Strategies for Living | Podcast on RSS.com

Strategies for Living

Strategies for Living

by David C. McMillian, Ph.D. and Lauren Leon McMillian, M.S.

Mental Health Spirituality

Season 33

Flipping the Iceberg: What’s Really Beneath Your Relationships with Charisse Walker

What’s really happening beneath the surface of your relationships? Author and relationship strategist Charisse Walker joins David and Lauren to explore Flipping the Iceberg—the hidden beliefs, childhood experiences, emotional triggers, patterns, and expectations we bring into love. Discover why knowing yourself may be the first step toward healthier communication, stronger relationships, and choosing a partner with your eyes wide open. Find out more: www.charissewalker.com Original Airdate: 9/9/2026

The Braided Prescription: Small Rituals, Big Impact with Dr. Beth Ricanati

Strategies for Living welcomes physician and author Dr. Beth Ricanati to explore The Braided Prescription and the surprising wisdom found in the ancient ritual of making challah. Discover how simple, intentional practices can reduce stress, cultivate mindfulness, embrace imperfection, strengthen community, and transform everyday routines into meaningful rituals for living well. Find out more at https://bethricanatimd.com/ Original Airdate: 9/8/2026

From Strength to Strength: Finding Purpose in the Second Half of Life

What If Getting Older Is the Point? What if aging isn't about losing who you were, but discovering what you're becoming? David, Lauren, and Jay Murrell explore ideas from Arthur C. Brooks' From Strength to Strength, including the shift from fluid to crystallized intelligence, redefining success, letting go of external validation, investing in relationships, accepting mortality, and finding deeper purpose in the second half of life. Original Airdate: 9/3/2026

Dicks I've Met Online: Dating, Desire, and Discovering Yourself

What happens when online dating becomes less about finding someone else, and more about finding yourself? Author Bren Merrick joins David and Lauren to discuss Dicks I’ve Met Online, her candid, funny and deeply personal journey through midlife, marriage, online dating, intimacy and the search for validation. Along the way, they explore boundaries, self-worth, relationships, sexuality and what can happen when we finally stop asking what others want from us and begin asking what we want for ourselves. Original Airdate: 9/2/2026

What Is Your Body Trying to Tell You? with Marcel Vögeli

What if the body is communicating something we’ve learned to ignore? David and Lauren talk with Marcel Vögeli, legacy voice for Christiane Beerland’s The Key to Self-Liberation, about the mind-body connection, psychosomatics, chronic illness, emotional patterns, and learning to approach symptoms with curiosity rather than blame. Marcel shares his own journey with autoimmune disease and explores how listening more deeply to the body may become a powerful tool for self-awareness, personal growth, and healing, alongside appropriate medical care. Original Airdate: 9/1/2026

The Friend Machine: Can AI Replace Human Connection

Can artificial intelligence ease loneliness, or could frictionless AI relationships change what it means to connect? David and Lauren explore Victoria Hetherington’s The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship, examining AI companions, relationships, therapy, grief, intimacy and the growing tension between technological connection and authentic human experience. As AI becomes increasingly woven into our lives, the question may not be whether we embrace it, but how we use it without losing what makes us human. Original airdate: 8/28/2026

Woo-Woo...or Science? Ideas We Used to Dismiss

What if some of the ideas we once dismissed as “woo-woo” deserve a second look? David, Lauren and Jay explore the fascinating intersection of ancient wisdom, psychology and modern science: from auras and the biofield to sound healing, gratitude, intuition, chanting and the psychology of “acting as if.” Along the way, skepticism meets curiosity as they ask a bigger question: What might we discover when we’re willing to look beyond the label? Original Airdate: 8/27/2026

When Love Leaves You Confused: Recognized Narcissistic Abuse

Narcissism and gaslighting have become social-media buzzwords, but what does narcissistic abuse actually look like? David and Lauren talk with Dr. Valerie Sussman, author of Love, Lies, and Narcissists in Disguise, about covert narcissism, love bombing, gaslighting, emotional abuse and the subtle confusion that can signal something isn't right. They explore why intelligent, compassionate people can become trapped in these relationships, and how survivors can rebuild self-trust, reclaim their identity and discover life, light and even love on the other side. Find out more: www.valeriesussman.com Original Airdate: 8/26/2026

Rewiring the Brain: The Promise of TMS Therapy

What if treating depression could begin by changing the way the brain itself functions? David and Lauren talk with Kathryn Thomas and Benita Collard of Neurostem about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): a non-invasive approach to mental health treatment. Discover how TMS works, its connection to neuroplasticity, and its potential role in treating depression, OCD and PTSD, especially when medication and talk therapy haven't provided enough relief alone. Find out more: www.neurostemllc.com Original Airdate: 8/25/26

Psychology Lessons We All Need to Know

What if a few simple psychology lessons could change the way you experience your life? David, Lauren and Jay explore practical truths about the mind, from recognizing that thoughts aren’t facts and feelings are temporary to setting healthy boundaries, changing your self-talk, letting go of comparison and choosing progress over perfection. Discover how small shifts in awareness, habits and perspective can create meaningful change in the way you think, feel and live. Original Airdate: 8/24/2026

1 of 33