Think Act Be Podcast

Seth J. Gillihan
Podcast Think Act Be Podcast

The Think Act Be podcast features conversations about finding happiness, peace, and connection. Each week your host, psychologist Seth Gillihan, talks with his guests about effective ways to face life’s challenges: What thoughts serve us well? What actions promote well-being? How can we practice mindful presence? Guests from a wide range of backgrounds share their expertise on ways to nourish our minds, bodies, and spirits.

  1. 21. AUG.

    Diane Manser — How to Make Peace with the Joys and Pains of Being a Teacher

    My guest this week is Diane Manser, a long-time high school teacher with an important message that she shares in her recent book, I Didn’t Sign Up for This: One Classroom Teacher’s Journey Through Emotional Fatigue to Personal Empowerment (affiliate link).  Topics we discussed included: What led Diane to become a teacher The best and hardest aspects of teaching The point at which my guest started to wonder what she had signed up for Aspects of teaching that can lead to frustration and burnout Some of the needs and expectations that teachers can bring to the classroom Embracing organic developments while teaching Teaching as a both/and experience that is both rewarding and challenging Experiencing of meanness from students The emotional elements of being a teacher Learning to recognize the familiar reactions we have to certain types of people How being a teacher can force a person to grow on a personal level Diane Manser is a devoted high school English teacher in the Philadelphia suburbs, focusing most of her teaching career in the ninth grade. She is the founder of Teaching is Emotional, which encourages educational leaders, current teachers, and emerging teachers to support teachers’ emotional strength as they navigate a challenging profession. Diane loves to be the sunshine in people’s days and to find joy in the simplest of moments. She relishes summertime at the beach, self-discovery podcasts and non-fiction books, TV watching with her husband, and playing with her kids. Find Diane online at her website and join her private Facebook group Teaching Is Emotional.

    37 Min.
  2. 7. AUG.

    Dr. Scott Rick — How Tightwads and Spendthrifts Can Build Better Spending Habits

    My guest this week is Dr. Scott Rick, an associate professor of marketing and author of a great book called Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships (affiliate link).  Topics we discussed included: Why our relationship with money is often complicated, no matter how much we have Where our attitudes toward money and spending come from Mental and emotional tendencies that predispose a person to being a tightwad The tendency to act more like one’s parents as one moves through adulthood My own tightwad tendencies, on the tightwad-spendthrift scale The daily suffering that tightwads experience from not spending money The lack of distress that spendthrifts feel about spending money The tendency to unfairly criticize spendthrifts more than tightwads Spendthrifts shopping for things they might need The extent to which being a spendthrift or tightwad may be domain specific Possible generational or situational effects on spending attitudes and habits The experiences that tightwads often miss out on Feeling like we have more money when we’re willing to spend it The tendency to treat a raise and higher cost of living differently, especially for spendthrifts Shopping momentum and what-the-hell behavior among spendthrifts Why spendthrifts tend not to learn from their overspending Why spending regret tends to be different for material things vs. experiences Personality correlates of spendthrifts and tightwads Why tightwads and spendthrifts often wind up together in romantic relationships Whether it’s better for couples to have joint or separate bank accounts The degree of financial transparency that is ideal for couples Scott Rick, PhD, is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Scott received his PhD in Behavioral Decision Research from Carnegie Mellon in 2007, and he then spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at Wharton. His research focuses on understanding the emotional causes and consequences of consumer financial decision-making, with a particular interest in the behavior of tightwads and spendthrifts. The overarching goal of his work is to understand when and why consumers behave differently than they should behave (defined by an economically rational benchmark, a happiness-maximizing benchmark, or by how people think they should behave), and to develop marketing and policy interventions to improve consumers’ decision making and well-being. Find Scott online at his website where you can learn more about his work.

    47 Min.
  3. 24. JULI

    Dr. Samir Chopra — How to Find Peace Even When You're Anxious

    My guest this week is philosopher and counselor Dr. Samir Chopra, author of the fascinating new book, Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide (affiliate link).  Topics we discussed included: The extent to which we are experiencing unique levels of anxiety in human history Philosophical inquiry that springs from anxiety The unconscious cognitive work we do to make the world sensible and navigable My guest’s loss of both parents fairly early in life and the consequences on his psyche Comparing our experienced misfortunes to the visible misfortunes of others The fear of not making the best use of our lives Being in the moment as an antidote to continual anxiety The Buddhist explanation of why anxiety can persist even when all is well Freedom from suffering through seeing the persistence of self as an illusion Managing and reducing anxiety vs. living with it Viewing anxiety as an ever-present entity in one’s life Samir Chopra, PhD, is a philosophical counselor and professor emeritus of philosophy at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He’s the author and coauthor of many books, including Shyam Benegal, A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents, and Eye on Cricket. His essays have appeared in the Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Aeon, Psyche, and other publications. Find Samir online at his website where you can learn more about his work and contact him about counseling sessions.

    52 Min.
  4. 10. JULI

    Dr. Marla Deibler — Hope for Healing from Hair Pulling, Skin Picking, and Other Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

    My guest this week is Dr. Marla Deibler, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety. We discussed her excellent new book, The BFRB Recovery Workbook (affiliate link). Check out the publisher’s website where you can download many free worksheets and resources. Topics we discussed included: When a body-focused repetitive behavior becomes a diagnosable disorder Common physical consequences of BFRBs Behaviors associated with the hair-pulling of trichotillomania, a type of BFRB The buildup of hair in the digestive system (trichobezoar) from ingesting hair What makes BFRBs so hard to stop The rewarding feeling that often accompanies BFRBs Fixing something with a BFRB that doesn’t feel quite right Why willpower alone is usually not enough to stop BFRBs Ambivalence in the process of change: wanting to change and not wanting to change The importance of a functional analysis to understand what drives behaviors Wanting to jump to fixing a problematic behavior before understanding it The importance of awareness for treatment Practicing incompatible responses to interrupt the habit of BFRBs The relation of BFRBs to OCD and other types of compulsive behaviors The important role of acceptance and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) The problems of using punishment to shape behavior Marla W. Deibler, PsyD, ABPP, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Board-Certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology, and Founder/Executive Director of The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia. Marla serves on the Faculty of the Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) of the International OCD Foundation. She serves as President of the Board of Directors of OCD NJ, the NJ affiliate of the IOCDF, Consultant for the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome, Visiting Clinical Supervisor at the Rutgers University Psychological Services Clinic, and Executive Council member of the ACBS OCD SIG. She is co-author of The BFRB Recovery Workbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Effective Recovery from Hair Pulling, Skin Picking, Nail Biting, and Other Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Find Marla online at her website.

    34 Min.
  5. 26. JUNI

    Dr. Alissa Jerud — Effective Ways to Manage Anxiety Related to Pregnancy and Miscarriage

    My guest this week is Dr. Alissa Jerud, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety. Topics we discussed included: The anxiety conditions Alissa treats Anxiety related to pregnancy and fertility The difficulty of experiencing miscarriage My guest’s own experience of two miscarriages The conditioned anxiety after the first loss Pregnancy as a perfect setup for anxiety Dealing with the desire to avoid distressing reminders The benefits of facing certain things that are painful Talking with others about difficult experiences Learning to sit with uncertainty Accepting the possibility that things might not go the way we want them to Ways that we try to subtly protect ourselves from anxiety or disappointment Embracing the good and the bad—opening to all of it The benefits and limitations of cognitive techniques for dealing with worry The willingness to talk with and listen to those who have experienced miscarriage Alissa Jerud, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist working in private practice and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Washington and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. In her private practice, Alissa specializes in exposure-based treatment of anxiety-related disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety, panic disorder, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety. Additionally, she specializes in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training, which includes skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Alissa is passionate about helping as many people as possible, not only through her clinical work, but also through her writing and speaking engagements. She enjoys training other clinicians in exposure-based treatments and frequently gives workshops on anxiety, stress, mental health, parenting, and social support to companies large and small. She especially enjoys helping parents (including herself) learn to accept, regulate, and tolerate their emotions, as well as their children’s. Find Alissa online at her website.

    42 Min.
  6. 12. JUNI

    Ethan Nichtern — Mindful Awareness 5. A Better Way of Working with the Mind You Have

    My guest this week for part 5 of our series on mindful awareness is Ethan Nichtern, author of a new book called Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds (affiliate link). Topics we discussed included: Confidence as trusting we can navigate our own minds Making friends with our inner experience Equanimity as realizing that everything affects you The eight worldly winds or forces: Pleasure/pain Praise/blame Influence/insignificance Success/failure Showing up and working with whatever happens to us Mindfulness leading one to feel more but suffer less The first arrow/second arrow metaphor from Buddhism Not pretending something painful is not painful The normalness of reacting to the eight worldly winds Being willing to admit that we’re having an experience we’re having Why hope can be a trap just as much fear is The stress that comes with the possibility of good things The longing to be OK … in every way … forever The incredible power in just knowing what our mind is doing Mindfulness as a good way to practice working with the mind Ethan Nichtern is a renowned contemporary Buddhist teacher and the author of The Dharma of the Princess Bride, One City, and the widely acclaimed The Road Home (affiliate link). Since 2002, Ethan has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and workshops in New York City and around North America.  He has lectured at meditation/yoga centers, conferences, and universities including Brown, Yale, and NYU. Ethan has been featured by CNN, NPR, the New York Times, Vogue, and Business Insider, and has written for the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and more. He lives in Brooklyn. Find Ethan online at his website and find his courses at Dharma Moon.

    44 Min.
  7. 28. MAI

    Ep. 229: Amanda Knox — Mindful Awareness 4. What If There Is Nothing Between You and Your Well-Being?

    My guest this week is Amanda Knox, author of the New York Times bestselling book Waiting to be Heard (affiliate link). Amanda’s name is probably familiar to you because she was in the news a lot over a decade ago when she was tried for murder in Italy. Even though she was convicted, it turned out the charges were completely false, and eventually she was fully exonerated. Topics we discussed included: Amanda’s history of being falsely accused of murder The power of the anchoring bias in maintaining false impressions My guest’s feelings toward the prosecutor on her case Letting go of the need for other people to believe certain things about us The fundamental insight that there is nothing between you and your well-being Figuring out what we can give or take action on, instead of waiting for others to give us what we need Deciding not to be the victim Discovering what no one can take away from you The inherent opportunity in any kind of experience The deep empathy that comes from Amanda’s experience Grieving the loss of the life that could have been The freedom of recognizing that everything is in flux all the time Realizing that this actually is my life, and choosing intentionally to live it Tolerating anything for short bouts of time (with reference to The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) My guest’s relationship with comedy “Hurt Feelings” by Flight of the Conchords Laughing at the absurdity of our self-seriousness Amanda Knox is an exoneree, journalist, public speaker, and co-host, with her partner Christopher Robinson, of the podcast Labyrinths. Between 2007 and 2015, she spent nearly four years in an Italian prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn’t commit. She has since become an advocate for criminal justice reform and media ethics. She sits on the board of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice. Find Amanda online on X/Twitter and Instagram and on her website, and check out her excellent podcast Labyrinths that she co-hosts with Christopher Robinson.

    55 Min.

Info

The Think Act Be podcast features conversations about finding happiness, peace, and connection. Each week your host, psychologist Seth Gillihan, talks with his guests about effective ways to face life’s challenges: What thoughts serve us well? What actions promote well-being? How can we practice mindful presence? Guests from a wide range of backgrounds share their expertise on ways to nourish our minds, bodies, and spirits.

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