Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

My guest this week on Relationships 2.0 is Stanley H. Block, MD, author of Mind-Body Workbook for Stress: Effective Tools for Lifelong Stress Reduction & Crisis Management. Chronic stress is a huge problem that has only gotten worse in recent years. The good news is that new research is emerging to help treat stress in more effective ways than ever before. Mind-body bridging is one of these new modalities. Shown to be effective in both clinical and research settings, the easy-to-use mind-body bridging system helps readers dramatically reduce their stress in one to three weeks. Mind-Body Workbook for Stress helps readers learn and practice exercises for detaching from painful thoughts and feelings and helping their bodies relax and let go of unconscious tension. In this resting state, body and mind can let go of stress and heal naturally. Readers also learn fast-acting mindfulness skills for dissolving stress whenever desired without needing to maintain a long-term meditative practice. The one-page

My guest this week is Nick Savoy, author of It’s Your Move: How to Play the Game and Win the Man You Want. MEN HAVE A GAME PLAN FOR PICKING UP WOMEN. NOW IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR MOVE. In his popular Love Systems dating bootcamps, famed pickup artist and dating coach Nick Savoy has taught tens of thousands of men how to attract and seduce the women they desire. Now, after watching countless interactions between the sexes—and hearing what men really think about women, dating, and playing the game—Savoy is sharing his best-kept secrets and proven pickup tips with today’s single women.

My guest this week is Judith Ruskay Rabinor PhD, author of Befriending Your Ex After Divorce: Making Life Better For You, Your Kids and, Yes, Your Ex. If you are divorced, or are contemplating divorce, you’ve probably heard the diatribe: Divorce is messy. Divorce is a tragedy. Divorce will scar your children for life. Befriending Your Ex challenges many of these destructive myths about divorce, and sets out to change the way we think about the process of divorce and its ultimate outcome. While divorce certainly can have negative effects upon children, when they occur, these effects are likely to result from a hostile and combative relationship between ex-spouses. This uplifting book reminds the reader that all divorces need not follow this unhappy script, and that ex-spouses can collaboratively co-parent and be a source of support, not only to their children, but to one another as well.

My guest for this week is Alex Spence. He will be addressing the issue of our relationship with money. What is the difference between our money “story” and our financial reality. Each of us have a template for our beliefs about money. Is this working for us? What messages do we receive about money? What are our emotional reactions to information we receive.

My guest for this week is Tammy Strobel author of You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too. Once, Tammy Strobel and her husband were living a normal middle-class lifestyle: driving two cars, commuting long distances, and living well beyond their means. Now they are living the voluntary downsizing — or smart-sizing — dream. In this book Strobel combines research on well-being with numerous real-world examples to offer practical inspiration. Her fresh take on our things, our work, and our relationships spells out micro-actions that anyone can take to step into a life that’s more conscious and connected, sustainable and sustaining, heartfelt and happy.

My guest for this week on Relationships 2.0 is Sophia Dembling, author of The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World. This clever and pithy book challenges introverts to take ownership of their personalities…with quiet strength. Sophia Dembling asserts that the introvert’s lifestyle is not “wrong” or lacking, as society or extroverts would have us believe. Through a combination of personal insights and psychology, The Introvert’s Way helps and encourages introverts to embrace their nature, to respect traits they may have been ashamed of and reframe them as assets.

My guest for this week is Julie M. Simon author of The Emotional Eater’s Repair Manual: A Practical Mind-Body-Spirit Guide for Putting an End to Overeating and Dieting. Despite our best intentions, many of us find ourselves routinely overeating at meals, snacking mindlessly, or bingeing regularly. As emotional eaters, we turn to food for comfort, soothing, distraction, and excitement. There’s a disconnection fueling our eating, robbing years from our lives, and we know it. We’re tired of restrictive diets that lead back to overeating, and we’re ready to try something different.

This week my guest is Kelly C. Allison, PhD, author of Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome: A Step-by-Step Guide to Breaking the Cycle. The statistics are powerful and alarming: perhaps as many as 6 million Americans suffer from night eating syndrome, or NES, an eating disorder which describes behavior patterns in which an individual obsessively consumes more than half of his or her daily caloric intake after eight o’clock in the evening. More significant is the further finding that more than 33 percent of morbidly obese individuals, persons who are 100 or more pounds overweight, are affected by this disorder.

This week my guest is Margaret Floyd, author of Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted and Undressed Eating for A Healthier, Sexier You. Are you fed up with counting calories? Confused by all the diet hype? Want to eat delicious, real food and look and feel great? Leading nutritional therapist Margaret Floyd’s Eat Naked will help you strip away the overprocessed, overpackaged, and overdressed junk food from your diet.

This week my guest on Relationships 2.0 is Sheri Van Dijk MSW, author of Calming the Emotional Storm: Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skill to Manage Your Emotions and Balance Your Life.

My guest on Relationships 2.0 this week is Gary Kowalski. He will help us understand our relationship with animals as we discuss his new book Blessings of the Animals: Celebrating Our Kinship with All Creation.

This week my guest on Relationships 2.0 is Deborah Price author of The Heart of Money: A Couple’s Guide to Creating True Financial Intimacy. Money issues have long been the number one cause of relationship disharmony and divorce, yet when it comes to identifying and changing unhealthy money patterns and behaviors, many couples feel helpless. Money coach Deborah Price has taught thousands of people how to work together to resolve money conflicts and create a financially empowered future.

My guest this week is Brooks Palmer, author of Clutter Busting Your Life: Clearing Physical and Emotional Clutter to Reconnect with Yourself and Others Over the course of his career helping people let go of things they no longer need, Brooks Palmer has been struck by the many ways that clutter affects relationships. In these pages, he shows how we use clutter to protect ourselves, control others, and cling to the past, and how it keeps us from experiencing the joy of connection. With insight-prompting questions, exercises, client examples, and even whimsical line drawings, Palmer will take you from overwhelmed to empowered. His gentle guidance will help you to not only clear clutter from your home but also enjoy deeper, more authentic, and clutter-free relationships of all kinds.

My guest this week is Joe Messina. He is a political radio talk show host. We are going to discuss how to have productive conversations with friends and family about politics. With less than three weeks until the Presidential election it’s time to learn some healthy communication skills for these heated topics.

My guest is Julie Fast, co-author of Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partner. Fast's book, Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, is a first of its kind book—written specifically for the partner of a person with bipolar disorder. If you have a loved one with bipolar, you know how disruptive and straining this disorder can be to your relationship. You may experience feelings of fear, loss, and anxiety as well as a constant uncertainly about your loved one’s ever-changing moods. This book is designed to help you overcome the unique challenges of loving someone with bipolar disorder. With the supportive and helpful information, strategies, and real-life examples contained here, you’ll have all the tools you need to create a loving, healthy, and close relationship.

My guest this week is Leslie Sokol, PhD co-author of Think Confident, Be Confident for Teens. Confidence is like a magnet that attracts people to you and helps you get closer to reaching your goals. When you believe in yourself, you send the message that you have the brains, ability, and talent to handle whatever life sends your way. And the truth is, you do! Leslie's book, Think Confident, Be Confident for Teens shows you how to tap into your self-esteem so you can be yourself in every situation, no matter how awkward you feel or scary that may sound. The fun exercises and tips in this confidence-coaching workbook will guide you past feelings of self-doubt and encourage you to believe in yourself, strengthen your friendships, and meet every challenge head-on.

If you’re in a relationship with someone who has Asperger’s syndrome, it’s likely that your partner sometimes seems cold and insensitive. Other times, he or she may have emotional outbursts for no apparent reason. And in those moments when you can’t understand each other at all, you both feel fed up, frustrated, and confused. The behavior of people with Asperger’s can be hard to understand and easy to misinterpret, which is why it’s so important to learn more about your partner’s condition. The tools presented in Loving Someone with Asperger’s Syndrome will help you build intimacy and improve the way you and your partner communicate. Filled with assessments and exercises for both you and your partner, this book will help you forge a deeper, more fulfilling relationship.

This week on my radio show I will be discussing the book that I co-authored with Matthew McKay, PhD and Avigail Lev, PsyD, ACT for Interpersonal Problems: Using Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Schema Awareness to Change Interpersonal Behaviors. I will be discussing the book with Maarten Aalberse PsyD, a clinical psychologist and ACT therapist in Lyon, France. The book presents a complete treatment protocol for therapists working with clients who repeatedly fall into unhealthy patterns in their relationships with friends, family members, coworkers, and romantic partners. These clients may blame others, withdraw when feeling threatened, react defensively in conflicts, or have a deep-seated sense of distrust—all interpersonal problems that damage relationships and cause enormous suffering.

My guest is Steve Flowers, author of Living with Your Heart Wide Open: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Unworthiness, Inadequacy, and Shame. Everyone is subject to feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy and sometimes these feelings can become your very sense of self and dominate everything you do. Living with Your Heart Wide Open offers a way to free yourself from this prison of shame though gentle and wise guidance in mindfulness and self-compassion practices as embodied within Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training.

The guest for my radio show on September 11th is Susan Kuchinskas, author of The Chemistry of Connection: How the Oxytocin Response Can Help You Find Trust, Intimacy, and Love. When you make love, cuddle with a partner, or have coffee with close friends, a powerful brain chemical called oxytocin floods your body with feelings of contentment and trust. This natural love drug, produced by the hypothalamus, is responsible for human bonding in both platonic and intimate relationships, and is the key to many of the psychological differences between men and women. In The Chemistry of Connection, you’ll learn easy ways to increase your natural supply of oxytocin to establish deeper connections with family, friends, and romantic partners. You’ll discover: • The power of the cuddle hormone in relationships • How sex and love are deeply entwined for both women and men • The chemical differences between lust, romance, and love • How to raise children who trust and love in a healthy way