Conversations with Joan

Michelle Phillips believes that beauty is not a size, it’s not a specific look or a certain age. Beauty is an attitude! Michelle inspires women to look and feel their best. She is a women's empowerment coach and best-selling author of The Beauty Blueprint. As a leading authority in the beauty industry and one of the most influential makeup artists in the entertainment industry, she has worked with...

What propels some individuals to reach extraordinary creative heights in the earliest years of life while others achieve greatness decades later? New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed journalist, Claudia Kalb, investigated the origins of genius. In her new book, Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers , she unravels the relationship between brains, talent, passio...

Many of us go through our lives hampered by painful memories. Seated deep within our minds, they can seem impossible to dislodge and they can trigger tremendous pain and prevent us from thriving in our lives. According to Dr. Carla Manly, the more conscious of these fears we are, the more we can break free of their hold. She offers simple steps to safely face our fearful memories, learn from them,...

New discoveries in biology and neuroscience reveal how the words we think and speak can change the way the neurons in our brains and hearts connect. According to Gregg Braden, our ancestors understood this connection and they created specific word patterns to provide comfort, healing, strength, and inner power in difficult times. Gregg talks about how these powerful words, that were encoded into p...

A new human consciousness is replacing the old human consciousness - authentic power is replacing external power. According to Gary Zukav, the potential of a new era of humanity based on love instead of fear is upon us, but only we can bring it into being. Gary talks about how we can transform everyday experiences of hopelessness, emptiness, and pain into fulfillment, meaning, and joy. Gary has in...

As no one can live without inhaling and exhaling, no one can live without feeling and expressing. According to Mark Nepo, we are constantly being shaped by life into finer instruments of care and expression. The deeper we go, the more attuned we become and the more we join with everything around us. Mark talks about how we can discover and inhabit our own voice so we can move through obstacles and...

Today’s business is demanding a new set of skills. More than ever, people are looking to engage deeply with their work and align with companies that support their values. Sibyl Chavis believes that in order to succeed in this new environment we must focus on inner skills, such as presence, mindfulness, and empathy. She talks about the importance of being authentic and bringing our unique expressio...

Every day we get hooked by the energy of people, news, and global events. Those energies can alter our mental and emotional health, leading many who are empaths to recoil from the world. According Michelle Welch, rather than cutting energetic cords, we can transmute negative energies in ways that support our mental and emotional health. Michelle is the author of the book, The Magic of Connection:...

Guy Finley believes that we can use the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual masters to not only weather the difficulties we experience, but to actually come out stronger on the other side. According to Guy, hidden within each of us lives a greatness with the power to not just transform us into more awake, kind, and compassionate people, but to do the same for all humanity...making our world a he...

We all lose people and experiences we hold dear; nothing we love lasts forever. Grieving is part of being human. Grief can hit us quickly like a bolt of lightning or it can silently creep up on us before we even know we're in its grip. Many of us try to deny what we’re feeling in an attempt to stay positive or stop the pain. According to Claire B. Willis, to heal from loss we cannot dissociate or...

Most of us live every day overwhelmed and exhausted. We are always on the go trying to balance work, family, friends, and everything in between. Often it feels like our usual methods of coping no longer work. David Kundtz says that it’s time for something new – stopping. According to David, stopping is a gift to yourself. Knowing when to breathe and regain a clearer vision helps give you a fresh p...

At the beginning of last year, the world was faced with a public health crisis, the scope of which had not been seen in a century. As COVID-19 rapidly reached every corner of the globe, chaos and fear ran rampant. Yet, as the pandemic worsened, billions of people decided to respond with love, care, and compassion. Even though we were separated physically, people were connecting and reaching out—to...

When you’ve been told those three words, you have cancer, your life is turned upside down. There are life-altering decisions to make and it’s difficult to know the right thing to do. Liana Werner Gray heard those words after she found a lump bulging out the side of her neck. Hitting a point in her life that she describes as her “rock bottom”, Liana felt toxic and decided that it was time to change...

Many in society today constantly criticize girls, leaving many to grow up feeling inadequate, silenced and like they are not enough. Sadie Radinsky is a major voice in a new generation of people redefining wellness. Sadie is an 18-year-old blogger and recipe creator who has touched the lives of girls and women worldwide with her award-winning website, wholegirl.com. Sadie offers ideas, advice, and...

What if you could learn how to be “in love” all the time? What if you knew how to break down your old emotional walls and heal the past? Most of us spend our lives longing for love waiting for something to happen to give us an experience of love. According to Barbara De Angelis, love isn’t something we can actually “get” from anyone else; it comes from the inside out. This understanding means that...

According to Dr. Chatterjee, half of all American adults suffer with a chronic disease with one in four people suffering from two or more. Dr. Chatterjee believes that lifestyle and nutrition are first-line medicine and the cornerstone of good health. He argues that the secret to preventing disease and achieving wellness revolves around four critical pillars – food, relaxation, sleep, and movement...

In today’s fast paced world, our lives are marked by a singular focus on achievement. We prioritize doing well over being well. According to Naz Beheshti, the truth is, we can have both — success and well-being. Naz is an executive wellness coach, speaker, Forbes contributor, and CEO, with more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies. She learned from luminaries including St...

In today’s world, we need the skills to make a lasting impact when we speak. We use our voices to express ourselves and to achieve our goals. Denise Woods is one of the nation’s most sought-after vocal coaches. She provides valuable lessons and exercises that all of us can use to overcome common voice and speech problems, and become confident, effective communicators. Her tools will change how we...

In millions of homes every day, children grow up in addictive families and abide by certain rules: don't talk, don't trust, don't feel. According to Dr. Claudia Black, the rigid survival roles and youthful coping behaviors these children take on can eventually lead to addictions, abusive relationships, and mental health disorders. Dr. Black is a world-renowned expert on addiction and codependency,...

According to Ken Foster, your life is determined by the risks you take and the changes that you are willing to make. “Most people think of courage as running into a burning building or being a first responder,” says Ken, “but true courage pushes us past our personal limitations, so we can transcend difficulties and open up substantial opportunities. It helps us find ourselves, find our passions, a...

We spend much time regretting our past or obsessing about what may happen in the future. In these states of mind, fear can take over. According to Lawrence Doochin, in that state, we’re never okay — and we can never solve our problems. He believes that by increasing our awareness of our own thoughts, we can pull our attention back to the present, reconnect with our hearts, and free ourselves of fe...

The divorce rate in America is 50 percent for first marriages, 67 percent for 2nd marriages, and 73 percent for 3rd marriages. According to Allana Pratt, what this says is that most people don't evolve from the first relationship, they didn't take the time to integrate the life lessons, and they didn't sit in the fire to heal their wounded hearts. Allana shares her tips on how to find love success...

There is an old adage: breaking up is hard to do. According to Amy Chan, while breaking up can be painful, the heartbreak can be transformed into healing. With a dose of tough love, Amy offers advice that can help anyone turn their greatest heartbreak into a powerful opportunity for growth. Amy is the founder of Renew Breakup Boot Camp, the relationship magazine, Just My Type, and she runs a priva...

Dr. Bernie Siegel is a leading teacher of the mind-body connection. He broke new ground with his monumental book Love, Medicine and Miracles, and today he continues to impart wisdom about the true nature of life, love, and well-being. A retired pediatric/general surgeon, Bernie is a New York Times bestselling author, lecturer, and founder of ECaP (Exceptional Cancer Patients). He has been named on...

According to Gretchen Rubin, by answering one question - how do I respond to expectations? - we can gain self knowledge that can help us make better decisions, meet deadlines, reduce stress, and engage more effectively with others. Gretchen believes that people fit into four tendencies - upholders, questioners, obligers, and rebels - that our tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, and when...