How your past hurts you today
Bear Psychology Podcast
Relationships rule our inner world. Understanding how you feel and think about your relationships helps you become more accepting and then more peaceful. You can develop an appreciation for other people's perspectives and stop assigning blame on others. Dr. Jacqueline Heller’s book “Yesterday Never Sleeps: How Integrating Life's Current and Past Connections Improves Our Well-Being” draws upon decades of clinical experience to create a powerful and more positive inner narrative. Her unique combination of neuroscience, memoirs of her life as a child of Holocaust survivors, and patient...
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Dangerous People in Powerful places
Bear Psychology Podcast
Disconnected People in positions of power make the world more dangerous for everyone – Bear Psychology Radio hosted by Dr. Anna Baranowsky with guest Dr. Steve Taylor. Disconnected people have the tendency to gravitate toward power. When Disconnected people rule in positions of power societies trend toward patriarchal, hierarchical and warlike. In contrast, societies with connected leaders trend toward egalitarian, democracy and peace. Although most people have a deep need to be connected, life events/upbringing and trauma exposure can interfere in this profound human characteristic....
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Why your coping skills stop working
Bear Psychology Podcast
Experiencing stressful or traumatic experiences during childhood leads us to develop certain coping mechanisms to get us through. While these strategies might have helped us feel secure when younger, they often fail us in adulthood. Richard Brouillette’s book “Your Coping Skills Aren't Working: How to Break Free from the Habits that Once Helped You But Now Hold You Back” offers an evidence-based guide using multiple therapeutic modalities including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), schema therapy, and attachment theory to help readers leave behind unhelpful coping strategies that keep...
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Muslim Loving Peace and looking to a better future
Bear Psychology Podcast
Raheel Raza, a Muslim Canadian born in Pakistan, migrated to Canada in 1988, has a unique perspective on what is happening right now in the Israel-Hamas war and her reflections on misinformation and what Peace would take. She has visited Israel 13 times in the 16 years. In her National Post Article “I'm a Muslim and I love Israel. Here's why” published in February 2023, Raza details what she has learned about hate and antisemitism, it’s prevalence in Arab Muslim countries, her hope for Peace and the struggles of supporting Israel at this time. Listen to our conversation...
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Collective & Personal Trauma: one family’s graceful end-of-life story
Bear Psychology Podcast
What does it mean to lose someone so close to you that your world will never be the same? What if this happens when the whole world is locked down during a global Pandemic, a collective trauma? How do we navigate terrible loss with great compassion and love? Journalist Mitchell Consky has something important to share with us about this based on personal experience. During the worst of the COVID pandemic, Consky received distressing news. His father had been given less than two months to live after being diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer. In his book, “Home Safe: A...
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Childhood Emotional Neglect impacts your life today
Bear Psychology Podcast
After 20 years in practice, Dr. Jonice Webb noticed the painful struggle of people who grew up in homes where they were emotionally neglected. She identified this neglect as an "invisible factor" that continued to affect adults often leaving them feeling depleted and dissatisfied or what she described as “Running on Empty”. In Dr. Webb’s books “Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect” and “Running On Empty No More: Transform Your Relationships” she shines a light on this invisible force of CEN. She discusses how to bring new tools, strategies and...
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Mind, Body and Yoga for Healing Trauma
Bear Psychology Podcast
Recovery from trauma is not simply about healing the mind but about healing the body as well. Often the approach when treating trauma is solely focused on the mental and emotional effects and fails to address the physiological imbalances that trauma leaves behind on our bodies. In Dr. Arielle Schwartz’s newest book “Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery: Applying the Principles of Polyvagal Theory for Self-Discovery, Embodied Healing, and Meaningful Change”, she guides the reader using yoga practices to help release the burdens of trauma and begin the journey of healing the...
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Healing from Emotional Eating
Bear Psychology Podcast
Every wonder why you make poor food choices? Have you ever tried a new diet just to end up miserable and eating even more than before? Kim Shapira will help us understand how to put an end to disordered eating habits and improving your health and happiness in the process. Shapira recognizes that unhealthy food habits can occur as a result of life stressors and old patterns of self-soothing. Her work focuses on getting back on track and using food for health. Kim Shapira, author of “This Is What You’re Really Hungry For”, teaches us how to develop a healthy relationship with our...
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Cultivating Core Creativity
Bear Psychology Podcast
I know you are creative and innovative at your core. However, most of us just don’t know how to access the deep wealth of creativity that sits inside. Dr. Ronald Alexander’s book “Core Creativity: The Mindful Way to Unlock Your Creative Self” guides you through using mindfulness practices to train your mind so that it more easily opens the portal to core creativity: the unconscious mind. I am really excited about this show as it focuses on opening up to a powerful element of our true nature. Listen to our conversation with psychotherapist & author Dr. Ronald Alexander as...
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Healing the World through Human Connection
Bear Psychology Podcast
Disconnected people have the tendency to gravitate toward power. When Disconnected people rule in positions of power societies trend toward patriarchal, hierarchical and warlike. In contrast, societies with connected leaders trend toward egalitarian, democracy and peace. Although most people have a deep need to be connected, life events/upbringing and trauma exposure can interfere in this profound human characteristic. A person’s “goodness” and capacity for compassion often results from connection, whereas cruelty often originates from a feeling of being cut off from others....
info_outlineSetting Yourself Up for Success
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit” – Will Durant
The year 2020 is upon us and it marks the end of the decade. Millions of New Year’s resolutions will be made; however, the 8% success rate shows we just don’t know how to stick with them. We want to share with you the psychology behind starting new habits, changing old habits, and staying motivated. Think of this as your toolkit for setting yourself up for success – not just in January, but every day!
Making behavioral changes:
Habits are conditioned responses, and so to create new habits or change old ones, we must identify our cue that stimulates undesired behavior, and then change our response. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit states simply we must pick a small action, pair a new habit with an existing habit, and make it relatively easy to do, at least in the first week. Here is a short video clip about identifying the habit and changing your response.
Story-editing:
Another great way to change behavior is by changing your self-story through story-editing. Your self-story is your personal narrative about who you are that guides your behavior. Dr. Timothy Wilson, an expert on story-editing says we should write out our existing story paying special attention to behaviors that conflict with our goals. Next, revise your self-story to incorporate things you would like to change. This reflective writing task can have a profound impact on our personal narratives and instill positive change.
Here are some tips for staying motivated and keeping those changes:
- Write down your goals
- Prepare for set-backs
- Stay positive
- Don’t forget to reward yourself
“Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart” – Roy Bennet
Now that we have addressed making changes, how can we succeed holistically in the New Year?
Starting your day off right and making meaning in your life
- Engage in gratitude each morning
- Prepare for your morning the night before
- Engage in activities that make you happy
- Take care of your body and mind
Some useful resources:
For more information on staying motivated click HERE
For information on the types of motivation click HERE
For more information on starting your morning off right click HERE
For more information on making meaning in your life click HERE
For more information on why some New Year’s resolutions don’t work click HERE