Do your children spend a lot of time looking at their phones or tablets? Do they get upset if you ask them to take a break from their technology? In today’s interview, child psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Dunckley introduces us to a new syndrome called Electronic Screen Syndrome, which has profound and far-reaching effects on children’s brains. Tune in as she discusses the findings from her book “Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen Time.”  She’ll talk about the wide variety of psychiatric, neurological, and behavioral disorders exacerbated or created by screen time and also outline how to successfully implement an “electronic fast,” which has had proven to be successful in hundreds of her patients. Dr. Victoria L. Dunckley is an award-winning integrative child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, author, and speaker with a focus on addressing modern-day environmental factors to optimize mental health and minimize the need for psychotropic medication.  In response to an overwhelming need, Dr. Dunckley developed “Save Your Child’s Brain” in 2010 to help parents reverse the overstimulating effects of electronics’ use on children’s mood, attention, sleep, and behavior. This is described in her book, “Reset Your Child’s Brain.”  As one of only a handful of tech addiction specialists in the US, she’s considered a leading expert on the effects of interactive screen-time on brain health and development. Info: www.DrDunckley.com and www.ResetYourChildsBrain.com

Are we as humans naturally wired to look for deeper meaning in our lives? Are we innately drawn toward a more spiritual realm? Whether it be a walk in the woods, or through mediation or prayer, our guest today, Dr. Lisa Miller, believes that we are naturally able to tap into a heightened awareness of the world around us. We are able to cultivate circuits in our brains which help us to become more spiritually aware. By developing this awareness, we can begin to free ourselves from depression, anxiety, loss of creativity, and so much more. We can consider things from a more awakened, more elevated perspective. Dr Miller believes when we feel depressed, this is an alert asking us for deeper spiritual exploration. 

Dr. Miller is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she founded the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology. She has been with the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School for more than a decade. 

Dr. Miller is the NYT bestselling author of “The Spiritual Child” and her latest book is “The Awakened Brain.” She is the Editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, Founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of the APA journal “Spirituality in Clinical Practice,” an elected Fellow of The American Psychological Association (APA) and the two-time President of the APA Society for Psychology and Spirituality. A graduate of Yale University and University of Pennsylvania, she earned her doctorate under the founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, and she has served as Principal Investigator on multiple grant-funded research studies. Info: LisaMillerPhD.com

 Can pesticides cause diseases such as Parkinson’s? Today’s guest is Dr. Beate Ritz who will help answer this question during today’s interview.  Dr. Ritz has been investigating the connection between exposure to pesticides and the incidence of Parkinson’s disease for more than 15 years. She Professor and Vice Chair of the Epidemiology Department and holds co-appointments in the Environmental Health department at the UCLA School of Public Health and in Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine; she is a member of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), the Southern California Environmental Health Science Center (SCEHSC) and co-directs the NIEHS-funded UCLA Center for Gene-Environment Studies of Parkinson’s disease.  She has spent the past 15 years investigating the long-term effects of pesticide exposures on Parkinson’s disease and cancers and is currently conducting a project to implement a Parkinson’s disease registry required by a new law in California. Her research focuses on the health effects of occupational and environmental toxins such as pesticides, ionizing radiation, and air pollution on chronic diseases including neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders (Parkinson's disease, autism cognition), cancers, and adverse birth outcomes and asthma. She previously investigated the causes of cancer in chemical toxin and radiation exposed workers and assessed the impact of ergonomic work-place factors on musculo-skeletal disorders. For more than two decades, she studied the effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes as well as asthma, autism, and cancers in children in Southern California.

Do you frequently feel stressed and anxious? Today Lisa continues the interview with award-winning author and clinical therapist Faust Ruggiero, who discusses his step-by-step program he calls the “Process Way of Life,” which aims to help people achieve physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual balance. Faust explains how sometimes stress can take on other forms, such as restlessness, inability to sleep, anger, or irritability – these may all be signs of underlying anxiety. Faust believes that anxiety must be addressed physically first, then handle the mental component afterward. By deep breathing, and staying in the moment, we can begin to calm down the stress reaction. He also suggests implementing physical exercise and meditation, as well as beginning a mindfulness process.  

Faust’s career spans nearly 40 years. He has consistently established cutting-edge counseling programs in pursuit of professional excellence and personal life enhancement. He is a published research author, clinical trainer, and a therapist who has worked in settings which have included clinics for abused women, prisons, nursing homes, substance abuse centers, businesses, and major corporations, as well as inpatient facilities. He continues to provide counseling services for veterans, first responders, law enforcement, and other emergency personnel, and businesses and corporations, nationally, and internationally. He believes that self-care and emotional health are more important than ever and offers us a way to begin a journey out of darkness toward a brighter future. Info: FaustRuggiero.com.   

Do you make your choices out of fear? Does your culture or religion expect you to behave in a certain way? Do you always consider what others may think of you when making your decisions? If so, living a life of inauthenticity like this can lead to devastating illness and disease, according to our guest today, best-selling author and spiritual teacher Anita Moorjani, who learned this firsthand. Anita was born in Singapore of Indian parents and moved to Hong Kong at the age of two. She had been working in the corporate field for many years before being diagnosed with terminal cancer in April of 2002. In early 2006, while gravely ill in the hospital, doctors told her family she was just hours away from death. It was at this point that she “crossed over” into the Afterlife and experienced a realm of complete love and clarity. She then returned again into this world with a pristine understanding of her life and purpose on earth. This understanding subsequently led to a total recovery of her health. Doctors could not explain her rapid transition and called it a “medical miracle.” Today she discusses her fascinating and moving near-death experience which has led to her tremendously changing her perspective on life. She asks us to consider our feelings about the Afterlife and how, if we live in fear, it will color our physical life and how we choose to live. When your life is driven from a place of fear, you don’t follow your heart. Anita invites us to instead, make choices from a place of love. What makes you passionate? What do you love to do? What if we made choices from that place instead? Anita reveals that she believes that the whole reason she had deadly cancer was because she made so many of her personal decisions based on fear. She didn’t want to go against her culture or the religion in which she was raised. She didn’t want to disappoint her family and friends. They expected her to commit to an arranged marriage and not have a career after she was married. She had never followed her own heart. She was living a life of inauthenticity and realized she was forsaking herself. She realized all of this during her journey into the Afterlife. Anita also discusses how to navigate through this life as a sensitive person. She realized she was extremely empathic, and her latest book is “Sensitive is the New Strong.” She will talk about this and related topics at the upcoming Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles held Feb 10-13, 2023. Lisa Garr will be presenting at the Expo, too! Info: anitamoorjani.com and consciouslifeexpo.com.

These past several years have been stressful for us all. Have you found yourself or a loved one struggling with fear, anxiety, or even anger? Do you sometimes feel that it’s nearly impossible to move through all the negativity? Well, there IS a solution! Today’s guest, award-winning author and clinical therapist Faust Ruggiero, discusses his step-by-step program he calls the “Process Way of Life,” which aims to help people achieve physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual balance. This approach is the culmination of more than twenty years of research, program development, and counseling application. It has helped to change the lives of thousands of clients in his private practice. Today he talks about his latest book, “The Fix Your Anxiety Handbook” which is the second installment in The Fix Yourself empowerment series. Faust’s career spans nearly 40 years. He has consistently established cutting-edge counseling programs in pursuit of professional excellence and personal life enhancement. This is Part 1 of the interview. Info: FaustRuggiero.com   

 Is it possible that the movement of the planets can predict what lies ahead? How influenced are we by the moon and its phases? According to world-renowned astrologer Susan Miller, the celestial bodies can affect many different aspects of our lives including our relationships, our health, our legal contracts, and so much more. Today Susan discusses the year ahead and how several major planets are moving into different astrological signs, signaling new ideas and broadening our horizons. Susan is the founder of the wildly successful website “Astrology Zone,” where she receives upwards of 13 million unique visitors per month. Her mother was a gifted astrologer and due to numerous health challenges as she was growing up, including being bedridden for months at a time, Susan had the opportunity to intently study astrology and the science behind it. She talks about the particular planetary alignment at the beginning of the pandemic and how it foretold great changes ahead. Major planets were in Earth signs during the Industrial Revolution and now these planets are moving into Air signs, which means we could see vast technological advances happening very quickly. Susan also goes through each astrological sign, step-by-step, and reveals what lies ahead for each one. She also discusses the meaning of “retrogrades” and how these are times of reflection and not ideal for signing contracts or making major decisions, if at all possible. Susan continues her work as an author, international columnist, entrepreneur, and publisher. She is the author of 12 astrology books, as well as the popular “The Year Ahead” astrology calendars. She has apps in which to read your daily horoscope as well as very extensive monthly horoscopes. Info: AstrologyZone.com 

Do you believe that miracles can happen to you? Or are they just found in fairytales? Today’s guest, NYT best-selling author of “Happy for No Reason” Marci Shimoff, says anyone can set up the conditions for miracles to occur. She’s a well-known Happiness Expert who has been featured in “The Secret” and has built a community of more than 500,000 people from 88 countries around the world who have participated in her “Your Year of Miracles” program over the last 10 years. Dr Sue Morter and Lisa Garr are also co-hosts of the program. How is it that so many people worldwide participate? According to Marci, happiness is a universal language! But she wasn’t always the happy person she is today. In fact, Marci says she “was born depressed.” Although she had a wonderful upbringing, she always felt like she had a dark cloud around her. Marci experienced continuous existential angst which may have been caused by past lives or ancestorial linage. This led her to seek out people who were truly happy and she learned how to raise her Happiness Setpoint. She has developed a formula so we can all have a bit more happiness in our lives and she shares tips which can be used daily. Learn how 2023 can be a “restart” so that you can truly be the creator of your own reality! For more information about her program and to receive a free ebook, pls visit www.theawareshow.com/miracles

 Do you make your choices out of fear? Does your culture or religion expect you to behave in a certain way? Do you always consider what others may think of you when making your decisions? If so, living a life of inauthenticity like this can lead to devastating illness and disease, according to our guest today, best-selling author and spiritual teacher Anita Moorjani, who learned this firsthand. Anita was born in Singapore of Indian parents and moved to Hong Kong at the age of two.  She had been working in the corporate field for many years before being diagnosed with terminal cancer in April of 2002. In early 2006, while gravely ill in the hospital, doctors told her family she was just hours away from death. It was at this point that she “crossed over” into the Afterlife and experienced a realm of complete love and clarity. She then returned again into this world with a pristine understanding of her life and purpose on earth. This understanding subsequently led to a total recovery of her health. Doctors could not explain her rapid transition and called it a “medical miracle.”  

Today she discusses her fascinating and moving near-death experience which has led to her tremendously changing her perspective on life. She asks us to consider our feelings about the Afterlife and how, if we live in fear, it will color our physical life and how we choose to live.  When your life is driven from a place of fear, you don’t follow your heart. Anita invites us to instead, make choices from a place of love. What makes you passionate? What do you love to do? What if we made choices from that place instead? 

Anita reveals that she believes that the whole reason she had deadly cancer was because she made so many of her personal decisions based on fear. She didn’t want to go against her culture or the religion in which she was raised. She didn’t want to disappoint her family and friends. They expected her to commit to an arranged marriage and not have a career after she was married. She had never followed her own heart. She was living a life of inauthenticity and realized she was forsaking herself. She realized all of this during her journey into the Afterlife.  Anita also discusses how to navigate through this life as a sensitive person. She realized she was extremely empathic, and her latest book is “Sensitive is the New Strong.” She will talk about this and related topics at the upcoming Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles held Feb 10-13, 2023. Lisa Garr will be presenting at the Expo, too! Info: anitamoorjani.com and consciouslifeexpo.com.