News and Happenings

We all have anxiety, but not all of us know how to manage it. Janis Whitlock, senior advisor for the Jed Foundation, says a great way to tackle anxiety is to think of it as energy in motion that needs to go somewhere. She says if you can learn to channel this energy and experiment with your own triggers, you’ll be able to lead an anxious-free life. This episode’s practice is about releasing doubt, breathing, and using mindfulness to move through moments of anxiety.

Maureen Iselin has always wanted to be a mom. But as she neared 40 and her most recent relationship came to an end, she realized the traditional nuclear family model wasn’t her only option. Through the help of IUI treatments and a therapist who happened to take the same journey to motherhood, Maureen hopes that being a single mother by choice will not only be a step closer to her life’s purpose, but open her up to a new realm of what motherhood could look like in the 21st century. This episode’s practice is about following your instincts to build your life – even when the circumstances are not what you expected.

Psychologist Ben Miller wants us to think about mental health differently. And he has lots of ideas of how to make that happen. Imagine a world where the people we encounter in our everyday lives — baristas, grocery store clerks, nail techs — were trained to recognize and help someone dealing with a mental health issue. This episode’s practice is about engaging with the people in our community, and feeling more connected to ourselves because of it.

Tembi Locke was 41 years old when she lost her husband to a long illness, leaving her to parent their young daughter alone. Tembi wrote about her journey rebuilding and reimagining her life in her memoir “From Scratch,” which has just been turned into a limited Netflix series. But how are you supposed to move on and find meaning when your partner in life is no longer here? This episode’s practice is about grieving loss and reflecting on the moments, people, and phases of our lives that shaped us into who we are today.

Podcast host Alison Rosen is an empath, which makes it hard for her to step away from the highly personal conversations she has each week on “Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend.” Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries wasn’t something she grew up knowing how to do, but learning the skill as an adult has made a huge difference in her life. This week’s practice is about self-awareness and how to create boundaries for yourself, while making new friends, and as you maintain the relationships that you already have in your life.

Celebrity fitness trainer Simone De La Rue wants to change how we think about and relate to our bodies. She can trace her passion for health, women’s empowerment, and self-care to a pivotal moment in her life – an audition for the Australian Ballet Company where she felt judged solely on her physical appearance. Through her dance-based fitness program Body By Simone, she fights back against unrealistic physical expectations exacerbated by airbrushed and filtered social media photos. This episode’s practice is about self-love and not subjecting yourself to anyone else’s notion of the ideal body, but being in touch with your real body instead.

The pandemic has forced many of us to stop – stop going out, stop seeing friends, stop doing the things that bring us joy. And when we all stopped eating out, it affected millions of restaurant workers in America, including restaurateur Lien Ta. Lien had to close the doors to her first restaurant, Here’s Looking at You, and find new ways to keep her second one afloat. How do you move forward when the future of what you worked hard for is out of your control? This episode’s practice is about grappling with change, grieving expectations, and giving yourself options when you’re forced to shift course.

Loving ourselves is not easy. Author Dr. Kristin Neff says in order to actually love yourself you must be willing to turn toward pain, forgive others, and talk to yourself like you would your dearest friend. And most importantly, you must ask yourself: What’s standing in the way of loving myself even more? This episode’s practice is about giving yourself permission to be kind to yourself – on the good days, the bad ones, and especially when you feel like you have to pretend that everything is OK.

Do you believe in psychic mediums, or are you a skeptic? Turns out you don’t just have to be one or the other. Claire was pretty skeptical when she first met her guest, Medium Fleur Leussink. But by keeping an open mind, Fleur introduced her to a whole new way to connect to the people she’s lost. This episode’s practice is all about how to get in touch with the people we’ve lost – and those we might be thinking about this time of year.

Happy melancholy holidays! In this special crossover episode, Last Day host Stephanie Wittels Wachs sits down with grief expert Claire Bidwell Smith to talk about this past year – as moms, as professionals, and most importantly, as human beings coping with the inevitable grief that creeps up around the holidays. Join us for a conversation on finding meaning, and how to make joy a priority this coming New Year.