Give It Forward Together with Denise Berger Ed.D.

I am so excited to welcome Dr. Denise Berger on the show this week!

Her dissertation was on Corporate Social Responsibility, “Doing it the Right Way!”

She walks the talk!

I have witnessed her integrative social conscious teaching style first hand as I have had the honor of being a guest lecturer at her “Leadership and Service” class within the Master’s program for Social Entrepreneurship and Change at Pepperdine’s Graduate School of Education for the last three years.

Recently she has launched her new company Aliki Designs which has a give it forward together initiative with each jewelry piece. Listen to the show to hear more about this “altruism in action” vision that she and I align with:

 

Guest Commentary

 

I am appreciative of and humbled by the invitation to be on Dr. Denise’s podcast. When Dr. Denise and I were talking, I shared my favorite ancient Greek quotes: “a society grows great when old people plant trees whose shade they know they shall never enjoy.” This quote establishes a foundational intention for my work and in my life. It helps me to lead with gratitude for the potential of what is in the now,and the meaningful impact we can have – in the present – on the future. This thinking dovetails elegantly with what Dr. Denise mentioned as her values: awareness, self-love and altruism. I believe our shared values is what created the synergy for our ongoing conversations – both as co-creators and as conversationalists.

 

Yes, that does sound lovely, doesn’t it!  Ideal, utopian, and just neat. And let’s be even more frank. I get to have these views because I won the birth lottery and have had access to privilege my whole life. So, I have not lived at the bottom of the proverbial pyramid where lofty self-actualized goals come sparingly. By the same token, I have not led the elite silver platter life either. I have worked hard to earn my stripes and gain knowledge and skills through discipline, responsibility, long hours, collaboration, and tenacity. And I have had my share of bumps and bruises. I have experienced gender inequality in the workforce and personal and professional betrayal – the scam, the lie, the arrogance, the empty promises.

 

Alongside these experiences, none is more poignant and demanding of any of us to grow and learn than tragedy. As I mention in the interview, I was in the World Trade Center on 9/11. In the podcast, we do not go into the details of that day extensively. For me, the more poignant story comes from the choices I made afterwards in striving to live with greater awareness, meaning and purpose.  It is when we all have been emerging from such devastation that the ancient Greek quote above has resonated. My life was spared on 9/11. I was on the 103rdfloor in a meeting. I left the building and proceeded to the ground as soon as the first plane hit the tower. I didn’t hesitate. I was methodical. I was keenly aware of the intuitive state I entered and the conversation in my head. Time slowed down to allow me to be attentive to these inner voices. I have often reflected on these inner workings. But, in all honesty, I was lucky. Truly lucky…. because, I had many friends and colleagues that did not make it out that day, and I cannot say that my inner voices were the only ones kicking in. No.  Instead? Timing. Luck. My good friend was in the first tower. That tower was hit first because that plane took off from the airport at a point in time that brought it to New York about 17 minutes earlier than the second plane that took off from a closer airport that hit my tower. I was a block away from the building when that happened.

 

Since that tragic day, and (strangely… so strangely) the luckiest day of my life, I have been acutely aware that I must live life purposefully. I think about my legacy and how I can inspire others to leave their own meaningful legacy. I have shifted careers. I stepped aside from global Fortune 500 business, pursued a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, and seek to elevate leaders to their full potential. (Note: if you have a pulse, you are a leader.) I consult with teams. I advise individuals. I help individuals and organizations develop leadership efficacy, strengthen culture and operational effectiveness, and build meaningful impact in society. I volunteer to support the growth of non-profits. I am a graduate level professor in leadership studies. And now I am an entrepreneur, having started AlikiDesigns. My jewelry is hand crafted, Greek inspired and everyday elegant. All pieces have a GIFt (Giving It Forward together) component to key organizations that I have vetted, and every piece comes with a positive intention.

 

One of the collections, near-and-dear to Dr. Denise and me, is Aliki One. The special pieces, which were carefully curated, are universally tied to Lama Tenzin Choegyal’s work running an orphanage in the Indian Himalayas. He is a change maker, who brings hope and potential to disadvantaged youth by giving them housing, private education, career opportunities and love. Genetiki, Karthia and Siban bracelets set intentionality in the world toward elevating consciousness and collective impact, creating togetherness while respecting individuality, and defining universal inspiration and the infinite potential of one humanity. We GIFt 21% of purchases in this collection to Lama Tenzin’s projects. To learn more, visit the website alikidesigns.com and on instagram @alikidesigns.

Denise Berger, Ed.D.

 

 

 

 

 

Author & Advocate Kirk Miller on “Chaos to Cured”

What an honor to interview Kirk Miller this week!

“Chaos to Remission” were his powerful words he used to describe his journey from crisis to thriving.

Kirk Miller is the author of “Chaos to Cured”, co-host of the radio show Beyond Clarity, and founder of chaos2cured.com

After overcoming and successfully managing  his emotional and physical challenges he now coaches and helps families, couples and individuals realize there is more to who they are than their diagnosis.

Here is our interview:

Guest Commentary

Kirk Miller

I am extremely honored to be a guest on the Dr. Denise podcast, a show I believe can positively change and enhance the way we talk and communicate about mental health.

When Dr. Denise talks about NeuroStyle, “We all process and perceive information in our own unique way,” she is encompassing a way we can all talk about our mental health, negating the negative labels and misunderstandings we have with mental health, and promoting us to embrace who we are, why we are, and that being different is not bad, but actually something that makes us special.

There is no ‘normal’ in life, and were everyone normal, life would not have the same excitement and creativity that leads to greatness in everything, whether sports, scholastics, art, music, and any endeavor of the heart and mind.

After suffering with physical health throughout much of my life, I was diagnosed with two rare physical illnesses: Linear IgA and erythrocytosis.  I was also diagnosed with Bipolar One, OCD, ADHD, and generalized anxiety.

Having all of these problems was, at first, something that made me feel like less of a man, less of a human, and less of a son, brother, and friend.

In the interview Dr. Denise brought up information (the role of inflammation that is part of many disease processes) which was one of the clues I utilized in helping to lead me to a unique way of treating bipolar, a method and medication which I use now and will continue for the remainder of my days.

I wanted to make sure everyone knew that I did some unique self-experimentation.  It could’ve cost me my life, but no doctor would’ve ever allowed me to follow my instincts.  It is crucial to know that coming off of anabolic steroids can cause many of the same symptoms as bipolar, definitely depression and even suicide and homicide.

Please follow your doctor’s advice and do not take steps towards self-treatment without professional guidance.

If anyone listening to the show has questions, I look forward to being back, but in the meantime, find me on Twitter as @Chaos2Cured or at www.chaos2cured.com.  I’m always there to listen and help in ways I can.  Big or small.

One thing I can say, with complete certainty, is that Dr. Denise shares with us to make the world a more beautiful place where we embrace our struggles, finding the beauty in a tree that clings to the edge of a cliff.  Life is not easy, there is no shame in being different, so Embrace your NeuroStyle and enjoy a great podcast from a wonderful person, doctor, friend, and advocate of all.

Warmly,

~Kirk

 

Embrace Your NeuroStyle

This week we discuss the importance of changing the way we think, talk and act about mental health. This is my heartfelt intention as so many people suffer in silence with the stigma of discussing a diagnosis or feel shame that words cannot describe if they are going through an emotional rough patch.

I have been using the word neurostyle since 2016 with my clients, on shows, on interviews and when I was honored to be guest speaker on “Nurturing Children’s Mental Health” at the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan Medical Society in Dharamshala, India  in 10/18.

Scholars, teachers, patients, and influencers have given me feedback that it is a neutral and nonjudgmental way to talk about the way we all process and perceive the world in our own unique way.

Here is this week’s show, Embrace Your NeuroStyle:

   Commentary:

 ” It’s not often that we get to come up with a new word that’s helpful and inspirational.  But I think my friend, Dr. Denise, has done it!   The word is NEUROSTYLE.   And it’s easy to understand.

Dr. Denise defines NeuroStyle as the unique way in which we each process and perceive the world.

 So why do I think this word can be transformational? While we are making gains in understanding and talking about the importance of mental health, there’s still so much stigma in our world about the way our minds work.  “Oh, he’s bipolar.”  “She’s OCD.”  It can be destructive and debilitating.

Neurostyle is a fresh way of talking about the “style” with which we process the world around us.  Instead of heading into a new relationship and having tell a partner that you’re on medication for anxiety, imagine being able to say, “My neurostyle is that I have more concerns than you do.  So I might be cautious about trying that cliff-diving you like, but you’ll come to enjoy my neurostyle and how I’m careful and considerate with your feelings.

 Teachers, friends and colleagues can talk about individual neurostyle without judgment.   Dr. Denise explains that the names of diagnoses are still important as we all make improvements to our mental health, but hopefully this new word can help young and old as we take on the world around us.”

Emmy Award Winning Cathleen O’Toole, Co-Host of The Dr. Denise Show

Let food be thy medicine! Clean Eating Dirty Sex with Lisa Davis M.P.H.

“Clean Eating Dirty Sex” is an amazing powerhouse nutrition handbook/memoir/cookbook  that you need to have in your hands. NOW. You will love the vulnerability, knowledge, and wisdom that Lisa brings along with the experts in this book!

Listen to our interview:

Lisa Davis has two decades of experience as a health educator and a broadcaster. She has worked as a in a variety of settings as a health educator in the realm of sex, HIV, and Hepatitis C as well as a personal trainer and health coach.  With a master’s degree in public health, she is creator, host, and producer of the syndicated It’s Your Health radio heard on regional NPR as well as host/producer of Talk Healthy Today and Talk Fitness Today by AIM Media (of Clean Eating, Vegetarian Times, and Better Nutrition magazines). She is host/producer of Clean Eating Dirty Sex Naturally Savvy Radio heard online on RadioMD, iHeart Radio Talk, TuneIn, Stitcher, iTunes, UberRadio, and TalkStreamLive.  In addition to developing radio shows, Lisa has created, produced, and hosted health television shows.  Her first show, Health Power was seen on KRUZ-TV in California.  She was also a regular contributor to Carol Alt’s national health TV show on FOX News Channel A Healthy You  Her book, Clean Eating, Dirty Sex: Sensual Superfoods and Aphrodisiac Practices for Ultimate Sexual Health came out in February 2019 with Skyhorse Publishing.

Boundaries!

Serial boundary busters can really push our limits, right?

Tune into this podcast episode with Emmy Award winning cohost Cathleen O’Toole  joining Dr. Denise on the importance of setting healthy boundaries for optimal mental health!

“How do I love myself and set limits to create “win win” situations for self and others?”

Dr. Denise talks about the core ingredients of awareness, self love and altruism to have clear intentions to set clear boundaries!

 

Live Limitless Campaign!

Have you ever been given a new opportunity that pushes your boundaries?

Were you excited? Nervous? Having doubts? All of the above?

 This is when WE grow the most.

Earlier this year I was approached by Elomi Lingerie to help develop thirty challenges as part of their continuing “Live Limitless” campaign.

I asked myself, “Was this a good idea? Is this in alignment with my vision of inspiring others to lead their best lives? Would I be able to pair up with Elomi to bridge ideas that would empower women to reach their fullest potential?”

Yes. Yes. And yes!!

Do you know how excited I am to be working with Elomi on this  “Live Limitless” campaign?

Very.

As a mother, doctor and influencer everything I think about has to do with living my best life and influencing others to do the same.

Elomi’s vision and the Live Limitless Campaign is all about empowering women to embrace both their inner and outer beauty.

It is important that we learn how to be our own best friend and to be present in this moment.

Ask yourself, “How do I make the most out of this moment right NOW?”

This is a key component to allowing ourselves to achieve inner peace and to reach our full potential!

It is important to remember that if 80-90% of the time we are making healthy mind, body and soul choices we are on our way to unlocking our full potential.

The Live Limitless Campaign will challenge you in a way that is fun, thought provoking and meaningful.

Be gentle on your journey, remember it is yours, no one else’s.

If you engage in one or all of the challenges you are on your way to living limitless!

Are you ready to start the challenges?

Right: HERE

xoxo

Dr. Denise

Bridging Science Spirituality and Psychology

Dr. Denise McDermott, M.D., is passionate about helping people create their best lives. Dr. Denise is a contributor to the revolutionary spiritual media Mind Dive app created by Michel Pascal, which includes Deepak Chopra, Gary Schwartz, Eben Alexander, and other luminaries devoted to bridging science, psychology, and spirituality. Dr. Denise believes it’s possible to create better mental health and well-being from a holistic perspective and not have to rely strictly on medication.

Listen

 

“Thank you Reverend Temple Hayes for the honor of being a guest on your show. I intentionally waited until just before  Mother’s Day weekend to share this sacred discussion. We are living at a time in history in which the Divine Feminine is blossoming and allowing a paradigm progression that is opening minds and hearts to new ways of thinking. Your thoughts, words and actions emanate LOVE that transcends beyond this Universe. ~Dr. Denise“

Social Media and the Future of Mental Health: An Interview with Dr. Denise

It was an honor to be interviewed by Jennifer Chiang at SUBCONSCIOUS. We are living at a time in history when kinder communication is essential to our collective well-being.

~Dr. Denise

Subconscious.org

Social Media and the Future of Mental Health: An Interview with Dr. Denise

JENNIFER CHIANG April 19th 2019

With more and more of our communications going online, it sometimes may feel like we as a society haven’t fully figured out how to communicate effectively with one another over text or email. This unfortunately has negative mental health consequences – from increased rates of loneliness to more common misunderstandings between people. How can we foster better communication practices that are more mental health positive in the modern era?

To talk more about this and learn about her journey to become an influencer herself, Subconscious had the honor of speaking with Dr. Denise McDermott, M.D., a medical doctor with board certifications in both Adult and Child Psychiatry and recent speaker at His Holiness’ Body, Mind, and Life Conference. We previously got to learn from her in our recent posts about caring for the whole person and “One Love Thinking”.

Dr. Denise’s absolute passion is bridging science, spirituality and psychology which inspired her to launch an educational mental health website DrDeniseMD.com in 2016 now reaching a global audience of over 100,000 people. Learn more about Dr. Denise at https://www.drdenisemd.com. We highly recommend her podcast!

—

Jen from Subconscious: What do you think of mental health in today’s society, particularly regarding the rise of technology, and how did that inspire you to become an influencer yourself?

Dr. Denise McDermott, M.D.: There’s a real disconnect in society now. People sometimes think they are on their own in the world and they get lonely particularly in this age of online communication. 99% of the time, people are going to communicate very differently if they’re face to face with someone than when they are texting someone or interacting over social media. We also need more positive social media.

Since the late nineties, there’s been an increase in suicide rate in every age group in the United States except for I think women in their seventies. While we can’t do an exact correlation, the late nineties is when the internet took off. I think that there’s a parallel process of mankind almost not being ready to have access to the ability to communicate so much with one another and people not knowing how to self regulate and take sensory breaks to take good care of their own mental health.

I’m not against social media. I’m not against YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. Those mediums are here to stay. For example, my son, he’s like “Oh my gosh, Mom, I want my YouTube channel and I want to get this many likes.” We have to, as a society, face that our children are being raised with iPhones and iPads and that therefore we’re losing a bit of that human connection. So we need to provide the proper tools so that our children and everyone can have meaningful ways of communicating with one another.

A lot of people might have thousands friends on Facebook or thousands of followers, but they could still feel very empty. Real human relationships is almost like a modern day crisis. And for those people who are struggling with anxiety or depression, it’s even harder because a lot more people are feeling lonely these days.

—

This issue is very important to me and I’m so passionate about this. I love my private practice, but I felt like I had to be an influencer. I have to step into my power because I want to leave a legacy.

If we don’t realize the power of our words, thoughts and actions and we don’t have a way to self regulate, it could be detrimental to society. I wish there were classes taught in school about what’s an appropriate thing to say in a text, or hit pause before you do this, or the importance of eye contact and developing real, deep relationships.

You know how we’re taught in school – if you catch on fire, stop, drop and roll, right? I want to have mnemonic like “stop, pause, be personal” because you have to remember before you send off that quick text or if you get emotional.

People are addicted to responses in real time. If at a very young age, all you’re doing is playing video games and you’re winning or you’re getting all these likes on Youtube, you’re just getting conditioned to “me, me, me.” There’s no longer this level of interconnectedness that honors the true human spirit.

I’m going to give you an example. I just relaunched my podcast and when I was interviewing guests and it was about some tough stuff, before I conducted the interview – and this is my own way, so I’m not telling anyone how to do this – I have my Tibetan bowl and I say a prayer. I knew that I was going to discuss something tough and I believe that the energy is immortal and that there’s energy and influence that goes on. I’m not telling other people what to believe, but I integrated my understanding of the universe with the way I do interview; so there’s ways of having a real emotional connection to someone when you’re interviewing with them that’s beyond just feeling like you’re just asking interview questions.

Millennials grew up with this media, but we need to figure out better solutions especially given the increased rates of suicide, depression and loneliness. There are many gifts to social media like we’re able to communicate with the world, but I don’t think we’ve figured out the kindness etiquette just yet.

So I think if everyone had a very respectful way – before they text someone, check their social media – to say, “I’m going to approach today with the highest level of kindness and respect for myself and for others.” If people even just had a comment like that in their mind, they’re going to make different choices on the way they communicate and they’re going to feel much better about themselves.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama talks about it as your mental hygiene. For example, if someone texts you an unkind thing, it’s having the inner thought process of “maybe we should pick up the phone right now because we’re having a misunderstanding and my relationship means so much with you that I want to make sure that you hear my tone of voice.” In fact, I do something that I call Denise-isms, where I have the audio recorder and I just hit the button and say, “Hi, I just want you to know I’m thinking of you. I hope you’re well.” I add these personal touches because people matter to me.

I built a brand for myself because I was so passionate about changing the way we think, talk and act about mental health and different ways of kindness that I decided I got to jump right in to meet the millennials and everyone where they’re at. If I have all this knowledge and wisdom and love and I don’t step in and I don’t spread a positive message or have different ways to reach people, then I’m not going to be able to make the global impact I want to make.

The way we talk about mental health makes me wish that we had programs for children starting at a very young age where they can talk about their neurostyle. For example, say we’re in first grade and someone comes in and talks about neurostyle and tells us that we all have our different styles and that that’s beautiful. One person might want to talk a lot, one person might be shy. One person might get worried when they go to a party, one person might love it. If we just normalize that different mood states and different ways to process and perceive the world were just part of life in a way that was non-stigmatizing, I think people would reach out for help when they’re starting to have depression or severe anxiety or OCD sooner and they wouldn’t suffer as long.

Youth Athletics as Mind Medicine for Life

What an honor to contribute an article in the magazine REBOUND, by a player, for the players and fans. It was distributed to everyone during this Spring 2019 NCAA March Madness!

Rebound Magazine reaches over 250,000 elite readers, and that number grows with each issue. Readers include current and former players of the NBA, WNBA, ABA, and Harlem Globetrotters, as well as NBA and team executives, NBA team owners, and NBA season ticket holders. This particular issue had plenty of reach with the NCAA and college hoops fans.

Here is the article: