In North America, we’re conditioned from an early age to cultivate specific components of our full personalities and curtail others. For people socialized as girls, traditionally “feminine” qualities such as softspokenness and emotional exploration are encouraged, while assertiveness is discouraged. For people socialized as boys, qualities like toughness and a stiff upper lip are considered masculine, and they are advised against being open about their feelings.

But as hard as patriarchal society has worked to separate us into specific personas based on our sex, the truth is that we all carry masculine and feminine energies within us. In this episode, marriage and family therapist and Depth Psychology expert Dené Logan embarks with me on an exploration of how we manage, heal, and share our internal energies—this is the fascinating topic of her new book, Sovereign Love: A Guide to Healing Relationships by Reclaiming the Masculine & Feminine Within.

Relevant Links:

• Order Dené’s book, Sovereign Love: A Guide to Healing Relationships by Reclaiming the Masculine & Feminine Within
• Connect with Dené on Instagram
• Listen to the Cheaper Than Therapy podcast
• Order Dr. Alexandra's latest book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

Founder and CEO of YourTango, Andrea Miller, joins Dr. Share to share the power of being a lifelong “seeker” of relational wisdom. Andrea has dedicated her life to connecting her audience with relationship experts and celebrating relational wisdom, and today, invites us into her journey of opening herself up to love’s lessons.

Relevant links:

• Learn more about YourTango
• Listen to Dr. Alexandra on Open Relationships: Transforming Together with Andrea Miller
• Radical Acceptance: The Secret to Happy, Lasting Love by Andrea Miller
• Order Dr. Alexandra's latest book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

Loss and grief are universal and profoundly human. The death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a trauma that drastically shifts the trajectory of a life—each spurs a unique grieving process that can be difficult to navigate for both the people grieving and their support systems. As a chaplain at a Level One Trauma Center in Florida, J.S. Park provides emotional and spiritual care for and comfort to those experiencing grief. His support of patients at the end of their lives, and of the loved ones who remain, adds tremendous impact and compassion to his most recent book, As Long As You Need: Permission to Grieve.

In this episode, J.S. shares with Dr. Alexandra what his education and experience have taught him about the “right” things to say and the ways to support grieving loved ones. He offers deeply considered insights into our misguided fear of bringing up the deceased, the impact of loss on the past and the future, and how to care for both a loved one and oneself during the grieving process.

Relevant Links:

• Order J.S.’s book, As Long As You Need: Permission to Grieve
• Connect J.S. on Instagram
• Order Dr. Alexandra's latest book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

What happens when we listen and are listened to more fully, forging a deeper connection? Decades of research tell us that the brain undergoes physiological changes when we begin to “talk without criticizing, listen without judgment, and connect beyond difference.” This is the definition of dialogue coined by today’s guests, Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt and Dr. Harville Hendrix.

Doctors Hunt and Hendrix are internationally recognized couples therapists, educators, speakers, and a married couple themselves. Through decades of research, they developed the Imago Relationship Therapy method, which is taught to therapists around the globe. In this episode, they speak with Dr. Alexandra about moving from monologue (turning the conversation to focus on oneself) to dialogue (keeping the conversation focused on the speaker), and how listening and ensuring true understanding of a speaker’s meaning has enormous benefits to our relationships and our brains.

Relevant Links:

• Harville and Helen’s new book, How To Talk to Anyone About Anything - https://harvilleandhelen.com/books/how-to-talk-with-anyone-about-anything/
• Learn more about Imago Relationship Therapy - https://harvilleandhelen.com/initiatives/what-is-imago/
• Explore Safe Conversations, A Methodology for Connecting - https://safeconversations.com/
• Order Dr. Alexandra's latest book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

In this two-part series, Dr. Alexandra shares ten essential skills for couples struggling with routine conflict in their relationship. Offering strategies from her couples therapy practice, Dr. Alexandra provides new language and ways of thinking about arguments that promote empathy and care, shifting couples into a "we" perspective so that they can move through hard times as a team.

Relevant links:

Listen to Part One of the Conflict series

Access the Conflict Skills worksheet

Couples therapy directories:

• Gottman Referral Network
• Therapist.com
• Psychology Today

Domestic Violence Resources

Order Dr. Alexandra's new book, Love Every Day

Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter

Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

In this two-part series, Dr. Alexandra shares ten essential skills for couples struggling with routine conflict in their relationship. Offering strategies from her couples therapy practice, Dr. Alexandra provides new language and ways of thinking about arguments that promote empathy and care, shifting couples into a "we" perspective so that they can move through hard times as a team.

Relevant links:

Access the Conflict Skills worksheet

Couples therapy directories:

• Gottman Referral Network
• Therapist.com
• Psychology Today

Domestic Violence Resources

Order Dr. Alexandra's new book, Love Every Day

Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter

Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

Family therapy expert Dafna Lender and Dr. Alexandra explore the complexities of the parent-child relationship. With 25 years of experience, Dafna has a deep understanding of how a child’s difficult behaviors and a parent’s reactivity can clash and land a family into a therapist’s office. Dafna explains how to disrupt this cycle by removing blame, exploring the parent’s attachment history, and bringing a sense of joy and playfulness back into the relationship.

Relevant links:

• Integrative Attachment Family Therapy: A Clinical Guide to Heal and Strengthen the Parent-Child Relationship by Dafna Lender
• Engage further with Dafna’s work online
• Order Dr. Alexandra's latest book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.

When it comes to life stages, “midlife” often gets the short end of the stick. We speak about adolescence and retirement as vistas rich with opportunity and possibility while we joke about midlife and its related crises. However, when we adopt an affectionate perspective, opportunity and joy prove to be just as possible in this “messy middle” stage.

Many transitions take place over the decades following age 50. These milestones are no less impactful than those we celebrate, such as graduation and marriage, and yet most of us lack rituals to mark these evolutions and help us build communities of support in this time of great potential.

Chip Conley was a disruptive force in the hospitality industry for decades. In 2018, he combined his experiences mentoring at Airbnb with his own midlife transition to launch the Modern Elder Academy (MEA). Today, the world's first “midlife wisdom school” offers luxurious, personal growth retreats in Baja California and New Mexico. Chip is also the author of seven books, including his most recent, Learning to Love Midlife.

In December 2024, Dr. Alexandra will be at the Santa Fe ranch location of MEA leading a 5-day retreat for couples centered on healing the past, deepening connection, and creating a relational vision for the future. You can attend with your partner or on your own. To learn more about the retreat, Loving You Without Losing Me: A Retreat for Couples, visit the website and schedule a free consultation call with the MEA admissions team.

Whether you are approaching midlife, are in the midst of it, or if midlife is in your rearview mirror, Chip’s affectionate and curious approach to this often overlooked and undervalued stage will illuminate new outlooks and possibilities for how we lean into life’s transitions.

Relevant Links:

• Read Chip’s latest book Learning to Love Midlife
• Learn more about Chip and get his free Anatomy of a Transition resource on his website
• Learn more about Dr. Alexandra’s December 2024 retreat at MEA
• Order Dr. Alexandra's new book, Love Every Day
• Subscribe to Dr. Alexandra’s Newsletter
• Submit a Listener Question

Join Dr. Alexandra's five-day retreat with the Modern Elder Academy — Get 10% off with code 'GF10'

Try Kion Aminos risk-free for 60-days with a money-back guarantee. Get 20% off at https://www.getkion.com/OSLP with the discount code OSLP.

Hey Reimagining Love Listeners! Quick note here that we’re going to be on a very short two week break starting Sept 17th. When we return on October 1st, we’re going to start publishing new episodes on an every other week schedule with occasional bonus episodes sprinkled throughout. If you're craving more content in the meantime, you can always search the back catalog and/or find juicy blog posts and other resources at dralexandrasolomon.com.