Disengaging And Using Safety Crutches Archives - Page 6 Of 9

Dr. Z. on shifting from disengagement to engagement

by Dr. Z. | Disengaging and using safety crutches

As a species, we are hardwired to avoid, control, and escape whatever makes us uncomfortable. That’s natural and expected.

To avoid is to be human.

But what happens when we avoid things that we care about because they make us uncomfortable or sad? What happens when we disconnect from the things that matter to us because we’re trying to control what we feel? What’s the long-term outcome of avoidant behaviors in our lives?

When you make a habit of avoiding the situations and activities that bring up discomfort, and the avoidance becomes a chronic pattern, then it’s time to make a shift.

This episode will help you recognize avoidance behaviors that have been keeping you stuck and will tell you how to get mobilized. You will learn 3 specific activities you need to schedule in your weekly calendar to stop disconnecting and get back to your life.

How to handle worry thoughts about not being a good enough parent with Sarah Peck, M.A.

by Dr. Z. | Assuming responsibility of important matters & others’ well-being, Disengaging and using safety crutches

In this week’s episode of the Playing-it-Safe podcast, I chat with Sarah Peck, M.L.A., founder of Startup Parent, an open water swimmer, a trained yoga teacher, and a writer.

Key Takeaways

In this conversation, Sarah shares

How she gives herself permission to be a good enough parent
How she handles worry thoughts about parenting
And, how she manages her day-to-day activities as a mom, partner, and coach

Show notes with time-stamps

01:00 Introducing Sarah Peck: Swimmer, Author, and Entrepreneur

01:00 Exploring Sarah’s Books and Her Startup Parent Initiative

01:46 Diving Deep into Parenting Challenges and Philosophies

02:36 Sarah’s Personal Journey and the Struggles of Parenting

11:25 Embracing ‘Good Enough’ Parenting and Letting Go of Perfection

17:56 Navigating Life’s Challenges with Curiosity and Compassion

29:30 A Dream Coffee Date with Tim Ferriss

Listen Here

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How to deal with your inner critic with Dr. Russ Harris, M.D.

by Dr. Z. | Accepting negative stories about myself and questioning my abilities, Disengaging and using safety crutches

In this episode, I chat with Russ Harris, M.D., author of The Happiness Trap, The Reality Slap, and many other self-help books. Russ shares how he applies skills from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – grounding, defusion, acceptance – to his writing process. In particular, he shares how he handles his fears of making mistakes, thoughts about his writing not being good enough, his inner critic, and the overwhelming feelings and anxieties that show up when he’s writing.⁠

I hope you enjoy the episode. Let me know what you think of it!

About Russ

Russ is a doctor, therapist, father, trainer of health professionals, and the author of The Happiness Trap (plus eight other books). He started his career as a newly-graduated doctor back in 1989, and soon discovered that most of his patients were expressing a significant degree of dissatisfaction in life; stress, anxiety and unhappiness were widespread. So he set off on a journey to find out a) what makes people unhappy, and b) far more importantly, what creates genuine and lasting happiness. Eventually, it lead him to ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Resources

The Happiness Trap website: https://thehappinesstrap.com/
The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living by Russ Harris
The Happiness Trap Instagram: @happiness_trap_program
Russ’s Twitter: @drrussharris

Show notes with time-stamps

Here are the highlights from my chat with Russ:

2:51 How Russ channels his anxiety.⁠
3:32 How Russ gets hooked on anxious thoughts at times.⁠
4:05 How Russ practices defusion from harsh thoughts.⁠
7:57 How Russ drops his anchor to handle anxiety when writing a chapter.⁠
8:58 How Russ handles his fears of his writing “not being good enough.”⁠
13:02 How Russ handles the struggles of not finding the right metaphor when writing.⁠
15:08 How Russ handles his inner critic.⁠
15:39 The type of Australian biscuit Russ likes.⁠
17:41 How Russ practices noticing, naming, and taking a distance from analysis-paralysis thoughts.⁠
18:33 How Russ remembers to anchor himself using the acronym ACE⁠
22:55 How Russ relates to positive thinking⁠

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How to handle fears – in general – using Acceptance and Commitment Skills with Steve Hayes, Ph.D. (part 2)

by Dr. Z. | Criticizing, judging, & attacking yourself, Disengaging and using safety crutches

One of the roots of humility comes from Latin and it means “from earth.”

Humility is about being grounded and recognizing that we’re humans, flawed and fallible.

This second part of my conversation with Steve Hayes, PhD., co-founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), is about the role of humility in science, in our lives, and in our belief systems.

Key Takeaways

You will hear specifically:

How Steve cultivates humility as a scientist
How Steve keeps himself humble and checks his ego
How behavioral science invites all of us to be humble with our beliefs
How behavioral science offers us a lens to understand polarized messages
And whom Steve would like to have a chat with!

Show notes with time-stamps

01:11 Diving Deep with Dr. Steve Hayes: The Journey of a Behavioral Scientist

07:31 Exploring the Humanistic Side of Behavioral Science

09:42 The Evolution of Behavioral Science and Its Humanistic Roots

24:38 Addressing the Challenges of Ego and Legacy in Science

30:02 A Hypothetical Coffee with Charles Darwin: Evolution and Human Wellbeing

31:55 Wrapping Up: The Importance of Humility in Science

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From struggling to thriving: managing fears, anxieties, and worries with Michael Heady, LCPC

by Dr. Z. | Accepting negative stories about myself and questioning my abilities, Disengaging and using safety crutches

Few times we have the opportunity to see how therapists walk the walk, put into action what they know about managing fears, anxieties, and worries, and what it means to make a shift from struggling to thriving.

In this personal, relatable, and real conversation, I chat with Michael Heady, LCPC, and discuss how the fears of making mistakes, having high standards and imposter syndrome show up and how we all can learn to handle them effectively.⁠

About Michael

Michael has been treating OCD and OC-related disorders for over a decade. He received extensive post-graduate mentoring and supervision with regionally and nationally recognized experts in the field of anxiety and OCD at the Anxiety & Stress Disorders Institute of MD. He was trained extensively in the application of CBT and ERP for OCD and all of the anxiety disorders. He also has extensive training in the application of third-wave therapies including ACT and MBCT. He attend annual workshops on anxiety and OCD treatment through the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and IOCDF.

Resources

International OCD Foundation (IOCDF): https://iocdf.org/providers/heady-michael/
Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelheadyanxietyocdandstressspecialist/
Michael’s Instagram: @anxietyocdmaryland
Michael’s Twitter: @OCDMaryland

Show notes with time-stamps

01:07 Navigating Fears and Anxieties

05:11 The Fear of Making Mistakes: A Personal Journey

27:58 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Embracing Challenges

31:59 A Hypothetical Coffee with Barack Obama

Listen Here

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Three micro-skills you need to know to make a pivot in your career with Dr. Cheryl Robinson

by Dr. Z. | Criticizing, judging, & attacking yourself, Disengaging and using safety crutches

Interview with Dr. Cheryl Robinson, also known as the Queen of Pivoting.

In this episode, we chatted about how people make pivots in their careers and in their mindsets. In her research, Cheryl has identified 3 processes that help people to make a pivot; she shared the specifics of each one of them in our conversation.

We also chatted about self-confidence and discussed how we think of it, what’s similar, and what’s different in our views.

About Dr. Cheryl Robinson

Dr. Robinson is an international speaker, media coach, leadership coach/course developer and regular contributor at ForbesWomen with 27 Editors’ Pick titles. Additionally, she helps others edit their books with the most recent landing on Amazon’s top 20 list. For over 20 years, she has conducted workshops, seminars, spoken on panels and served as a mentor & coach for individuals who have recently graduated college to educational professionals to executives. In 2014, she developed two courses for Stockton University. In five years, she taught 400 students maintaining a 5.0 IDEA rating.