Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking ... They get the most press, but your addictions may look more like shopping, eating, maybe even running. Most everyone has an urge or behavior that is at least a little beyond their control at times. Dr. Kim Lannon tells us how they work and how you can begin to deal with them.

Dr. Kim Lannons explores some of the influences and circumstances that can lead to addiction before discussing some of the basic challenges of dealing with it.

Host Dr. Kim Lannons explores some of the influences and circumstances that can lead to addiction before discussing some of the basic challenges of dealing with it.

May people think sympathy and empathy are the same things, but they aren't, and each serves a different role and function in our dealings with others. But what about our dealings with ourselves in these trying times? A little self-empathy could go a long way as the days in quarantine start to pile up, whether you are dealing with the kids, your partner, or just the world in general. 

If binging has been your response to sheltering in place, whether in terms of TV, food, or all of the above, it may be time to change things up. If you are breaking negative cycles from these massive changes to our lives, you are going to "lay new tracks", and that may begin with practicing "gratitude". I saw you roll your eyes! But that doesn't mean going all Pollyanna. Dr. Kim Lannon is talking about a different approach

You are trying to keep your game face on during this pandemic, but you are also swimming in the same ocean with everyone else. We aren't practicing nearly as much emotional distancing, so you also have to deal with everyone else's emotions.

Fear has turned to frustration, and the struggle now is to not get pulled down by the challenges of Covid-19, at least as much as we move forward. Dr. Lannon talks about how being productive can restore your sense of purpose and lead to a more positive approach for what's ahead.

Dr. Kim Lannon talks about dealing with your own stress and fear in these times, and how a large part of that task is dealing with everyone else's stress and fear. 

What if there was a bear in the back of the cave, and simultaneously there wasn't? There's so much unknown to deal with, so much loss of control, and we have generated so many threats of late.  Normally we are trying to dispel fears that aren't real, but that is much more challenging when they are in a crowd of fears in which some are real. How do we survive Covid-19? (Not the virus, the mental and emotional storm it is creating for all of us.)

We see what the threat of Covid-19 is doing to the collective consciousness of the country. It also represents an example of how easy is it is for us to generate and amplify threats by simply accepting outside influence as fact. It's easy to believe that any of the things that threaten your mental and emotional happiness and security are real and as bad as they seem, when actually they are just the voices of your family, friends, rivals, coworkers, or even your own mind, dealing with their own worries and fears and looking at you from under their own emotional beds based on what they need from you to ease their fears. Learn how to think about what your threats are critically, and determine exactly how real those threats actually are.