The Positive Mind

Home: It's a Feeling

The feeling of home is as universal as it is personal. Home can be a place of safety and refuge, or chaos and instability. No matter which, home is the place you identify with in some way, it carries meaning, memories and shapes your identity.Homesickness is a powerful feeling that something just isn't right, coupled with a longing for things to be stable, predictable, familiar and safe. But, it is a fact of life that everybody has to leave home; how a person manages that stress can say a lot about their relationship with themselves and their ability to take a sense of "home" with them wherever they go.Kevin and Niseema talk about how homesickness can lead to depression, a sense of being lost, rootless and adrift. It's the mysterious and universal feeling of home that seems to root us in our very being, providing a shelter for those days and times when all seems lost.------------------------------------For more information or support contact Kevin or Niseema at: info@thepositivemindcenter.com, or call 212-757-4488. You can sign up for our weekly newsletter at www.tffpp.org.These are challenging times and we hope this episode served to validate and ease your anxiety about what you may be experiencing. Please feel free to also suggest show ideas to the above email. Thank you for listening,Kevin and Niseemawww.tffpp.orghttps://www.kevinlmhc.comwww.niseema.comwww.thepositivemindcenter.comPRODUCTION CREDITSOpening Music : Another Country, Pure Shadowfax, ShadowfaxBreak Music: Original Composition by Geoff BradyEnd Music : TFFPP Theme - Giullian Goiello for The Foundation for Positive PsychologyThe Positive Mind is produced with the help of:Engineering: Geoff BradyResearch and Production Associate: Connie Shannon Website Design and End Music: Giullian GioelloMarketing and PR: Jen Maguire, Maguire PR, jen@maguirepr.com 

Hygge: The Danish Art of Feeling Good

This week Kevin and Niseema talk about the Danish word "Hygge," which is a way of creating comfort and ease in your life.  It is amazing how many ways we can create more comfort and ease in our daily rituals, from how we wake up in the morning, to how we live our day, to how we go to sleep.In the fall/winter season, there are so many ways to add pleasure to our lives, like wearing cozy wool socks, to making a cup of hot apple cider or hot chocolate. For the Danish, Hygge is a way of life, which explains why they are one of the happiest countries in the world.______________________________For more information or support contact hosts Kevin O'Donoghue LMHC or Niseema Dyan Diemer SEP  at: info@thepositivemindcenter.com, or call 212-757-4488. You can sign up for our weekly newsletter at www.tffpp.org.These are challenging times and we hope this episode served to validate and ease your anxiety about what you may be experiencing. Please feel free to also suggest show ideas to the above email. Thank you for listening,Kevin and Niseemawww.tffpp.orghttps://www.kevinlmhc.comwww.niseema.comwww.thepositivemindcenter.comPRODUCTION CREDITSOpening Music : "Another Country", Performed by: Shadowfax, Written and Produced by: Chuck Greenberg, Source:Windham Hill/LegacyBreak Music: "Come Away With Me." Performed and Written by: Nora Jones,  Produced by: Arif Mardin, Nora Jones, Jay Newland, Craig Street,  Source: Blue Note RecordsEnd Music : "You Still Believe in Me." Performed by M.Ward, Written by: Brian Wilson and T Asher, Produced by: --, Source:Merge Records.The Positive Mind is produced with the help of:Engineering: Geoff BradyProducer: Connie Shannon Website Design and End Music: Giullian GioelloMarketing and PR: Jen Maguire, Maguire PR, jen@maguirepr.com

The Vagus Nerve Connection

This week, Kevin and Niseema talk about the Vagus Nerve, a major nerve in the body that begins at the brain-stem and travels all the way through the vital organs to the sacrum. The Vagus Nerve helps control several muscles of the throat and voice, plays a major role in regulating the heart rate and keeps the gastrointestinal tract in working order. The Vagus Nerve has also been shown to have a very strong connection to how you manage stress. A weak Vagus Nerve is a major indicator that you have been suffering from prolonged and chronic stress. Niseema introduces a powerful tool for healing and balancing the Vagus Nerve called The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP).  The SSP delivers a passive stimulation of the Vagus Nerve to help increase its capacity to regulate the "fight or flight'' part of our nervous system which contributes to symptoms of anxiety and PTSD, and access feelings of safety and connection.----------------------------------------For more information or support contact Kevin or Niseema at: info@thepositivemindcenter.com, or call 212-757-4488. You can sign up for our weekly newsletter at www.tffpp.org.These are challenging times and we hope this episode served to validate and ease your anxiety about what you may be experiencing. Please feel free to also suggest show ideas to the above email. Thank you for listening,Kevin and Niseemawww.tffpp.orghttps://www.kevinlmhc.comwww.niseema.comwww.thepositivemindcenter.comPRODUCTION CREDITSOpening Music : Another Country, Pure Shadowfax, ShadowfaxBreak Music: Original Composition by Geoff BradyEnd Music : TFFPP Theme - Giullian Goiello for The Foundation for Positive PsychologyThe Positive Mind is produced with the help of:Engineering: Geoff BradyResearch and Production Associate: Connie Shannon Website Design and End Music: Giullian GioelloMarketing and PR: Jen Maguire, Maguire PR, jen@maguirepr.com

The "Good Child" Syndrome and Resilience, Part 4

In our final show on Resilience, Kevin and Niseema talk about how "programming" in childhood can lead to inflexibility and a low level of resilience as an adult.Most often, children are programmed through negativity: "Don't do that. Don't touch that. Don't complain." This can force a child to create a "good child" persona that causes them to detach from a feeling self. They will carry this "good child" persona into adulthood, losing the capacity to be real to themselves, their friends or any future partner. Kevin and Niseema talk about ways to undo this terrible and destructive syndrome.----------------------------------------------For more information or support contact hosts Kevin O'Donoghue LMHC or Niseema Dyan Diemer SEP  at: info@thepositivemindcenter.com, or call 212-757-4488. You can sign up for our weekly newsletter at www.tffpp.org.These are challenging times and we hope this episode served to validate and ease your anxiety about what you may be experiencing. Please feel free to also suggest show ideas to the above email. Thank you for listening,Kevin and Niseemawww.tffpp.orghttps://www.kevinlmhc.comwww.niseema.comwww.thepositivemindcenter.comPRODUCTION CREDITSOpening Music : "Another Country", Performed by: Shadowfax, Written and Produced by: Chuck Greenberg, Source:Windham Hill/LegacyBreak Music: "Trouble Man." Performed and Written and Produced by: Marvin Gaye, Source: MotownEnd Music : TFFPP Theme - Giullian Goiello for The Foundation for Positive PsychologyThe Positive Mind is produced with the help of:Engineering: Geoff BradyProducer: Connie Shannon Website Design and End Music: Giullian GioelloMarketing and PR: Jen Maguire, Maguire PR, jen@maguirepr.com

Resilience: Strain and Stress, Part 3

In Part 3 of our series on Resilience, Kevin and Niseema talk about the difference between "strain" and "stress." Notice what happens when we change a familiar word like "stress" into a more accurate description like "strain."  Are you "strained out?" One of the most universal sources of stress is strain. It can be a physical or psychological strain, and it can be caused by many different factors. For example, if you work long hours and don’t have time to spend with your family, that’s likely to cause some level of mental strain. Most of us have been dealing with a lot of strain since COVID began in addition to its aftermath, feeling our inner resources "strained" leading to "stress." Join Kevin and Niseema as they discuss strain, stress and how we can use those as tools to build resilience.