Animals can be such wonderful contributors to our healing, happiness and well-being!
Guest host Diane Tegmeyer talks all things animals with Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Human Society Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Steketee.
Born and raised in Oregon, Jennifer attended vet school in Oregon and Washington states. Hers is an important voice in helping us understand the plight of sheltered animals in northern New Mexico. She shares stories of hope and healing, as well as lots of ideas for volunteering in this episode.
We can find a tremendous amount of wisdom when we journal. Dr. Elaine Casquarelli and Dr. Karin Lubin share insights, ideas, and lots of laughter in this episode.
Elaine is a psychotherapist who incorporates IFS (Internal Family Systems) into her work with clients.
Karin's professional background includes having been the Global Director of The Passion Test Certification programs. She's the co-owner — along with her husband, Randy Crutches, of Quantum Leap Coaching and Consulting. And she's co-hosted and guest hosted several episodes of Living From Happiness. Karin's doctorate is in education and organizational leadership.
There is now a large body of research that supports journaling as an activity that can have a profound impact on our health, happiness, and wellbeing. Karin explains some of these benefits to listeners.
And Elaine offers insights into how powerful it can be to understand our internal parts.
When the two are combined together -- IFS and journaling -- amazing things can happen. Elaine, Karin and Melanie talk about the importance of curiosity and clarity, how to access our inner wisdom, and how journaling can help us reconnect with ourselves.
In the second half, Karin shares her feelings about the books cover art, created by Estella Loretto (be on the lookout for a show with Estella in the near future).
Elaine and Karin are co-facilitating a 6-week virtual journaling wisdom circle Oct 8 – Nov 12, 2021. They’ll incorporate their book -- Living From Your Centered Self: An IFS Wisdom Journal -- and teach you how to connect with your centered Self and help the wounded and overworked parts of you to heal.
You’ll reconnect with your body, mind, and spirit through guided meditations, journaling and the sharing of your experiences and inner wisdom with one another.
for more information about the Journaling Wisdom Circle, click here
Dr. Elaine Casquarelli's website here
Stress. Who isn't stressed these days? Absolutely no one. Melanie's the guest on her own show in this episode inspired by a New York Times article on smart phones and stress.
Do you know that stress really does affect everything else in our lives, from how we feel when we wake up (how’d you sleep last night, by the way?) to how we interact with too fast or too slow drivers around town?
Stress has a major affect on our health, wellbeing and happiness. It’s an important component of almost decision we make all day long, all our lives. Stress contributes to anxiety, sadness, anger, brain fog, rational thought, self-control and our decision-making abilities. It’s a contributor to serious health problems.
Basically, stress can make us miserable.
The article states that “cortisol is our primary fight-or-flight hormone. Its release triggers physiological changes, such as spikes in blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar, that help us react to and survive acute physical threats.
“These effects can be lifesaving if you are actually in physical danger — like, say, you’re being charged by a bull. But our bodies also release cortisol in response to emotional stressors where an increased heart rate isn’t going to do much good, such as checking your phone to find an angry email from your boss.
“If they happened only occasionally, phone-induced cortisol spikes might not matter. But the average American spends four hours a day staring at their smartphone and keeps it within arm’s reach nearly all the time … . The result, as Google has noted in a report, is that ‘mobile devices loaded with social media, email and news apps create ‘a constant sense of obligation, generating unintended personal stress.’"
The good news? There's lots of it in the 2nd half of the show, including the idea of being with beauty to help calm our nervous systems down.
As Terry Tempest Williams wrote, “Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.” (in Finding Beauty in a Broken World)
Listen in for more ideas about calming down our stress response.
Dr. Melanie Harth's website here