Second Breaks

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The reasoning and principle behind “stop fixing yourself”
• How to recognize the programming that leads us to think we are broken and need fixing
• What attachments are and how to spot them
• How to identify the conditions that we sub-consciously impose on our happiness

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Don Joseph Goewey is the director of the Center for Spiritual Exchange, the official archive for the works of Anthony De Mello. De Mello was a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist and was regarded as one of the great spiritual minds of the 20th century, influencing the likes of Eckhart Tolle and Thomas Moore.

Don is the author of  End of Stress/Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain. And recently, Don edited the book Stop Fixing Yourself: Wake Up, All is Well based on Anthony De Mello’s practical spirituality.

De Mello’s message is to stop fixing ourselves. That we’re OK just as we are. No need to interfere or fix anything. It’s enough for us to simply watch and observe. We will see that these things we struggle to fix just need to be understood. And that once we understand them, they will simply drop.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

This is a short episode to give you a preview of what I've got cooking and the topics that we will be exploring in Season 8.  The new season starts on Thursday, February 3rd. 

Forget what so-and-so said about how someone of a certain age should look or sound or act or behave. In midlife, just as in every other phase of our life, "You Do You" is an awesome principle to follow.

In this episode, I've distilled five principles for a well-lived midlife, gathered from my own research of midlife's twists and turns and deep conversations with other midlifers on the podcast.

For the written transcript and all the links, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• How Nancy Davis Kho executed her year-long project of writing one letter of gratitude a week
• What was hard, easy, and surprising about the project
• How we can start a similar gratitude project
• The project’s lasting impact on Nancy
• Nancy’s observations from her experience interviewing mid-lifers on her podcast

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Nancy Davis Kho is a speaker, author, and podcaster whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Salon.com. She is the author of The Thank You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time, published by Running Press in December 2019.

On her podcast Midlife Mixtape, Nancy covers “the years between being hip and breaking one”. Midlife Mixtape won a 2020 Iris Award as Podcast of the Year and was included in Wall Street Journal’s list of 8 Podcasts for Anyone Nervously Facing Retirement.

Nancy and I talked about her experience and takeaways from the year-long project that was the basis of her book. She offers such practical tips about how and where to start, and why she encourages midlifers especially to undertake a similar project.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• What does it look like and how does it feel when we have our own back
• The three internal voices that we have
• Why the third voice – our biggest fan – is the one we really want to strengthen
• The role that self-loyalty plays when dealing with our inner critic
• Why Nancy avoids thinking “I deserve this” and how this thought-process may lead to false self-loyalty

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Nancy Jane Smith is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Coach specializing in High Functioning Anxiety and has spent 20+ years working as a counselor/coach. Nancy first joined me on this podcast back in 2018 when we talked about her book, The Happier Approach: Be Kind to Yourself, Feel Happier and Still Accomplish Your Goals, and specifically the three voices that we have in our heads: the Monger, the BFF, and the Biggest Fan.

I invited Nancy to join me again so we can have a follow-up conversation about these internal voices/characters, and to talk about self-loyalty. We explored how true self-loyalty sounds and looks like in practice and how we can strengthen it.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• What stress really is and how our body responds to stress
• Chronic vs Acute stress
• Three principles of stress relief
• Why Shula prefers to talk about principles rather than specific techniques for stress relief
• Examples of what these principles may look like in practice

ABOUT MY GUEST
Shulamit Ber Levtov is a mindset and resilience consultant. She uses her background as a trauma therapist to help women entrepreneurs stay sane and care for their emotional health as they ride the emotional rollercoaster of running a business. Shula helps her clients discover what affects their mental and emotional well-being and create a plan to care for it in an era of relentless stressors.

GUEST LINKS: 

• Shula's website 
• Follow Shula on LinkedIn

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Dr. Mickey Barber explains the phrase “successful aging” and how we can achieve it
• Why it’s important to look for a physician who specializes in age management and what we should look for
• Why she believes in a shared responsibility of the patient-doctor team
• How to talk to our doctors to have a better chance that our health concerns are heard
• The most important factors to staying healthy as we get older

ABOUT MY GUEST:
Dr. Mickey Barber is on a mission to spread the word that you can look and feel great at any age. Her philosophy for successful aging includes preventing age-related diseases while maintaining energy, health, and sexual vigor through the shared responsibility of the patient-doctor team.

Dr. Barber has been featured on television and in publications including Shape Magazine, Vogue, and Harpers Bazaar. She is a Maria Shriver “Architect for Change” and a sought-after lecturer on age management and hormone replacement.

In this episode, we talk about how we can successfully navigate the aging process and stay healthy as we get older – so we can continue to do and enjoy the things we want to do… and why it really is never too late to start.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Level-setting definitions: what is peri-menopause (and how long it can last); what and when is menopause; and what and when is post-menopause
• Strategies for making the peri-menopause and post-menopause years “easier” on ourselves & our bodies
• The truth about common perceptions and “truths” about menopause 
• Why Lorraine believes our post-menopausal years can be a magical time of our life and how we can make it so!

ABOUT MY GUEST:

As a certified health and hormone coach as well as a post-menopausal woman herself, Lorraine Miano discovered her passion for offering menopause advocacy, support, and resources to women in all phases of menopause through health coaching, proper nutrition, and preventive lifestyle choices.

She is the author of "The Magic of Menopause: A Holistic Guide to Get Your Happy Back!" The book helps guide women through the struggles they face as they begin menopause and helps tackle the daily changes such as balancing hormones holistically, getting a better night’s sleep, and reducing or eliminating hot flashes, to name a few.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to craft the "best story" for your midlife reinvention
• How to tell the story that you want to tell, with authenticity and vulnerability
• Why Hillary does not encourage the typical "hero's journey" format
• Selecting the "right" stories to include in your overall narrative
• Why you'd want to have a prepared story in your back pocket

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Hillary Rea is the founder of Tell Me A Story, a communication consulting and coaching business that teaches multi-passionate entrepreneurs, mission-driven leaders, and committed change-makers how to use the art of storytelling as a powerful communication tool.

She is an award-winning storyteller (NYC Moth StorySLAM winner and 2019 Rad Award for Storyteller of the year), has been telling her own stories on stage for 12 years. In addition to running her own business, Hillary is the producer and host of Rashomon, a long-form narrative storytelling podcast where one family tells every side of the same story.

In this episode, Hillary and I talk about how we can compose and tell the story that we want to tell about our life and our midlife reinvention, how to keep vulnerability and authenticity in our "prepared" stories, and how we chose the stories that we want to include in our overall narrative.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Strategies for returning to your previous career after a long break
• Strategies for career pivots in midlife
• What to do when you’ve been let go in midlife
• How to approach networking when you haven’t been keeping in touch with your contacts
• How to address the “years and years of experience” in your resumé

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Sarah Baker Andrus is the founder and CEO of Avarah Careers, a career coaching business. She’s worked on all sides of the hiring equation, serving as a career counselor, a recruiter, and a hiring manager. After twenty+ years in recruiting and PR with the same company, she got the itch to make a change and jumped to a shiny new “dream job.” Within weeks she knew she had made a huge mistake. 18 months later, she received a gift in the form of a layoff. She started Avarah Careers in 2014 and hasn’t looked back.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com