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How Assertiveness Improves Relationships: Beyond The Couch Podcast

In order to understand what assertiveness is, I find that it's helpful to first identify what it isn't, as there are many misconceptions about it: it's not being pushy, aggressive, or demanding. It also doesn't just mean speaking your mind or telling people what you think. Instead, assertiveness refers to reflecting on your emotional history, understanding and managing your feeling, then expressing yourself in a way that will strengthen your relationships. It's a way of articulating what you believe while also allowing room for differences. Overall, assertiveness is a way of being your true self while also becoming closer to others.

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How to Talk to Your Kids About Digital Safety

Sometimes it seems like the more your child grows, the more of a challenge it is to keep them safe. Today’s digital age has presented a host of issues, from selfies to sexting to cyberbullying, that previous generations of parents never even had to think of—let alone address with their children.

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Dividing Household Labor in Families Q&A: Good Things Utah

To talk about how families can better share the load of family chores and unpaid work, we took to social media to see what our viewers' thought about these issues. Here are a few questions we received:

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How Families Can Share Household Responsibilities: Good Things Utah

I recently sat down with the hosts of "Good Things Utah" to discuss a concern in family life that many, many women seem to experience: the division of household labor.

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How to Identify and Heal From Manipulative Relationships

Manipulation is an extremely broad topic, and it can be difficult to even know where to begin the conversation. To start, a manipulative relationship is one in which an individual seeks to control or use another person; to get him/her to do something or think a certain way by being controlling and dominating.

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How To Avoid Being a "Momster" With Our Kids

I recently sat down with Lindsay Aerts of KSL's "The Mom Show" to discuss some ideas from my book "The Assertiveness Guide for Women," specifically assertiveness in parenting. We talked about how difficult it is can be to express ourselves to our children is ways that are effective and firm but still kind; no one wants to be a nag, a "momster," but sometimes it's a real challenge to keep our patience.

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How to Let Go of Labels: Studio 5

Have you ever noticed how much we label each other? Particularly as women, we tend to put each other in boxes: there's the Pinterest mom, the Amazon-Prime mom, the athlete mom, the working mom, the stay-at-home mom, and the list goes on. In life, we need to organize things to make sense of them in our brains, but it can be problematic when we try to categorize people as well. Human beings are multi-dimensional, and labels, even positive ones ("the pretty one," or "the smart one"), can be limiting. Here are some strategies to move beyond this and see each other as really people:

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The 3 Communication Stances: Are You a Doormat, Sword, or Lantern?

There are three stances we can take when communicating in difficult circumstances. The lantern is the goal for all communication. A lantern values her own feelings and thoughts but is also mindful of and sensitive toward those of others. Individuals with a doormat stance often allow their own needs and feelings to be trampled on. Those with a sword stance are perhaps too vocal, even pushy, about their views, as they express them in ways that are harsh and alienating to others.

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How to be Heard without Being Harsh in Parenting: KSL Moms Show

I've done a lot of interviews over the past decade, but honestly, this is one of my favorites! Sometimes things just flow. How to be heard without being harsh in parenting. They talk about her book, The Assertiveness Guide for Women, how to practice a Gottman technique called the soft start, and how to recognize and tame a "Mom-ster" moment. If you want some tips for more peaceful mothering...this is your episode!

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Recognizing and Healing from Manipulative Relationships: Art of Connection

I recently sat down with Baya Voce, host of The Art of connection, to talk about narcissism, sociopathy, pathological lying, gaslighting and so much more. The biggest take-home message is that anyone can find themselves in a manipulative relationship, and you can heal.

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