Zen Pop

In this compelling interview, our friend Katie Weiss shares her breast cancer experience, starting with the fact that she was diagnosed at 35.  Due to her age she is told her lump is probably nothing, but she walks us through the series of incidents that lead to the mind-numbing news that she indeed had breast cancer.  Recently separated and with a three-year-old daughter at home, Katie takes us f...

Is it manly to take paternity leave? When Daniel Murphy’s (a player on the New York Mets) wife had a baby, he utilized the paternity leave that is allowed under the collective bargaining agreement set forth by Major League Baseball.  But why is he being criticized?  Is it “man code” to get back to work as soon as the birth is over? If we are a nation of family values, why do we p...

We discuss 8 different ways to help your children be more mindful: 1. Mindful breathing 2. Past/present/future 3. Take in the joy 4. Quiet time 5. Practice listening 6. Emotional awareness – feeling – asking questions about feelings 7. Gratitude – don’t judge what they are grateful for – role model 8. Do it yourself We also discuss the idea of creeping separateness.  This is when we “ignore...

Our friends and neighbors Jeanne and Jeff Plaisted walk the walk.  They decided that on their 15th anniversary they were going to do something special.  Massages on the beach in Hawaii?  Nope.  A cruise through the Caribbean?  Try again. They decided to make a difference.  They stepped away from their day to day life and packed up for a two-week trip to Nicaragua.  They were inspired by Spark Vent...

We all know that most of us are overwhelmed.   The question is- what do we do about it?   Like most things- it begins with awareness.  We get into a discussion based on a book by Brigid Schulte titled – Overwhelmed- Work, Love, & Play When No One Has The Time.   We play some clips from an amazing interview she did with NPR’s Terry Gross.  Some of the highlights include: The idea of...

In this compelling interview, our friend Katie Weiss shares her breast cancer experience, starting with the fact that she was diagnosed at 35. Due to her age she is told her lump is probably nothing, but she walks us through the series of incidents that lead to the mind-numbing news that she indeed had breast cancer. Recently separated and with a three-year-old daughter at home, Katie takes us fro...

Todd confesses that he still feels intimidated by powerful women in our society, and he uses Oprah and Hillary Clinton as examples.  This leads to a discussion about the campaign created by Sheryl Sandberg called “ Banning Bossy ”  The campaign is designed to empower female leadership by making us more conscious of the words we use to describe young girls as they assert themselves. The...

Why do we get “triggered” by certain people or circumstances?  You could call it a “trigger”, or you could call it   a “thorn”.  A thorn is when you are disturbed because something you are experiencing feels similar to a negative (or uncomfortable, or unresolved, or painful) experience from the past. Instead of feeling/responding to something in present time, th...

“Leukemia messed with the wrong girl in November 2011 – my then almost two year old daughter, Maddy. That was when my family’s journey with leukemia began….”~Erin and Dan McCarthy Last month, Maddy became a SURVIVOR, after 2+ years of treatment. It was brutal – Maddy had 3 surgeries, over 50 rounds of outpatient chemotherapy (as well as hundreds of chemo meds at...

There are 5 attributes Google, Inc. currently looks for when hiring an employee and guess what?  The school you came from and your G.P.A. don’t mean that much.  In a New York Times article titled “How to Get a Job at Google”  Thomas Friedman interviewed Laszlo Bock, the Senior Vice President of People Operations for Google and asks what they look for when hiring employees.  Googl...

How do we react when our children have an emotional response? Yes, there needs to be some boundaries on how our children treat us, but we must also be aware of our own triggers and take responsibility for the energy we bring. We share a recent experience when our daughter had an emotional response (let’s just say it wasn’t handled perfectly). We also use the ocean as a metaphor to dist...

Our friend Jenny Zabrocki shares her personal stories about her modern family.  Jenny and her husband Jon had three biological children and then decided to adopt.  They adopted a son, Mesfin, from Ethipoia and a daughter, Iris, from China.  She helps us understand the challenges and celebrations surrounding the adoption process.  Jenny’s very honest and grounded way of sharing her story is a...

Do you forget names or what you are going to say next? Do you walk into a room and forget why you are there? Don’t fear- we can relate, and we also have some ideas to make your brain less mushy.  There is a book called “ Keep Your Brain Alive ” that discusses Neurobics – these are ways to train your brain to stay alert and sharp. Cathy just returned from a vacation and disc...

Last Friday night was “pizza & ice cream night” in our house.  Nowhere to go, nothing to do other than watch the Olympics, eat some unhealthy but yummy food and spend some quality time together.  At least that was the picture I had in my head for the evening. The problem was one of my daughters was not on board with MY plan and instead told me how bored she was and how she wanted t...

We sit down with Amy Rodgers Duffin as she explains her tactics for striking that elusive balance of career/mom/wife.  Some of the things she explains in this conversation… I am not sure who came up with this term, but to most women, it’s something we dream about, but find it difficult to have. As valuable as a winning lottery ticket, achieving work life balance means that we would actually...

When was the last time you asked somebody for feedback? Maybe from your partner, your work, or your kids?  We discuss the importance of feedback, specifically how to give it, and how to receive it.  We also discuss Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s tragic death and how these real life situations can be discussed in the home (for children who are old enough to understand). We end by talking to Kelly ...

We talk about personal responsibility as well as Kathy Caprino’s blog titled “7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders”  A link to the blog is listed under “resources” below.  The 7 beahaviors are: 1. We don’t let our children experience risk 2. We rescue too quickly 3. We rave too easily 4. We let guilt get in the way of leading we...

Help is on the way!  We interview a truly inspirational person- Jonny Immerman.  At 26 years old, Jonny was diagnosed with testicular cancer and began his fight against the disease. Throughout his experience, Jonny was lucky enough to have loving support from his family and friends but had never met anyone his age who was a cancer survivor. He wanted to talk to someone just like him, someone who t...

We discuss the importance of the inner world, specifically how this relates to preadolescent/teenage boys. They generally don’t ask for help, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need support.  We offer tips and guidance in how to understand and relate to “boy world”.  We also discuss the “innerscape” and “outerscape” of a person and why “rem...

In the first half of the show we discuss ideas a blog written by Dr. Mark Goulston on how to increase the happiness of your “couplehood”  The 10 habits discussed: 1. Go to bed at the same time 2. Cultivate common interests 3. Walk hand in hand or side by side 4. Make trust and forgiveness your default 5. Focus more on what your partner does right than what he or she does wrong 6. Hug e...

We interview Dr. Shefali Tsabary the author of the The Conscious Parent (with a forward written by the Dalai Lama) and her new book Out of Control  which questions why and how we discipline children. Some of the issues we discuss with Dr. Shefali: – What are the first steps we can take to become a more conscious parent? – What prevents us from being the parent that we want to be? &#821...

It’s Cathy’s turn to share what she learned after 11 years of marriage.  Her mistakes: 1. Being a martyr 2. Pretending to like things I didn’t like 3. Not trying things I haven’t tried (paradox) 4. Worrying about the small stuff (and not seeing the big stuff)5.Not trusting Todd’s ability to parent 5. Wanting Todd to read my mind 6. Shutting down instead of saying what...

When I do the annual job of washing the windows in my house, I always say without exception, “I never realized they were that dirty.”  I can now see how green the trees are, how blue the sky is. We see the world through our own filter.  Our soul needs to to be cleaned as well by doing things such as reading books, working with a therapist, meditating, taking a mindful walk, etc.  These...

We interview Josh Becker, a teacher for Breakthrough for Men and host of the I Simply Am   podcast.   Breakthrough for Men is dedicated to making real change in the quality of men’s lives.  We discuss why it’s much more difficult to gather a group of men (vs. women) for the purpose of self exploration.  Josh helps redefine the definition of manhood – society encourages men to be strong...

We interview blogger/editor Ben Martin of The Good Men Project.  We discuss his blog which asks the question Why is it socially acceptable to speak down to children when we would rarely (if ever) speak to another adult in the same way?   Cathy also shares her thoughts on the lessons from the movie Frozen (the trailer can be found @ the bottom of this blog). This movie is all about self acceptance,...