We had a great time interviewing our friend and colleague Dr. Amy Johnson about the nature of thought and how it impacts our relationships. As Amy points out, we're all in relationship with our thinking about other people and our thinking about ourselves. We can't be in direct relationship with anyone without experiencing them through thought.
Amy shares how seeing the role of thought in her life, helped her relax around some of the "problems" she imagined would eventually derail her relationship. Once she saw how she was making it up, she was able to be present and enjoy her husband just as he is.
One of the reasons it's so powerful talking to Amy is her ability to seamlessly draw from her knowledge about biology and neuroscience. It's our biology to have preferences, and for the mind to work the way it does -- calculating and assessing -- but realizing there is an invisible force at play that is far more powerful than our brain, helps us to shift our identification from our intellect to the intelligent, formless energy behind life.
We conclude the interview with a set of personal questions about Amy's own relationship, and we were really touched by her responses.
Amy's work centers around helping people who struggle with habits and anxiety as she struggled with this herself for many years. We cannot recommend Amy's work enough, and we outline some of her offerings below in the show notes.
This episode explores:
- We are a spiritual being having human experiences
- Our brains find evidence for whatever we expect
- This understanding is not about transcending the human experience
- The content of conditioning varies, but the same understanding can create a shift for anyone
- We have a greater perspective when the situation isn't about us -- sticky thinking is sticky because we've personalized it.
Show Notes
Amy Johnson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, coach, author, and speaker who shares a groundbreaking new approach that helps people find true, lasting freedom from unwanted habits via insight rather than willpower. She is the author of Being Human (2013), and The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit (2016). In 2017 she opened The Little School of Big Change, an online school that has helped hundreds of people find freedom from anxiety and habits and live a more peaceful life. Enrollment for the Spring is still open! School starts March 1, and enrollment is open until March 4, 2021.
Johnson has been a regularly featured expert on The Steve Harvey Show and Oprah.com, as well as in The Wall Street Journal and Self magazine. Learn more at www.DrAmyJohnson.com.
Feedback
info@therewilders.org
Subscribe and Review in Apple Podcasts
We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast! Rewilding Love is chronological, with a new episode launching each week, and we don’t want you to miss an episode and lose your place. Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts and subscribe!
If you’re enjoying Rewilding Love, please consider leaving us a review. Your review helps other people find our podcast. It is our hope that the guidance we provide in the show will help as many people as possible. Just click here to review. Then click on "Listen on Apple Podcasts." Scroll down to “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review.” Let us know what you think! We look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your feedback.
Listener shout out of the week!
Thank you, skrkdgndy! We hoped it would be helpful for others in the profession as well :)
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy:
OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS POST
Angus & Rohini Ross are “The Rewilders.” Listen to their podcast Rewilding Love. They believe too many good relationships fall apart because couples give up thinking their relationship problems can’t be solved. Many couples don’t know how to navigate low moods, conflict, and emotional reactivity. In this season of the Rewilding Love Podcast, Rohini and Angus help a couple on the brink of divorce due to conflict. Angus and Rohini love working with couples and helping them to reduce conflict and discord in their relationships by pointing them to their innate wisdom and wellbeing. They work with couples who are struggling and couples who would like to deepen the love and intimacy they already have. They co-facilitate private couples' intensives that rewild relationships back to their natural state of love.
Rohini is the author of the ebook Marriage, and they are co-founders of The 29-Day Rewilding Experience and The Rewilding Community. You can also follow Angus and Rohini Ross on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. To learn more about their work visit: TheRewilders.org.