The Adult Chair Podcast with Michelle Chalfant

Today on the show, Ross Rosenberg joins us to talk about narcissism and codependence. The concepts are tied together, says Ross, and he spends much of his work helping others understand this spectrum through his concept of "self-love deficit disorder." He joins us to share the roots of narcissism, how narcissists present in relationships, and even delves into tools for protecting ourselves when we...

What's life like in the Adult Chair? Hi everyone! I felt really inspired today when I was in the shower and I decided to record my inspiration while I got ready this morning. Please excuse the banging around I was doing as I didn't know at the time that I would launch this to the group but it was such great information, I decided to share it with you. I hear people say to me that they were in thei...

We're nothing but love, and we don't have to do anything to get it, for it is within.

Yes, it's true: intimacy is about more than just sex. But the physiological and psychological benefits of investing time and attention on your sex life can do wonders when it comes to rekindling intimacy in your relationship. This week on the show, we're thrilled to have Prana Regina Barrett join us to help us better understand the role of sex in our emotional and physical well-being, and how a mi...

It's February! That means we're entering the season of love around these parts, and what better time is there to talk about the keys to a successful, strong, long-lasting and loving relationship. From communication to false assumptions, this week on the show we're talking all about how we accept our partners with tools and frameworks that will help you approach your relationship from your Adult Ch...

The Enneagram provides us a method for understanding our own personality in terms of our relationship with the world and our true selves. This week on the show, I sit down with our friend Ramona Reid of Nashville Center for Alternative Therapy for an introduction to the Enneagram and the benefits that come with understanding how the Enneagram can work for you. Ramona is a skilled intuitive Enneagr...

When we surrender, we're choosing to let go of control of a situation. It's consciously letting go of the ego and drive to dominate a situation with trust that the future will unfold as it is meant to. This is a position of peace, not trauma, relief, not stress. This week on the show, Pete kicks us off with a story of his own surrender, losing a decade of his own professional photography work and...

I am a Fraud! There . I said it out loud. Does it sound familiar? For many of you, it probably does. The voice of the imposter is a voice that lives in all of us. It comes from an instinct that is thousands of years old, one designed to protect us and keep us safe in our communities. Today, it can make us want to run and hide. Today on the show, we talk about what it means to face the imposter ins...

Want to learn how to love yourself, take off your masks, and live more authentically? Here's the place to do it! Listen to this replay of Michelle's interview on Nashville's "Holistic Revolution" radio show with host Ramona Reid. They discussed the power of synchronicity, the power of personal work, and the journey that is  living in the Adult Chair.  Plus, if you've ever wondered what it's like t...

Do you feel emotions deeply? Do you know how others are feeling, sometimes before they do? Do you struggle with fatigue or overwhelm? You may be an empath. This show is all about empaths. It's more than a discussion of what it means to be empathetic. Having the skill to put yourself in others' shoes is great, but not our focus. Today's conversation is all about those of us who live in the world an...

For so many, the experience of "depression" is actually the experience of getting "stuck." When we get stuck and feel like we have no options, we can fall into hopelessness and helplessness. Emotions like these are ones we want to run from and numb out. When the body experiences  an emotion, the mind says STOP! This may kill you! Go get a vice! Numb that out! My clients often tell me that they add...

If you're a human parent, you've probably faced some version of this question. How do you teach your kids how to be emotionally present in the world? How to protect themselves and be assertive, and how to live with grace and compassion all at the same time? The answer is both incredibly complicated, and deceptively simple: you can't. And that's where we pick up on the show today, taking on the ass...

So many clients have been coming to me dealing with daily stress. You know the feeling — you might not be able to put your finger on it, but the accumulation of stressors in your life feel like 10,000 pounds on your back. There is no one grand solution, rather a journey of many steps, and an easy one you can take right now today, is to focus on the way you start your day, and set the tone for ever...

"Sometimes I think my son is a complete shut-in." "I just need to escape." "Crowds make me feel like my world is closing in." What do you think about when you read those lines? Familiar? Foreign? Frustrating? These lines all come from people trying to understand where they and their loved ones relate to their personality orientation: Extroverts or Introverts. If you've ever taken a behavior indica...

This is another of our very special episodes! Connie is a client and dear friend and has joined me today for a conversation around her experience from the beginning of her diagnosis with aggressive breast cancer, through resolution. We talk about how we use The Adult Chair model to help us navigate trauma not just in recovery, but in the process of experiencing it. As Connie says, "It helped me fe...

Worlds collide! This week on the show, for the very first time in over three years, Pete and I got to meet face-to-face! Even better than that, sitting together in a hotel lobby/swimming pool in Seattle, Pete and I finally recorded the long-awaited conversation with my husband Graham on communication and inviting the relationship into the Adult Chair when we're triggered. As it turned out, this wa...

Today I'm celebrating my friends! A few weeks back I shared an incredible meal with some of my closest friends and, if you're a listener of this show you can imagine what came up: The Adult Chair. We got to talking about how we can use the Adult Chair to remove blocks and create new pathways for love and growth. Later that day, one of the women at brunch called me to tell me about how she was able...

We all get lost. It's perfectly natural as human beings to get stuck in the forest, to get scared of the dark, to get lonely and feel our courage drift away. As our guest today so rightly shares, "we have to get used to the weirdness of being human beings." That's when we're able to find the strength, the motivation, the courage to make change in our lives and approach the world with strength. I'm...

This week's show comes courtesy of a listener with some incredibly important questions around addiction, living with family suffering with addictive behaviors, and forgiving an emotionally distant parent. These are HUGE questions, as you can imagine, but unfortunately all too familiar issues for so many of us.  We have a two part answer on the show. First, my own story, which I hope you can relate...

Just because we might be considered adults  chronologically  doesn't mean we're always  acting our age ! That's the psychological trick of the Chairs, and this week I hope to give you all some clarification. Our goal here is to uncover where we are at any given moment, which chair we're using to relate to the world, and get to know that part of us free from judgement.  Our Adolescent Chair is here...

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you Dr. Dodge Rea, the originator of The GRACE Sequence. This is one of the most powerful, easy-to-use techniques for emotional relief that I have found. I am always on the hunt for tools to help get us unstuck and in our Adult Chair — the GRACE Sequence is one of those tools. Let's face it, life can be hard. We get stuck and can fall victim to the pit...

You can't heal negative emotions. They exist, and we all move in and out of them throughout our days, weeks … our whole lives. But with an understanding of the power of mindfulness, it is possible to come to terms with our negative emotions, and to find peace, solace, and understanding. This week on the show, we're talking about both the internal and external tools you can use to sit in your negat...

Dr. James Wellborn is a clinical psychologist who specializes in individual, family, and group psychotherapy with children and adolescents addressing the range of challenges faced by families and teens during this period of development. In addition to his practice, he's served as a consultant in schools developing programs to support at risk youth, and he's a strong advocate on radio, TV and print...

Becoming a conscious parent means getting to know yourself well enough that you don't let your own emotions get in the way of understanding who your kids are growing up to be. That's harder than it sounds, and requires you to sit firmly in your Adult Chair the older they get. This week on the show, I've got five strategies that will help you not only relate to your kids without judgment, but under...

Forgiveness is a deeply personal thing. But whether you label yourself as a "forgiving person" because you're afraid of conflict in the adolescent chair, or living in an authentically forgiving place in the adult chair is determined first and foremost by whether we're allowing ourselves to feel our feelings! So many of us are afraid of our feelings, afraid of the way our emotions move through us....