Russ Harris and I recorded this episode about three or four weeks ago, when the world's troubles centered around the challenges with Covid-19 related stay-at-home measures. It's amazing how fast things have changed since then!
In light of the social upheaval as people in the United States and beyond come to grips with tragic examples of racism and injustice, getting irritated by one's family members pales in comparison in terms of personal suffering.
I had briefly thought to shelve this episode in light of this contrast, but the more I thought about it, I believe that the suggestions and thoughts that Russ shared on this episode will be helpful nonetheless.
During our conversation, I decided to open up a bit and really share some things that were bothering me at the time of the recording. I did so not to cry, "woe is me," but rather to mirror some of the challenges and frustrations that many of my friends and colleagues have shared with me, all in the service of giving Russ some material to work with as it were.
Speaking of, Russ actually puts me on the spot and walks me through a specific exercise. He was also kind enough to share with me additional guided exercises, one of which I'll play at the end of this episode. And if you're interested in downloading it, along with a few other exercises, for yourself, he's made them available on his website.
Along the way, Russ fielded a few listener questions, and in the process, we talked about helping kids get back to school in the fall (or springtime from Russ' perspective).
Here are some links to things we discussed:
- The Reality Slap (the book I've given away to friends and colleagues more times than I can count).
- The Happiness Trap (another gem from Russ).
- Actmindfully.com.au. Russ' website that contains many free resources, including audio recordings of guided exercises.
- More free resources from Russ.
- Russ' first visit to the podcast (great explanation of the Choice Point!).
- Tips for finding an ACT therapist.
- Russ' YouTube channel (lots of cool videos!).
This podcast is brought to you with generous support from:
- HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.
- Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings and podcast-specific discounts over at behavioruniversity.com/observations.
- Lastly, I’d like to mention something I don’t bring up all that frequently. I have a membership program for the podcast; think of it as a DIY Patreon… It’s been running for a few years now, and it costs the princely sum of $9/month. Members get access to a private FB group in which they are able to get nearly instantaneous access to the videos of these podcast interviews. The best part is that members get the raw feed. That means no ads, and none of the introductory comments. You just get right to the interview.Another cool thing we do is hold Zoom Hangouts with former guests. We do this about 6 times a year, and it works like this: we schedule a Zoom call, a former guest comes on and joins us, and the members have the opportunity to ask them questions directly.