Self-Compassionate Professor

Dr. Shaun Marq Anderson offers a clear and compelling rationale about why saying no to extra university work is necessary, the importance of clarifying both your professional and personal values, and strategies he uses to say no with tact and kindness. Shaun explains that his upbringing and career journey showed him the power of his own vision and the need to play by his own rules. In this way, he dismisses the institutional and cultural messages that keep many academics stuck in a cycle of overwhelm and burnout. Drawing on his expertise in organizational culture, he also explains why institutions must do a better job supporting faculty. Find Dr. Shaun Marq Anderson at https://www.shaunmarqanderson.com/ or email him at [email protected].   

Based on Dr. Kristin Neff's research in Mindful Self-Compassion, Dr. Matthew Goodman defines self-compassion, describes its power, the benefits and challenges of practicing self-compassion, and he even leads us in a self-compassion exercise! Dr. Goodman talks too about how he is using self-compassion and other daily practices to navigate the challenges he faces in his own academic career. Find his book, Simple Stress Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults, on Amazon and find him on LinkedIn and Instagram at Matthew Goodman, PhD. Also, check out his personal website, https://www.matthewgoodmanphd.com/ as well as his podcast, The Middle Way with Dr. Matthew Goodman. 

Dr. Pylin Chuapetcharasopon describes her journey from PhD to corporate, her career/health/life crisis, and the clear commitment she eventually made to herself to redesign her life so that she could live without regrets. Pylin has spent two years healing, growing, and building a foundation for the life she wants and today, she works with unfulfilled corporate humans to help them find purpose, passion, freedom, and fulfillment. To listeners who are considering a pivot to corporate, she offers a free career audit call (Thank you for this, Pylin!). Find Pylin at [email protected] and make sure you mention you heard her on the podcast! 

In celebration of my 100th episode, I reflect on the career crisis I went through several years ago and although I did not fully hear it or understand it at the time, I explain how my own inner wisdom was speaking to me during that difficult period. I also show you how your career vision is embedded in the things you love, how you may be suppressing your vision, and how to create space for your wisdom to speak so that you may receive intuitive hits about your career. For personalized help with this or any other career wellness issue, please schedule a consult on my website: https://danielledelamare.com/. 

Dr. Jenn Berg explains how her work as a tenured math professor came to take over her life. After developing a meditation practice however, she started noticing patterns that indicated she had an unhealthy relationship to work. As she watched herself in a new way, she realized it was time to walk away and she made the bold decision to leave academia altogether. She's now working on "Project Jenn," where she is unlearning bad habits, processing emotions when they emerge, and actively making choices about what she wants. - P.S. This is the photo we were talking about early in the interview. It's my husband, Dan, literally stuck on the wall after attempting to jump out of the crawl space in the basement. LOL. 

Dr. Patricia Bonnard explains how her career has been shaped by her multipotentialite tendencies, driving her to multidisciplinary studies, consultancy work around diverse issues, and later, energy healing, embodiment work, and coaching. She explains the importance for humans to find answers to life's questions by going inward, which as she notes, results in greater empowerment, authenticity, connection, and compassion. In other words, finding solutions within connects you more closely to your humanity. Find Dr. Patricia Bonnard on LinkedIn and on her website at https://www.starchaser-healingarts.com. 

Dr. Alex Ketchum, author of Engage in Public Scholarship: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication, explains the value of engaging in public scholarship, offering much hope and a sense of possibility for individual academics, the academy generally, as well as society at large. Alex describes her own experiences doing public scholarship, the need for broader engagement with academic research in our society, as well as the risks and challenges of doing such work. Pre-order her book in paperback now and receive a 20% discount using the code, ketchum20. Also, follow Dr. Alex Ketchum on Twitter at @ketchum22. 

In this solo episode, I discuss the need to unpack the values embedded in your career goals and notice, in micro-moments, how your mind will often tell you lies that derail you from aligning with your values. I encourage listeners to notice such lies so they can free themselves to pave a career and life path with meaning and intention as well as expand their capacities to do what they want to do and be who they want to be. If you want help improving your own career wellness, please feel free to schedule a free coaching consult on my website: https://danielledelamare.com/    

In this solo episode, I discuss the challenges of the holiday season and how to begin practicing self-compassion during this time. I argue that the deep inner work of self-compassion is essential to processing emotion and re-orienting along a self-compassionate career path. Drawing on Dr. Kristin Neff's work, I discuss the essential elements of taking a self-compassion break: a) acknowledging your suffering, b) noticing that you are not alone on this difficult human journey, c) showing yourself kindness. If you want  to find more career wellness, schedule a free consult here: https://danielledelamare.com/