The Overwhelmed Brain

This episode dives into the tough realities of childhood bullying and shares strategies for overcoming humiliation with a carefree attitude. It tackles the frustration of dealing with an irrational boss and offers insights on maintaining personal integrity amidst chaos. The conversation shifts to the role of spirituality in healing from trauma, emphasizing how personal beliefs can provide comfort during difficult times. Finally, it distinguishes between empowerment and enabling, urging listeners to foster independence in themselves and others.

The quest for happiness and staying positive is fraught with sadness and negativity, yet the existence of those things is exactly what it takes to experience the totality of a fulfilling life. You can't always be happy, and you wouldn't even know what happiness is if you didn't have the contrast of sadness. At the same time, if your life is full of hardship and pain, maybe happiness never arrives. Then what? Also, today's Ask Paul, I receive a letter from someone who doesn't believe she knows how to, or even deserves, happiness. Whenever she gets around family, she becomes "small" and is afraid to show them her new and improved self: The one who's had all this personal growth and development. She's afraid to move into that space so she stays the fearful child she always felt around them. Family is the hardest part of personal growth. Learn what it takes to be the real you in front of them in today's show. Get out of the mess by going to getoutofthemess.com - Real attorneys giving you legal advice for $20 a month.

Getting into an abusive relationship is a quick path to a horrible future. Getting into a great relationship however can seem like the best thing that ever happened... unless they cheat, then it feels like an abusive relationship, sometimes. If you decide to stay in a relationship where you know infidelity is happening, are you being abused or are you abusing yourself? There's a mindset that kicks in after the initial shock of finding out about the betrayal, and that mindset sets your toleration level to an all time high, causing you to accept more bad behavior. It's not fun and can beat you down until you are completely broken. I talk about that and other relationships woes today. Today's sponsor: http://getoutofthemess.com

Metaphysical malpractice was a term I was unfamiliar with until a friend of mine mentioned to me how a few metaphysical teachers were incongruent in their teachings. They say and teach one thing, but behave an entirely different way in their personal lives. I have some comments on that I share in today's episode. In Ask Paul, I answer an email from someone who is having trouble keeping her cool at work. How do you deal with disorganized coworkers or supervisors who always have a fire that you need to put out? And what if you put that fire out months ago and they still believe it's lit, so they come to you blaming you for something that A: isn't really a problem now and B: thinks you're to blame (even though they don't realize it isn't actually a problem)? There are steps you can take for sure. In the final segment I talk about what it takes to empower others without really doing much but giving them the choice to make a choice.

Childhood is one of those times that many of us wanted to enjoy, but simply couldn't. Some of us had to suffer because of a dysfunctional upbringing, which caused us to create false beliefs about the world when we turned into adults. These beliefs ruined jobs and relationships, and caused us to question our lives by saying, "Is this all there is? Is this all I have to look forward to for the rest of my life?"Unfortunately, we don't always have the right tools or resources we need to be "functional" after we leave a dysfunctional situation. Mainly because we create beliefs about the world that we think are absolutely true. We bring these "truths" with us as we go through life, then we can't figure out why we keep feeling miserable all the time. This isn't everyone's story, but at one time, it was mine. I share it in this special episode where Alen Standish of innereffort.com interviews me about my past, my relationships, my judgment issues, and what tools I used to get out of the funk I was in for over 35 years of my life. Thanks to innereffort.com and getoutofthemess.com

There's a reason we run into obstacles that stop us from getting what we want in life, and that has to do with what we are aligned with most at a deeper, unconscious level. When we are out of alignment with that, we fall off course and things fall apart. Today I give you a quote, well really a question, to stick on your refrigerator, cubicle wall, bathroom mirror and everywhere else you'll see it so that you stay on course and keep moving along the path on which you are most aligned. In today's Ask Paul segment, I read an email from someone who is disrespected, dismissed and pretty much ignored in her relationship. She's been thinking about divorce, but can't stand the idea of "another failed marriage". One thing I stress to when you don't have a marriage, at least the way it "should" be, then you can't have a "failed marriage" either. The marriage certificate tells the world you're married, but if marriage is being miserable every day... then you're not really married at all. So perhaps it's time to celebrate a successful divorce! Or not - because it's definitely a personal choice that has a number of possible outcomes. Finally, I talk about a neat brain trick where you can have a memory that feels bad, but dissolve or at least greatly diminish the negative emotions connected to it. It doesn't mean you can't learn from it and take those learnings into your future, but you can move forward without having to continue feeling bad about things you can't do anything about. It's not a cure all bad emotion destroyer, but it may just give you enough to not feel so bad about particular events that happened in your life. Today's episode is brought to you by Asha with getoutofthemess.com

Henrik Ibsen said that "Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt." When I was in my first long-term relationship, I wanted to get married, and fortunately, so did she! However, I said we'll get married as soon as we're both out of debt. The next 6 years of being engaged and not being married really made it clear what my priorities were in love, money and life. We never did get married, and soon we were split. Fast forward a few years and I make the same commitment to another woman. This time, we did it, we got out of debt! In fact, the day we got married, we were debt free. AND... we were also flat broke. We had nothing left. We lost our jobs, our apartment, our savings... all gone. And we ended up having to be a part of the welfare system while being sheltered by loving family. BUT... we were out of debt!I guess you have to be careful what you wish for, and be very specific what you mean!We got married the day we were broke. A friend got us a hotel room, and we enjoyed two days of "honeymoon". Henrik has a point. During my first relationship, we were in debt. During my second relationship, we were completely out of debt, and broke. In both relationships, there was financial trouble and it affected us. So what's the secret? Can there be success in a relationship when there are money issues?Yes and...Any and all problems will be amplified because of other problems. That's true with anything. When you have one problem, other problems tend to get amplified because one problem isn't resolved. And problems tend to compound. You might wonder why your partner brings things up from the past. It's because those things are still somehow unresolved - and the problems of today compound those original problems. What's the solution? For me, it was to get single, regroup, and re-order my priorities in life so I didn't bring my dysfunctions into the next relationship. I had money dysfunctions, so I needed to own those and change those without involving anyone else. In the past, we took it on together. But now I realize I need to fix myself before I can do anything about "us". That's the trick. If you're in a relationship, and you have challenges, then prioritize what needs to be tackled first (the biggest problem) and resolve that. Once you get some relief from one problem, your mind can be a bit more clear for the next one. Now, my challenges are mine, and hers are hers. YES we help each other and YES we work together when possible, but at the end of the day, I know I have my own stuff to work on, and it expands who I am when I'm able to really dig into myself and address what's happening inside me. We can come together and we can ask for help, but we also know that we, as individuals still have to do our own internal work. This is an empowered place to be. It's not a reliance on someone else, it's an alliance with someone else to agree to be there as much as you can for the other person, but returning to yourself to continue learning, growing and evolving to be the best "you" you can be for the other person. I still work on this daily. I talk about this on today's episode, and I also share a letter from someone with $200,000 in debt. Hmm, someone who's had money challenges talking about someone who has money challenges... is this going to work? ;)Let's find out! Free month of audible!

If you're a "yes person", you find yourself saying "Yes" to others. However, what you're really doing is saying "No" to yourself. Doing this causes you to reach burn out after a number of years. You get jaded by friends and family taking advantage of your "generosity", all because you're too nice to say no. There's a way out of this, and it will take baby steps, but it's time to gain some empowerment and start saying "Yes" to yourself. In the Ask Paul segment, I read a letter from a woman who starts to feel fear when talking to people, whether that's because she feels stupid or like she's being judged. No matter what causes it, I talk about a couple of approaches that take the fear out of the equation. Finally, I change things up and talk about animals and emotions. In my opinion, there is absolutely emotions in animals - it's a non-issue, but no matter what you believe, this segment explains my experience with the subject and how I can tell emotions are at play and not just animal instinct. Episode brought to you by getoutofthemess.com

There are jerks in our lives, at least that's what we tend to call them sometimes, that just never stop getting on our nerves. We hope they act differently, but they never change their ways. Is there anything we can do? Well, we can open our hearts and see what happens. Scary thought! And why would we want to open our hearts to someone who acts so badly toward us? Find out in this episode. Also, in the Ask Paul segment, I read a message from someone who is in a long-distance relationship and isn't sure what to do since it will be three years until they can be together. What would you do? Would you wait? Could you? Finally, what's your contingency plan in case of a break-up or divorce? Do you have one? I'm not talking about your heart. I'm talking about your finances mostly. Some people are left with nothing after a break-up because they believe that what they had would never end. The truth is hard to face that it is possible that what you have could end, so maybe it's a good idea to take care of yourself at least a little bit in the relationship too - that way if it all goes down, you won't have so many pieces to pick up and put back together.

How can you live with chronic pain? How do you get through the suffering? Is there a path to freedom or is it a never-ending event that will plague you for the rest of your life? Also, in the Ask Paul segment, I receive a letter from a gay man in his 40s suffering from a deep depression who cannot get a good night's sleep and hasn't "come out" to show the world the way he truly wants to live and what he really wants to say. Chronic physical pain is part 1 and chronic emotional pain is part 2. Episode bought to you by getoutofthemess.com - Actual attorneys for less than a dollar a day.