by Rhett Smith | Aug 3, 2017 | Marriage, Podcast, Restoration Therapy
A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I at Thriiive Practices did a lecture for the Meadow’s lecture series on emotional regulation. What is emotional regulation? It’s essentially one’s ability to control or manage their automatic, reactive...
by Rhett Smith | Sep 24, 2013 | Parenting
So I had no idea that when I set out to do a blog series about The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson — that I would write 20 posts on the topic. But that’s...
by Rhett Smith | Sep 23, 2013 | Parenting
We’ve come to the final strategy in The Whole-Brain Child book by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, and I really love how they ended the book. I love it because it really resonates with the marital work that I do and stressing the importance of this...
by Rhett Smith | Sep 20, 2013 | Parenting
“The brain is a social organ, made to be in relationship. It’s hardwired to take in signals from the social environment, which in turn influence a person’s inner world. In other words, what happens between brains has a great deal to do with what...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 29, 2013 | Parenting
Have you ever noticed how much your children love telling stories? My daughter and son love telling me stories about their adventures each day, whether it be an activity my daughter did during P.E., or my son talking to me about a crash he had on his scooter. It seems...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 27, 2013 | Parenting
This last week we talked about the importance of integrating the upstairs brain with the downstairs brain, and strategy #4 continues with along this same theme. I love the idea in The Whole-Brain Child that “The upstairs brain is like a muscle; when it gets...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 23, 2013 | Parenting
I’ve been talking a lot about the brain in my blog series on The Whole-Brain Child, so I thought it would be helpful to see a simple presentation by Dr. Dan Siegel where he presents a hand model of the brain. I think this will be especially helpful in light of...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 21, 2013 | Parenting
Have you ever found yourself in the unenviable position of trying to rationalize and negotiate with your toddler who is having an emotional meltdown? All hands should go up. I mean how many of us haven’t found ourselves desperately trying to stave off a meltdown...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 12, 2013 | Parenting
Last week I posted on Strategy #2 of The Whole-Brain Child, which is Name it to Tame It: Telling Stories to Calm Big Emotions. But since I posted that blog I’ve had a few people ask me if I could expound on this strategy in more detail by giving an example. As I...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 9, 2013 | Parenting
I’ve taken a couple of weeks off from the blog, but that ended up being a good thing in terms of this blog series on the strategies in The Whole Brain Child. Why? Well, because we were gone on vacation which meant lots of long car drives, exhausting days, tired...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 29, 2013 | Parenting
My wife Heather and I often look at things from a very different perspective. It’s not surprising that opposites attract, but sometimes those opposites can begin to push people in two different directions. It didn’t take us very long into our dating life...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 26, 2013 | Parenting
Integrated: to make into a whole by bringing all parts together; unify. When things become integrated, is simply known as integration. In the Whole-Brain Child by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, this process refers to a child’s ability to integrate the...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 24, 2013 | Parenting
I used to believe that our brain was permanently hardwired and that was that. And however it was hardwired, then you were stuck with that brain. It wasn’t until I started working as a therapist at The Hideaway Experience marriage intensives and was exposed to...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 18, 2013 | Parenting
Last week I began a blog series exploring my experimentation with the parenting philosophy found in the book, The Whole Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. And by experimentation, I mean using the ideas in the book...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 12, 2013 | Parenting
“As children develop, their brains “mirror” their parent’s brains. In other words, the parent’s own growth and development, or lack of those, impact the child’s brain. As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 28, 2013 | Marriage
“Thanks to a series of influential research studies, the things people who succeed in intimate relationships do differently from those who fail have been discovered by researchers. One of the most important differences involves how people react when they...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 27, 2013 | Anxiety
“According to recent brain studies, we are literally stuck in a rut: As a result, we choose our most instinctual coping behavior when certain feelings arise. We often choose this path because it is also the direction that confronts us with the least...
