Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

It's the season of turkey, cranberries (who eats these??) and THANKS! Join MJ and her guest, best selling author and wellness innovator  David Romanelli,  as they gather around the table and talk  gratitude.  Usually at this time of year podcasts feature episodes about how to tolerate your great uncle who drinks too much or your family member who won't stop talking politics. Skip over th...

Join MJ as she talks with her husband  Dr. Dominic Vachon. No, they aren't talking about wash,(which he excels at) or raising kids but COMPASSION! As  Director of  Notre Dame's, Ruth Hildebrand Center for Compassion in Medicine, Dr. Dom has a lot to say but it's how he says it that makes this episode a MUST. In these challenging times of war, political division and day to day hardsh...

Are you a couch potato? A Sofa Spud? Does  your critical voice constantly call you lazy? Do you plan on working out but don’t follow through?  This is the episode for you!!!! We all know the stats: working out is essential for the wellness of our body, spirit and mind. But, what to do if you’re a GOOD person but can’t get yourself to exercise? Maybe you’re are a GOOD person who starts to work out...

Want to feel better? Get better at feeling!!! In this episode MJ and her guest dive into the model MJ has created to manage feelings in a more direct and healthy way. Most of us are taught to use an external mindset to manage our feelings. You know, Blame & Unclaim--send a text complaining how awful someone is, doom scroll, eat chips or have a glass of wine or two or three...  We get short ter...

Stop Trying to Feel Better and Get Better at Feeling? This pithy statement, credited to Whitney Johnson, sums up this episode. Did you know the average feeling moves through us in 90 seconds? EXCEPT, most of us disrupt this natural process by avoiding, minimizing, maximizing or soothing our emotional reactions because at about the 30 second mark feelings kinda SUCK. So, instead of  tending and bef...

Welcome to Season 3!!! One of the most underutilized tools in cultivating mental wellness is your spirit! It's with you from the minute you're born so why not figure out how to use it to feel better?   Join MJ for this 20 minute episode where she shares 10 Inner Challenge Insights to help you figure out  how to boost your spirit. Our contemporary culture bombards us with a barrage of sup...

August brings with it lots of  new pressures! Yep! Listen to this live coaching session as MJ explores with a D1 Athlete how he grew into handling the pressure. Be it on the field of life or football our mind is the best tool we have to manage pressure. This is a LEARNED skill and this episodes gives very doable tools to balance the ups and downs so they are not so intense and you can not relate a...

As we say good-by to another summer we find ourselves once again facing the dreaded MORNING ROUTINE! Listen as MJ and her guest  dive into the latest science that helps us get up and go each and every morning. You might be surprised that a little knowledge can make a HUGE difference in how you start your day!  Why not get this new season off to a great start?! Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast de...

 In this episode, MJ and her guest explore the theme 'How do I stay sane when my adult children are distressed?' Join the unscripted conversation between the host and a mother in her mid-life who grapples with the struggles of supporting her adult children while maintaining her own mental wellness. By sharing real-life challenges, strategies for emotional regulation, and insightful tips...

In this live coaching session, MJ works with a college student who is courageous enough to battle comparison head on! Is comparison really a thief of  joy or is it just a human reaction that we can acknowledge and work with in order to get a more accurate picture of a situation. Sit back listen and learn, you're gonna love this young mans' journey! #takingmysteryoutofmentalwellness#stopf...

Grief and Loss , while being a natural part of life, brings most of us face to face with many new and often uncomfortable feelings, situations and relationships. Grief not faced or processed easily disrupts mental wellness. Listen as this wise and articulate woman shares the road she traveled after losing her husband of 41 years. Her insights and practical wisdom can help all of us travel the  exp...

Don't put off listening to this episode on Procrastination! In this episode, a podcast listener takes on the role of guest to explore his problem with procrastination! You may be surprised (and relieved) to learn the origin of procrastination is not laziness. Tune in as MJ shares with this young man her tested and successful method of dancing with procrastination in a way that is fun, fascina...

I want to lose weight! I have tried everything! I think about it daily! When I look at all the various diets they all are too much work, too expensive or too confusing. Today's guest is one of the few people I have talked to about losing weight, and trust me I have talked to thousands, that never said any of the above statements. Instead, one night at age 67 he could not get off the floor whe...

The very essence of family revolves around caregiving.  Yet, amidst the chaotic demands of work and our daily lives, we often find ourselves struggling to provide the heartfelt care to those we love the most. And of course, there is the additional challenge of caring for those family members who can truly test our patience! In this episode, MJ engages in a conversation with a woman who has dedicat...

On today’s episode, MJ and her guest take on the topic of Adulting! Adulting! Adulting! As children we are  given the impression that becoming an adult is an on/off switch. Something that automatically  happens at 18, 21 or when we become a parent.  In reality, becoming  an adult  is more like  a dimmer switch, a way of life that  we grow into as we figure out modern adulthood with its many opport...

This is a delightful episode! Join MJ as she  wraps up her series on Ages & Stages with a guest who went back to law school in her 50's!! What kind of Ager are you? Hopefully an Engager! Not sure what that means? Listen to this episode whether you're 30 or 80 as our guest shares the Engager Mindset.  Most of us  have interests and dreams that are set aside as we raise or family, fini...

Listen as MJ shares the GPS from young adulthood to old age.  This episode starts where Ep. 38 left off, giving  accessible and vital information to help you navigate each life stage with more ease. Knowledge not only helps us cultivate mental wellness but  it just makes living a whole lot more fun!  One listener commented, "Why do I know more about my car and computer than my human lifespan?...

Listen as last week's guest takes on a topic he had not anticipated-- external self-awareness. In this episode, MJ helps guide this young man with  how to take feedback from others so he can answer the question, Who Am I? more fully.  Being open to  feedback  is a learned skill.  MJ shares a process she created to help manage the natural  demon of defensiveness which often causes us to shrug...

What Disney Princess are You? Is your Myers-Briggs type ENFJ or ISTP? Maybe your top two E-Colors are yellow/red. What number are you on the Enneagram? Yes, personality inventories are a fun and helpful way to give us words for what we often know about ourself. Join MJ as she talks with a 20 year old who shares how taking the Enneagram not only helped him answer the question, Who Am I? but allowed...

Want a GPS for your life?? Listen to this podcast series, as MJ shares with you information about human development: Ages & Stages?  Whether you are 1, 13, 25, 30, 60 or 80 years old you will learn the big question for each life  stage increasing   your self-awareness as well as enriching your relationships with others. Hey, if you use GPS to travel to a new place, turn inward and let ages and...

In this episode, MJ speaks with a listener who tried out the  two mindfulness exercises, Notice On The Inside and Notice On The Outside.  Mindfulness is often presented in a way that makes it seem woo woo or   something for Buddhist Monks.  Listen as today's guest helps all of us learn to apply these easy inner workouts to our daily life in practical ways that help us to  feel calmer and give...

Let's Get Practical! Practical! Practical! If you sing this to the tune of Let's Get Physical you are singing my song! No fancy gyms, no expensive work out clothes are needed to up your Mental Wellness Game. In this episode, MJ shares with you her two foundational Mental Wellness Exercises used by literally thousands of people. They are junior high approved and if you know junior high st...

Have you taken an attachment quiz-- one of  the latest fads on the internet? Maybe you read an article or heard attachment talked about on the news. Today's episode picks up where last week's left off--the little discussed topic of how do we lay the foundation for our child's mental wellness??  Babies are great teachers but it helps if we are willing to be students. The skills of at...

  There are few things in life that change how we answer the question, Who Am I?  then becoming a parent. While timing and circumstances  are unique to each of us, as the due date gets closer, all of us ask, who am I now that I’m a parent? In today’s episode MJ talks with a  couple who are weeks away from delivering their first child. As you listen you can hear them broadening their identity.  The...

I want to lose weight! I have tried everything! I think about it daily! When I look at all the various diets they all are too much work, too expensive or too confusing. Today's guest is one of the few people I have talked to about losing weight, and trust me I have talked to thousands, that never said any of the above statements. Instead, one night at age 67 he could not get off the floor whe...