Aging Playfully: How to Make Peace With Uncomfortable Experiences w/ Dr. Susan Campbell
Release Date: 03/25/2025
Psychedelic Presence: How to Heal the Places Words Can’t Reach
Be. Play. Love.
There are many ways we try to heal. Therapy, meditation, breathwork, movement, and mindset work - just to name a few. These paths are powerful, transformative, and often life-changing. But sometimes, despite all the tools and effort, there are places within us that remain untouched, places our intellect can’t quite reach. We’re exploring one such threshold, where healing stops being something we do and becomes something that happens to us at a cellular level. Where transformation drops from the head into the body through the quiet, mystical intelligence of mushrooms. Journeying...
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From Defensiveness to Discovery: How to Stop Assuming the Worst
Be. Play. Love.
We all do it. When there’s silence, ambiguity, or the absence of clear feedback, we fill in the blanks with stories. But here’s the problem: our minds don’t reach for generous interpretations. They default to criticism, fear, and doubt. Whether it’s giving a talk, navigating a friendship, or reflecting on ourselves, we often assume the worst, even when reality is far more kind. Evolutionary survival instincts, societal conditioning, and inner critics keep us stuck in fear-based thinking. What if there was a powerful alternative (spoiler alert, there is!) - reconnecting to the...
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How to Reclaim Creativity in a World Obsessed with Productivity
Be. Play. Love.
In our world, productivity and creativity occupy two different buckets. The former is functional, necessary, and purposeful. The latter is frivolous, chaotic, and irresponsible. It should be put on the back burner so that we can focus on “more important things.” As a result, creative expression ends up as an afterthought, something we can only do after the real work is done. The problem is: so many of us end up feeling disconnected from our creativity, cut off from a vital resource for resonance. What if instead of putting off creativity for later, we could integrate it into...
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Working on Something New? Don’t Bottle Fear In, Blurt It Out w/ Naz Perez
Be. Play. Love.
Something most people underestimate about having a big vision is the process of bringing other people on board. Whether it’s an investment partner or a strategic collaborator, we’re required to communicate what we see, open ourselves up to their opinions, and invite them to join us on a journey to an uncharted territory. It’s a vulnerable place, so of course, old fears, old stories, and upper limits will come up. How do we get them to trust us and see what we see? How do we silence those old stories from past experiences? For most change-makers dealing with the...
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Play-Powered Living: What It Looks Like and How to Get There w/ Rabbi Jessica K. Marshall
Be. Play. Love.
An aligned life filled with presence, playfulness, freedom and growth expresses itself in many ways. It shows up in our choices (and how we make them), our relationships, our words and how we live. In short, it’s highlighted in our ability to Be, Play, and Love. Most people miss the fact that the process of finding one's own alignment is an inner game. It has little to do with what’s happening outside of us, and rarely stems from finding the right routine, ritual, or life hack. It’s continuously dropping into our heart space, feeling into what’s right, releasing fear, and expanding our...
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The Politeness Problem: How to Stop Withholding Your Truth
Be. Play. Love.
In the name of politeness, we often sugarcoat or dilute the truth, twisting it into something softer that we think the other person would rather hear. Instead of saying what we truly mean, we go out of our way to smooth over situations in hopes they’ll land better. Here’s the issue: when we start holding back our real feelings, we disconnect from ourselves and others. We step out of alignment with our inner wisdom. Though society teaches us that maintaining peace is more important than being honest, human beings are meant to express themselves. While we may fear that speaking our...
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How to Make Up Your Mind By Listening to Your Body
Be. Play. Love.
One of the biggest barriers to us getting the things we really, really want are the mixed messages we send to ourselves. We want it, then we’re not sure we do. We want it again and then we don’t think it will work out. We definitely want it, but then we can’t do it because it’s risky. When we want to go in a certain direction, we won’t reach our desired destination this way. Instead, we need to be fully committed and completely in alignment - not shaky or wishy washy. The missed messages take different forms - maybe it’s doing a push and pull, making excuses not to take...
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Aging Playfully: How to Make Peace With Uncomfortable Experiences w/ Dr. Susan Campbell
Be. Play. Love.
If there’s anything our culture likes to collectively ignore, resist and hide, it's aging. And yet, aging happens to every single one of us - whether it’s aging parents, aging partners or aging selves, we all have an experience with it. With age comes the opportunity for nourishment and deeper learning, but aging also comes with some unpleasant emotions and experiences. Cognitive and physical decline and even loss are all parts of the process of getting older. How do we learn to treat these things as a learning adventure? How do we deal with loved ones becoming shadows of their...
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From ‘Yeah, But’ to ‘Yes, And’: How to Embrace Life’s Flow with Wonder
Be. Play. Love.
In improv and in life, “yes, and..” are two words that allow us to receive what’s coming at us, integrate it and add to it in our own way. “Yes, and” has its own flipside which completely kills all play, wonder and joy, and it’s known as “yeah, but”. When people say “yeah but” when something happens, it makes them protect, contract and move away, instead of coming forward and connecting. Here’s the thing: life will always unfold in a spontaneous way and we can’t control what comes up. Adopting a “yes, and..” attitude allows us to be in harmony with life’s twists...
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Expand and Integrate: How to Successfully Navigate the Unknown
Be. Play. Love.
Anytime we head into the unknown and want to break past a limit, a question arises inside of us, “is it safe for me to be this big out in the world?” That’s because if we want something bigger, our ceiling has to rise to encompass that thing and that can be scary. Sometimes we’ll expand into that bigger thing but then shrink back into our familiar shells. If we don’t make our presence bigger than our fear, this process will keep repeating itself. What if, instead of expanding and contracting - we could expand and integrate at a new level? That’s where flow comes into play - it’s...
info_outlineIf there’s anything our culture likes to collectively ignore, resist and hide, it's aging. And yet, aging happens to every single one of us - whether it’s aging parents, aging partners or aging selves, we all have an experience with it.
With age comes the opportunity for nourishment and deeper learning, but aging also comes with some unpleasant emotions and experiences.
Cognitive and physical decline and even loss are all parts of the process of getting older. How do we learn to treat these things as a learning adventure? How do we deal with loved ones becoming shadows of their former selves?
Instead of resisting the things that come with aging, embracing them makes life richer. The skill of learning to be with unpleasant experiences and emotions is one we can learn at any point in our lives, and it certainly comes in handy when we’re getting older.
How do we build this skill? What are the gifts of aging? In this episode, we’re joined by couples therapist, relationship coach, author, speaker, college professor, trainer, and founding teacher of the Getting Real work, Dr. Susan Campbell. She shares how we can be more prepared for unwanted changes and why that can be an enriching experience.
Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
-Use everything that happens for learning
When it comes to aging, most people want to resist or ignore what happens. Why do we need to allow what is to be there?
-The loop of awareness
Unpleasant interactions don’t just throw you out of connection with your loved one, they also affect your connection with yourself. How do you find yourself again?
-Embrace, don’t erase
How do we approach the aging population? How do we avoid making assumptions about their reality?
Guest Bio
Dr. Susan Campbell is a couples therapist, relationship coach, author, speaker, workshop leader, trainer, college professor, certified Radical Honesty trainer, and founding teacher of the Getting Real work. The Getting Real work is a body of communication and awareness practices that foster personal healing and social evolution. She has written eleven books on relationships, including several best-sellers. A faculty member at the San Francisco Gestalt Institute and an Adjunct Faculty at Saybrook Graduate School, Susan trains coaches and therapists throughout the U.S and Europe to integrate the tools in this book into their professional practices. In her own practice, she works with singles, couples, co-workers, and work teams helping them communicate respectfully and responsibly when conflicts arise. Dr. Susan’s latest book, “From Triggered to Tranquil” provides tools for navigating emotional reactivity in all types of interpersonal relationships, organized around five steps to “trigger mastery.”
Visit https://susancampbell.com/ to learn more and get the new book here.
About Your Hosts
Katie Hendricks, Ph.D., BC-DMT, is a pioneer in body intelligence and conscious loving with over 40 years of experience. Known internationally as a presenter and seminar leader, she focuses on authenticity, responsibility, and appreciation in conscious living. She co-authored 12 books, including best-sellers Conscious Loving and Conscious Loving Ever After and she has appeared on over 500 radio and TV programs.
Sophie Chiche is a seasoned coach and consultant who has worked with thousands of individuals and teams globally. With a focus on helping people live fully expressed lives, she guides clients and facilitates group sessions to remove obstacles and design meaningful lives. Sophie has developed unique methods, mindset shifts, and healing modalities to create lasting change.
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