For millions of “Baby Boomers,” as well as the 10,000 people who turn 50 every day, a midlife crisis can be a tremendous challenge!…Or it could be an opportunity for growth and fulfillment. In this episode, Well Within founder Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews Dr. Dike Drummond, a business coach and former physician who has helped thousands of people use their midlife crisis as a calling to live a more authentic, meaningful and fulfilling life. Join in as Mary and Dr. Dike teach how to successfully navigate the second half of your life.

Dr. Dike refers to “midlife” as “[age] twenty-five to dead.” There’s a vast amount of time in which the so-called “midlife crisis” can occur. And what of the typical midlife crisis cliches? The husband who gets the red hot convertible and the new younger girlfriend? Do any of the common conceptions hold up in the real world or are they myths created by Hollywood? What does a real midlife crisis look like?

Looking back at the original definition of “crisis” (a decision), Dr. Dike explains that the midlife crisis that’s experienced by so many is actual a “moment of awakening”–a moment in their lives where they must make an important decision. A turning point. Dr. Dike also talks about the three biggest mistakes that people going through this turning point make.

Divorce, children growing up and moving out, retirement… Any number of things can trigger a midlife crisis. “I’m here to take the struggle and the drama out of a midlife crisis,” says Dr. Dike. Whether you’re “frozen” and even though you could make a change for the better in your life, you don’t; or if you’re taking the opposite destructive path and “burning [your life] to the ground;” Dr. Dike has advice for YOU.

Remember, “midlife” isn’t the end of your life. It’s not too late to achieve your dreams and have a better, more fulling life.

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/e-drummond-md.mp3

In this episode of Hope, Healing, and WellBeing, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews April Fan, a registered dietician who works with senior citizens and is committed to helping adult children take better care of their aging parents. O’Keefe and Fan discuss several of the issues facing caregivers today and how to cope with them.

The fear of being a burden to their loved ones runs strong in many elderly parents. “Sometimes they start to hide or deny that they need help or find it tremendously difficult to ask for assistance,” says Fan, addressing this troubling issue, adding, “It’s really our job to find out what is going on in their hearts.” Fan then details the 9 Questions Everyone Should Ask Their Elderly Parents before it’s “too late.”

Learn “why caring for aging parents on your own is dangerous to your health and what to do about it.” Learn how to address your parents’ living situation. How to find a good nursing facility. Learn how to put together a plan over time. And how to handle the situation if you live far away from your parents. Fan encourages early–and frequent!–communication with elderly parents and dishes out practical tips and advice for adult children in all stages of the “Should I or Shouldn’t I?” parents-into-a-nursing-home dilemma.

Fan also discusses the resentment many senior parents feel about “role reversal” (they were telling you what to do your whole life and now you’re telling them what to do!) as well as the difficulties that come with raising children of her own while attempting to be a caregiver to her parents.

O’Keefe also brings up the “Magic Bullet” mentality that many caregivers have when it comes to seniors and food. “We [think we] can give them a can of Ensure or whatever [and they’ll be fine],” says O’Keefe. Fan displays her skills as a dietician and tells why a “food first” mentality is important when making seniors as comfortable–and healthy!–as possible.

From food to family to living arrangements, April Fan has the answers. Tune in!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/april-fan.mp3

In this episode of Hope, Healing, and WellBeing, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews award-winning author Burt Nordstrand! Nordstand opens up about overcoming multiple addictions (including food!), his latest book, and how he ended up founding the Compulsive Overeaters Retreat.

Nordstrand discusses the ongoing battle with his “enemy,” an addiction to sugar and compulsive overeating, for which he has been in recovery for over 30 years. “With drugs or gambling–abstinence–you can just stop!…With food addiction, you can’t just stop,” points out O’Keefe of the dilemma many overeaters struggle with daily. “Everything wonderful in my life today…is related to my recovering from my addictions,” says Nordstrand, pointing to sugar as the number one most detrimental addiction he had to overcome. “[Sugar addiction] needs to be looked at as a disease,” says Nordstrand.

“Whether it’s carbohydrates which turn to sugar in our bodies, alcohol which turns to sugar in our bodies, or whether it’s sugar, it affects the way people feel and it definiately changed the way I felt,” says Nordstrand. He and O’Keefe talk about the effects of sugar on the body and how a sugar addiction can contribute to an addiction to alcohol.

“There was just half of me that felt insecure and just not normal,” says Nordstrand, explaining his initial attraction to sugar and other harmful substances. “I would take it to the edge and say ‘this isn’t working for me’ and then switch to something else,” he says. Moving from one substance to the next, living a life riddled with addiction, Nordstrand was eventually left with only one substance to abuse that really “worked” for him: Food.

Throughout the interview, Burt Nordstrand details his secret life of shame: A successful businessman to the public and an addict spiraling into the depths of despair in his private life. Tune in to listen to his struggles, triumphs, and how he learned to pick himself up by his bootstraps and get on with his life–addiction free!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/burt-nordstrand.mp3

Well Within co-founder Mary Treacy O’Keefe talks to Elaine Fogel Schneider, PhD this week on the art of baby massage. As one of the country’s leading experts in baby massage therapy, Dr. Elaine describes the many benefits of touch and explains some of the techniques included in her book, Massaging Your Baby:Effective Techniques for a Healthier, Happier, More Relaxed Child & Parent. Learn everything you ever wanted to know on the power of touch today!

The power of touch is not only beneficial for your infant’s body, but their mind as well: “The cells of the skin are the same cells that are in your brain so, as you’re stroking the skin, it’s like you’re stroking the brain,” says Dr. Elaine. Touching is important for your baby’s brain-growth development, their neurological development, their circulation, their hormones, and–as a terrific bonus!–it also relaxes them (and you!).

Dr. Elaine details her experiences helping clients solve their baby troubles through Touch Time massage. In particular, she discusses a very intense case involving a fussy infant who was driving her parents right up the wall. With the help of Dr. Elaine’s techniques, the baby girl went to sleep easily for the first time in five months. Miracle cure? Perhaps. Can YOU do it? Absolutely!

Are you tired of not sleeping through the night? Are you exasperated beyond belief with the sound of your baby’s crying? The power of touch can help! But what are the other benefits of baby massage for you? “What is going on with the adult is that relaxation occurs and their blood pressure lowers,” explains Dr. Elaine. “The benefits include the adult body as well as the child’s!”

Baby massage isn’t just for parents! Grandparents, siblings, friends, and other caregivers can reap and share the benefits as well. Dr. Elaine’s patented methods work well for anyone. Give the gift of touch today!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/elaine-fogel-schneider.mp3

Well Within President and Hope, Healing, and WellBeing host, Mary Treacy O’Keefe welcomes parenting expert Tina Feigal to her show! In this informative, extremely useful interview, Feigal teaches how to cope with and improve the behavior of the “intense child.” As founder of the Center for the Challenging Child, LLC, she provides helpful tools and techniques, including some from her book, The Pocket Coach for Parents: Your Two-Week Guide a Dramatically Improved Life with Your Intense Child.

Did you know that the philosophies of mindfulness practices can be applied to parenting? Feigal talks about applying these practices to your parenting techniques–especially when it comes to raising an “intense child.” Whether your child has ADD, ADHD, autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Attachment Disorder or is simply just too gifted to focus on the mundane things the rest of us consider “normal,” you’re going to want to tune in to this episode.

Are you having trouble engaging your child? Does your child know just how to press your buttons? O’Keefe and Feigal discuss what’s going on in your child’s mind–the synapses that fire inside their brain and make them tick–and what you can do to get on board their train of thought.

Feigal also explains the differences between positive and negative reinforcement. Which is better for your child? Reward? Punishment? A happy medium? But how to you achieve that “happy medium?”

Are you yelling way too much? Are you constantly repeating requests to your child, only to be ignored? You’ve struggled with child problems long enough! Tina Feigal shares some of her best tips from her new book and helps to get you, and your child, back on track. Don’t let your “intense child” get in the way of your positive parenting. You can do it! And O’Keefe and Feigal are here to help you do it. Let’s get parenting!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/tina-feigal.mp3

In this episode of Hope, Healing, and WellBeing, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews Rabbi Harold Kushner author of the international bestsellers When Bad Things Happen to Good People and Living a Life that Matters. Rabbi Kushner describes how integrity, gratitude, our relationships with each other and with God help us live more significant and meaningful lives, even in the midst of difficult times.

Rabbi Kushner talks about his books and the messages that lie within their pages. He also reveals a bit about his writing process and talks about an important choice he had to make when his first book tour coincided with 9/11: To go or not to go. “I said, ‘No, I want to keep on doing what I do. I want to get on that plane and go around and talk about this message and give people hope and I’m not going to let the terrorists scare me out of doing what I like to do!’”

“Death is the end of life like the period is the end of a sentence–it doesn’t rob the sentence of meaning, it defines what the meaning of the sentence was,” says Rabbi Kushner. O’Keefe and Kushner hit all the major topics in this interview: Life, Death, God, Success, and everything in-between.

Learn the difference between why bad things happen to good people and when good things happen to good people. Learn how to respond and cope when bad things happen to you or someone you love. Kushner discusses dealing with grief, hope, and struggling with his own religious beliefs when faced with a pain that not only changed his life but defined his character.

How will you be remembered when your time comes to “move on?” Are you ready to step up and make a difference? Are you ready to live a life of meaning?

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/rabbi-harold-kushner.mp3

In this episode, Mary Treacy O’Keefe, the award-winning President of Well Within, welcomes Pilar Jennings PhD to share his insights as a researcher, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, Buddhist practitioner and author of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationships in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism. In this fascinating interview, Jennings reveals the connections between therapy, religion, and Buddhism. Tune in to learn the “clinical applications of Buddhist meditation practices.”

Due to the recent visits from the Dalai Lama around the world, there has been a renewed interest in Buddhism. Why? What is it? And why is it so appealing to today’s society as a spiritual endeavor? “Buddhism is attractive because it doesn’t seem to come with all the trappings of a traditionalist religion. So, for people who have had a negative experience with religion in their childhood, Buddhism seems to offer a way to get the fruits without the toxic fruit,” Jennings explains. “It appeals to Westerners because it seems so grounded in logic…it’s less about blind Faith.”

Jennings examines the differences between traditional Tibetan Buddhism and the more Western idea of “Agnostic Buddhism” practices. Jennings also addresses the controversy of Buddhism as a religion that does not include a monotheistic god as a part of their devotion.

Is there a connection between the relationship one has with their therapist to the one they have with their Buddhist spiritual teacher? Jennings says, “In both relationships–if they’re healthy, functional relationships–there’s a deep sense of trust that ‘I can bring all my humanness and all that entails to this person and have it be safely received.’ And in the clinical space, that can feel deeply spiritual.” The connection between the two deepens every day. O’Keefe and Jennings talk about how mindfulness practices are integrating themselves into traditional clinical therapy.

Learn how Buddhist practices, mindfulness, and psychotherapy can help you overcome low self-esteem, depression, and live an overall better life! Tune in!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/pilar-jennings.mp3

In this episode, Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews Carol Ritberger, Ph.D. the author of Healing Happens with Your Life: Understanding the Hidden Meanings behind Illness. Join in as Mary and Carol discuss fields of personality, typology, behavioral medicine, and the latest updates on taking a psycho-spiritual approach to sickness.

A medical intuitive known for her innovative approach to self-help, Carol Ritberger talks about developing her intuition on an emotional and physical level to connect with someone in a way, “from a medical standpoint,” that she can connect with their physical body and recognize patterns of thinking, emotion, and energy that can tell her the well-being of the body itself. “A medical intuitive is a puzzle master,” Ritberger explains of her craft. “It’s a very specific use of intuition for the process of giving a holistic perspective.”

After being declared “medically dead” for just over three minutes in 1981, Ritberger came back to life with the gift of medical intuition. A left-brained analytical researcher by nature, Ritberger was surprised to be suddenly blessed with the Sight to see the auras of others. She now uses this gift as a tool to help others find their path to healing.

“Change your thoughts, you change your body, you change your reality… It’s true!” Whether you well up with anger or have a constantly looming sadness in the back of your mind, you too can use your emotions as a barometer for your physical health. Learn where your emotions are held, physically, within the confines of your body–and how to release those emotions to cure the physical pains that accompany them.

What’s does Hippocrates have to do with spiritual being? What’s the difference between a soul and a spirit? What is the largest living organ in the human body? What is Energy? Tune in to find out the answers to all of these questions and more!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/carol-ritberger.mp3

In this episode, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe interviews Dr. Patty Hlava, author of Living Gratitude. Dr. Patty Hlava is a licensed marriage-family therapist with a Masters degree and a Doctoral degree on the subject. Dr. Hlava’s research focused on the topic of gratitude.

Gratitude is one of the emotions included in “Positive Psychology.” But what is Positive Psychology? Mary and Patty discuss positive emotions and how it can help you feel better, help to manage your problems, and think more clearly.

Even when you’re alone, you may have moments of clarity where you find yourself feeling “so connected to everyone and everything” and, even though this isn’t one of its more recognizable forms: You’re experiencing gratitude. Thankfulness has many beautiful and varied forms. Dr. Patty Hlava discusses the different forms of gratitude (from its more common forms to its complex “spiritual experience” connections), in particular how gratefulness can change and better relationships.

In this interview, Dr. Patty Hlava not only talks about this complex emotion–sharing poignant stories from her own life as well as those of people she’s worked with for her research–but defines it as well.

Gratitude is a “compound emotion” and can benefit your life in many ways: More energy, better responses, less physical pain, better sleep habits, and an overall better felling of well-being. Learning how to harness this positive energy can increase your happiness by 25% or more! Feeling grateful “is one of the things that can literally change people’s lives!”

Most importantly, when you practice good will in your relationships, you come into it with more love, more passion, and more understanding. Dr. Patty Hlava teaches how to use that feeling of thankfulness to get rid of the hostility and resentment in your intimate relationships.

What are you most thankful for? What are you least thankful for? What is gratitude anyway? And how can it benefit you? If you’ve ever wondered, this is the podcast for you!

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dr-patty-hlava.mp3

Discover why Dr. Stuart Brown, author of PLAY: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, has been identified as the foremost “practical champion of the knowledge of play.” Learn how play supports brain development/prevents dementia and depression, enhances health and wellbeing and enables us to live more fully. For more information, please visit www.stuartbrownmd.com.

Listen: http://wellwithinradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/stuart-brown.mp3