Our guest, Dr. Patrick Maguire, author of When Cancer Hits Home: An Empowered Patient is the Best Weapon Against Disease, discusses how to take charge of our health, by helping to prevent cancer and, if we get it, how to foster healing and wellbeing. He discusses some of the most common myths regarding cancer prevention. Then he suggests simple lifestyle changes, including why it’s so important to avoid being obese. He also shares some of the 10 Cancer warning signs that should not be ignored. We discussed the often-controversial topic of screening, which revealed his views on the efficacy of mammograms and PSA tests for prostrate cancer. For more information, including the list of Top Ten Warning Signs of Cancer, please visit http://www.thecancermd.com 

Listen: Patrick Maguire, MD

Ellen Jaffe Jones, author of Eat Vegan on $4/Day, discusses how it’s possible to eat healthy and economically by incorporating more vegetarian meals into our diet. Her own journey towards good health included switching to a plant-based diet to avoid a hysterectomy and various illnesses experienced by her family. She provides information about how it’s possible to get plenty of protein from “greens, grains and beans,” including from local resources such as CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Ms. Jaffe makes a compelling argument for how plant based diets enable us to avoid the pesticides and toxins often found in meat. To know which fruits and vegetables are best purchased organically, she recommends checking the list of dirty dozen of fruits and vegetables . For more information, please visit www.vegcoach

Listen: Ellen Jaffe Jones

Pyschologist and author of Mindfulness and the Art of Choice, Dr. Karen Sherman describes how choosing to practice simple mindfulness techniques can help us deal with the pain of our past experiences. Learn how to become aware of the signals that indicate we are responding in an old “knee-jerk” reactive patterns. By developing new ways of responding to previous hurts, it’s possible to turn off old negative thought patterns and heal leftover emotional wounds. Dr. Sherman shares specific exercises, including visualization, mindfulness and free association writing. She also discusses the impact of fear on our ability to live as fully as possible, and suggests ways to diminish it. For more information, please visit http://yourempoweredrelationship.com/

Listen: Dr. Karen Sherman

Richard (Rick) E. Bush shares suggestions for living a long and healthy life from his new book, Growing Ageless: The Simple Act of Health and Longevity. As the result of suffering from depression and other health problems, Rick traveled to Thailand to learn holistic techniques and develop skills to foster healing and wellbeing. He now advocates incorporating simple, quick practices throughout the day. His recommendations include focusing on relaxation as a self-care technique. Learn about some of his favorite exercises including a “mood elevator”, “sitting cardio” and breathing exercises. These exercises are particularly helpful for people living with depression. The essence of his program is to combine Relaxation + Movement + Energy = Health. For more information, please visit www.growingageless.com.

In this week’s “meant to be” story, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe shares an anecdote about Well Within’s Circle of Life Coaching Circle which enables partipants to learn various self-care tools and techniques.

Listen: Richard E. Bush

After her elder daughter and former son-in-law were killed in separate car crashes, author Harriet Hodgson found that writing about how she felt helped her heal. She also realized that writing affirmations enabled her to regain a positive attitude toward life. In discussing her book, Writing to Recover: The Journey from Loss & Grief to a New Life, Harriet shares advice and exercises to help people navigate the difficult journey through grief including the pain of loss of dreams, hopes and goals. As a grandparent raising grandchildren, she has learned that the practice of gratitude and affirmations has also helped her raise her daughter’s children with hope and love.

At the end of the interview host, Mary Treacy O’Keefe shares a ‘meant to be’ story about a sign from her deceased father that encouraged her to begin her own writing career.

For more information, please visit www.harriethodgson.com

Listen: Harriet Hodgson

The problem of chronic pain affects millions of people, impacting every aspect of their lives and preventing them from living as fully as possible. Unfortunately, billions of dollars are spent on treatments that are often ineffective. Many of us suffer needlessly from pain diagnosed as migraines, tension headaches, fibromyalgia, or chronic neck, back, abdominal, and pelvic pain. Our guest, Dr. Howard Schubiner, author of Unlearn Your Pain: A 28 Day Process to Reprogram Your Brain, says the real cause for many of these types of pain is Mind Body Syndrome. Using cutting-edge research, Dr. Schubiner has discovered that the underlying reason for much chronic pain is nerve sensitization and learned nerve pathways, rather than actual tissue destruction. He has used this new understanding to develop a unique program to actually reverse pain and research studies support the effectiveness of the program.

We discuss various types of pain and why sometimes it remains after an injury or illness has healed. For example, sometimes pain is manifesting unresolved stress, possibly from childhood, or from traumatic events in adulthood. Certain personality traits (which affects how you respond to stress and how much pressure you tend to put upon yourself) and gender also affect pain levels. According to a self-diagnosis assessment developed by Dr. Schubiner, the first step of treating pain is understanding it, including how negative emotions (fear, anger, bitterness, etc.) are often barriers to recovering from pain. Believing that you can recover is another important aspect of the healing process, as are various integrative techniques including meditation, mindfulness and acupuncture. For more information, please visit www.unlearnyourpain.com.

NOTE: Dr. Schubiner will be giving a free presentation on Unlearn Your Chronic Pain on Wednesday, September 21, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m at The Marsh in Minnetonka, MN.

Listen: Howard Schubiner, MD

Millions of accomplished, vibrant, educated women are entering or in the midst of midlife. No longer Maidens, nor actively being Mothers, and not yet old Crones, where do these dynamic, accomplished middle-aged women fit into the traditional description of the three stages of womanhood? In her latest book, The Queen of Myself: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife, our guest, bestselling author, spiritual teacher and urban shaman, Donna Henes proposes a new paradigm: the midlife Queen, an archetype that more accurately reflect the wisdom, confidence and creativity of women today.

Join us for a lively discussion of how to embrace midlife as a self-assured Queen. Donna shares her own story of becoming a healer and ceremonialist, including ideas about turning the challenges of middle age into opportunities for growth and leadership. Through the use of reflection and ritual, women are encouraged to embrace the gifts and talents they are meant to share with the world.

At the end of the interview, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe discusses her own ‘meant to be’ midlife story of leaving a lucrative corporate career to become a hospice volunteer and founder of Well Within, a nonprofit holistic healing center. For more information about Donna Hennes, please visit www.donnahenes.net.

Listen: Sue Rasmussen

This week’s guest, Sue Rasmussen , a Master Certified Coach, writer and speaker, defines clutter as “anything that does not add joy or vibrancy to your life.” Sue helps people “learn how to let go of the clutter (the stuff, papers, email, activities, clients, to-dos, and self-sabotaging beliefs) that drains our energy and blocks our ability to move forward – and reconnect with what actually brings us joy.” As our guest on this week’s show, she defines 7 different types or levels of clutter: physical, ‘virtual’ (electronics), time, (how you use it), relationships, body, senses, mind, (negative messages), and as what gets in the way of connection with spirit. Sue demonstrates an exercise to help us determine what is really clutter in our lives, and it’s impact upon us. Then she helps us develop a process for getting rid of it and free ourselves from what we truly don’t need, thus creating space for more beauty, peace and less stress in our lives. For more information, please visit www.unclutter-organize-transform.com

At the end of the show, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe, shares a “meant to be” story about how getting rid of clutter enabled her family to find a letter, written 45 years earlier, that comforted her family after her father died.

Listen: Sue Rasmussen

In anticipation of Suicide Prevention Month (September), host Mary Treacy O’Keefe invites Nancy Rappaport, MD, to help all of us to understand the tragic dimensions of suicide. Dr. Rappaport discusses her compelling book, In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother’s Suicide, written from her perspective as both a child psychiatrist and as a daugther who lost her mother to suicide. In addition to sharing her own powerful story, Dr. Rappaport offers suggestions about ways to help prevent this tragic event; including how to detect the warning signs that often proceed a suicide attempt. She also offers sage advice to families who are grieving the loss of their loved one to suicide.

“I didn’t want to turn my mother into a case study,” says Dr. Nancy Rappaport of her book. While her mother may or may not have been Bi-Polar, Nancy chooses instead to focus on her personal feelings toward her mother, and how her loss changed her life. Currently 19 years older than her own mother was when she died, Dr. Rappaport examines her life with Mary Treacy O’Keefe: Has she surpassed her mother? What’s it like to share her mother’s looks as well as her name?

What are the signs to look for when someone is contemplating suicide? Are the treatments for clinical Depression and/or suicidal tendencies the same or different? How should someone you know, on the verge of suicide, be treated? Learn the answers to all of these questions and many more!

At the end of the show, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe shares a “meant to be” story about a comforting “sign” that occurred three times within the week after the suicide of her son’s best friend.

Additional helpful resources: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK, www.save.org, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Listen: Nancy Rappaport

Mary Treacy O’Keefe’s guest, Harvey Deutschendorf is an Emotional Intelligence (EI) coach and the author of The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success. EI, or “people skills,” is another dimension within the growing field of positive psychology. Aspects of EI include emotional self-awareness, empathy, independence, interpersonal relationships, social responsibility, impulse control, stress tolerance, optimism, and happiness. Emotional intelligence affects every aspect of our lives and contributes greatly to our ability to live fulfilling lives. Throughout this episode, you’ll be learning how to increase your Emotional Intelligence, overcome the barriers that are preventing you from realizing your true potential, and improve your personal and professional well-being!

“Emotional Intelligence is our ability to recognize and to manage our own emotions and the emotions of others around us,” starts Deutschendorf. Whether or not we can actually control the emotions of others is debatable; however, Deutschendorf claims that, with practice, we can certainly influence the emotions of those around us in our favor.

If you were to die today, would you be able to die knowing you’ve accomplished everything that you wanted to? Are you happy with the way you’re living your life? Fifteen years ago, Harvey Deutschendorf asked himself these very questions and found that his answer was “no.” But then he discovered Emotional Intelligence and his life took a turn. Listen in as Deutschendorf and O’Keefe discuss how you can apply these same principles to your own life to be able to live the life YOU want.

Is Emotional Intelligence something we’re all born with? Something we have to develop? Something we learn? And why do some people seem to have more of it than others? “The first step is the recognition that there are certain areas we need help in,” says Deutschendorf, on how to become more attune with one’s EI. “We can’t just read about it, we have to actually do things.”

For more on the secret to unlocking your inner control of your emotions, tune in now!

Listen: Harvey Deutshendorf