Thriveology Podcast | Success | Personal Development | Self-improvement | Thrive | Resilience | Thrive Nation

If you are alive, you will feel pain.  For some, it is just a little here and a little there.  For others, pain is chronic and constant.  Maybe just a little or maybe a lot. Since I tend to be on the active side, I tend to have lots of bumps and bruises.  And at one point in my life, when I was suffering from an illness, I had significant pain.  Which means I am on the lookout for how to find pain relief that does not include a pill to take. After years of dealing with chronic pain, my guest was searching for a way to heal her own pain.  And in the process, she has developed an approach that has helped many others to find pain relief without medication or medical intervention.  Oftentimes, when those interventions have already failed! Sharon Smith applies an approach that is simple and straightforward.  It integrates physical healing with emotional release, reducing pain and releasing stuck emotions. Often, when we talk about emotional issues and concerns, we use physical images:  someone being a "pain in

What prison holds you? We ALL have some prison in our lives.  Maybe there aren't any real bars and locked doors.  But it still keeps us stuck, trapped and unable to grow.  It might be a way of thinking, a relationship, a job.  It may be just your own view of yourself and your capacities.  But something keeps us stuck. Is it possible to break free?  To escape the prisons in our lives? According to my guest on this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, is not only possible... it is crucial! Marian McSpadden discovered that she was trapped in a life... a belief system... that kept her from becoming her truest and best self. So, she planned her escape!  And she broke free.  In her case, quite literally.  Was it easy?  No.  Was it worthwhile?  Marian says, "Absolutely!" And so, Marian is out to help others find their freedom from their own prison.  If you are stuck, caught in a belief system, a relationship, a job, or something else, discover your path out, your escape route! Listen in as Marian McSpadden and

Tough conversations are, well, tough.  You know, those conversations you know you need to have... but avoid having them.  Maybe you aren't comfortable with the topic.  Or maybe it feels risky to have that conversation. Here is the problem:  when we avoid tough conversations, we also avoid real engagement.  And we miss the opportunity for deeper connection, more intimacy... and importantly, the opportunity for resolution! My guest on this episode of the Thriveology Podcast is a returning guest.  Always about "keeping it real," David Wood returns to discuss how to have those tough conversations.  David says he is an evangelist for tough conversations, trying to spread the word on how important those convos are! But more than that, David wants to share a process of how to have those tough conversations on difficult issues. In his 4 step process (plus 1 "pre"-step), David reveals a method of how to have the conversations you've been ducking and avoiding.  You just have to follow the steps (and he has a special

Have you been to the Self-Help area of a bookstore lately?  We are awash with books on happiness.  There are lots of articles on happiness.  And lots of trainings and courses on happiness.  Heck, I have even addressed it many times before. So, why aren't we happy?  Why haven't we made a shift, as a culture, to higher levels of happiness? Many times, people keep looking "out there" for what will finally make them happy.  Something needs to "happen" to make them "happy." Maybe... just maybe... we are looking in the wrong place.  In the wrong direction.  We are looking "out there," when the potential has been "in here" the whole time. She calls herself "the Happiness Generator" and in this episode, Amy Huentelman discusses how you can generate happiness... from the inside!  By getting out of your head and into your deeper self.  Your True Self. And not by waiting for something to shift "out there," but how to make the shift "from within." If you want some help in making that shift, and in learning how to g

Long ago, way back in one of my college classes on death and dying, the professor told us that our death rituals -- the funeral, visitation, etc. -- were our ways of "reweaving the cloth of our community" after a loss. Grief has a process.  It is our internal response to loss, that is about how we move through and beyond that loss. Yet in our culture, we tend to have an impatience with grief and the grieving.  With the best of intentions, we sometimes push people to move through their grief.  And we push ourselves to move through our grief. We want those grieving to find happiness again.  And as we grieve, we want to stop hurting. Which often only serves to disrupt grief, prolonging or curtailing the healing that needs to come after a loss.  In our attempts to "speed it along," we slow it down or cut it off. My guest on this episode, Sarah Nannen, knows this first-hand.  With 4 young children, Sarah was widowed when her active-duty husband died in a training accident. In the aftermath, Sarah had to foll

Are you up for a challenge? In the last episode of my podcast, I discussed how to hold on when life is tough.  That's when life is challenging you. But what about when life isn't so challenging... where life is copacetic?  Just cruising. It's my observation that we work hard to keep life flat.  We work hard to keep things smooth.  Cold out?  Turn on the heater.  Hot out?  Turn on the A/C.  Keep things even... even-keeled.  Flat. We spend LOTS of energy to save the energy of dealing witb challenges, big or small. But does that help (or harm) us?  Does it keep us safe or make us fragile? What if taking on small challenges actually gets us better prepared for bigger challenges?  What if making choices to expand into life helps us deal with life encroaching upon us? One of my "things" is to find little challenges for myself... new things to try, new activities to do, new tastes or sounds to take in, and new ways to try life. How about you?  What challenges are you taking on right now? Listen to this epis

Life is tough. Not always.  But along the way.  And even after you get past one struggle, that doesn't mean there isn't another one up ahead.  That's just the nature of life. It doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong or that the world, God, or the Universe is out to teach you a lesson.  It's just the nature of life. You may notice 2 crowds.  First is the "Grind Culture" that just says to suck it up, keep on grinding, and MAKE it work.  They have a point that you have to get through some tough times.  But sometimes, it is wise to step back and ask if the fight is worth it. Then there is the "Sign Culture."  That group tells you that any struggle is an indication you are on the wrong path, that something is wrong with you, and that life "should" be easy... if you are doing it right.  They have a point that sometimes, a struggle is pointing to you moving the wrong way... swimming upstream.  But the fact is, life means struggles... at times. So what do you do to hold up when life gets you down? We discus

What's your WHY?  Your BIG WHY?  Why you are here.  The WHY that is your life purpose? I think we all have one... even if we haven't found it yet.  It's there.  Within us.  Your first task is to find it.  That's important.  But finding it isn't enough.  Second, you have to move toward it, work toward it... try to fulfill it.  If it is big enough, it may just take you the rest of your life! But what could get in your way?? The little "why's."  Your questions about "why did this happen?", "why are things this way?", "why do I feel this way?" Those little why's can drown out the BIG WHY.  It draws our attention away from what is important.  And yet, those little why's get our attention and energy.  They keep us in circles, chasing after nothing helpful or useful.  Just stuck. In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I discuss our BIG WHY and the little why's that keep us away from the BIG WHY. RELATED RESOURCES Meaning/Purpose/Impact Showing Up Accepting WHAT IS What Can You Control? What I Learned As A

We ALL want MORE out of life... right?  But more of what?  More toys?  More stuff? Or are we craving more of LIFE?  Of living... more?  Living a more full life? I think that is it.  At least, that is "it" for me.  Experiencing more, connecting more, adding more purpose, living more of "me."  And I suspect that is true for you, too.  But sometimes, we aren't sure about how to do it. Not whether we want to or not. Just how to do it. In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, we cover how to Choose More in your life... and what to Choose More of! Listen below. RELATED RESOURCES You Have to Show UP Your Impact Your Thriving Body Series Thrive Principles Book

I don't know about you, but I was raised around competition.  Not so much from my parents, but from culture.  In school, you compete in all sorts of tasks... trying to prove how smart, how good, how talented, how athletic, how whatever you are... compared to the others. It doesn't stop there, but keeps on going.  Win or lose.  That's all that matters.  Well, winning.  That's what matters. Remember Ricky Bobby from the movie, Talladega Nights? "If you ain't first, you're last!"  In other words, you win... or you have lost. (Do remember, though, that at another point in the movie, Ricky Bobby is talking with his Dad... and gets challenged: Ricky Bobby: "Wait, Dad. Don’t you remember the time you told me 'If you ain’t first, you’re last'?" Reese Bobby: "Huh? What are you talking about, Son?" Ricky Bobby: "That day at school." Reese Bobby: "Oh hell, Son, I was high that day. That doesn’t make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth… hell you can even be fifth." Ricky Bobby: "What? I’ve lived my whol

Well, you are on to me!  Last week, I started talking about things you can do to guarantee that you DON'T thrive.  I'm sure you knew I didn't really want you to NOT thrive.  But I wanted to point out some ways people make themselves miserable... and what they might do to shift. If you missed that episode, JUST CLICK HERE TO HEAR IT. It is interesting to notice how we humans can really mess up our lives!  Life throws us enough to deal with.  Then, we tend to multiply it with our own blind spots and stuck points. With my Top 10 List To Guarantee You Don't Thrive, I wanted to point out 10 ways that people really do keep themselves stuck.  And the fact is, I see these same patterns repeated over and over by many people. So, if you see yourself in one (or more) of the stuck points, that just means you are... well... human.  Congratulations on being able to spot it!  That is the first step in doing something different... something new... something more... THRIVING! Listen in below for the REST of the ways you

Over the years, I have tried to learn to thrive.  And I have tried to teach others how to thrive... even getting other experts to do the same. But today, just for a moment, let's assume you DON'T want to thrive.  In fact, you want to... well, do the opposite of thriving!  You want to be miserable and live a smaller life.  You want to feel stuck and frustrated. (I'm not going to even explain WHY you would want to do that... let's play a little mental game and pretend you just don't want to thrive.) What then? How would you go about NOT thriving?  How would you really make yourself as miserable as possible? In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I start in on my Top 10 List of How NOT To Thrive.  I cover 5 top ways to NOT thrive in this episode, and follow up with the other 5 in the next episode. Why in the world would I do this? Because if you know how to NOT thrive, then you can NOT do the NOT's.  You can do the opposite, and move toward thriving.  It is also a good way to run through the list and

World got you down?  Maybe even looking down?  It can feel overwhelming, like you just need to keep plodding ahead, keeping your head down. But often, that is just the time we need to look up. To the sky. Physically and metaphorically. When I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and flustered, when it seems there is just too much going on, too much to get done... I take a step back and look up. And then I have a little more perspective.  Little ol' me in this big ol' universe.  In a world with lots more troubles than I have.  Not that mine aren't important.  They just aren't as grand as I can make them feel. And metaphorically, I look up.  To a higher perspective.  My higher Self.  I remember that it really isn't all about me, but how I bring myself into the world. It also reminds me to be grateful.  To be grateful for being in this moment, in this space.  Who I am, with what I have, where I am.  And to see that as "enough."  It is too easy to let the "not enough's" call out to me, call me down, scare me. But

There are days when you just wish that something would change.  The same ol' same ol' just seems to roll along.  And then there are the days you wished that things wouldn't change.  What happened?  How did things turn upside down? One simple word to explain both situations:  Life. If you don't find that comforting, let's call it the cycle of life.  Because cycles keep on rolling.  If you can't wait for a change, no worries.  Things will change.  If things seem so be changing on all sides, guess what?  Change will stop.  Things will re-configure. In life, we are always moving through a cycle:  Order, Disorder, Reorder.  The first can get a little old and stale.  But at least it is predictable and... maybe even feels safe.  Then comes the call, the letter, the diagnosis, the pink slip, or maybe just the next step.  A child goes off to college, you finish college, a friend moves away, you move away.  Something shifts and throws you into disorder. It is a tough spot.  Painful and grief-ful.  But life does not

"How did I end up here?," my client asked.  He told me that for so long, he thought he was headed in the right direction.  Now, he thinks maybe it was the entirely wrong direction. I asked him, "Did you course correct along the way?"  He looked at me rather quizzically.  So, I elaborated, "If you are sailing, you point the boat toward some object in the distance, in the direction you want to sail.  You sail toward it.  But the winds push, the current pushes, and you end up a little off-course.  So, you course correct." But then, I added: "Sometimes, you realize that where you thought you wanted to go is not really where you want to go... or maybe it isn't safe to go.  Maybe a storm or something else.  But you have to go somewhere else.  So, you change course." And I continued, "Then there are the times when you don't course-correct as you go, and the small space of being off-course begins to broaden as you go.  What might have been just a course correction at the beginning is now a course change." Then I

Over 40 million people.  Every year.  That is the number who suffer from insomnia, in the United States alone.  It's just a little "missed sleep," right?  Maybe a little cranky in the morning, but nothing that a cup of coffee can't fix. Right? Wrong. First, insomnia is incredibly frustrating.  When you want to sleep, but can't, it is frustrating.  Especially if everyone else is peacefully slumbering everywhere else in your house! Second, a lack of sleep is detrimental to our mental and physical well-being.  Each year, more studies show how important sleep is.  It is implicated in anxiety and depression.  It is tied to higher rates of accidents.  It contributes to high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, weight gain, and many other chronic issues. Let alone that crankiness that can make the day so hard! In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I discuss curing insomnia with Ruth Stern.  After suffering from insomnia for 19 years, Ruth set out to find a solution.  A trained therapist, Ruth turned to an

How's your life going? The way you want?  Or not quite?  Do you want to "level up" and play a bigger game?  Have a bigger life? In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I chat with David Wood, successful-entrepreneur-turned-life-coach.  Nope, not a business coach (although he does some of that), but a life coach.  Helping successful people "level up" to more success. While David had been successful in his work, something was missing -- connection.  Tied to an early childhood trauma (we talk about it), David decided to "play it safe" with relationships... and then realized that "playing it safe" kept him disconnected and distant. How? Playing bigger.  Taking risks.  Daring.  And Caring. David starts with a question, "What if we are living in a maze, running it every day?  We can keep doing that, or we can step back and decide to play it bigger." Using his 3 Pillars and 4 Point Plan, David points the way to anyone wanting to play on a bigger field.  To play "full out" in the game of life -- which David

We have a sectional couch.  My spot is right in the corner.  I can sit one way, stretch my legs out the other way.  And my dog, Ziggy, settles in right beside me.  Why do I tell you that?  Well, when I am crammed into that corner, you might say I am "balanced."  No way will I fall over, in any direction.  I'm propped up and held in position. Other than that, balance is something I work at.  You do, too.  Even if you aren't aware of it.  We humans stand on two feet.  Quite a balancing accomplishment.  Your legs and feet are constantly readjusting, trying to keep you upright.  You are, in other words, always a bit off-balance.  Walking?  Simply falling forward and catching yourself.  Balance... not so much. Then, you open up tons of self-help literature that tells you that happiness comes from "balance in life."  But what if balance is... well... a myth? The challenge is in trying to find some balance, deciding what to balance, and when to be off-balance. If you follow me and my podcast much, you know that

Your subconscious mind is constantly active, constantly scanning your world.  It controls our choices and actions, emotions and feelings.  Scanning for threats, it is relying on old scripts and patterns. And that is why our subconscious is often running us, not the other way around.  It is running our lives, not working as a tool for a better life. Dot Campbell is trying to turn that around.  She is out to show the world how to use their subconscious mind as a tool. While most people believe their conscious mind (the judging, analyzing part of your mind) is in charge of decisions.  But the subconscious mind, always accumulating information and running your emotions, often runs the show. Join me as Dot and I discuss her 3A's of using your subconscious mind to build a better life. RELATED RESOURCES Fear Gets You Using Fear Showing Up Dot's Book, You're Not The Boss Of Me  

Did you know that repetitive dieting and relentless exercise can actually break your metabolism?  Your body has an amazing capacity of adjusting to circumstances around you.  If you simply drop your caloric intake, your body will assume there is a famine... and will reduce your metabolism. If you take part in "chronic cardio," endless cardio exercise (running, biking, climbing machines, treadmills, etc.), even if the heart monitor tells you that your pace is in "fat burning zone," your body will quickly adjust... and you will suffer diminishing returns. Unless you "hack" your approach, dialing back to an older energy method of your body.  That is the heart of the ketogenic approach. In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, the "High Energy Girl," Tracee Gluhaich, joins me for a discussion of her own story through diets, and how she coaches people toward healing their metabolism... and healing their relationship with food. Tracee was raised on body-shaming beliefs that put her on a course (crash-course)