Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw

In this fascinating and reflective episode, Dr. Shaw dives into the aspect of human nature by which we DON'T learn from our own mistakes.  We are often presented with an answer or an opportunity or a gift of sorts, and we reject it because we either don't recognize it or because we are so caught up in our own baggage.  Here, she relays an example via a story from the life of a friend of hers, and with that situation as a launching ...

In this very brief but important episode, Dr. Shaw offers advice on how to disarm a situation in which your child, or even an adult, is suddenly facing anxiety.   It's quite common, and her guidance is spot on.  Essentially she says to validate the person's feelings who is experiencing anxiety, and then support them.  There is also a quick discussion on strategies to implement in this situation, but truly, the "validate and support...

In this brief but very helpful episode, Dr. Shaw gives us some solid guidance on dealing with the ups and downs of our emotions and feelings.  She begins by acknowledging that we all have ever-changing feelings based on the news that we receive or the experiences that we have.  That conversation then leads into her discussion about responding to children who are not in a good state of mind based on either simple disappointment or w...

In this episode, Dr. Shaw shares an illustrative example of how she and a friend separately and for different reasons changed their personal stories about certain situations and that change of story change the outcome of the situation.  She begins by relating some perspective on her podcast series and what each week's audio is about, and then the discussion evolves into some real world examples of how adult behavior can be altered ...

In this episode, Dr. Shaw continues to examine the ways in which we trap ourselves into a layer of negativity because the feeling we may be having is labeled as negative.  She examines words like "disappointment" or "melancholy" and explains that while we all have feelings that come from negatively stimuli, we need to transform ourselves out of that negativity through self-examination and the motivation to do better.   She also poi...

In this week's episode, Dr. Shaw picks up where she left off in the last episode by continuing to discuss how to release the negativity in many of our interactions.  Specifically, she looks at how we use certain words and hold their definitions as inherently negative... words like punishment or mistake or disappointment.   She also discusses how when we praise someone, particularly our children, and our praise is insincere, what ar...

In this brief but direct episode, Dr. Shaw reiterates one of her favorite themes and that is to not be the cause of your own suffering.  Often when we are disappointed, we accept the outcome.  Instead, she recommends that when you encounter a response to something that runs counter to the result you want, look at the situation as an invitation to let go of your attachments and explore another avenue.  That exploration can be exciti...

In this episode Dr. Shaw takes a look at our lives that are filled with excuses, and those excuses are born out of our preferences.  She admits that she is always assigning meaning to things, and she wonders aloud what life would be like without our preferences.  She uses a friend and her daughter as an illustrative example... the friend's daughter says she has a condition that makes her behave in a certain way, and that may very w...

In this episode, Dr. Shaw begins by describing a scenario in which a teen or an adolescent is being provocative and looking to bait you into a fight.  When you are baited in this manner, the way you stop yourself from over-reacting or reacting too quickly, she recommends that you pause and ask yourself, "Does this serve me?"   The answer is probably not because you don't want to answer confrontation with more confrontation.  At the...

In this personal episode, Dr. Shaw shares the tale of a recent family vacation that taught here a lesson or two.  One of the key things learned from this experience was that a family dynamic is infinitely better when everyone is on board so to speak.  If someone doesn't want to be there or doesn't pull their weight whatever that happens to be, it upsets the entire dynamic and forces others to do an unfair share.  During Dr. Shaw's ...

In this brief episode, Dr. Shaw explores what it really means to ask for what we want in life.  She begins with some clear and simple examples of what it's like to ask for what we need, and more importantly, she points out that we need to be prepared for the consequence of not getting what we ask for.  She shares that personally, she didn't ask her family for anything growing up because she was too concerned that it would be hurtfu...

In this brief but fascinating episode, Dr. Shaw examines what happens when we experience fear in a social situation.   She begins by sharing that when she personally feels the most amount of fear, that's when she needs to have the most control... and when she's not afraid she needs the least control.  She feels that it's a natural tendency for all of us, and she shares some real life examples of how and why that occurs.  She also d...

In this episode, Dr. Shaw takes a quick look at how it plays out when a relationship is perhaps coming to an end.  She begins by sharing some advice that she had shared with friends of hers who were struggling in their relationship.  She leans of personal experience in order to lay the ground work for recognizing that sometimes relationships simply have an expiration date, and when we force a relationship to last longer than it sho...

Dr. Shaw begins by outlining her motivation for creating this particular podcast, and that rationale is to examine how we are when we feel our feelings.  It begins with the fact that we are taught from a very early age that we should have only happy feelings and that life is filled with happy endings.  Dr. Shaw feels that it's wrong action to think that way, and that what we need to strive for is the realization that feelings come ...

In this brief episode, Dr. Shaw examines the emotional rollercoaster that can occur when we respond negatively to a situation.   Her world view incorporates the notion that nothing is simply one way... there are (at least) two sides to everything... and that it's important that we teach that approach to our children.   Our children can often face disappointments, but they need to understand, even at a young age, that the negative s...

In this very brief but energized episode, Dr. Shaw uses a personal story and experience to once again illustrate that our children are listening to us, even when we think they are not. Her story is a cute one revealing her passion for saving 5-dollar bills.  As it happens, a youngster around age 7 heard her talk about her strong belief in saving 5's, and he is now doing the same thing.  Why?  Because our children do listen and resp...

In this very personal episode, Dr. Shaw examines what happens when we have a negative reaction.  She shares a situation when she experienced a moment of internal panic.  She points out that the moment passed quickly, and that occurred because she let the emotions flow.  The negativity was discharged by simply letting it go.  A major strategy that allowed the moment to pass was that she allowed herself to fully react without suppres...