Stay ConnectedThe Think Act Be podcast features conversations about finding happiness, peace, and connection. Clinical psychologist Seth Gillihan talks with his guests about ways to nourish your mind, body, and spirit.
For one-on-one sessions with Seth Gillihan: sethgillihan.com/1-1-sessions
For individual psychotherapy (in CA or DC) with Joel Minden: cbtchico.com
My guest this week is business and career coach Nick Davies. As you’ll hear, Nick is from England, though he’s currently living in the States. I really enjoyed talking with Nick, not only because he’s easy to listen to, but because he speaks very clearly about principles that we find in cognitive behavioral therapy.
He and I talked about things like how to develop better habits, learning to recognize the stories we tell ourselves, and the importance of a compelling Why for our goals. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of value in this conversation.
My guest this week is psychiatrist Dr. Adam Meadows, author of the recent book, A Prescription for Living with Purpose: Maintaining Hope, Healing, & Connection as You Create the Life You Were Destined to Live (affiliate link). It was great to catch up with Adam and hear his passion for changing lives, including his own.
I’ve known Adam for about 10 years, and I've enjoyed seeing the direction he’s pursued since leaving Penn, where we met. In this episode we talked about faith, trust, the importance of daily habits, and how to tell the divine voice of intuition from the voice of self or ego. I hope you get a lot out of this discussion.
My guest this week is Kevin Hancock, author of the recent book, The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership (affiliate link). I loved this conversation with Kevin. There were so many profound points that emerged as we explored what it means to find our voice, and to be heard.
This topic is close to my heart for several reasons, including my own history of vocal difficulties and throat surgery. As you’ll hear, Kevin has dealt with a rare neurological condition that affects his voice, and now he completely embraces and owns his unique voice as he encourages others to embrace their own voice. I know you’ll get a lot out of this discussion.
My guest this week is author and content creator Lorraine Ladish. We talked about the value of mind-body work, Lorraine’s favorite self-care activities, the importance of daily practices in caring for our minds and bodies, and spirituality as letting go of the illusion of control, among other topics. Lorraine has been through a lot in her lifetime, and she describes where she has found strength and grace along the way.
My guest this week is Darren Gold, author of the new book Master Your Code: The Art, Wisdom, and Science of Leading an Extraordinary Life (affiliate link). Darren offers many powerful ideas that I know you’re going to find useful, like how to set yourself up for success, and learning how to rewrite your unconscious programs.
As you’ll hear, Darren really speaks my language, because the things he’s describing are in line with solid cognitive and behavioral principles. There’s a lot here that you can take and start to use right away in your own life.
My guest this week is cook and author Caroline Wright. At the age of 32, Caroline was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given one year to live. Three years later she’s beaten the odds, and is full of enthusiasm and hope and vitality. We discussed her very moving children’s book Lasting Love (affiliate link), which is a love letter to her children and also to any family dealing with the loss of a loved one.
To be honest, this was not the conversation I was expecting. I thought we’d talk a lot about the pain and sadness of saying good-bye, but instead we talked about things like the profound lifestyle changes Caroline has made since her diagnosis, her ongoing work as a cookbook author, learning to live with fear, and finding what makes you happy regardless of circumstance.
My guest this week is Dr. Christopher Kerr. Chris is a hospice physician and author of the recent book, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life's End (affiliate link). This was an important topic, but I hadn’t realized the implications for the current situation we find ourselves in with the coronavirus pandemic. One of the things that’s so many of us are deeply troubled by is that people are dying now without being able to have their loved ones by their side.
Chris and I talked about how Covid-19 is changing the process of dying. As tragic as these changes are, he also explained that no one really dies alone, which I found deeply comforting as I imagined the final days and hours of those dying in hospitals.
My guest this week is Dr. Joel Minden, a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety. We focused on the ideas from his excellent new book, Show Your Anxiety Who's Boss (affiliate link). Joel's emphasis is on finding effective long-term strategies that can change our relationship with anxiety in a big way, rather than on trying to find tricks to use in the moment to just get through spells of high anxiety. He stresses the importance of letting our values decide what’s important and how we live our lives, rather than letting anxiety play that role. Joel’s research-tested approach has a lot to offer at any time, and definitely in the current COVID-19 crisis.
My guest this week in Dr. David Richo, who was on the podcast before back in 2018 when we talked about mindfulness in relationships. This time we were focusing on his new book, Triggers: How to Stop Reacting and Start Healing (affiliate link). It’s a great guide for how to use your emotional reactions when you’re triggered as the starting point for identifying and resolving the underlying issues.
One of the things I love most about Dave’s approach is how he doesn’t pretend there’s some trick or technique that’s going to take away your difficult emotions or make life a breeze. He’s honest about the challenges all of us will face, and how accepting those challenges is the path toward becoming a full-fledged adult.
I especially want to draw your attention in this episode to Dave’s encouragement to make a commitment to working on yourself when you’re triggered, rather than blaming others or assuming the problem is with them. I’m thinking about this a lot more in my own closest relationships since Dave and I spoke, especially in my marriage, and trying to remember to be curious about my reaction instead of focusing on my feeling of hurt or injustice. As Dave and I discuss, there’s true freedom to be found in that approach, and it lets us let go of so much unnecessary tension in our relationships.
My guest this week is Dr. Rob Leeman, who specializes in research on alcohol use among adults. Rob has been a good friend of mine for the past two decades, since we met in graduate school in 2001. He’s a real expert on alcohol and addiction, and he shared from his wealth of knowledge in this discussion. There are a lot of important takeaways here—things like the effects of alcohol on anxiety and sleep, the relation between trauma and alcohol use, effective treatments for reducing alcohol consumption, and the best ways to minimize our kids’ risk for having problems with alcohol.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
