insidewink Jean Trebek & Alison Martin

Hospice nurse and TikTok star Hadley Vlahos shares moving stories, life lessons and wisdom from her patients in THE IN BETWEEN. This heart-warming memoir is about how end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die. 

I Have Been Buried Under Years Of Dust… isremarkable memoir by a mother and her autistic daughter who’d long been unable to communicate—until a miraculous breakthrough revealed a young woman with a rich and creative interior life, a poet, who’d been trapped inside for more than two decades.We are fortunate to speak with authors - Emily Grodin and her mother, Valerie Gilpeer.
 
-- Transcript --
ALISON:Okay. Come on in.
JEAN: There we are.
ALISON: Here we are.
JEAN: This is one of my favorite things to do.
ALISON: Sit together, jammed up into a microphone and having fun, right?
JEAN: Yes.
ALISON: Just hanging out. We love it. How was .your day?
JEAN: My day was busy. I spoke to a lot of people today, and, uh. But it was a great day.
ALISON: It was. And I started Tai Chi today.
JEAN: You did? that's right.
ALISON: Yes. And it, um. You know, it looks so easy, and the guy turned around and he goes, "Alison, how did you do?" And I just said to him, I'm glad you weren't watching. And the guy starts laughing. Yeah, because that is the truth. I'll get better.
JEAN: And I love that you're doing that. You're really doing some unique things that that you have, not unique, but things that you haven't been doing all your life.
ALISON: It's stuff that's starting with T - tap and tai chi.
JEAN: Right...well, go you!
ALISON: I'm gonna be a twirling dervish next.
JEAN: You'll be a twirling top.
ALISON: That's correct. So we have a wonderful interview today.
JEAN: We do. We have Emily Grodin.
ALISON: And her mom, Valerie.
ALISON: Emily is an incredible poet. And the two of them wrote a book called, "I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust- a memoir of autism and hope". Emily is on the on the autism spectrum.
JEAN: Right. And her mother, Valerie, and her dad, Tom, really championed her to, um, help her speak.
ALISON: Right. And they use, um, they use a technique called facilitated communication. So there's a woman sitting with Emily, and her name was Stephanie, i think when we talked... Was that right?
JEAN: I don't remember her name, but she was very nice. Right?
ALISON: She was very nice...you'll hear her be introduced. And then when Emily responds to her questions, you're going to hear like a robotic Siri, like, um, computer voice. Because what Emily is doing is typing and then it speaks back. Right?
JEAN: Right. And what a great device that has really opened up Emily's life to this creative expression of writing. And she she's actually writing a screenplay.
ALISON: Yeah. That's right. And her poetry I found so moving and so, um, deep, meaningful, deep and meaningful and so accessible for, for so many people. So we think you're going to love this interview.
JEAN: We know you're going to love it.
ALISON: Ohhh...
JEAN: We do.
ALISON: Being definite.
JEAN: Such a treat... Valerie.
ALISON: We read your book and it's really amazing. Emily, you are such a beautiful writer.
VALERIE: Hello.. And Stephanie Lewis is with Emily. I should introduce Stephanie. Stephanie, stick your head in there.
STEPHANIE: Hi. That's me. Hi. How are you?
JEAN: I just first want to say that, um... So, I'm Jean, and this is Alison, and, um. your story is amazing and I think it brings such hope to.. It's just another huge beacon of hope for people to know that this modality of communicating is out there...
VALERIE: Right, yeah.
ALISON: And I thought what was amazing was even if, uh, right now I feel like the world needs more hope. And I feel that your book communicates that in a larger spectrum- that the two of you, uh, really never gave up.
VALERIE: Well, and Tom too, are the three of us.
ALISON: Yes. I'm sorry.
VALERIE: Yes, Tom was such a big part of this, too. Because he, you know, he sort of brought me back when I was sort of, you know, careening out of control a little bit. I mean, it was, you know, there was a balance to it, you know, I mean, Emily, Emily went through so much. I mean, the child was subjected to one

Stephanie Banks is a highly sought-after intuitive channel, mentor and guide who helps people connect on the soul level. She channels from the perspective of any soul currently on the planet, souls on the other side, purely non-physical beings such as spirit guides, as well as trees, animals, and Gaia. Soulinsight.com
 
--Transcript--
Alison: Okey dokey. Hi.
Jean: Did you do it?
Alison: I did it.
Jean: How are you doing?
Alison: I'm good.
Alison: It's pouring here.
Jean: Yes, we're getting our second big storm.
Alison: I know it's kind of nice, so it makes me feel cozy.
Jean: Yes. Me too, me too.
Alison: And that's a perfect way to start talking about Stephanie Banks.
Jean: Yes. Um, okay, I have to share that, um, she gave me a channeling session, which was so beautiful. I was living off the energy for a few days.
Alison: That's right. So Stephanie Banks is a channeler. Her website is Soul Insight, and it says she is channeling wisdom for personal and global transformation. And I'm not really, at least I wasn't that familiar with channeling or channelers or, you know, we were asking, what's the difference between that and a medium? And, um, and yet when we were talking, she so when you hear in the interview, she's so down to earth.
Jean: Yeah, she, she you're you're really talking to a friend. And the way, um, the way that she got this gift or I should say, revealed this gift is through her mother that she was trying to to communicate with her mother, who had dementia.
Jean: But, moreover, I was so impressed with the sincerity and the beauty of of her consciousness.
Alison: That's right. And I, um, we both we both did readings with her so that we could talk to you more about that. And I have to say, the reading.. I felt I felt high afterward. I was so happy. Yeah. And I felt literally like one of the luckiest people, um, on earth, like, just in gratitude for the people in my life and the people that have gone before me and the higher their higher selves talking. And it just was so positive and wonderful that if any of you are interested, please go to Soul Insight and check her out.
Jean: She is the real deal and she, uh, she can channel people that are currently physically on the earth or people that have made their transition and pets. So if this, um, you know, calls to you, please reach out to her. She is the real deal. And what a beautiful soul she is.
Alison: So let's listen to the interview, and then we'll come back and talk more.
Stephanie: Are we recording???. Wait, wait. I have to look for chia seeds. Hahahah... hello, lovelies.
Alison: Hi, I'm Allison.
Stephanie: Hi, Allison, I'm Stephanie. Hi, Jean.
Alison: Thank you so much for doing this.
Stephanie: Yeah. No, it's my pleasure. I love to talk about myself all the day long. hahaha.
Alison: All right, go ahead. hahah
Stephanie: No, I'm just joking. I know it's definitely not something that's comfortable, but I'm getting used to it.
Jean: Well, you're excellent at what you do.
Stephanie: Thank you.
Jean: From everything that I've heard, you're really fine tuned your your gift of channeling, so...
Alison: And can you just start by explaining to our listeners how you stepped into this? I think it was with your your mom?
Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, I, I say that I came upon it out of necessity because I was losing the ability to communicate while my mother was losing her ability to communicate through traditional verbal communication. She had dementia, and it was a type of dementia that affects younger people, and many have not heard of it. It's called frontotemporal dementia. And she started to have symptoms in her 50s. So with this type of dementia, it does um, that's not uncommon. And it took a very long time for us to understand what she actually had, because they kept misdiagnosing it as depression or some other type of mental illness. So by the time we figured out what she had, we were already deep in it. And it was, you know, our int

Known as America’s Joy Magnet, Shari Alyse is a TV host, dynamic media personality, 2x TEDx speaker, and bestselling author of Love Yourself Happy: A Journey Back to You - who is on a mission to spread joy! With over two decades of experience in the entertainment and wellness industries, Shari is a leading voice in the personal growth and self-love space. https://sharialyse.com
 
--Transcript-- Alison: Hello? Yes.
Jean: Oh, yes, you did it. You're so good. Look at you, Alison.
Alison: I'm learning this. Um. Hi, Jean.
Jean: Hello.
Alison: Uh, so today is a very special day for Jean and I. Because Jean is going to try to teach me how to make two desserts.
Jean: That's right, I am, and I it's my Christmas gift to you.
Alison: Right.
Jean: To teach you how to bake.
Alison: Right. Teaching me how to bake. So today we're making two desserts. And I guess next time we're sometime we'll tell you how it turned out.
Jean: Okay, that sounds like a plan.
Alison: And today we are talking to someone whose book is titled, listen to this title... "Love Yourself Happy: A Journey Back to You" by Shari Elise...
Jean: Who is also known as the Joy magnet. And it is no doubt why she was named this, right?
Alison: She's, she's she's amazing. She's so joyful.
Jean: I mean, I'm like trying to think of some other adjective, but joy is really the perfect adjective for this beautiful woman.
Alison: And she's had quite an interesting background, um, as a child. And if you get the book, you'll read it. She went through, um, sexual abuse and just the testifying and just a lot. She's gone through a lot. And so her, her coming to a place of joy and wanting to be vulnerable and wanting to be true to her passions is very motivating and very motivating and very inspirational. Right.
Jean: She is. She's great. You're gonna love the interview. And you're also going to love, love her book.
Alison: Yeah. It's beautiful. So here's, Shari.
Alison: So happy we're doing it. We're now uncapped and it's fantastic.
Shari Alyse: And you're together.
Jean: Yeah. We're together. And you are so worth waiting for because I know our listeners are going to absolutely love you and take away so many, uh, wonderful tips.
Alison: Love Yourself Happy: A Journey Back To You. Why did you... Could you just give our listeners an idea why you decided to write this book? What came up for you?
Shari Alyse: I think this book has always been in me. I've always, since the time I was a young girl. As I share in the book, um, sharing my truth, I shared it at seven years old, you know, on a witness stand. Uh, and so there's always been this desire to whatever it is that I'm learning or I'm feeling. I've just always wanted to express it. And as time went on, it was this bubbling inside because I knew and I've always instinctively knew that we all go through similar things together. And so if I was learning and I was healing, I knew that my journey would help others.
Alison: That's right. That's beautiful. Yeah.
Jean: And can you talk about your journey? What happened a little bit?
Shari Alyse: Yeah. Of course. It's like when I hear the word journey, it's so big, right? So I'm like, oh, which part? But, um, yes. So at seven years old, uh, this is always for me, you know, where that starting line feels like, uh, there was of course, a lot before that, but that's where the turn for me happened. Um, I was I was left in the care... Basically, my sister was going off with friends for the day, and my mom was like, can your sister tag along? I think my mom was a single mom. I know she was a single mom, and I think she wanted, you know, some time for herself. And so, uh, I went off with my sister's friend's family who were supposed to care for me, and then they left me in the care of somebody else who didn't care for me. Um, and at seven, I was abused. Sexually abused, um, by a stranger. It's interesting because I've had so much time, you know, I've talked about this so much a

David H. Rosmarin PhD is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, a program director at McLean Hospital, and founder of Center for Anxiety, which services over 1,000 patients/year in multiple states. His most recent book is Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You. https://dhrosmarin.com/
 
--Transcript-- Alison: Hello, Jeannie.
Jean: Hi, Alison.
Alison: Today we are talking to someone, um, that talks about anxiety in such a different way than I have heard before.
Jean: Same with me. He is a champion for not getting rid of anxiety, but actually transforming the way you feel about anxiety and not making it like an enemy, but more as a calling card to empower yourself.
Alison: That's right. His name is David Rosmarin and his his book is called,Thriving with Anxiety", which is a great title,  "Nine Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You." And while I was reading it, I was reading it like, at auditions and in waiting rooms, and I was stopped so many times. Like, what's that book about? Because just the title, Thriving with Anxiety, um, is, I think, really touching people.
Jean: Absolutely. And it also kind of lets the air out of the shame around having anxious thoughts or, um, you know, having anxiety. Right? Just he's like, lighten up on yourself. And he gives so many great ways to, to actually transform your anxiety.
Alison: And he's very intellectual. He is right? He is the founder of the center for anxiety, and he's also a Harvard associate professor, and he's very intellectual. And yet, he has this very spiritual side and they really complement each other.
Jean: Yes. And I also love that he mentions his wife. Yeah. And the emotional connection he has with her... That that was beautiful.
Alison: He's great. So here's the interview with David.
David: I am so sorry... Oh, I did not mean to make you anxious.
Alison: I'm late and I'm driving here like, this is a great way to ....
David: I had, I had tech difficulties for the last five minutes. Perfect. Yeah.
Alison: I just got here and I'm like, this is a great way to start a talk on anxiety.
Jean: 100%.
David: I'm honored to meet you. Thank you. Thank you for making the time. I've been really looking forward to this conversation for a while.
Jean: Yeah, same. It's great to meet you, David. I'm Jean ...
Alison: And I'm Alison. Hi.  So how did you deal with your stress with technical difficulties?
David: Let me tell you, I definitely got my own anxiety, and I use a lot of the strategies in my book on a regular basis.
Alison: That's I think that makes me feel much better.
Jean: All of us, I, think it's great to know that people that appear to really have their act together have anxiety. You know, it's like what goes on behind the play...what goes on back stage..
David: Whats's happening in the kitchen?
Speaker1: What's happening in the kitchen while Thanksgiving dinner is being prepared.
David: All, oh my God, it's all coming out in like beautiful platters and what is happening in the kitchen?  haha
Alison: Right. What inspired you? Was it was it your work or was it your own anxiety that inspired you to write this?
David: All of the above.
Speaker1: Yeah.
David: All of the above. Um, I learned a lot from my patients and how incredibly high functioning many of them are, how amazingly talented they are. And I was always taught to see to see anxiety as a limitation, as a disorder, as a disease, even at some point, I'm like, you know what? Something's not adding up here. These people are so high functioning. Yes, they have anxiety. And furthermore, when they use it in the right way, it can actually enhance their lives. Like we need a different lens and a different relationship with this ubiquitous emotion that every human being experiences. How many people have you met in the last month who had no anxiety, right?
Alison: No one, no one.
David: And if you did, if you did, they're either super narcissistic, right? Or t

In his landmark new book, Defeating SAD, Rosenthal, who first described Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and is the foremost authority on the subject, offers an up-to-date guide to overcoming the miseries and that millions experience with the changing seasons. In his lively style, Rosenthal offers advice on how to identify, treat and overcome both winter and summer varieties of seasonal affective disorder, as well as the less severe yet bothersome winter blues.
 
--Transcript-- Alison Martin: Jean loves our theme song.
Jean Trebek: I do.
Alison Martin: You really, really do.
Jean Trebek: It's just happy. And speaking about happy...
Alison Martin: What?
Jean Trebek: We are talking to Doctor Norman Rosenthal about defeating SAD.
Alison Martin: And when I saw this book, I thought he just meant, like, sad, like, don't be sad.
Jean Trebek: Did you know the acronym of SAD?
Alison Martin: I did, but I didn't put it together. Seasonal affective disorder.
Jean Trebek: Yeah.
Alison Martin: Which is what happens when we don't get enough light, right?
Jean Trebek: Right.
Alison Martin: Yeah. Which is so interesting because a lot of people really feel the difference in the winter.
Jean Trebek: Yeah. I mean, I think that's why there are so many tanning beds and things like that, like up in Seattle, Washington, and up in the, uh, countries that are closer to the north.
And this book is so interesting because he talks about this in a very, um, accessible way. Like he'd never become so clinical that you're like, what's he saying?
Jean Trebek: No, he was a real delight to talk with. Yes. Well, said Alison, he was not so medical that you were just like, what? And he also gives great tips on how to move through the seasonal affective disorder.
Alison Martin: That's right. And he, you know, the use of lamps and exercise and camaraderie and therapy. He just and he is so I loved talking to him.
Jean Trebek: Yeah.
Alison Martin: He reminded me of people that I love like family members, you know.
Jean Trebek: Yes.
Alison Martin: And he loves poetry.
Jean Trebek: That's the other beautiful thing about this man. Here's this highly intellectual human and he has time for that creative side, that beauty of poetry. And I think he really found his sweet spot. I think poetry really lights him up.
Alison Martin: Yeah. Me too. And he talks about it the interview. So. And the end is so special. Listen to the end where he reads a poem to us. It gave me um, I got teary eyed.
Jean Trebek: Yeah.
Alison Martin: He gave me the chills. All right, here he comes. Thank you. Norman, here you come.
Norman Rosenthal: Hello.
Jean Trebek: Oh, hi. Doctor Rosenthal.
Norman Rosenthal: So great to meet the two of you. Finally.
Alison Martin: Yes. How do you feel?
Norman Rosenthal: Oh, I am much better. Thank you. Um, you know, these post-Covid colds are, um, quite nasty.
Alison Martin: I agree, I think because we've not been outside with other people much.
Norman Rosenthal: Exactly. Our immune systems are, like, naive and they're not used.
Jean Trebek: Yeah. They're like what? What's that? Yeah.
Alison Martin: I'm. Alison.
Norman Rosenthal: Hi, Alison. Hi.
Jean Trebek: I'm Jean.
Norman Rosenthal: Hey, Jean. Nice to meet the two of you.
Jean Trebek: Very nice to meet you, doctor..Your your book defeating sad is so interesting.
Norman Rosenthal: Oh. Thank you.
Alison Martin: Really? We both read the whole thing, and it's very, very. You're such an interesting, um, man, could you tell us how you got involved in in really taking on, uh, so much interest in sad. And could you explain what it is for our listeners?
Norman Rosenthal: Absolutely. You know, it's been like a step by step process. It's been a step by step process. I came to this country from South Africa, which is climatically, a lovely country, very sunny, uh, you know, very mild. The seasons are not radical from one to another and came to do my psych residency in New York