My Innermission

This episode of My Innermission focuses on the amazing work of Gwen Gordon, whose work encompasses the power of play and unlocking the power of dreams. Gwen's work on helping to unlock the messages and magic of our unconscious lives, helps us make sense individually and collectively of transitions in our lives and our world. In our conversation we discuss:

• How does dreamwork work?
• Why are dream groups more helpful in helping us unlock the messages of our dreams?
• How can dreams help us make sense of the trauma and grief of this moment as we look forward?

You can learn more about Gwen's work at gwengordonplay.com
Click here for Gwen's book The Wonderful W

In this episode, I invited Anna Switzer, author of License to Learn, to return to the podcast and share thoughts on transition one year into the pandemic. I interviewed Anna a year ago when the pandemic first caused shutdowns. Now, a year later, we talk about how the pandemic and the learning from this past year has led us all to a transition opportunity. We revisit Anna's book and think more about how our known zones, learning zones, and panic zones have changed, and how to look to building resilience and recovery in order to unlock the Gift Zone and figure out what's next for us in the coming year. We discuss:

• How does transition change our zones?
• How has the past year led to collective transition?
• How can we unlock the Gift Zone from the lessons learned in the past year?

If you want to learn more about Anna's work, you can find more information at her website annaswitzer.com

Big changes in life often make us focus on what we are giving up or gaining and then we want to jump right into what is next--but what lies in between? This week I highlight the transition process from William Bridges in his book Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes and focus on the neutral zone. In this episode I discuss:

• What is the neutral zone and why is it a necessary part of transitions?
• How do we step into the neutral zone with intention and not rush the process?
• Why is the neutral zone particularly important in this moment for ALL of us?

If you want a tool to help process the transitions of the past year, check out the My Innermission journal here. 

What do want to be when you grow up? It's a question we ask kids all the time, but for many of us, we might have several different jobs or careers in our lifetime. In this episode, April Hattori from Yes2Next joins me to talk about her career transition which took her from New York to Las Vegas and from the field of communications into personal training and fitness. In this interview we discuss:

• What guides you in making a career transition?
• How can you begin the process of changing careers without making it an all or nothing approach?
• How can people take calculated risks when they shift careers?

If you want to know more about Yes2Next, you can follow April and her mom on Youtube, Instagram, or through  yes2next.com

When people in our lives experience cognitive changes and dementia, there are abundant transitions for the the loved one experiencing dementia as well as the caregiver. In this honest and real interview with Shoshawna Rainwater, with Rainwater Consulting, we talk about her experience working with families experiencing dementia, but also her personal experience caring for a loved one with dementia. 
We discuss: 

• What is dementia and what are some of the stages of dementia? 
• What are some of the guiding principles to care for someone experiencing dementia to maintain their dignity and humanity? 
• How can care givers honor their own transition as they parent their parent with dementia? 

You can learn more about Shoshawna's work at https://rainwaterconsultingpdx.com/

Divorce. It's a hard subject and a transition that has so many complexities. On this episode, I talk with Heather Candelaria and Theresa Kleinlein with DIV/VY The Divorce Agency about the hard lessons they learned in their own divorces and how that helped them create their business to support people facing the financial, emotional, and custodial challenges of divorce. We discuss:

• What makes divorce such a multi-faceted challenging time and what are the common blindspots that people have when getting divorced?
• How can people collect information proactively to help them make proactive decisions that help support the process of divorce and life afterwards?
• How can people identify the opportunities of divorce and release the stigma around divorce when it is necessary?

Learn more about DIV/VY The Divorce Agency here. Be sure to check out their podcast at Your Divorce Coaches, which is relaunching soon.

When we are in transition, we may think that we are merely changing jobs, or changing responsibilities, but we may not always stop to really consider how the roles we play shape how we see ourselves. We also might not examine how a change in one role may impact another role in our lives. In this podcast, I recap the strategies we have learned from interviews in the first part of Season 2, and then look ahead to examining the roles we play as part of our transition. I give examples of how leaving my job led me to ask hard questions about my role as wife, mother, daughter, and even about my responsibility in my role as an individual. In this podcast I discuss:

• How do we define success in the roles we play? 
• What causes stress in the roles that we play?
• What are the connections between our definitions of success, our stress, and our roles?

If we pause to consider our roles and how the choices we make in  those roles impact us, we can either reframe our definitions of success to be more sustainable and more fulfilling, or we can identify what is working or not working in those roles to redefine our roles and how we fill them.

If you want to do your own roles analysis, download a reflection guide here

When change happens it can feel challenging, complex, and overwhelming. But what happens if we can recognize the opportunity to just be in the moment of transition and explore our somatic reactions, our approaches to self-regulation, and really listen to ourselves for what comes next. In this interview with Dr. Felicia Lee, from Campana Leadership Group, we talk about her own change story, how just "getting through" doesn't always help you see the opportunity of change, and how to better appreciate the journey of your self. 
We discuss: 

• How can transitions, even hard ones, can be opportunities?
• How can we use our somatic awareness and breath to let our bodies lead us through transition?
• How can we think about safety and belonging help us see our connections to ourselves and others more clearly?

If you want to learn more about Felicia's work check out Campana Leadership Group or see her work on LinkedIn.

Professional change can be as extreme as leaving a job or retiring from a career, but it also can be seemingly subtle like transitioning back from vacation, or transitioning between communicating with different people at work.
This week I get to interview author Cheryl Benedict to discuss the phases of transition in our professional lives and how we can take time to really understand those changes, how they impact us, and how we can move through the in-between zone to arrive at transformation on the other side. Cheryl's new book The Wisdom of Transition outlines 8 different types of transition we may face in our professional lives, and provides strategies to help us navigate the change process. We discuss:

• What are the 8 types of transition that we may face in our professional lives?
• Why is having a "safe space" so important in navigating the transition process?
• How can we embrace, not reject, our emotions and recognize the lessons they are meant to teach us?

Cheryl also offers Gems of Wisdom and a Change and Transition Model downloadable handout on her site.

How can we peel back the layers of who we are to get real and get vulnerable about ourselves, our needs, each other, and what we want out of life. Kate Greer, a Vulnerability Doula and Creatrix helps others cultivate their own vulnerability and find deeper connection with themselves, each other and the natural world. In our conversation we discuss:

• What is contagious vulnerability and why is it more important than ever in our world?
• How does a vulnerability doula support deeper vulnerability?
• How can we sit in vulnerable discomfort and still embrace joy?

If you want to learn more about Kate's work, or to schedule a curious conversation with her, check out her website at https://www.contagiousvulnerability.com/