Clare Steffen, Ed.D. is a psychologist, certified drug & alcohol counselor, and life, wellness, business & brain health coach.  In this episode of the Heal Your Brain Toolbox, Dr. Steffen explores the question of why we love from the chemical and emotional perspective.  She presents the Big Five of Healthy Relationships Model along with Dr. David Weiss' Eight Dimensions of Choice as they relate to wellness and the reasons we fall or stay in love.  Certainly, even though on the surface this appears to be a simple question, it truly is a more complex question.   Perhaps this episode opens the door to asking more questions rather than providing solutions to the question of Why We Love. Maybe that is the point, since the reasons we love are individualized and personal, even though as human beings we share the desire to socially connect and experience a sense of belonging. 

Life is full of conflicts, some small and readily resolved and some complex and more difficult to resolve.  Having the necessary tools to understand your own process and experience and openly explore other individuals' experiences with compassion is a step toward resolution.  Each of us carries forth our perceptions that influence how we relate to one another and the situation when conflict occurs.  Learning to remain calm, address the situation objectively, and manage and regulate powerful emotions, is an important step toward conflict resolution.  Explore each scenario as an opportunity for growth and development, and learn more about yourself and others by becoming more comfortable with conflict and choose not to avoid it and escalate your anxiety surrounding conflict when it occurs. 

Clare E Steffen, Ed.D. shares her model of integrative sustainability that can be utilized as a philosophy for living. This model is based on the core belief, "I Am Able," and is a radial systemic view to integrating that belief in a holistic perspective toward all aspects of your life to sustain life balance,  functional homeostasis, and to protect your resilience in an integrative and sustainable approach toward your relationship with self and others. 

There is a difference between purpose and meaning, yet these two concepts are interconnected.   Defining our purpose and meaning can lead to having a happier life, and engaging in acts of altruism can increase our sense of purpose.   Our definition of self, and our purpose changes over life, and we require resilience in order to sustain a meaningful life. Creating life balance is a crucial skill in pursuit of the definition of life purpose, and self-meaning.  Finding our purpose and meaning is a life-long pursuit, and having a clear definition of self is key to creating and maintaining health and wellness. Ask yourself, "What is my contribution to the world?" Heal Your Brain Toolbox Podcast, hosted by Clare E Steffen, Ed.D., CADC-II, NC, CNHP, CMH, NCC, BCC, CBHC

Music is a powerful tool to access our emotions, but it can also be used to manage and reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health condition.  Music can be therapeutic and can be used either as a stand-alone therapy or adjunct to other forms of therapy addressing physical, social & emotional, and mental health conditions.   Music helps us access memories and can evoke a wide array of feelings and emotions.  Music brings about healing. 

Social media has a strong influence on our behavior, choices, and decisions.  It also has a strong impact on our youth.  There are advantages and disadvantages to social media, and the question becomes do you use it to your best advantage?  Consider how it is affecting your overall health.  People have more ways to communicate, but is this necessarily resulting in better communication or more fulfilled relationships?  Clare Steffen, Ed.D., psychologist.

Clare E. Steffen, Ed.D, ND, CADC-II, CBHC has been a psychologist for over thirty years and has been working with individuals, couples, and families to improve communication and the health of their relationships.  She designed The Big Five of Healthy Relationships model that identifies five major traits to look for to assess the health of your relationships.  Each of these five traits has three sub-traits that support the major traits that can be explored in relationships.

We can become discouraged when we feel dissatisfied with our past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future.  Discouragement is the state of losing courage, and as a result, we can experience a loss of confidence.  This brief podcast talked about the impact of feeling discouraged, and the importance of identifying sources of discouragement so that you can effectively manage it and prevent it from increasing and causing a depressive episode.   

In this episode, Clare Steffen, Ed.D., ND talks about the Seven Teaching and the power of the Animal Spirits to provide "good counsel."  The energies of the animals are diverse and can be called upon to bring guidance, self-knowledge, and understanding.  Clare also reveals the energy of some animals that are available to us to bring us healing. 

In this episode Clare E Steffen, Ed.D. discussed post-traumatic stress (PTS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She described the physical and emotional elements of PTS that result in symptoms such as increased anxiety with exposure or when triggered, dissociation, flashbacks, depression, anxiety, sleep disruption, and an array of complex symptoms.   She discusses how to go beyond symptom reduction and take a strength-based approach.