Stay ConnectedTHE podcast for parents with big dreams who want to create an EXTRAORDINARY lifestyle but feel stuck.
Greg and Rachel Denning are parents of 7 children whom they’ve traveled with to 60+ countries on 5 continents — all while homeschooling and building a multi-six-figure location independent biz.
Let them show you how to finally break through what’s holding you back so you can achieve your biggest dreams — even with a family!
Copyright: © Greg & Rachel Denning
Many, if not all of us, know of someone — are ARE someone — who has dealt with the devastating effects of anxiety and depression.
Methods for dealing with these issues can be very charged. It’s a subject that’s often difficult to discuss, for a variety of reasons — shame, guilt, anger, frustration, despair.
But they are subjects that NEED to be addressed — least of all because it’s becoming a crisis for youth and adults today. And what those who are struggling need most are advice and strategies that ACTUALLY work — and, as you’ll learn in this episode, more often than not, it does NOT include medication. The research is becoming VERY clear that most people on anti-depressants are still depressed. Medication is simply not the savior many hoped it would be.
The truth is that the greatest limiting factor to overcoming anxiety and depression are your own limiting beliefs and erroneous or outdated conclusions about this topic. What you don’t know — and what you think you know that’s just not true — are hurting you.
After decades of research, studying, and multiple-lifetimes of experience — including our work with thousands of youth and families across five continents — we have come to some very solid conclusions about anxiety and depression — what causes it, how to prevent it, and how to overcome it FOR GOOD.
We guaran-dang-tee that some of what we discuss in this episode will NOT be popular. But it is scientifically, biologically, and psychologically-based and will WORK for the vast majority of people — 97% or more — so it’s worth considering.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Many of us have been taught or grown to believe that unconditional love is the highest of virtues.
And in many ways it makes sense. Loving others — without conditions — seems to be the highest level of love possible, partly because it sometimes seems so unrealistic, especially when it comes to family members.
(It’s even difficult to get clear on exactly what we’re talking about because we only have one word for ‘love’ in English. In Latin there are at least three — Eros, Agape, and Philia).
But as Greg and I have thought about, discussed, and researched it over the years, we’ve come to believe that unconditional love is a lower, shallower type of love that is the foundation for higher, deeper types of love. And those more meaningful types of love are actually conditional. In reality, our closest relationships are — and should be — based on this ‘conditional’ love.
For example, I can have unconditional, accepting love for my neighbor, despite what he does or how he treats me. But I can’t have a deep, meaningful relationship with my husband unless our love is conditional— i.e. we treat each other with respect, loyalty, and fidelity.
Otherwise, is there any difference between our relationship and the one I have with the neighbor? It is ONLY because of these ‘conditions’ that our marriage relationship exists.
In this episode, we dive into what this ‘conditional’ love actually looks like, and how it works so that it doesn’t become toxic or manipulative — which is the risk if it’s not built on a foundation of unconditional love for self and others.
We explain how spousal, parental, and even God’s love has conditions, and when unconditional love, non-judgment, and tolerance become vices instead of virtues (and can lead to extremes such as school shootings).
Listen to this fascinating episode discussing the pros and cons of unconditional love as well as the depths and levels of love and loving others and how to reach greater heights of love.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Getting things done is one of the most critical ingredients for achieving your dreams and goals and building a lasting family legacy.
Yet it’s also one of the hardest things to do because of the natural ebbs, flows, and interruptions of family life.
There are mouths to feed, diapers to change, laundry to fold, meals to prepare, and dishes to wash. How can you even think about taking action toward your big dreams and goals?
Well, that’s what we’re going to dive into in this episode. I’ve spent years reading business management and productivity books and always come away thinking how absolutely unrealistic their advice is for parents with children, especially if you work from home.
But in this episode, I’m going to share with you the strategies I have learned and developed that help us to seriously get stuff done. These are the ‘secrets’ to our success in being able to ‘do it all’ — homeschooling seven kids, traveling the world, creating an Extraordinary marriage, AND building a multi-six-figure location independent business.
Learn how you can become more productive without neglecting the things that matter most — your spouse, children, or household.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Become a Founding Member of our Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Read our reviews here: https://podcast.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/reviews/
Greg Denning often says, “Tell me your habits and I’ll tell you your future.”
Habits are the MOST important thing to determining the outcomes and happiness of your life.
Habits will make or break your mental, emotional, spiritual, social, physical, family, and financial life.
Where you are right now — and the quality and happiness of your life — is a DIRECT result of the habits you have had to this point.
Where you want to go, who you want to become, and what you want to do, will be the DIRECT result of the habits you cultivate or break today.
And yet, this is something that is not even taught to children, teens, or young adults anytime during their school years. It is something that few adults even understand.
Instead, we’re taught to sacrifice our habits — or to develop bad habits — in the name of grades, tests, or graduation.
This is a major contributing factor to the mental health and obesity crises we’re seeing in the world today.
This is despite the research that shows there is NO correlation between academic success and life happiness and success.
Let’s change that. Listen now to learn what the habits are for a successful life and how to develop and cultivate them intentionally in your own life and that of your children.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Become a Founding Member of our Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Read our reviews here: https://podcast.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/reviews/
In our line of work coaching families for the past 20 years, we get an up-close-and-personal look into the lives of many different types of people.
It’s a sacred privilege and we learn so much. We often experience a wide range of emotions, from empathy to despair to elation. And not going to lie, sometimes we get fired up or frustrated about the things that people do — or don’t do — especially the things that THEY know they NEED to do.
They will receive a clear insight about something they should do or should NOT have done… but then they don’t act on it. This is usually because it’s big, frightening, requires too much work — or all of the above. In this episode, we dive into the long-term consequences of avoiding or ignoring these important moments of clarity. Plus, we'll cover what to do about your fears of the 'unknown'.
If you’ve ever had a very clear moment, thought, or feeling about something you should do, or realized clearly that something you did do was a mistake but didn't know how to fix it, then you don’t want to miss this episode. Because doing so could be sabotaging your future happiness and success. Listen now!
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
"I would like to be more confident but my face turns red if I am embarrassed, nervous, shy, afraid, or just talking with someone. Without that handicap, I know I would be more confident, but unfortunately, I let it stop me all too often.
But I heard that Mr. Denning used to be really shy and his face would turn red anytime people would even ask him a question in class. I'm heading off to college soon and am a bit overwhelmed. I do the same thing, I am generally an introverted person, but I really enjoy talking with people and learning, but I don't want to miss out on that because my face looks like a fire engine."
We answer this question in this episode and share our personal stories about being shy and introverted as children and teens (my face also turned red while talking to people). We discuss how we overcame these challenges and how gaining confidence can help you not only in college but in marriage and as a parent, too.
If you feel that you could use some more confidence in your life then you definitely want to listen to this strategy-filled episode.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
As a parent, if you knew there was ONE major characteristic which — if developed — would drastically increase your child’s chances of success and happiness, not only now but as an adult… wouldn’t you want to know what it is?
And wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help your child develop that characteristic?
As parents of seven children, we give a definite ‘Yes!’
We want to know and we want to help them develop it as fully as possible.
Well, researchers have followed a large group of people from childhood into adulthood and they found a common denominator that could predict future success. Children who demonstrated more self-control at age 11 were more likely to be happy, healthy, and successful at age 32.
And the best part is that self-control is a learnable skill. It is a skill that we, as parents, can teach to our children. And it is done in simple ways during interactions on a daily basis.
Listen to this episode to learn simple strategies for helping your children to develop more self-control starting this week!
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Emotions can be big and scary — for both parents and children.
But it is possible to teach — and model — emotional management for your kids.
Emotions are EVERYTHING. Our lives our experienced through emotions, so by default, the quality, quantity, and content of our emotions determine the quality and content of our lives.
We can and should educate our emotions — and teach our children to do the same.
How?
That’s what we’ll cover in this episode. Strategies for dealing with a range of feelings (which are normal), and how to validate and accept them when they arise while working through them so they don’t stay to cause long-term distress or trauma.
Don’t miss this!
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
There is a lot of ‘surface tension’ in the media today -- social and mainstream. Lots of polarity and opposition about intense topics.
And it bothers me. Because it paints the picture that there are only two sides to any issue. And that’s just not true.
We (as individuals and society) have to look beyond the ‘surface tension’ of topics to the underlying problems and underlying causes of those problems.
There is so little we know — we as a society, (and especially ‘we’ as in Greg & Rachel). But we do know that “as the area of your knowledge increases, so too does the perimeter of your ignorance.”
To have more peace in society — and to find more real, lasting solutions — we have to learn to look past what we THINK we know to what we might not know that could be true.
In this episode, we walk through the process of learning to look BEYOND the ’symptoms’ to the root causes of the disease in society that plague us.
We discuss the problems with a ‘symptom management’ based focus on issues — not only political and societal but familial as well.
And we cover some potential solutions that are psychologically, scientifically, and religiously supported.
Don’t miss this potentially controversial episode!
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Enrollment is open for the Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method!
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
We get a little serious in this episode -- and Greg sheds a few tears -- because in our work with clients, we've seen the trauma caused by yelling parents. We do not use this word lightly.
“People are people no matter how small.” Your children are people. And when you yell at them — consistently and in anger — you’re traumatizing them. A child's self-worth comes from the view their parents have of them.
How dare you treat a precious being in your care with such contempt. Stop it! You’re the adult. Learn to act like it. They deserve your love and respect.
Despite this harsh and straightforward statement, we are actually very empathetic to the stress and overwhelm parents are under.
We do know that children can be annoying and can push all your buttons. We know that you’re exhausted, depleted, unsupported, and pulled in every direction.
But ultimately, while yelling might work in the short term, it damages relationships in the long term.
Yelling means you’ve reached your ‘wits’ end’, have run out of parenting skills, and don’t have a close enough attachment with the child you’re yelling at.
Listen to this episode to learn how to fix all of that. And learn how to never yell in anger again. Watch how this will drastically change your family culture and parent/child relationships.
************
This episode is sponsored by our Preventing Problems & Creating Peace Workshop. Learn how to spend more time helping things go right instead of fixing what’s going wrong — and yelling about it.
This workshop will help you understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how to apply it in your family to have fewer (or NO) tantrums, better behavior, more cooperation, and greater peace.
We’ll also outline the Pyramid of Peace and how to help your kids be self-motivated.
If you would like to have more peace at home — and less yelling — then you need this workshop. Click the link in the show notes for and start today implementing these simple strategies to help more things go right at home.
OR you can also get this Workshop as part of our Become a Better Parent Bundle which also includes our Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Course, Teaching Children to Manage Their Emotions Workshop and The 5 Habits of Successful Families Self-Paced Class. Visit extraordinaryfamilylife.com and click the Parenting link in the menu.
RESOURCES:
Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey.
How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted Kids - Without Yelling, Tantrums, Punishments or Power Struggles (+ get THE CHECKLIST: Things We Do Every Day to Raise Well-Adjusted Kids)
Rachel’s Must-Read Booklist for Well-Read Moms
Follow us on Instagram: @worldschoolfamily or @greg.denning
Get Rachel's Family Systems & Charts
Join the Do More With Less Stress Workshop Series for busy moms
Become a Founding Member of our Extraordinary Parent Mentoring Method
Join Greg’s 7-Day Challenge
JOIN GREG'S 90-DAY HEALTH & FITNESS CHALLENGE!
Gather with us at the World School Family (Beach & Farm) Resort in Portugal
Read our reviews here: https://podcast.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/reviews/
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