Your Great Journey

According to psychologist Dr. Shawn Smith, your mind is not built to make you happy; it’s built to help you survive. So far, it’s done a great job! But in the process, it may have developed some bad habits—like avoiding new experiences or scrounging around for problems where none exist. Is it any wonder that worry, anxiety, and self-critical thoughts so often get in the way of enjoying life? Today we’re sharing an exclusive interview with psychologist Dr. Shawn T. Smith. He discusses his audiobook The User’s Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Make Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do about It. This audiobook is a road map to overriding the mind’s natural impulses toward worry, self-criticism, and fear. It offers helpful guidance for overruling your thoughts and feelings and taking charge of your mind and your life.

In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Shawn Smith offers advice helpful information for anyone struggling with a mind that isn’t cooperating and hits you with waves of anxiety. He discusses the skill of psychological flexibility and offers a few tips to help eliminate worry and anxiety.

Shawn T. Smith, PsyD, is a psychologist in private practice in Denver, CO. He is also author of the audiobook The Woman’s Guide to How Men Think, and writes a blog at ironshrink.com. Smith enjoys various manly activities, including being a husband and father. He lives with his wife and daughter, and their dog. Visit his website here. Listen to another recent conversation with Dr. Smith: How Men Think: Insights & Tips for Women.

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It is possible to peacefully coexist with our own minds. That task is easier when we peek behind the curtain and expose the mind’s motives. When we know what that little bundle of neurons is up to, it’s harder for our thoughts to sneak up on us.

author of "The User's Guide to the Human Mind"

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A Weekly Self-Improvement Podcast

Most of us want to avoid being touched by loneliness. When we sense it coming into our awareness, we may feel nervous, fearful, angry, or frustrated—feelings we’d rather not experience. But Robert Rabbin has some inspiring words today about dealing with loneliness: You don’t need to be intimidated by the symptoms of loneliness. You can walk right through them, as if you’re walking through a fog.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook The Sacred Hub: Living in the Shimmering Light of Your True Self, written by Robert Rabbin. This audiobook is an inspiring collection of essays on meditation, self-inquiry, awareness, freedom, and more. It’s an uplifting guide through the process of questioning, re-framing, and deepening awareness that will help you discover your own infinite nature–one of enduring happiness and peace.

In this episode, Robert Rabbin looks at the issue of dealing with loneliness through a new lens. When we’re feeling lonely, we usually make an effort to stop feeling that way as soon as possible. But perhaps we’re missing an opportunity to dig deeper and investigate our true feelings? Robert believes that when we make the tough decision to walk through loneliness instead of running from it, we realize there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.

Robert Rabbin began his professional journey in 1985, after spending 10 years living and working with meditation master Swami Muktananda. He developed an international reputation as a radically brilliant speaker and public speaking guru, as well as a distinguished self-awareness facilitator, leadership adviser, and personal mentor. He authored eight books and more than 250 articles on authentic living and public speaking, leadership, self-inquiry, spiritual activism, and meditation.

In January 2012, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and told he had a few months to live. However, in keeping with his contrarian nature, he thrived well past the predicted use-by date. He passed away in December 2017.

You can listen to our recent conversation with Robert here: Inner Wisdom and Clarity: A Conversation with Robert Rabbin.

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The Sacred Hub is an inquiry into what it means to be both fully human and fully divine. Robert Rabbin invites readers to consider living a consciously awakened life with both personal integrity and spiritual awareness. This timely book is very practical, completely accessible and very compelling. Highly recommended!”

author, "Seeds for the Soul: Living as the Source of Who You Are"

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Spiritual teacher Jeff Foster asks: “What will you do with this one precious, fleeting gift of life?” The answer, he says, is simple, because life is short. Do whatever makes you feel passionately alive. Find a way—however much you have to struggle at first—of doing what moves you and connects you to the deepest truth of yourself.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from Jeff Foster’s audiobook, Falling in Love with Where You Are: A Year of Prose and Poetry on Radically Opening Up to the Pain and Joy of Life. You’ll find yourself able to accept your life joyfully, no matter what you’re going through. You’ll see crisis as an opportunity to heal, pain as an intelligent messenger, and your imperfections as perfectly placed. Jeff will guide, provoke, encourage, and inspire you on your lonely, joyful, and sometimes exhausting pathless journey to the home you never, ever left: the present moment.

In this episode, Jeff Foster will inspire you to honor your unique talents and abilities, and to what moves you and connects you to the deepest truth of yourself. To trust prosperity and passion over profit, comfort and the approval of others. Breaking out of the known can be terrifying. You’ll be swimming in the unknown, but you will feel passionately alive. You are not nearly as limited as you may have been led to believe by those who have not yet come alive!

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Friend, if you are experiencing stress, sorrow, physical or emotional pain in your life right now, it doesn’t mean that your life is going wrong or that you have failed. You may just be healing in your own original and unexpected way.

Falling In Love With Where You Are offers a simple but radical invitation: Stop waiting for the world to make you happy. Stop making your inner joy dependent on external things that are out of your control. Discover the natural happiness that you are and have always been, that doesn’t depend on life’s ever-changing ‘content.’

Author of the Audibook, "Falling in Love with Where You Are"

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As we come to the end of the year and the start of a new one, many of us are setting goals and resolutions. If you really want to change your life, you need to know what you really want. You need to know how to find what you want most.

So… What do you want more than anything in your life? You might be surprised to learn that it’s probably not what you first think! Today, noted psychiatrist Dr. Shelley Uram offers a simple exercise to help you peel back the layers and uncover your truest answer to one of life’s biggest questions.

Today we have an excerpt from Dr. Uram’s enlightening new audiobook Essential Living: A Guide to Having Happiness & Peace By Reclaiming Your Essential Self. In this audiobook, Dr. Uram helps us peel back the layers to discover what we really want most in life. It turns out that what we really want are qualities that are already present at our very core―what Dr. Uram calls our “Essential Self.”

In this episode, Dr. Uram introduces us to the foundation of her approach to uncover the essential self— the “you” that is the most real and authentic . Many of us have become disconnected from our essential selves and lost touch with who we are. The simple exercise in this excerpt will help you begin to reconnect and discover what you truly long for and find what you want most.

Shelley Uram, MD, is a Harvard trained, triple board-certified psychiatrist and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. She is known for communicating complex information in an interesting and easy-to-understand manner. Dr. Uram is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Visit Dr. Uram’s website here.

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As an experienced psychiatrist, I have witnessed an enormous amount of suffering in humans. Much of this suffering could be lessened, stopped, or prevented by people having some understanding of how their brain operates, and then taking action with this knowledge. This audiobook is for anyone interested in reconnecting with their Essential Self. This is not something spacey or ‘out there’; rather, this is the most real you that you could imagine.

Author of the Audiobook, "Essential Living"

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One out of every six people fears flying. It is a solvable problem, and yet, people often have a lot of trouble solving it. Many people who’ve tried to face their fear of flying find that the harder they try to control it, the worse it gets. Anxiety expert and clinical psychologist Dr. David Carbonell has helped thousands of people overcome fears of all kinds. Today he’s sharing some helpful information for anyone who wants to overcome the fear of flying.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook Fear of Flying Workbook. This audiobook teaches how to work constructively with your brain. It leads listeners step-by-step with proven techniques that finally make it possible to overcome their fear of flying.

In this episode, Dr. Carbonell talks about the two types of feared outcomes that fearful fliers have. He also discusses why working with fear—and not against it—is the key to overcoming the fear of flying.

David A. Carbonell, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is the founder and director of the Anxiety Treatment Center, Ltd., a small group of psychologists which offers treatment of all manner of fears and phobias at several locations in and around Chicago.

Dr. Carbonell is also the author of The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It. He is a member of the American Psychological Association; the Anxiety Disorders Association of America; the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science; the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy; the Illinois Psychological Association; and the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation.

Doubt or Danger? How Worrying Backfires on You

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One out of every six people fears flying. The reason people have so much trouble overcoming this problem isn’t because it’s so difficult, nor because these people are defective. It’s because the Panic Trick fools them into opposing their fear with methods that they hope will help, but that actually make their fear stronger and more durable. I’m going to help you discover how this works, how it may have prevented you from solving the problem of fear, and above all, how you can solve it and travel as you see fit!

Author, "Fear of Flying Workbook" and "The Worry Trick"

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Are your emotions causing you anxiety? Emotions can be quite beneficial, but sometimes, they can have unwanted consequences—especially when they cause us fear or anxiety. Today, Psychologist Dr. David Klemanski talks about the science of emotion regulation, as well as the latest and most effective techniques available to reduce and eliminate anxiety.

Today we’re sharing an exclusive interview with psychologist Dr. David Klemanski about his audiobook Don’t Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life. This audiobook is a groundbreaking, step-by-step guide for managing the thoughts and feelings that cause anxiety, worry, fear, and panic. Using easy mindfulness practices, you’ll learn to manage your emotions and lessen your anxiety.

In this conversation, Dr. Klemanski offers helpful suggestions about how to overcome anxiety and increase effectiveness. He discusses the science of emotion regulation, as well as the positive side to negative feelings. If you’re ready to take steps to skillfully manage anxiety, then you’ll appreciate this informative interview.

An excerpt from Don’t Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life was featured in this podcast episode: Red Alert! Anxiety as Personal Alarm System.

David H. Klemanski, PsyD, MPH, is a psychologist and professor at New York University where he teaches, researches, and co-directs the Center for Counseling and Community Wellbeing. He specializes in the classification and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, and his research is focused on mindfulness and emotion regulation in anxiety and depression.

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If you truly want to outsmart your anxiety, you will find this audiobook valuable. We will teach you how and when to pay attention to your anxiety, how to react with less intensity to your anxious emotions, and what to do when you feel as if you are overwhelmed by anxiety.

authors of "Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life"

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In moderate amounts, anxiety and depression can improve our focus and performance. That doesn’t mean that depression and anxiety are always useful. In large doses, they are debilitating. However, one of the most important truths about our minds is this: we don’t always have to obey them.

Today we’re sharing and excerpt from the audiobook The User’s Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Make Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do about It, written by clinical psychologist and popular blogger, Dr. Shawn Smith. The User’s Guide to the Human Mind is a road map to the puzzling workings of the human mind. It’s filled with practical techniques for overriding the mind’s natural impulses toward worry, self-criticism, and fear. It also offers many helpful tips for acting in ways that support your values and emotional well-being—even when your mind has other plans.

In this episode, you’ll learn about the fascinating biology behind anxiety and depression, which Dr. Smith calls “ancient tools”—tools that aren’t well-suited for modern times. You’ll learn that while anxiety and depression can often be debilitating, in small doses, these seemingly negative feelings can actually help you excel.

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This audiobook is about living with our minds when our minds are driving us crazy. It’s about understanding what the mind is doing, why it is doing it, and how we can live our lives anyway. It is about gently taking the reins when our minds are blocking our way.

The User's Guide to the Human Mind

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Today we’re sharing a soothing guided meditation that will help you find your center in stressful moments. This guided meditation for stress can also help any time you just want to feel more grounded.

This meditation is an excerpt from psychologist Ted Zeff’s audiobook The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World. Highly sensitive people (or HSPs) will appreciate Dr. Zeff’s survival guide, which will help you manage your sensitivity to both physical and emotional stimulation. Using a series of engaging exercises, you can build your coping skills and be better prepared to make your way through our vibrant and highly stimulating world.

In this episode, Dr. Zeff shares a guided meditation that will help you come back to center. You’ll be guided through a soothing, grounding meditation, which will leave you calm, centered, and happy.

Ted Zeff, PhD, received his doctorate in psychology in 1981 from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. He currently teaches workshops on coping techniques for highly sensitive people. He has taught stress reduction and insomnia management for over fifteen years at various hospitals and medical groups. He is author of The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide. For more information please visit www.drtedzeff.com.

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By understanding, accepting, and appreciating your sensitive nervous system and by learning practical methods to deal with your sensitivity, you will gradually be able to identify and release any false beliefs that there is something inherently wrong with you.

The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide

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Mindfulness practice can help us transform our relationship to the way we feel, think, and relate to others. It brings us, moment by moment, into a greater sense of spaciousness, calmness, and a deeper connection with ourselves and the world. Today we’re offering step-by-step instructions for a simple mindfulness practice you can return to over and over again.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from the audiobook The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation: Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight, by Richard Shankman. This audiobook is a practical guide to building a strong meditation practice using mindfulness, concentration, and insight. New meditators will find step-by-step instructions and hands- on skills they can easily put into practice. Experienced meditators will find a complete guide for deepening insight and cultivating deeper stages of concentration.

In this episode Richard offers step-by-step instructions for a foundational mediation practice: Mindfulness of Breathing. This simple meditation practice helps us learn how to be present as we connect mindfully with the experience of breathing—just as it is happening now.

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The ultimate goal of Buddhist meditation and teachings is to guide us toward a nonreactive equanimity and inner peace in the midst of all aspects of our lives. Buddhist teachings are asking us to make a shift in how and where we look for happiness, with far-reaching and profound consequences for our well-being.

The Art & Skill of Buddhist Meditation

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We all want to live a fulfilling, authentic, and expansive life. But how do we do that? How can we access our deepest inner resources? Today, author and coach Robert Rabbin shares his thoughts about discovering the wisdom, clarity and direction that lies inside of everyone.

Robert Rabbin is the author of the audiobook The Sacred Hub: Living in the Shimmering Light of Your True Self. This audiobook is an inspiring collection of essays on meditation, self-inquiry, awareness, freedom, and more. It’s an uplifting guide through the process of questioning, reframing, and deepening awareness that will help you discover your own infinite nature–one of enduring happiness and peace.

In today’s conversation, Robert talks about how to re-frame problems so that we aren’t contracted and anxious, allowing us to more easily access the inner resources and capacity we have for insight, presence, and action. He shares thoughts on the power of accessing the still space beyond the mind—the source of our deepest inner wisdom and clarity.

Stay tuned after the conversation—Robert shares an excerpt from The Sacred Hub audiobook.

Robert Rabbin began his professional journey in 1985, after spending 10 years living and working with meditation master Swami Muktananda. He developed an international reputation as a radically brilliant speaker and public speaking guru, as well as a distinguished self-awareness facilitator, leadership adviser, and personal mentor. He authored eight books and more than 250 articles on authentic living and public speaking, leadership, self-inquiry, spiritual activism, and meditation.

In January 2012, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and told he had a few months to live. However, in keeping with his contrarian nature, he thrived well past the predicted use-by date. He passed away in December 2017.

Buy or download free audiobook from

The Sacred Hub is an inquiry into what it means to be both fully human and fully divine. Robert Rabbin invites readers to consider living a consciously awakened life with both personal integrity and spiritual awareness. This timely book is very practical, completely accessible and very compelling. Highly recommended!”

author, "Seeds for the Soul: Living as the Source of Who You Are"

The post Inner Wisdom and Clarity: A Conversation with Robert Rabbin appeared first on Your Great Journey.