I speak with Dr. Kristin Neff, the person perhaps most responsible for researching the effects of self-compassion. She is the author of the 2011 bestselling book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself and her newest book, Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive. Kristin and I talk about what she calls fierce self-compassion and how anger can be compassionate, and other questions like: Why are men better at self-compassion than women? What we do find is there’s a small but consistent gender difference that actually favors men. Does the fact that women tend to score lower than men on self-compassion has an impact on the salary gap between men and women. Is there a link between so-called “compulsive caretaking of others” and autoimmune disorders and some kinds of cancer? Kristin leads us in a self-compassion meditation, and I ask her about the infectious positivity and compassion of the television series character, Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis. Check out my Mini-Course for couples: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHjcz6Ly2y9gr2mtMHIxu-fXXl8rE_PYJ Learn more about my 7-week, live, online basic mindfulness and IFS course for couples: https://souloflifeshow.com/mindful-marriage My Book, Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy https://amzn.to/2X3kPBL My Counseling Practice: https://keithmillercounseling.com Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow

Dr. John Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.* He is also the Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space. It will fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe. Mather was winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics with George Smoot for their work in the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission in the mid 1970s to measure the heat radiation from the Big Bang. Mather and his team measured the cosmic microwave background radiation—basically very faint radio noise astronomers had theorized could only come from the most distant events at the beginning of time as we know it—and their measurements confirmed the Big Bang theory to extraordinary accuracy. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large infrared telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade, and Mather has been the Senior Scientist on this project from it's origin in 1995. The James Webb is scheduled to launch in 2021 and will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. We discuss Mather's long career at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, his work on COBE and JWST, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the planning of the Nancy Roman Grace Space Telescope. *This episode was origionally published in February 2021.

* Replay from S2 * Dr. Tammy Nelson is a sex and relationship expert, and author of many books on sex including Getting the Sex You Want: Shed Your Inhibitions and Reach New Heights of Passion Together. She's a psychotherapist, Director of the Integrative Sex Therapy Institute, university teacher, TEDx speaker and is the host of the podcast The Trouble with Sex. Tammy is also a Board Certified Sexologist, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Imago Relationship therapist, and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor. Today on The Soul of Life I speak with Dr. Nelson about what it takes to have a vibrant sex life with a monogamous partner and how cheating during COVID has taken on new proportions. We talk about the mindset that’s required to prevent or recover from infidelity and why it can be an opportunity. We discuss several myths about infidelity, sex, and eroticism: "Women actually do cheat for sex. Men tend to cheat for emotional reasons." - Do all affairs happen because of sexual problems? - Does communication and empathy have the power to fix sexual frustration? - Why does emotional closeness sometimes seem to kill erotic passion? - And perhaps the million dollar question: Why does Oprah call it her "vajayjay?" Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com.

I speak with Dr. Richard Schwartz, the founder of an evidence-based psychotherapeutic model called Self-Leadership (also known as Internal Family System’s therapy or IFS) that is widely recognized as one of the most compassionate and comprehensive psychotherapies available. He is on the faculty of the department of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. Self-Leadership is basically a sophisticated owner’s manual for the mind. It gives users a real-time pathway to routinely instigate new neural connections within their mindbody system—the holy grail of skill acquisition and learning. We also speak about the Mary Trump book Too Much and Never Enough, and I get Dick's thoughts on the effects of abuse that occurs in families like Trump's. Sign-up for my free "Quickstart Guide to IFS in 30 Minutes:" https://event.webinarjam.com/register/3/on5lnf1 Check out my FREE Mini-Course for couples, called Marriage Tune-Up: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHjcz6Ly2y9gr2mtMHIxu-fXXl8rE_PYJ Learn more about my 7-week, live, online basic mindfulness and IFS course for couples: https://souloflifeshow.com/mindful-marriage My Book, Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy https://amzn.to/2X3kPBL My Counseling Practice: https://keithmillercounseling.com

This episode is a "best-of" replay from S1 of The Soul of Life. In this episode of The Soul of Life I speak with Dr. Michael Mithoefer, the lead investigator that has successfully piloted the first-ever study of MDMA, otherwise known as ecstasy, into the third and final stage of FDA approval for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Mithoefer is featured as a lead character in the 2015 book Acid Test by award-winning journalist Tom Shroder, a meticulously researched history of the controversy and unprecedented healing properties associated with psychedelics. The FDA granted Dr. Mithoefer and his colleagues “breakthrough status” to expedite its application for approval because they’re seeing such dramatic results working with veterans tormented by complex PTSD which is notoriously difficult to treat even with the best and most expensive therapies. “We’ve had people with uncontrollable rage just have that stop happening after one session.” I talk with Michael about the safety of therapeutically-supervised MDMA and how it works in the brain. MDMA is referred to as an “empathogen,” because it activates our natural ability to be openhearted, friendly, and collaborative, something that immediately gets switched off when the brain goes into safe mode while experiencing emotional turmoil—even garden variety stress can do this, like a parent that yells every day, or a boss that expects to get perfection but only gives criticism. But for now, Dr. Mithoefer is using particularly egregious forms of trauma—combat experience—as the test use case with the FDA. And unlike many people’s idea of all illegal drugs being dangerous or addictive, a full course of MDMA is given in micro-doses only 2-3 times in about a month—accompanied by an all-day psychotherapy session each time—but the patient essentially walks away born-again. They report seeing the world not just the way it was before their trauma but with eyes that are profoundly capable of seeing gratitude, joy and meaning in life. Sign-up for my free "Quickstart Guide to IFS in 30 Minutes:" https://event.webinarjam.com/register/3/on5lnf1 Check out my FREE Mini-Course for couples, called Marriage Tune-Up: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHjcz6Ly2y9gr2mtMHIxu-fXXl8rE_PYJ Learn more about my 7-week, live, online basic mindfulness and IFS course for couples: https://souloflifeshow.com/mindful-marriage My Book, Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy https://amzn.to/2X3kPBL My Counseling Practice: https://keithmillercounseling.com  

**BONUS PREVIEW of S3E5 with IFS (Internal Family Systems) Lead Trainer Michael Elkin. This full episode drops on August 27th, 2021. Most of us have been conditioned our whole life to have strong moral judgments against things like addictions or suicide. Right? Aren’t these just categorically bad things that we have to fight against? This is really what is so mind-bending and revolutionary about the IFS model. Mike has a reputation within the IFS community for enthusiasm teaching about what IFS calls our Firefighter parts of us—the protective parts of your personality that typically show up as extreme beliefs or behaviors like anger, addictions, compulsions, or suicidality. "Your willpower and your conscious decisions have very little to do with what you wind up actually doing." We talk about this state of mind that IFS calls Self—but is really just all of our core spiritual qualities—which it turn out if you call upon it (and that’s really what IFS teaches people to do) it the power to heal and transform any parts of you that have become extreme or unhealthy or unbalanced—and I have to say this is NOT what typical psychology or typical theology offers. Traditional psychological and religious teaching usually tells people to constrain their bad thoughts or behaviors. Manage your anger. Fight your depression. Overcome your addiction. But these management tactics require constant vigilance, and like a virus mutating in response to survival pressure, there’s a hardening or resistance to change: We discuss how, instead of fighting and resisting so-called “bad” parts of you, it’s far more productive to become curious and explore the motivations behind behavior or feelings that aren’t in your best interest: **Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

**BONUS PREVIEW of S3E4 with PBS Weekend anchor Hari Sreenivasan. Full episode drops on August 20th, 2021. Hari Sreenivasan joined the PBS NewsHour in 2009. He is the Anchor of PBS NewsHour Weekend and a Senior Correspondent for the nightly program. Prior to joining NewsHour, he was at CBS News, reporting for the "CBS Evening News,” "The Early Show" and "CBS Sunday Morning." Before that, he served as an anchor and correspondent for ABC News, working extensively on the network's 24-hour digital service "ABC News Now." Sreenivasan also reported for "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings," "Nightline with Ted Koppel," and anchored the overnight program “World News Now.” Hari also contributes to Amanpour and Company and hosts and produces the YouTube channel "Take on Fake," to expose misinformation on the internet. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

In this preview of Episode 3 of Season 3 (releasing on 8/13/21), Drs. Harville Hendrix, and Helen LaKelly Hunt, are the founders of Imago Relationship Therapy, a paradigm-changing and pioneering model of couples therapy that helped revolutionize the way psychotherapists view couples and the nature of healing through the lens of attachment-theory—the idea that, in a sense, we belong to one other and are expertly equipped to heal each other’s trauma from our earliest attachments in life, by having a conscious relationship that is able to transform conflict into a blueprint for growth. They have written over 10 books, including three New York Times bestsellers. Harville has appeared as a featured guest 17 times on The Oprah Winfrey Show. They are the co-founders of Imago Relationships International, a non-profit organization that has trained thousands of therapists and educators in 51 countries around the world. Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/  

In this preview of S3E2 (full episode release: 8/6/21) you get a glimpse of my excitement about speaking with world-renown brain and trauma scientist, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. Van der Kolk is a professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and president of the Trauma Research Foundation in Brookline, Massachusetts. ]Since the 1970s his research has been in the area of post-traumatic stress. He is the author of The New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score, a widely renown book that came out in 2014 subtitled Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. It explores “the extreme disconnection from the body that so many people with histories of trauma and neglect experience” and the most effective paths to recovery by studying three main areas of research: 1) Neuroscience, which deals with how mental processes function within the brain. 2) Developmental psychopathology concerned with how painful experiences impact the development of mind and brain. 3) Interpersonal neurobiology, which examines how our own behavior affects the emotional and neurobiological states of those close to us. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/  

In this preview of Season 2, Episode 1, you get a glimpse of my conversation with John Annerino, a renown adventure photographer, and author of literary essay books, photographic essays, and calendars of the American West and Old Mexico. His work has appeared in Time, LIFE, the New York Times, National Geographic Adventure and Scientific American, among many others. His map, "The Grand Canyon Explored," is on display at the Grand Canyon National Geographic Visitor Center. Follow us on Facebook: Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/  

Is there a right way to have sex? Everybody thinks they’re doing it wrong or someone else is doing it better. There’s so much shame surrounding sex. Today on the Soul of Life I speak with two Brooklyn psychologists, Signe Simon and Simone Humphrey about their podcast, LoveLink, founded to help people talk more about sex and love. We talk about really common reasons people have problems with sexual intimacy, and challenge the traditional norms around penetration and orgasm. What happens before sex? What happens during sex? What happens after sex? What’s the appetizer, what’s the entrée, what’s the dessert? We talk about the power of discovering the difference between arousal and desire. A lot of women in heterosexual couples come in and say, “I just don’t really want to have sex. I have really low desire. Something is wrong with me.” The problem is that the standard of arousal is spontaneous desire. That’s what we’re taught in movies. That’s what we’re taught in day to day interactions—that we should just be turned on all the time. For men too, who have responsive desire, they also have a lot of shame. 'Well, I should just be horny all the time. I should want to have sex whenever.' We talk about how millennials are having sex, and whether marriage matter anymore? In some places, marriage is really, really on the decline. Do you feel anxiety about having one partner for the rest of your life. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your bonds, there is still time to enroll in my Fall Session of this live 7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/p/mindful-marriage-immersive  

Today on the Soul of Life I call in a professional hypnotist to help me keep my head in the game of tennis. I think you’ll get a kick out of seeing Taylor Sherman try to improve my tennis game and you can follow right along as he uses a deep relaxation technique and guided imagery that may also help you deepen your own sharpness and energy level in your life. People know hypnosis for really three things: stopping smoking, losing weight and lowering stress, but Taylor performs hypnosis to help people change all sorts of habits, and he specializes in using hypnosis for improving athletic performance. We talk about how hypnosis works in the brain, what kind of people are most likely to benefit from hypnosis, and where is hypnosis less effective? Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Dr. John Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. He is also the Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space. It will fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe. Mather was winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics with George Smoot for their work in the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission in the mid 1970s to measure the heat radiation from the Big Bang. Mather and his team measured the cosmic microwave background radiation—basically very faint radio noise astronomers had theorized could only come from the most distant events at the beginning of time as we know it—and their measurements confirmed the Big Bang theory to extraordinary accuracy. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large infrared telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade, and Mather has been the Senior Scientist on this project from it's origin in 1995. The James Webb is scheduled to launch in 2021 and will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. We discuss Mather's long career at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, his work on COBE and JWST, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the planning of the Nancy Roman Grace Space Telescope. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Coming soon in Season Two of The Soul of Life on February 26th, 2021. Dr. Tammy Nelson is an erotic recovery expert. She’s a leading expert on infidelity and the healing of sexual relationships. Today on The Soul of Life I speak with Dr. Nelson about what it takes to have a vibrant sex life with a monogamous partner and how cheating during COVID has taken on new proportions. "If I am a mom stuck home, homeschooling my kids, and I’ve bene in my yoga pants in seven months, and haven’t worn make up, and my life is about cheerios and how to figure out algebra. And then I meet someone online who thinks I’m sexy and alive and charming and beautiful and just wants to make out with me—I’m a totally different person for ten minutes a day and that makes you feel alive for those ten minutes." Dr. Nelson is the author of Getting the Sex You Want, and The New Monogamy: Redefining Your Relationship After Infidelity. We talk about the mindset that’s required to prevent or recover from infidelity and why it can be an opportunity.

Coming soon on February 19th: "Kurt Cobain had actually referred to The Dutchman as 'the grungiest place in Seattle.'" In this preview of Season Two, Episode Three, I speak with Gary Mula, former owner of The Dutchman. “Everybody has a different way of finding meaning in their life. When I found music, everything was answered.” We talk about his time sharing practice space with Nirvana, his journey from musician to producer, his favorite music, and his favorite recording gear. "Sometimes with bands, everything’s flowing and there’s no conflict. And other times you have to fight for an idea."

Coming soon on Season Two of The Soul of Life on February 12th, I speak with Dr. Matthew Green, a professor of political science, about cancel culture, conspiracies, and how to stay hopeful and connected to one another in an age of identity politics. "There are things in American politics now that are not pretty. But there are things that have happened that have been worse, in our history.” Dr. Green is an expert on the American Congress and I ask him if it’s possible to ever imagine our leaders practicing the discipline of relationship building and compromise in the political process. "Compromise is central to how our country was created, it’s how we’ve lasted as long as we have. And you can’t really succeed in politics—particularly in Congress—if you don’t compromise."  

Can the secrets of the universe inspire and humble us to bring us together in gratitude? My conversation with Nobel laureate and top NASA scientist Dr. John Mather reminds us of how the Apollo program in the 1960s united a nation's eyes toward the heavens. Mather is the Science Director of the James Webb Space Telescope program at NASA, scheduled to launch in October of this year. He is the only member of this 15-year effort that was present on day one of the project. Listen to this special preview of my full conversation with Dr. Mather, the premiere of Season Two of The Soul of Life, which will be released on February 5th.

Like you I’m ready to wrap 2020 and move on to a new year this week. This Soul of Life bonus episode will dive into very practical ways to mindfully reflect on being who you want to be in 2021. I started this podcast when I was unmasking how my brain wasn't lighting up the way I'd always expected it to. Today, I talk about how the brain is a connection machine and how you can use moments, like little prayers, to help your brainbody connection flow and generate energy and focus. I also reflect on wrapping Season One of The Soul of Life, with 18 episodes, and preview some of Season Two which launches February 5th. I'm so excited about my guests for Season Two. Here's a sneak peek: NASA scientist and Nobel laureate John Mather The "Mother of mindfulness," famed psychology researcher, Ellen Langer Jessica Hansen, actress, voice of NPRs funding credits, in-house voice coach at NPR Tammy Nelson, author of Getting the Sex You Want Leading up to the February 5th launch of Season Two. I'll be releasing bonus episodes like this one, teaching key themes about mindfulness, stress reduction, and 101 for a healthy mind. And if you appreciate this show please consider showing me your appreciation by becoming a Patron of the show—a financial supporter. Go to https://www.patreon.com/souloflifeshow. Thank you! Donating at any level of support gives you access to the brand new Discord group, a private online community where you can get access to bonus content, ask me questions, and meet like-minded fans of the show to expand your curiosity about the mind and consciousness in this amazing life. Becoming a patron of the show can also give you other cool perks like monthly Livestreaming AMA (ask me anything) sessions with me. Check it out! If there’s one thing that I promise you with all my heart that I know will not hurt you or I in 2021, it is prayer and reflection! Nostrovia!

At the age of sixty-six, Dierdre Wolownick became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan, the iconic 3,200-foot granite "big wall" in Yosemite National Park.* For her this wasn’t just any climb. Yes, The Captain is perhaps the most prized big wall climbs in the world. It was in June that same year that Dierdre’s son Alex Honnold stunned and terrified the world by climbing without ropes—a free solo assent—this vertical wall that rises one half mile out of the earth in Yosemite National Park. Alex is no stranger to making news for his death-defying ability to speed climb routes, without protection, that give other expert climbers nightmares. Dierdre's son is indeed a rock climber in a special club: He's still alive. Says Honnold's friend and rock climbing legend Jimmy Caldwell, "All the other free solo climbers in the world are dead." Add this all together and you get the media sensation of Honnold, a paradox that his friends and family know couldn't be more opposite of his aloof and down-to-earth personality. National Geographic's blockbuster documentary of Honnold's assent of the Freerider route of El Captain, which won 7 Emmy’s and an Academy Award for best Documentary Feature in 2019. I speak with Alex's mom, Dierdre, to deconstruct the public's polarized reaction to her son's lifestyle and to talk about her book The Sharp End of Life: A Mother's Story, about her journey as a parent who joined her son on his adventure, pushing the limit's of what's possible.  Should we see Honnold's climbing as reckless? A sophisticated dance with passive-aggressive self-harm? Or does our strong emotional reaction to his mastery and success in this solitary sport say more about our own denial of the risks we take every day flying in airplanes, living with firearms, or any number of questionable health and dietary choices we make. Do we envy Alex's clarity and focus and lack his courage to squarely face our own limitations and accept our own mortality? **The YouTube version of this episode, has some really cool footage of Alex climbing in the intro** Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your bonds, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

What if you could have the eyes of God—confidence, clarity, compassion, connection, creativity—in your everyday human life? What is an “authentic connection to the Divine?” Grace. Love. Light. Peace. I know—at this time more than ever—if you’re on a path of faith that leads to these things, sign me up. I'm in. But what’s the difference between a spiritual life and a spiritualizing life? And why—if so many Christians define their spiritual connection to God as loving, welcoming and accepting, do so many non-Christians define God as the opposite? In this episode of The Soul of Life I speak with Jenna Riemersma, an addiction therapist and author of a book called Altogether You, about these questions. Jenna says its possible to apply the groundbreaking psychological insights of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy—an evidence-based and mindfulness-based psychotherapy—to deepen your understanding of God as a Christian. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Today The Soul of Life is a crash course on medicine for the mind with Dr. Joel Bernanke, a Columbia and Cornell-trained psychiatrist. We cover the power, potential and pitfalls of psychopharmacology and its alternatives. The Mind is Your Body We try to alleviate some of the common fears of talking to a psychiatrist and expose misconceptions that stop people from treating their mind like any other part of their body. We focus especially on treatment for depression, anxiety, and one of Dr. Bernanke’s research areas—ADHD. Recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published results from a survey that found prevalence of depression symptoms in the U.S. increased more than 3-fold during the COVID-19 pandemic, from around 8% of the population before COVID-19 to about 28% during COVID-19. We discuss lifestyle changes proven to prevent or reduce anxiety and depression, and men (like me!) that avoid asking for help with emotional health. Topics we cover: • Misconceptions about how medicines for the mind work  • The “pill-pushing” psychiatrist • Can genetic testing improve psychiatric outcomes? • What role does marijuana play in causing or treating depression? • Safety of pediatric psychiatry including ADHD treatment • Could “California rocket fuel” help treat depression? Need Crisis Help? ** If you or someone you know are experiencing thoughts of self-harm please call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 **  Additional Mental Health Resources: suicidepreventionlifeline.org samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Grief is not usually something we plan for. In today’s special edition of The Soul of Life we remember the life of Rich Simon—a person that was like Oprah for the mental health and counseling field—a hub and changemaker that helped launch the careers of many of the masters in our profession. On November 10th, at the age of 71, Rich died suddenly. Rich Simon was editor of The Psychotherapy Networker magazine for more than 40 years. It keeps clinicians up-to-date on best practices and innovations in counseling techniques. We talk about grief with the world’s foremost expert on the subject, David Kessler, co-author and protégé to the late, great Elizabeth Kubler-Ross who developed the Five Stages of Grief. Joe Kort, a trauma therapist and regular Networker Symposium presenter, joins us to reflect on Rich's impact on his success becoming a leader in the conversation about out-of-control sexual behavior.  Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Today I talk to Sandie Angulo Chen a film critic, entertainment reporter, and book reviewer that writes for Common Sense Media, a non-profit website that gives parents in-depth reviews of movies, shows and apps so they can make informed decisions about their family’s media diet. We also dive into our favorite film picks including Watchmen, My Octopus Teacher, The Social Dilemma, and others.    Some have called Common Sense Media “nutritional labeling for media,” and Sandie gives us a behind-the-scenes tour of how they the publish detailed cliff’s notes with specifics about language, violence, sex, and consumerism as well as positive messaging and role models. Sandie Angulo Chen is a film critic, entertainment reporter, and book reviewer. She's written professionally about movies, books, and pop culture for more than 20 years, contributing to outlets such as Common Sense Media, where she's the senior reviewer, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, EW.com, Moviefone, and Variety. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Today on The Soul of Life I speak with a person that has been described by a centrist/liberal commentator at the Brookings Institute as “The most thoughtful conservative theorist of his generation.” It’s no overstatement to say that Yuval Levin might be working in a senior position at the White House if this were an ordinary conservative President. And while you may not have heard his name before, he's one of a few influential thought leaders in what is now a Republican party that may have to reform itself after the shift in national politics during this week’s election. Why does a social worker like me want to talk to someone like Levin? Levin is calling for a return to humanity in our politics, saying its time to end the culture wars. And the reason for this isn’t because his party just lost—he’s been writing and speaking on this for years—it’s because he says our souls need to be nourished. "Even in a time of great frustration we need not just to throw off what isn’t working but to build up what will work better." Dr. Levin served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy under George W. Bush and also was executive director of the President’s Council on Bioethics. But despite his resume and reputation he says it’s really the skills of a healer and peacemakers that need to step forward now: "The capacity to resolve disputes and understand dysfunction is just enormously important now. We need a lot of middle children to get involved in our politics.” Levin is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank, and he’s the founding and current editor of National Affairs and is a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a contributing editor to National Review. You might not recognize these names if you’re not in national politics and especially if you don’t consider yourself politically conservative. But if you’re interested in real solutions to problems—not just political scorch and burn warfare—Levin is someone that wants words like “compromise” to become the heart of our political system the way, as a historian of American politics, he says it once was. He’s the author of The Fractured Republic and most recently, A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream. If you’ve found yourself bemoaning the gridlock in Washington, or feel cynical about the party you don’t support, you’ll find comfort in Levin’s optimism: "The more experience that I’ve had in Washington, the less cynical I’ve been about the people in Washington. There’s reasons to be cynical about certain kinds of institutional forces, but on the whole, experience gives you a sense of how things work and why." We talk about the role of fear and paranoia in the rhetoric of both parties that distracts us from real suffering, and about our how substantial mental health care reform seems to be an afterthought to bickering about which cultural worldview is superior. " We’re not really having a lot of arguments that are about what government should do to solve problems we’re having a lot of arguments that about whether the other party is the end of the world." I want my kids to grow up in an America where real changes don’t come at the expense of the party or minority that loses. That's why I appreciate Levin’s courageous call to compromise and to learn from each other, to not fight fire not with fire—as seems to be the only thing that makes the news—but to fight fire with boring old water. Love - actually - is the answer. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Shame is like a 1950's air conditioner that costs a fortune to operate electrically in the brain. My tangle with depression is teaching me to pay attention to all the "appliances" that drain energy from the soul, including my long-avoidance of a part of me that used to talk to Jesus every day. I talk with Dr. Curt Thompson, a psychiatrist and the author of The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves about the neurobiology of shame. Dr. Thompson is an expert in interpersonal neurobiology but seasons his knowledge of this budding scientific field with outright come-to-Jesus language that a devout Christian would appreciate. As much as I would have liked to edit out my relationship to Christianity and its formative role in how I learned to feel shame for being human, it was Curt’s friendship and love for me, and for his readers, that moved me past my fears to once again feel pride for my native faith as a young boy. This episode is about unashamedly exploring all sources of energy in your life, innovating to get results, and keeping a beginners mind when things look dim.  Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

In this episode of The Soul of Life I speak with Marcia Bjornerud to talk about her book Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World.  “For a society it’s not so good to be preoccupied with the now. In fact it’s the root of many of our problems…social, environmental, even spiritual, to be in the immediate, narcissistic moment and not understand our place in time.” Timefulness is, according to Bjornerud, "an acute consciousness of how the world is made by - indeed, made of - time." As a geologist, Bjornerud, has a breathtaking view of the world and our Anthropocene era - an ominous distinction that means we live in the age where humans are changing the planet’s finely balanced ecology and geology. Chronophobia is like a religion every human seems to practice but few are willing to acknowledge. It dissociates us from the awesome and powerful nature of earth and keeps us from remembering our insignificance. “More pervasive and corrosive are the nearly invisible forms of time denial that are built into the very infrastructure of our society. For example, in the logic of economics, in which labor productivity must always increase to justify higher wages, professions centered on tasks that simply take time - education, nursing, or art performance - constitute a problem because they cannot be made significantly more efficient.” Modern life keeps us captivated by the siren’s call of eternal growth (capitalism) or eternal life (religion) that makes being fully human, being appreciatively aware of our bit role, being time-full, into an enemy that must be conquered. Bjornerud sounds the alarm, saying how we must transcend our time-illiteracy. She doesn’t want us to miss a spiritual fork in the road that can lead to abiding sensitivity to the treasures of life, which deeply envelope us every moment of every day. “We should all carry two slips of paper in our pockets: one that says 'I am ashes and dust,' and one that reads 'The world was made for me.'" Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

I speak to Moses Kushaba, a LGBTQI activist who immigrated to the U.S. from Uganda to escape persecution during a time when the government was escalating anti-gay policies, leading to violence, imprisonment, and death of many accused of being homosexual. Moses was born during a civil war in Uganda and his name comes from a dramatic moment as a newborn when floods forced his mother to flee on foot. Baby Moses was placed in a wicker basket and pushed along as his family escaped. Both of his parents later died from AIDS, a pandemic that literally wiped out a generation of people in particularly hard-hit African countries. After immigrating, Moses served in Iraq as an Army medic and later studied social work and psychology. Immigrating to the U.S. and doing a tour of duty in Iraq were a godsend for Moses. “People ask me about my service in Iraq and I think, maybe, that was the best experience of my life.” When Moses was publicly outed as a young person in Uganda his life was in danger. Yet he found a way out of exile. His life and career as a Healer is an inspiration to anyone that’s experienced homophobia and adversity because of their sexual orientation. We talk about Ibram X. Kendi’s bestselling book How to Be An Antiracist, a book the New York Times called “The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.” We’re not experts in antiracism but we are experts in how to change behaviors and heal the mind. We discuss the vulnerability of being anti-racist and break down what it means to live in an anti-racist way, confessing "I have this racist thought" instead of denying our human instinct to make up stories about others. I want this episode to be a challenge for you if you are White. Even if you think you are an accepting, non-biased person with persons of color you may count as your your friends, colleagues, or spouses, it is time to roll up our sleeves and begin observing, naming, and releasing racist thoughts. I practice coming out as an antiracist, with Moses. Oh, and I almost forgot, we talk about reparations and Watchmen. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

In this episode of the soul of life I speak to the author of Gravity’s Century: From Einstein’s Eclipse to Images of Black Holes, named one of the best science books of 2020 by NPR’s Ira Flato. Ron has a gift for making the complexities of quantum physics and technology clear and exciting. We talk about the significance of the last 100 years in astrophysics and touch on the super weird world of quantum mechanics in which matter can be in two places at the same time.  The alternative title for this episode is Ex-nihilo Entanglement. This is the first of several episodes I plan to have on The Soul of Life that touches on quantum physics, the brain, and existence. (Ron's book isn't about psychology or existential philosophy but we veer into it briefly).   Of course, we don’t really know if things like quantum entanglement have anything to do with the hypernetwork of electrical activity that gives rise your consciousness—or whether it might one day confirm that human love and connection is in fact star-crossed and our neurons somehow are entangled with those we are parted from the way many mystical religions believe—or frankly how Luke and Obi-Wan use “the force” in Star Wars. I share what I’ve begun to hear (cautiously) reported from a handful of scientists that study the brain and how they are—like Einstein did actually—daring to make some fascinating leaps into quantum physics because both fields are obsessed with studying the flow of energy—to imagine dimensions beyond our direct perception that nonetheless may underpin our very existence. This episode is about Einstein. It's also about you. Your existence. And it’s also about existence itself. It gets very weird. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

In this episode of The Soul of Life I speak with Dr. Michael Mithoefer, the lead investigator that has successfully piloted the first-ever study of MDMA, otherwise known as ecstasy, into the third and final stage of FDA approval for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Mithoefer is featured as a lead character in the 2015 book Acid Test by award-winning journalist Tom Shroder, a meticulously researched history of the controversy and unprecedented healing properties associated with psychedelics. The FDA granted Dr. Mithoefer and his colleagues “breakthrough status” to expedite its application for approval because they’re seeing such dramatic results working with veterans tormented by complex PTSD which is notoriously difficult to treat even with the best and most expensive therapies. “We’ve had people with uncontrollable rage just have that stop happening after one session.” I talk with Michael about the safety of therapeutically-supervised MDMA and how it works in the brain. MDMA is referred to as an “empathogen,” because it activates our natural ability to be openhearted, friendly, and collaborative, something that immediately gets switched off when the brain goes into safe mode while experiencing emotional turmoil—even garden variety stress can do this, like a parent that yells every day, or a boss that expects to get perfection but only gives criticism. But for now, Dr. Mithoefer is using particularly egregious forms of trauma—combat experience—as the test use case with the FDA. And unlike many people’s idea of all illegal drugs being dangerous or addictive, a full course of MDMA is given in micro-doses only 2-3 times in about a month—accompanied by an all-day psychotherapy session each time—but the patient essentially walks away born-again. They report seeing the world not just the way it was before their trauma but with eyes that are profoundly capable of seeing gratitude, joy and meaning in life. “People think they’re grateful because they’re happy. Actually they’re happy because they’re grateful.” I don’t think I’m the only one wondering, “Do I have to wait to get complex-PTSD to sign up?” Wider access to these intense life-changing treatments for less acute suffering indeed may be coming down the line. Just a week ago the bestselling self-help guru and podcast superstar Tim Ferris talked about his experience of sexual abuse in childhood, for the first time publicly, and he credits Dr. Mithoefer for what he described as a breakthrough treatment with MDMA, as well as Dr. Richard Schwartz and IFS therapy, someone I interviewed in episode 4 of the Soul of Life podcast. (By the way, the Tim Ferris episode that talks about MDMA and Internal Family Systems Therapy is episode #464 of his show, which I’ll put a link to in notes here at souloflifeshow.com.) As a psychiatrist for many decades, Michael describes how all psychoactive medicines—medicines that act on brain function—are merely tools to help free the brain up to do what it knows how to do. Heal and function as a whole. “Anybody really paying attention realizes there’s so much more to psychological healing than isolating it to ‘You’ve got to reprocess your trauma,’ or ‘You’ve got to correct these cognitive distortions.’ Both of those may well be true [but] if you get out of the way and be curious and encourage people to be open to what comes, you find that the breadth and the depth and the complexity to each individual’s healing process is beyond what we could have cooked up with our rational minds as a plan. And it’s far more beautiful and far more effective.” Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

Did you know that pregnant women are scientifically shown to become more xenophobic—fearful of outsiders—during their first trimester? Turns out, that’s when they are most susceptible to infections so the body actually has what researchers call the “behavioral immune system.” And there’s wisdom to get from studying how we do this thing that humans love to do which is divide people into groups…to label others as either safe or unsafe, friend or enemy. In this episode of The Soul of Life I speak with Olga Khazan, a talented writer that covers health, gender and science for The Atlantic Before that she wrote for the LA Times and the Washington Post. And she just published a book called Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider’s World. We talk about her personal experience as an outsider growing up a Russian Jew in widely evangelical West Texas and some of her interviews with people who don’t follow the crowd and it works in their favor, the way it did for a survivor of the Jonestown massacre: “I had this totally different impression of Jonestown. I thought people were totally brainwashed.” Khazan chronicles the people who stand out, who don’t fit in, and so doing illustrates how loners and outsiders are not really alone. “Even in a cult, you can have someone who’s like “I’m not going along with what someone else is doing.” Olga’s a talented, award-winning writer and yet she cautions about letting ourselves be lulled into mistaking the stories and knowledge we consume for real action that changes people’s lives. “I think it’s kind of a testament to the Black Lives Matter Movement, that they have been so successful at raising awareness effecting real change. But they didn’t do it through Malcolm Gladwell books. They did it through direct action, and protest in the streets. Not just ‘clicktivism.’” Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

I speak with Reverend Doctor Dennis Edwards, a minister in cities for 30 years, about his identity as a healer and how he stays whole as a person within Christian communities where it may not always be welcome to let your real feelings show. We talk about Black lives Matter and the awakening of White people to the uncomfortable truth about the burden of fear and mistrust towards police that Black Americans carry every day. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

I talk with songwriter and social worker, Dan Menz-Erb. Dan has played in the pop/funk band Holy Ghost Machine Gun.   If you Google that phrase, you’ll see clips from an 80’s televangelist who coined the rather interesting term.  However, your search results will not tell you much about the beauty of Dan’s poetry in his song, John Bagwell, which he shared with me in this podcast. We discuss where he found his soul and let go of religious dogma that taught him to be afraid of people different from him, and his identity as a musician and social worker. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/

I speak with Dr. Richard Schwartz, the founder of an evidence-based psychotherapeutic model called Self-Leadership (also known as Internal Family System’s therapy or IFS) that is widely recognized as one of the most compassionate and comprehensive psychotherapies available. We discuss Mary Trump's book Too Much and Never Enough and how the abuse that Mary reports in Donald Trump's family could explain his fear-driven narcissism. Self-Leadership is basically a sophisticated owner’s manual for the mind. It gives users a real-time pathway to routinely instigate new neural connections within their mindbody system—the holy grail of skill acquisition and learning. Enter my current sweepstakes giveaway (https://swee.ps/lZirCOTlY): Win a Couples Vacation to the Caribbean ($1,299 Value!). Ends 10/15/21 1. All inclusive airfare for two 2. Two night stay included Check out my Mini-Course for couples: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHjcz6Ly2y9gr2mtMHIxu-fXXl8rE_PYJ Learn more about my 7-week, live, online basic mindfulness and IFS course for couples: https://souloflifeshow.com/mindful-marriage Join my Facebook Group called "Bring Love Alive:" https://www.facebook.com/groups/601405257684922 My Book, Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy https://amzn.to/2X3kPBL My Counseling Practice: https://keithmillercounseling.com Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow ​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com.

I speak with Dr. David Min, an oncologist that has special meaning in my life for how his personal touch and realness with me solved a mysterious neurological condition that took me to over 40 medical visits with more than 12 specialists. I asked him where he learned to practice medicine that left room for him to show up personally the way he did with me and I learned that his worldview was radically torn down by the day he rushed to ground zero on 9/11 and tried to save firefighters that were seriously injured. He was experiencing PTSD and depression but readily embraced treatment and recovered. Looking back, David realized that he couldn’t find the true meaning of his life until he was broken, despite having success by the world’s standards. He shares about how his Korean family inherited a sense of fear of failing so they were taught to always aim far higher than you actually need to get but how crushing this weight was to his soul.    David’s oncology practice was struggling to be profitable until he let go of these pressures and decided to show up for people. Today he’s pioneered a system that’s not only profitable but provides free cancer treatment to the uninsured when no one in the medical field is there to step in. And he has a message that anyone touched by the shadow of cancer needs to hear. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulOfLifeShow​ or Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulofLifeShow​ Want to book Keith as a guest on your podcast? Contact him at keith@souloflifeshow.com. ***7-Week Stress Reduction & Relationship Growth Course*** If you and your significant other are looking for ways to improve communication and strengthen your partnership, there is still time to enroll in my upcoming live 7-Week Mindfulness and IFS course, called Mindful Marriage. Partners of any kind are welcome. It's a one-of-a-kind offering that can truly transform how you show up in intimacy. For more information visit: https://community.souloflifeshow.com/