Keeping Company

Meira Greenfeld

3.0 (2)
SOCIETY & CULTURE

Come pause and keep company with me as we explore what shapes our identity and uncover common "stuck points" that keep us from living at our fullest potential. In this podcast I'll share my thoughts and bring in guests to discuss what it means to live in integrity with yourself and how you can develop personal fulfillment and authentic relationships from an Autistic/ADHD perspective.

12/19/2024

Episode 14: Emotional Intensity and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Episode 14 continues with our recap of our FREE eight week roundtable series in December and January of ADHD/Autism discussions. This episode reflects the third episode in our series which included the first session on navigating the holidays and last week’s episode on maintain and repairing relationships with ADHD and Autism (Episode 13). Each week I invite adult autistics and ADHDers (as well as AuDHDers) to discuss topics they consider relevant and important. We are skipping next week and resuming December 31. This week’s roundtable was on: “Emotional Intensity and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.” Most of the discussion focused on the distinction between rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD), the impact of misdiagnosis on treatment, coping strategies for rejection sensitivity, and the concept of masking in individuals with ADHD. I expressed a mini-rant, (maybe not so mini), about misdiagnoses and how this impacts the frustrating journey of many adult ADHDers and Autistics trying to figure out why they feel so different from others, forget things and get labelled for overreacting over the smallest things. There’s so much to keep in. No wonder people mask. And that’s the recipe for burnout, right? 🎯Here are some of the highlights in today’s episode: · Symptoms of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) include: o Intense Emotional Pain: This is the experience of extreme emotional pain in response to perceived or actual rejection or criticism. It may be accompanied by intense physical sensations also that can linger for hours! o Reaction to Rejection: While rejection is a rather universal experience, having a disproportionately strong reaction to rejection or criticism that can leave one feeling devastated or humiliated is a defining quality of RSD. o Avoidance of Social Situations. Avoiding social situations or relationships to prevent potential rejection or criticism can be a common way of dealing with RSD. o Mood Swings: The real, anticipated or perceived rejection or criticism can be followed by rapid and sudden mood swings often exhibiting prolonged rage or anger. If internalized, it can be experienced as shame. 🎯Stay tuned for more insights on living with autism and ADHD. 🎯 Next month I roll out a coaching special for January 2025 through March 2025 in which you can ease into coaching with our new promotional two 90 minute workshops and a telephone coaching session for 50/month. (This girl's gotta eat!). Any of the topics in the free series is fair game for a repeat including one on money trauma and ADHD. You can learn more about that here. Stay tuned for more exciting endeavors. 📌 Please⁠ join us⁠ in our next ADHD/Autism roundtable which will be addressing "Motivation and Procrastination" scheduled for December 31, 2024 at 9:30 am PST. I'm going to lay out some specific strategies in that workshop! 📌 ⁠CLICK HERE⁠ to sign-up and register. 🔗 Link to my podcast episodes. I do this work as a labor of love (and to eat). Please consider supporting me with likes, shares or comments on my FB group for ADHD/Autism advocates or @meiragreenfeld (IG) to provide visibility. Thank you.

18 min
12/11/2024

Episode 13: Navigating Relationships with ADHD and Autism

Today’s podcast is a recap of our eight week roundtable series in December and January of ADHD/Autism discussions. Each week I invite adult autistics and ADHDers (as well as AuDHDers) to discuss topics they consider relevant and important. This week’s roundtable was on: “Navigating Relationships with ADHD and Autism.” Most of the discussion focused on what happened when we unmask and the surprising revelations that were not always in synch with our expectations particularly around other ADHDers and Autistics. We discussed the pressure of societal, gender and other expectations as well as mirror neurons and how they affect our relationships with others. Do you remember high school biology lessons on 🐒 monkeys and 🍼attachment? That might have been the last and only place you learned about mirror neurons. 🧠Mirror neurons play a crucial role in empathy and understanding of social cues and they may show up differently in the brains of ADHDers and Autistics. We discussed them today. In fact, we did more than discuss them, we did an experiment. 🎯Here are some of the highlights in today’s episode: · Societal expectations often measure the worth of individuals with ADHD & Autism based on their ability to meet certain conventional standards of independence and productivity. All of these can show up in and impact relationships especially when it comes to power balances. o Things such as being able to plan, be on time, and manage schedules effectively. o Demonstrating self-sufficiency in daily tasks and responsibilities. o Adhering to social norms and expectations in behavior and communication. 🎯Stay tuned for more insights on navigating relationships with autism and ADHD. 📌 Please⁠ join us⁠ in our next ADHD/Autism roundtable which will be addressing "Emotional Intensity and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria" scheduled for December 17, 2024 at 9:30 am PST. 🔗 ⁠CLICK HERE⁠ to sign-up and register. I do this work as a labor of love (and to eat). Please consider supporting me with likes, shares or comments on my FB group for ADHD/Autism advocates or @meiragreenfeld (IG) to provide visibility. Thank you.

18 min
12/04/2024

Episode 12: Autism/ADHD Roundtable Series -Holiday Interactions

Over the next six to eight weeks in December and January (but starting this week!), I am hosting a FREE round table series of ADHD/Autism discussions. Each week I invite adult autistics and ADHDers (as well as AuDHDers) to discuss topics they consider relevant and important. This week began with: “ADHD/Autism & Managing the Holidays.” Here's a recap: Most of the challenges associated with holidays are not because of Autism or ADHD. It’s from trying to fit into traditions or expectations that don’t work for us or don’t prioritize our needs. Add the lack of present time awareness, (temporal discounting), it’s all a recipe for poor boundaries. Today, we dove into the importance of setting intentions and managing expectations in our interactions. Here are some of the highlights: ~It's crucial to set your intentions ahead of time. ~Accept things as they are and find that sweet spot where you expect people might not understand, but don't assume they won't. This mindset can help reduce emotional momentum and make interactions smoother. ~When engaging with others, especially family, it's important to recognize that people often lack information about autism and ADHD. Think of it as navigating different cultures—many don't realize the existence of subcultures within our society. ~We can sometimes experience a "freeze response," in interactions where we might wish we could address things in the moment, but we lack the capacity to do so. There's always later. Or never. ~Having conversations with family can be challenging. Consider how many of them truly "get it." Are you afraid of risking those important relationships? Remember, there's no specific behavior that defines autism or ADHD, and we can't reach everyone. However, we can make an impact within our reach. When we are able. If we are able. Stay tuned for more insights brought to you direct from autistics and ADHDers on autism and ADHD. Please⁠ join us⁠ in our next ADHD/Autism roundtable which will be addressing "⁠Navigating Relationships and Renewing Friendships with ADHD and Autism⁠" scheduled for December 10, 2024 at 9:30 am PST. ⁠CLICK HERE⁠ to sign-up and register.

11 min
03/20/2023

Episode 11: Making Anti-Oppression Work Workable

After a hiatus that was much longer than I anticipated, I am hopefully back in the swing of things with an episode about the general malaise that many involved in diversity efforts, social justice or anti-oppression work appear to be experiencing. It was hard not to get caught up in the momentum of what seemed like a pivotal moment for permanent change after thousands took to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd. Time will only tell what the sustained progress has been. There are so many ways that one might measure such progress. The protests seemed diverse with people of different ethnicities throughout the world taking a stand in support of US protestors. Still, those who have kept up the work seem to share a concern that in many ways, it’s back to business as usual because people are exhausted. There as so many things competing for our attention: Financial issues, unemployment, a war in the Ukraine. So, I propose that we slow down to explore how we can continue to keep our focus on anti-oppression in a way that sustains action without being, well, oppressive. Some highlights:· Learning about oppression is a real downer. It isn’t always energizing and can result in feelings of guilt, shame or defensiveness. · Figuring out the right course of action isn’t always so simple if you’re exhausted, not terribly inspired to help “others” with a problem that’s “over there” and distant from immediate and personal concerns. · Oppression is often internalized and ubiquitous so it’s hard to recognize when we’re not perpetuating oppressive forces. · Slowing down can help build presence and help us shift from autopilot. · How to do anti-oppression work with humility without feeling like a wimp. Interactive Workshops My workshops are designed to be interactive with time in between sessions for participants to integrate their learning. You may participate anonymously and/or submit your questions ahead of time to incorporate your concerns or interests into the workshop. They are compassionately priced so you can attend as many or as few sessions as you would like in a series. Here’s where you can find my current workshops where you can continue to do this work with others who (are also tired), but wish to keep the momentum going: http://bit.ly/3JPp0Y2 Where You Can Stay Involved If you would like to hear more, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, if you haven’t already, so you don’t miss upcoming episodes and also join our community so you can tune in and participate in live events. You can learn more about restorative justice and decolonization by following me on social media on Instagram, on Facebook in an online supportive community for anti-oppression advocacy or on my website providing education, marketing and racial trauma training for individuals who wish to explore racial bias, reflect and seek guidance or support in these areas.

15 min
03/31/2021

Episode 10: Anti-Racism, Advocacy and Mixed-Race Experience

Welcome to Part #1 of my coffee chat with my wonderful guests Ella and Jade who join me in table-talk regarding our thoughts about mixed-race experience. We really had no firm idea about what we might discuss. It was an exhilarating experience to give voice to our collective thoughts as they evolve. In this episode, we share our experiences growing up with a multicultural background that includes some shifting of identity as the numbers of multiracial individuals has increased. We also touch on the impact of protests following George Floyd’s death on self-identity, privilege and colorism. What makes the discussion particularly interesting is our span of generations and also background. Jade Ecobichon-Gray is the founder of Mindset Matters UK, a social wellness consultancy that works with organisations to embed wellness programs based on social justice principles. With a career spanning addiction recovery, mental health, reducing reoffending and organisational change, Jade is a straight-talking social wellness advocate. As a mixed-race woman Jade is passionate about anti-racism work and is currently working with the Government of Jersey and Jersey heritage regarding the decolonisation of education, history and the arts. She lives in the Channel Islands where she was one of only a few mixed-raced children on the Islands. She can be found on @mindset_matters_uk – Instagram and her website https://www.mindsetmatters.uk. One of her more recent blogs discusses “unpacking mixed fragility.” Ella is twenty years old and in her second year at Oxford University, where she studies English and German. She also works for a magazine called Onyx which was created by Black Oxford students and which features only Black creatives, when she isn’t modelling, studying or painting! I encountered Ella on her very popular Instagram account @ella.lebeau where she was passionately advocating for more Black students to apply to Oxford University. Interested in experiential learning and discussion on raising mixed-race children? Check out my new workshop Raising Mixed-Race Children that guides you through support for your children’s identity and a deeper understanding of issues they may face in today’s changing racial climate: https://bit.ly/3rzLj7z You can learn more about restorative justice and decolonization by following me on social media on Instagram, on Facebook in an online supportive community for anti-oppression advocacy or on my website providing education, marketing and racial trauma training for individuals who wish to explore racial bias, reflect and seek guidance or support in these areas.

25 min
02/23/2021

Episode 9: How Do We Human?

Welcome to Episode 9 of Keeping Company where I continue discussion with my guest is Christhmus Presence. To recap, Christopher is an advocate for restorative justice and practices in the Bay area. He is the founder of Therapists of Color for Social Justice, a collective of Bay Area therapists of color who are committed to supporting social justice & BIPOC Community healing via mental health. He also runs a number of Black-Indigenous-People-Of-Color (BIPOC) Telehealth Groups for adults and also 7th and 8thgraders. He also facilitates Asian Pacific American therapy groups. You can find out more about what Christhmus Presence is doing at www.christhmuspresence.com or follow Therapists of Color on Instagram. In this episode, we continue to discuss decolonizing therapy and exploring ways to be human. We delved into intuitive ways that were part of ancestral history that are very liberating to BIPOC individuals and help them heal. Chris notes we are born with high sensitivities and then this dampens over time so that we are not overwhelmed. In many ways so much of our existence is disavowed and in so many contexts. We can’t begin to talk about healing without discussing what is considered normal and how mainstream ideas of normal disavow the experiences of so many. I open the episode asking Chris how he might describe people who connect in ways that are beyond the use of words and follow their emotions. You can learn more about restorative justice and decolonization by following me on social media on Instagram, on Facebook in an online supportive community for anti-oppression advocacy or on my website providing education, marketing and racial trauma training for individuals who wish to explore racial bias, reflect and seek guidance or support in these areas.

22 min
02/16/2021

Episode 8: Decolonizing Mental Health Services & Therapy

This week, I really had my work cut out for me with spelling. Do you find sometimes that there are just some words you perpetually have to keep looking up? One of mine is Presence. Yes, it’s one “s’ followed by a “c.” I mention this because this week’s guest is Christhmus Presence. And I can’t spell that either. There’s an “h” after the “t.” I’m embarrassed to say that it took me a while to realize that my guests name rhymed with seasonal gifts. Christmas Presents? Anyway, you’ve perhaps heard of a Renaissance Man, well, Chris is one. Not in that debonair or arrogant way, but in the literal sense of someone with a vast number of talents and areas of knowledge. He’s definitely absorbed a ton of wisdom in his years, but you’ll probably not find anyone as humble. Though we recorded this last season, his gentle spirit still casts a warm and fuzzy glow. Christopher is an advocate for restorative justice and practices in the Bay area. He started Therapists of Color for Social Justice. I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight that he runs a number of Black-Indigenous-People-Of-Color (BIPOC) Telehealth Groups for adults and also 7th and 8th graders. He also has Asian Pacific American groups. These are donation based groups that run ten weeks run by clinicians of color. You can find him on his website as Christhmus Presence at www.christhmuspresence.com. In this episode, we discuss ways in which to decolonize behavioral health and open up ways of healing that go way beyond talk therapy and are particularly restorative for people of color. Chris notes that there is no text book on how to decolonize the white institution of therapy. When we allow our own DNA to resonate in a way that is not titrated though English, the language of the oppressor of many BIPOC individuals, it allows us to put other things into the frame of our healing beyond traditional therapy. We discuss how there’s something beyond English that’s held in our bodies which non-traditional healing can help us access. You can find me on social media on Instagram, on Facebook in an online supportive community for anti-oppression advocacy or on my website providing education, marketing and racial trauma training for service providers interested in self-reflection regarding implicit bias or understanding BIPOC perspective.

26 min
02/05/2021

Episode 7: Cultural Appropriation, Excrement on Capitol Hill & The Productivity Treadmill

I’m all for evolving in our identities, but I wasn’t done processing Hilaria Baldwin’s strange response to being called out for some rather bizarre inconsistencies that come across as….manipulation?? I wish she had entertained dialogue about it instead of defensiveness. I’ve also been curious about why the violent individuals who attacked the Capitol Building and sought to harm our leaders brought excrement into the picture. Other than just being plain disgusting, was there some intended message of symbolism? Apparently, it was quite the effort and seemed strategic. Are you tired? Everyone seems fatigued. This was the reason for my recent retreat. It felt like the only decent thing to offer community. I have been wondering why in the middle of a pandemic, we are still hearing so many external messages that appear to promote burnout. I know the hustle is on to find income and perhaps replace it, but we also need to heal. So many people are stressed and anxious. The chaos seems relentless, notwithstanding a new administration. In this episode, I offer insight into my new meditation that I hope you’ll check out. History of excrement https://www.dailynews.com/2016/12/25/santa-monica-synagogue-entrance-smeared-with-feces-food-on-hanukkah https://www.vice.com/en/article/wd7n8z/a-brief-history-of-people-protesting-stuff-with-poop-197 Retreat https://pages.meiragreenfeld.com/rememberwhyretreat Facebook Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/comingbacktocenter/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/meiragreenfeld

22 min

See All (14)

out of 5

2 Ratings

Very impactful!

12/18/2024

BL2597

Meira offers a unique perspective on how to approach differences between us as humans that is grounded in embodied life experiences as well as academic literature. She’s a resource and a lovely person I come back to time and time again.

Creator

Meira Greenfeld
Years Active

2020 - 2024
Episodes

14
Rating

Explicit
Show Website

Keeping Company

Keeping Company

Episode 14: Emotional Intensity and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Episode 13: Navigating Relationships with ADHD and Autism

Episode 12: Autism/ADHD Roundtable Series -Holiday Interactions

Episode 11: Making Anti-Oppression Work Workable

Episode 10: Anti-Racism, Advocacy and Mixed-Race Experience

Episode 9: How Do We Human?

Episode 8: Decolonizing Mental Health Services & Therapy

Episode 7: Cultural Appropriation, Excrement on Capitol Hill & The Productivity Treadmill

Ratings & Reviews

Very impactful!

About

Information

Keeping Company

Episodes

Episode 14: Emotional Intensity and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Episode 13: Navigating Relationships with ADHD and Autism

Episode 12: Autism/ADHD Roundtable Series -Holiday Interactions

Episode 11: Making Anti-Oppression Work Workable

Episode 10: Anti-Racism, Advocacy and Mixed-Race Experience

Episode 9: How Do We Human?

Episode 8: Decolonizing Mental Health Services & Therapy

Episode 7: Cultural Appropriation, Excrement on Capitol Hill & The Productivity Treadmill

Ratings & Reviews

About

Information