Dr. UnStuck Podcast — Get Out of Your Head. Get Into Your Life.

Dr. Elizabeth Allen-Pennebaker joins us this week for a discussion on how to bring flexibility to the college classroom via an innovative grading technique which fosters connection, autonomy, motivation, self-confidence, as well as a “growth mindset” in students. It is amazing to think about how something considered to be “standard practice” and that is often dreaded (by both the student and profe...

From the ground up, we have been so conditioned to set goals and achieve, achieve, achieve. Then, we no sooner achieve the set goal, and the goal post is moved back to chase after the better grade, better graduate school, better job, better social standing, more perks, more vacations, and another promotion. Then, we often pass the torch down to our kids so that they, too, can learn to become human...

Dr. Laurel Bongiorno joins us for a discussion on play as a key component of well-being, and how important it is to incorporate play into our lives. Dr. Bongiorno addresses the impact of the recent pandemic, and how we have become conditioned by these "play restrictions" in our relationships, as parents, and in the workplace. Realizing that "loosening up" may be a bit of a heavy lift for some, Dr....

When it comes to personal freedom, we often do not have a clue as far as where we truly land on this spectrum. We may even believe that we are self-aware in many other ways, yet we do not stop and take the time to have this very important conversation with ourselves. We are often on autopilot and unaware. "Personal Freedom Awareness" is essential to live the authentic life you were meant for.&nbsp...

So often, unkind or inaccurate things are said to us and we take these straight to heart without ever questioning the source or the facts. We also rarely take into consideration that we are all the main actors on our own stage, and the majority of what anyone says is an outward reflection of them and not about us at all. Many of us also do not realize that taking things personally is the ultimate...

It is so easy when we are thrown one of life's curveballs to bring this along into the next, brand new day. We wake up and our minds search for that something that the feeling in our stomach reminds us of right out of the gate. We lay there for a moment reliving the scenes as if we are catching up on a binge-watch. For the larger curveballs this can certainly be tougher, though we can still make a...

We make decisions all day every day, some active and some passive. Happiness is deeply rooted in these small choices. Just like exercise, happiness is cumulative. It takes commitment and follow through. Happiness takes practice. Happiness has a daily routine. Happiness is a lifestyle.   It is that simple.   No Need to Fix Me: I'm Not Broken | Kimberly Quinn | TEDxUStreetWomen ...

Let's face it . . . this feels a little weird. Actually, it feels a lot weird, and now the Delta variant is lurking out there ready to bite at any given time. More uncertainty. The masks are back on. For the last year and a half we have been living in the "Twilight Zone" with "Twilight Zone rules," like zombies masquerading as people with lives that were once familiar and predictable. We are now b...

For so many of us, sex got a bad wrap right out of the gate of middle school sex ed class. We learned to "not touch" each other or things could fall off from various diseases and/or we could become pregnant. Though true, very little(if anything) was explained about the benefits of healthy sex, intimacy, or what a healthy relationship looks like. The word "orgasm" was a definite no-no. It was compl...

So often, we have unwanted and intrusive thoughts sneak into our minds, subtly seducing us away from the present moment. There are 9 types of ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) to be aware of, and becoming aware is the first step towards extinguishing these thieves of our valuable life-minutes. #obsessivecompulsive #negativethinking negativity #anxiety #stress #learnedoptimism #positivity #resilie...

The ADHD mind has an executive functioning system that is wired differently.  Because this system is at the helm of all things deemed cognitively important such as judgment, reasoning, decision-making, problem-solving, organization, and impulse control, it is imperative that we approach teaching those in the "Fast Mind Club" from a different angle. What is of utmost importance, it that the st...

The last two years have been loaded with turbulence, uncertainty, as well as lots of pain and loss. We have become conditioned to be fearful, and to remain in a ready position like a short-stop, pivoting as balls are hit at us one after the other.  In order to get unstuck from fear-mode, we need to make a conscious effort to seek out the pleasant moments in our day, and to find delight in the...

How we think dictates how we feel, which is why mindset is everything. Those with a "fixed mindset" tend to believe they have been given only so much intelligence, athletic or artistic ability, and that's it. Those with a "growth mindset" value good, old-fashioned grit, as they believe that if they put in the effort that they can become smarter, more athletic, more artistic, etc.  The "growth...

People often get confused between self-image and authenticity. Self-image is how we see ourselves and often how we would like others to see us. This is not a bad thing, though there is some degree of ego involvement due to the desire for external approval. The authentic self has no need for external approval as it is free of the ego. The authentic self doesn't need fixing. To be our true selves do...

We have been told by McDonald's for years that "We deserve a break today," and that "It's Miller Time." But why do we need to be told we deserve a break? Many of us fall in the door after a long day at work, grab the remote and a cold beer, and then sit in our usual seat on the couch to binge-watch Netflix for hours. We spend the weekend in our sweatpants because we are burnt out, exhausted mental...

Many of us slid into a routine or rut during the pandemic of wearing loose fitting clothing, not shaving body parts, keeping up with haircuts, make-up, and even basic hygiene. Sweatpants became our new uniform. Many of us also took up binge-watching Netflix as a new hobby. Now that the Rona is all but behind us, it is time to pull ourselves together . . . as how we express ourselves outwardly says...

After a year and a half of trauma and fearful weirdness in the air, we are now faced with even more change. We are also faced with more loss, as many people (about half of Americans), have reported that they are hesitant about going back to in-person interaction whether people are vaccinated or not. Though challenging in many ways, working from home was also cheaper, more convenient for some, and...

"There's no place like home," said Dorothy, as she clicked her ruby-red slippers upon departing from Oz . . . Home is who we are. Our home represents us. Regardless of our life-stage or size of our home, the self-expression and creativity of one's living-space are essential for well-being. Think about it, the brain is constantly processing its environment whether we are aware of this or not. There...

The law of subtraction says that if we truly want to invite positive change into our lives that we must make room for this first. We can have all that the universe has to offer, a new relationship, new career, new home, travel, etc., but if we are residing in a jam-packed schedule and zooming around like a gerbil on crack, there is no room for newness and positive change. We need to break free fro...

Most of us with ADHD would say that this is who we are rather than something we have. This is because our cognitive wiring and interested-based nervous systems are a large part of our hard-drive and programming. Navigating a world where the majority of its residents are neurotypical, wired in ways which are accepted, expected, and endorsed, often has ADHDers feeling as if we may as well have been...

When we give mindfully, meaning authentically and without looking for anything in return, there is a powerful charge that rolls through us. This is because generosity is an outer expression of the interconnection we all need as human-beings. Generosity says we care. Cultivating generosity is about spending time and effort on someone other than ourselves. It is also about genuinely giving to oursel...

There is tons out there on ADHD and how this affects children, though little has been said about adults who come into this diagnosis later on in life, and even less about adult women. The world expects us to be responsible grown-ups, managing jobs, money, kids’ schedules, etc., and to do this all with ease and a smile.  Yet, our interest-based nervous systems often redirect our attention, thr...

More often than not, when we really don't like how life is going-a relationship on the brink of fizzling, a much needed job change, a missed opportunity, as well as the daily curveballs that life throws at us, we dig in. We hang on and resist with everything we've got to make the present moment into something other than it is. The result? Stress. And lots of it. In fact, one way to measure unhappi...

Motivation is not something we pick up at the grocery store or find in a closet. It is a process, one that ignites and paves the way to goal-oriented behavior. Many of us have tricks that have worked to pull us out from being stuck and unmotivated in the past. However, now that we are nearly a year into the pandemic many of us are finding that these tricks are no longer working, leaving us fe...

So many of us are walking around out there like remote-controlled zombies, often unaware the we have been swept up in the "current of overwhelm." One minute rolls into the next, days fly by, then weeks, and then another year gone. Many of us are faced with the fear that long ago drove Thoreau into the woods, in order to live life deliberately so that, "when I came to die, discover that I had not l...