It’s uplifting to understand and find meaning in the last year. Part II with Kay Foran is a flow for listeners on art, grief, our purpose, and neuroscience. Join us for an easy dialogue as we address a buffet of juicy topics including how a person may grieve during the pandemic * how imposed social isolation may help some overcome loss * work as anesthesia * social awkwardness * how little control we have over life * how to hear and take responsibility for what we are meant to do in our lives * the spiritual aspect of writing and creating art * trusting our capacities versus our credentials for the work we are called to do * the role of gratitude in making sense of the world * what it means to be a true healer * what increasing our awareness of our brain will give us and society * the hope that Brain Dance foster a vocabulary for talking about our brain and lives. Enjoy. Let it touch your heart, brain, and soul. Katherine Foran, aka Kay, is a rather extraordinary person. She was a key midwife of the Brain Dance book, especially in its early stages. During that same time, she was also involved in advocating for treatment and caring for her soulmate and husband for many years. He suffered from a rare form of cancer and died just at the start of the pandemic in February 2020. Kay is currently an editor at the University of Missouri.  A former journalist who worked in Tulsa, Kansas City, and New York City newsrooms moved to the more predictable schedule of the “other side” when her children were young. Since then, she has served in public relations and communication roles for public organizations and nonprofits in the Chicago area and Detroit before moving to Missouri in 2015. She and her spouse Mark Hinojosa were married for 32 years; he lived seven and a half years fighting multiple myeloma. A beloved professor in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he taught until just days before his death. They have three grown children whom they raised in Oak Park, Illinois. That’s where Kay first encountered me, her across-the-street neighbor and what she has called "the gifts of our warm friendship — and always actionable and inspiring writing." I am so grateful for our friendship and all her gifts. I am excited about the next steps in her own life.  Find her on LinkedIn. 

Writing to Find Ourselves & Each Other She helped with my first book and then we lost touch. She thought we were no longer friends since when she did see me, I seemed distant and disengaged. Years later, she read a draft of my new manuscript and realized what happened. Such began a journey of writing that revealed both secrets and truths and birthed a book called Brain Dance. So often we can make assumptions about what people are feeling or thinking but our assumptions may be wrong. This is especially true when that person has gone through a life-altering experience like brain trauma, an invisible injury. This is an episode about friendship, invisible injury, assumptions, art, creating, co-creating, and meeting life on life's terms. This conversation is the first in a two-part interview for the Genius Podcast series.  This one focuses on: What does it take to be truly helpful to another’s creative process? How do we help another dig into her own story and find the courage, structure, and words to tell it? Who gets to do this work of being a book editor or even midwife? And, who decides? What does it mean to help another writer when your own life is consumed by the unthinkable? How do we accept the gift of a brilliant friend's expertise given freely? Katherine Foran, aka Kay, is a rather extraordinary person. She was a key midwife of Brain Dance, especially in its early stages. During that same time, she was also involved in advocating for treatment and caring for her soulmate and husband for many years. He suffered from a rare form of cancer and died just at the start of the pandemic in February 2020. Kay is currently an editor at the University of Missouri.  A former journalist who worked in Tulsa, Kansas City, and New York City newsrooms, she moved to the more predictable schedule of the “other side” when her children were young. Since then, she has served in public relations and communication roles for public organizations and nonprofits in the Chicago area and Detroit before moving to Missouri in 2015. She and her spouse Mark Hinojosa were married for 32 years; he lived seven and a half years fighting multiple myeloma. A beloved professor in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he taught until just days before his death. They have three grown children whom they raised in Oak Park, Illinois. That’s where Kay first encountered me, her across-the-street neighbor and what she has called "the gifts of our warm friendship — and always actionable and inspiring writing." I am so grateful for our friendship and all her gifts. I am excited about the next steps in her own life. Be sure to also tune in for the second of this two-part series, it will focus on life grieving during the pandemic. Find her on LinkedIn.

A long-awaited conversation with a leader in the field of health psychology from Boston, Dr. Sarah Gray. In this episode, you will gain her expertise on health psychology and brain health from the many roles she has in her career including program director, instructor at the Harvard Medical School, researcher, and psychotherapist. She was drawn to this field early on, having come from a family of healers. Dr. Gray collaborated on a team of other experts in a pivotal project called the "U.S. National Impact Report," which studied the emotional impact of COVID-19 and developed a reliable and valid instrument for other researchers to use. Dr. Gray read Brain Dance in advance of the release, and shares her experience working with patients who have been diagnosed with, or might be experiencing traumatic brain injury or Post-Concussion Syndrome. She also shares her experience working with individuals who have long-lasting brain impairments from COVID-19, many resembling chronic brain injuries. She also lets us into her more personal passions, sharing about her love for art, and how she sometimes uses art therapy as a means of exploration and reflection. Biography: Sarah Gray, Psy.D. is a Harvard Medical School Instructor, and a clinical health psychologist in Boston Area hospitals and at her private practice, Integrative Psychology, PC in Arlington, MA. She provides psychotherapy, behavioral medicine, and biofeedback and neurofeedback to her patients and has a particular area of specialty and interest in treating patients who have experienced the effects of a brain injury. 

Dr. Inna Khazan is a maven in mindfulness, an author of pivotal articles and books on it, and also an advance reader of Brain Dance -- a medical memoir. Mindfulness is a term many people use, but may not truly understand. You will learn from the best, what it is and how to use this superpowerful tool to cope with the stress of our lives today. You'll learn what her day-to-day life is like as a mindfulness expert and; how she even uses the tool with her own kids.  You’ll also hear her reflections on Brain Dance, what it’s like to read it, and what readers will take. away. Tune into this episode for an inspiring conversation. Biography Inna Khazan, Ph.D., BCB is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, where she teaches and supervises trainees. She is a clinical psychologist specializing in health psychology and performance excellence training using biofeedback and mindfulness-based approaches. Dr. Khazan the Boston Center for Health Psychology and Biofeedback founder and works with clients on optimizing their health and performance. Recognized as a pioneer in mindfulness-based biofeedback, Dr. Khazan is a popular speaker at national and international conferences on the topics of biofeedback and mindfulness. She has conducted biofeedback and mindfulness training for notable institutions in the US and abroad, including the US Navy Special Warfare, US Army Special Forces, and the Stuttgart Opera and Ballet Company. Dr. Khazan serves as president of the board of directors for the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy (IMP), board member for the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB), and Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA), where she is currently chair-elect. Dr. Khazan writes for Psychology Today, is the author of numerous journal articles and three books, including the highly-regarded Clinical Handbook of Biofeedback: A Step-by-Step Guide to Training and Practice with Mindfulness, and the popular Biofeedback and Mindfulness in Everyday Life: Practical Solutions for Improving Your Health and Performance.

Physical therapy (PT) has been a game-changer for me over the years. Whether it's injured knee, shoulder, or back, PT gives you tools and keeps you moving, doing things so other issues of mood and health don’t crop up as you heal. Maddie Girardi and I have a relationship different than everyone else I have interviewed in all my podcasts so far. In addition to her managing a large, high-profile Chicago physical therapy clinic, being a pretty extraordinary person in her field, an advance reader of Brain Dance, she is also my physical therapist. You will love this episode. It's a short, funny, and fascinating conversation that will lift your day. You'll learn about physical therapy today, who can benefit from it, brain injury, why people don’t get treatment for it. You'll also get a sense of what it's like to live in downtown Chicago during the pandemic and location of protests and riots, being newlywed, and having a husband who works in the restaurant industry during shutdowns.   Here are some of the takeaways available for you in this episode: How to recognize you have brain trauma, even if no one else sees it. How important these brain awareness conversations are for helping ourselves and the people we love. Just a little background on my injury we make reference to in conversation. It’s what I refer to as a “pandemic injury.” I had shoulder pain that got pretty severe after the pandemic moved into full swing. Little by little, like many people, my posture had gotten worse from days of telehealth. At night, I seem to have slept like a tightly wrapped little cocoon under stress.  My body was telling the story.  By the way, if you are lucky enough to have health insurance, chances are likely it will be cover physical therapy for posture pain and other injuries. Do check. If you don’t have insurance, it may still a worthy investment for even a few sessions. It doesn’t just take away your pain, it gives you your life back. Biography: Maddie Girardi is a PT in the downtown Chicago area and has been practicing for almost 8 years. She attended Indiana University for her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science and attended Northwestern University in Chicago, IL where she received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree and licensure. She works and manages a high-profile clinic in River North and specializes in treating patients with chronic pain and performing arts-related injuries. She is one of the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago physical therapists and helps them recover and maintain their bodies to be able to perform at high levels throughout their season both in Chicago and touring across the world. She maintains certification in manual therapy and dry needling that continues to help her patients throughout their care.

A book can save a life.  That's the premise of Sara Connell's work as a writer and coach. She helps other writers who dream of changing the world. This Genius Podcast episode is a conversation between Sara and me, host Diane Wilson, that touches on many topics related to writing, Brain Dance, personal vision, the pandemic, neuroplasticity, and the demons that keep you from fulfilling your true purpose.  It's filled with insights and tools for life, getting past unthinkable trauma, symptoms of PTSD, how neurofeedback can also save a life, daily routines of peak performers, and doing what you are truly meant to do.  After getting a supportive response to my medical memoir at the Harvard Medical School Workshop on Writing and Publishing for Health Care Professionals in 2019, I knew I'd need some serious support to help polish the draft and get Brain Dance to a publisher. At the same time, Sara Connell started the Thought Leader Academy to support writers. That all felt like a huge dream. but I was motivated and signed on. Sara and her team have helped me develop the next steps and move my project along to its launch which is coming up on May 11. If you'd like to attend our Brain Dance Book launch event register here for free.  Grateful for Sara's help and inspiration. Also, if you want to be my guest and attend her upcoming virtual writer's retreat on May 12-14 for free, just send me a note and I'll send more details. [email protected] Enjoy! Biography: Sara Connell is a bestselling author and founder of Thought Leader Academy where she helps coaches, writers and entrepreneurs become successful, published authors and in-demand speakers. She has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The View, FOX Chicago, TEDx, and Katie Couric. Her writing has appeared in: The New York Times, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, and Parenting. Her first book Bringing In Finn was nominated for ELLE magazine Book of the Year.

Episode 9: In the time of Hanukkah and Christmas, the height of the global pandemic, and just weeks away from inaugurating a new president of the United States. It's a momentous and yet perfect time to interview world-class podcaster Mark C. Crowley.  Host Diane Wilson and Crowley tackle a wide range of topics including the impact of his bestselling book, "Lead from the Heart;" what it's like to be him on a day-to-day basis during this crazy time; and his advice for new podcasters.  Since 2018, Crowley's podcast has featured industry leaders and grown to be heard in over 140 countries.  This is recommended listening for all before ending this extraordinary year and starting a new one. It's inspiring, candid, and full of insights to stimulate your personal development.  Biography Bestselling Author and Global Speaker on Extraordinary Employee Engagement  Mark Crowley has been guiding individuals and teams to achieve record-breaking sales and profitability performance in the financial services industry for 25 years. His focus is on the most authentic driver of human engagement there is – emotional connection. Mark prioritizes the demonstration to everyone he works with that he cares about them, values them and trusts them, a practice not common among peers in the field. He invests time in strengthening relationships, discussing personal and professional goals, and making an authentic commitment to help clients fulfill their dreams. He has even taken these practices globally, presenting his collection of evidence that the most successful form of motivation for human beings in the workplace is to positively affect their hearts. He stresses that how managers make their employees feel has the most profound influence on whether their teams produce at mediocre levels – or excel. This work has led to the launch of Mark’s “Lead From The Heart” podcast in 2018. The podcast aims to bring together world-class authors, innovators, CEOs, researchers, and other top thinkers whose work inherently adds unique support, validation & dimension to the Lead from the Heart leadership philosophy. Mark’s work as a speaker and organizational culture consultant has opened the door of engagement with over 135,000 connections on Twitter – and once again shows how deeply people hunger for more caring, supportive and humane leadership. The COVID pandemic, if anything, has taught us that rigid, commanding and untrusting management no longer holds up. In this new age of virtual work, it’s even more essential that managers acquire a new skillset, and the ability to effectively connect with employees remotely while concomitantly driving performance.

A short: You can't interview award-winning podcaster Mark C. Crowley, author of best-selling Leading with the Heart, without him asking you questions. The clip is on one of many topics covered -- social media, Mark's approach, and its impact. Being heard in over 140 countries, how does he create this impact, and to what end? 

A short: This is the interview you need to hear this week. Don't miss it. Inspiration from the best-selling author and award-winning podcaster -- Mark C. Crowley. Watch www.GeniusPodcastUs.com for the whole episode to be released on December 22, 2020. Thank you, Mark C. Crowley.

Episode 8: It’s the week of Thanksgiving during the COVID-19 pandemic that has only worsened. Most of us are hunkered down at home where we're craving to be with family and friends for the holiday that is steeped in tradition.  While trying to navigate the holiday's limitations, this year I'm also focused on the health crisis and what it means for myself and others.  That caused me to contact physician Dr. Mark Shapiro whom I've come to know via social media. Dr. Shapiro sits in the center of a large network of colleagues and is active in leadership in the medical community. He’s in Northern California not far from where the relentless wildfires occurred.  I want to know how he coped with COVID, the threat of wildfires, and the mountain of information we're all faced with daily. I wanted to hear the human side of what his life is like:  - Is he afraid or optimistic? What does he see from his vantage point for the rest of us – as a doctor, a leader, husband, father, and neighbor? - What do we need to know about the pandemic? - What should we do to take care of ourselves and our families? I mean, tangible things. - How can help frontline healthcare?  Dr. Shapiro is a veteran podcaster who has hosted the Explore the Space podcast for over five years. You’ll enjoy him as someone easy to listen to and easy to like and trust.  I am grateful that he joined us during this important time. Background Mark Shapiro, MD is the creator and host of Explore The Space Podcast, a show focused on bringing those who provide healthcare and those who seek healthcare closer together through conversations with leaders from across the spectrum. The show can be found at www.explorethespaceshow.com . Dr. Shapiro has been in clinical practice as a Hospitalist since 2006 and currently is a full-time Hospitalist at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with St. Joseph Health Medical Group in Santa Rosa, CA. He earned a BA in history at the University of California-Los Angeles, attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of California-San Diego. Dr. Shapiro is an active voice on Twitter and can be followed at @ETSshow