The Mental Dietician

We’ve all been there — those moments where we feel hurt over something someone has said or done. When this happens, it’s easy to assume that the other person is responsible for making you feel that way. Despite popular belief, no one can make you feel anything. In this episode, I talk about how you must take ownership of your feelings and that nobody can ever make you feel or do anything. All it t...

We’re at an age where people are obsessed with following society’s standards of “looking good.” Women should be “slim” and not exceed a certain weight, while men should be “fit” and muscular to even be considered “desirable.” While people are slowly breaking the barrier of what is deemed acceptable in terms of body shapes and sizes, we can’t deny the number of people who use steroids to get the bo...

Almost every one of us wants success. Life coaches and motivational speakers can tell you how to start, but no one will tell you that the road to success will be boring. “All you have to do is start!” is great advice for someone who hasn’t started yet. But most people’s problem isn’t starting, it’s following through. Success isn’t money, a beautiful house, or a great body. It’s waking up early and...

Sometimes, we become so overwhelmed by information and technology overload and by the number of things we have to complete that we tend to just switch to autopilot to get through the day, leaving some things unnoticed. In this episode, I talk about the importance of having deeper awareness, being in the moment with whatever you are doing, and blocking unnecessary distractions so you can push throu...

We all have a threshold for being uncomfortable. How high that threshold is, varies from person to person. Being uncomfortable is good for you because we must be uncomfortable in order to grow and learn. For example, if you want to become stronger physically, you must lift weights that are heavy. If you want to improve your writing skills, you should write more often rather than sit at home all da...

Excuses are on every corner imaginable. When we have a goal, there are always going to be setbacks. If you take all the time in the world looking at everything that could go wrong, you may result in inaction. Sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith even though you don’t know the outcome. It’s far better to take a chance and fail rather than sit by and watch life pass you by. Excuses are an eas...

Some lessons can be learned without ever having to go through a traumatic experience — after all, common sense goes a long way and can spare you a lot of pain and heartache. However, there are some life lessons you have to learn the hard way. Today I share the lessons I learned after probably the most challenging week I've ever had. Because life can be hard and complicated sometimes. But ever...

At one point in our lives, we’ve struggled with trying to be who we wanted and always tried to please others or not do anything to be judged harshly. We’ve all tried to hide how we feel to maintain the “strong” facade. We all did things that were “unlike us” to keep up with what society expects us to be. But we were doing it to serve others’ expectations of us, not ourselves. Being yourself means...

The answer is no. For starters, women aren’t weak. They may be physically weaker, but they are still pretty strong. What society misidentifies as strength is power, and men shine at physical power. But the idea that men are stronger in an absolute or general sense is just obviously wrong. Women live longer, and fewer die young. Men’s bodies are bigger and more powerful - but men are less robust. A...

Everyone loves being right. Scrutinizing other people’s opinions has become a pastime. If not, take a look at Twitter – what used to be social media has become a virtual court. There’s always a jury ready to find you guilty as charged. But being always right is overrated. Being right serves no purpose if the outcome isn’t better, doesn’t help, or doesn’t improve the condition or outcome. Instead,...

We all suffer from a bout or two of “shoulds” and “coulds” in our lives. Every time we tell ourselves we “could” have done something or “should” be doing something, we are essentially beating and shaming ourselves. In this episode, let me remind you and urge you to stop that endless cycle of self-doubt. Sometimes, we get stuck into this idea of an infinite list of things we should do in terms of l...

When questions bombard you or you’re having difficulty answering, Ahren has a list of questions you can ask yourself instead of seeking advice from other people immediately. Give yourself time to reflect before jumping the gun and accepting a buttload of information that may not even give you the correct answers. Tune in to today’s episode, as Ahren gives you a lot of excellent questions to kick-s...

Choose to love yourself and cast votes for the person you want to become to achieve your 2023 goals. This episode was about three strategies to help you keep your 2023 as big as it can get. I learned how important consistency, identity-based habits, and accountability are in order to achieve our goals. Consistency always beats intensity, and it is important to have systems in place that focus on t...

In this episode of the Mental Dietitian podcast, host Ahren Lynch Potter talks about protecting your boundaries during gatherings this holiday season. He touches on the anxiety about what topics family and friends would bring up in conversations. He talks about how to navigate conversations away from topics that make you uncomfortable. He discusses setting boundaries and gives some examples of wha...

In this episode of the Mental Dietitian podcast, the protagonist talks about the Japanese concept of ikigai and how it relates to purpose. This episode is about the importance of purpose in one's life. I learned that purpose is what you were put here to do and that it is the combination of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. I also learned...

"If you're truly a warrior, if you're truly strong in this world, you'll feel it all." In today's episode of the Mental Dietitian podcast, host Ahren Lynch Potter dives deep into the shadows to explore the emotional pain he's been avoiding and why it's important to feel it all. Today is such a beautiful and exciting day and Ahren can’t wait to share this epi...

In this week’s episode, an ambitious yet humiliated protagonist with just two dollars to his name embarks on a journey to learn the power of sales and persuasion, discovering the central conflict between manipulation and trustworthiness along the way. Yep! That’s the story I’m sharing this week. I wanted to share my thoughts on why learning sales and effective communication is so important.  If yo...

"Grief is just love with no place to go." All of us are going to go through grief; the question is, how are you going to handle it? In this episode, I share the importance of feeling all your feelings, even the unpleasant ones. Grief is one of those emotions that comes in waves. You think you're okay, and then you're not. And it's important to sit with that emotion and not...

In this episode of the Mental Dietitian podcast, Jessica Kahn shares her story of being raised in a cult for 25 years and the challenges she's faced since escaping. Jessica Kahn is a writer and plant medicine enthusiast. She is the author of the upcoming book, "The Mental Diet: How I Escaped a Religious Cult and Found Healing Through Plant Medicine." She discusses her experience of...

"A faith that is not tested cannot be trusted." Try to think about all your beliefs or things you are passionate about- religion, health, sport, art, music—basically, anything. Have you ever wondered why you believe them? Where you got that belief from, and why do you keep believing in them? Take time to stop for a second and question your beliefs, then, you can find out if those are int...

In this episode, I talk about the pros and cons of working hard, sharing my journey of working 12-hour days and the toll it took on my health. Working hard can have benefits, but finding a balance is essential. Working hard to the point of damaging your health is not sustainable and is not success. Take the time to assess your motivation to work hard and ensure you are working towards your true go...

Sonder - the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—. (Source: dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com ) I was blown away when I found this word and read its meaning. It’s a dichotomy that you walk through this life the same way as others, nothing special in that sense, bu...

Fear is a fundamental emotion that is wired deeply inside each of us. It’s an emotion that has successfully evolved to protect us against any perceived threat to our integrity or existence. Our brain finds it difficult to differentiate between real fear and the fear that appears to be authentic. Let me give you a wake-up call: Not every anxiety-inducing fear you have is real. Some of them were jus...

As the old adage goes, trust is the foundation of a relationship, but that trust can, unfortunately, be broken. And that applies to any relationship, whether it’s with family, friends, or your partner. Today I urge you to reflect on whether or not you are breaking the trust in any of your relationships. There are many ways trust in a relationship can be broken. It can be through infidelity in roma...

Everyone deals with struggles and challenges differently; others thrive through them, while some drown in depression. In this episode, we have motivational speaker Don Mann share his story, his pain, his struggle, and how pulling the trigger changed his perspective in life. There is so much vulnerability in today’s episode, and we hope you find the strength to go on in life no matter what you’re g...