illness.

"Social media is a symptom of anxiety; the cause is a generation of parents who never learned how to deal with their own anxiety." - Laura Morton

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The idea and inspiration behind Laura's documentary film, Anxious Nation
• Why Laura thinks social media is a symptom of anxiety
• The impact of a generation of anxious parents on today's young people
• The reason anxiety needs to be treated systematically
• The relationship between anxiety and worry
• Today's anxiety crisis and how the quarantine has affected people with anxiety
• The need for parents to model how to deal with anxiety
• The impact of social isolation on mental health and human connection as a source of happiness
• 'Keeping up with the Joneses' and the anxiety of choice
• The four kinds of addiction that impact the lives of people
• The power of attuning to yourself
• Conscious parenting and why parents need to trust in the path of their children
• Environmental, political, and social challenges that burden today's generation

Connect with Laura Morton:

• Laura Morton
• Anxious Nation on Facebook
• Laura Morton on Facebook
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

When something is enduring and permanent, we can often take it for granted. This happens in long-term relationships, too, and when we take it for granted, we assume it will take care of itself. We go full-on autopilot in our relationship, abandoning all semblance of control, and think that by the end of it all, our partners will still be there. There are so many ways that we put our relationship on autopilot - some of them we're not even aware of until it's too late.

Today, I explore the different ways we go on autopilot in our lives, whether in our relationship with our partners or ourselves. I describe the relationship between mindfulness and going on autopilot, explain how we become unhappy when our mind wanders, and discuss how we can avoid it through introspection. I also highlight the importance of slowing down to directly experience our lives and share some questions you can ask yourself to help you disrupt your tendency to autopilot your life and relationships.

"The alternative to being on autopilot is being conscious. It's about having a deep awareness of our relationships and our environment." - Pripo Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Going on autopilot mode in our relationships and life
• How the wandering mind can bring unhappiness and how we go on autopilot in our relationship with ourselves
• Self-diagnosing our tendency to be on autopilot
• The dangers of creating meaning out of our experiences and assuming what our partners feel, think, or experience
• Consciousness as an antidote to autopiloting in relationships
• How conscious people know themselves more deeply
• How the power of introspection can help disrupt our unconscious daily routine
• Being closer to somebody else than our partners
• Why it takes effort and work to be intimate in the relationship
• The benefits of slowing down to directly experience what's in front of you
• Bringing intent and curiosity into our lives to overcome autopiloting
• The difference between having a narrative and a direct experience
• How meditation can bring more conscious awareness and alleviate getting stuck on autopilot

Related Content:

• The #1 Relationship Booster
• Micro Moments In Relationships

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Many people from the older generation, or even from my generation, think of younger people in a negative light. They accuse millennials of being lazy, entitled, or disengaged from life - but that's not at all my experience with them, and it's not Zander's experience with his diligent peers, either. My son, Zander Teplitsky, is turning 24, and is spending the summer at home, on break from his studies at Maastricht University in Maastricht, Netherlands, where he is pursuing a degree in science with an emphasis in biology.

In this episode, Zander and I explore aspects of his experience with work and education as a millennial. We discuss how digital and social media has impacted interpersonal communication and connection. We consider the millennial's ideal work environment and how there's a lack of focus on interpersonal skills and growth in companies. We also discuss how younger generations are viewed negatively and how the absence of the rites of passage in our society has contributed to the disconnect between generations.

"Younger people need to try as many jobs as they can dip their toes into. Don't feel like you have to stay in one position just because it shows resolve." - Zander Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• How some groups of people think millennials are lazy and detached
• Challenges millennials face and why they have to work harder than previous generations
• The benefits and challenges of digital media and communication usage among millennials
• How millennial couples utilize digital communication and social media to connect with each other and how it affects them
• Zander's experiences in the International People's College and Maastricht University
• The value of maintaining a multicultural relationship
• How Zander's education at the IPC and Maastricht University helps him communicate in interpersonal relationships
• Zander's upbringing around appreciation and how it helped him cultivate interpersonal relationships
• The evolution of rites of passages in our society, their absence, and their impact on how different generations view each other
• The Western culture of hyper-independence
• Zander's explorations in business and glasswork and how the latter sparked his interest in science
• Why Zander advises young people to try as many jobs as they can
• The millennial's ideal work environment and the lack of focus on interpersonal growth in the workplace
• Diversity in the millennials' social relationships

Related Content:

• A Father-Son Conversation
• Q&A Session with My Daughter-in-Love
• International People's College
• Maastricht University

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, visit our podcast page to leave us a voice message. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk