The Overwhelmed Brain | Stress | Anxiety | Relationship | Critical Thinking | Emotional Intelligence | Emotional Abuse

Is saying "I didn't mean it," a good excuse for bad behavior? Some people can be out of control due to drugs or alcohol, so they might do stupid things when they don't really mean to do them.   However, should you ever allow the stupid or hurtful things that people do slide? Should you ever give a free pass to someone for unintentional bad behavior?   Visit for more episodes.

If you tend to suppress your thoughts and repress your emotions, and put on a smile to show the world, you might be on your way to depression and anxiety. If that's your goal, don't change a thing! However, if you want to change that trajectory, it might be time to make different choices that empower you.  For more episodes visit https://theoverwhelmedbrain.com/podcasts

Honoring yourself doesn't have to be about hurting someone else. It's not about making them feel bad, it's about expressing to them what makes you feel bad and what you will and won't accept for behavior.  Problems arise when you choose to become hurtful toward them instead of focusing on your own needs. This can turn emotionally abusive really fast. Sometimes it feels like we have no choice, but there's almost always a choice. You just have to know how to make the right choice so that perhaps the relationship isn't destroyed in the process.    Visit for more episodes

Arguments are never fun. When you both take a stand to make your points, it can lead to some heated exchanges.  You can recover from a heated exchange. But when the argument takes a turn to insulting and belittling words, the chances of recovery and the quality of the relationship decreases. https://theoverwhelmedbrain.com/

Sometimes you have to let things go and take a new road in order to find a sense of peace and comfort inside yourself. The new road may come with a high price that has an even higher reward. Are you going to pay the high price for the reward, or take a longer path that involves a bit more mental labor? They are both challenging but they both lead to an outcome that is worth the journey.  https://theoverwhelmedbrain.com/

The pain of loss shouldn't be stuffed down and avoided, it should be felt at the deepest level, but only when you're ready and only at the pace you can handle. Everyone experiences loss differently so what works for one person may not work for you. In this episode, I help you connect with the deeper layers underneath the loss so that perhaps there can be some small release or relief. This isn't about healing, it's about connecting. And sometimes that's all that's needed to start healing. Visit for more episodes

Whenever you deal with an event that upsets you in some way, if you stuff an emotion down and never deal with it then or later, you're going to experience a diminishing of your overall level of happiness and satisfaction in life.  Repressed emotions do not disappear until they are dealt with in some way. Physical pain can even develop from unresolved negative emotions and alter your life significantly, so it's always good to address them sooner than later. 

Waiting for someone to change is often a waste of time. They can promise and tell you they're working on it, but are they? Has anything changed in the past day, month, or year? Or do things seem eerily familiar day after day? Sometimes we sabotage our own path to happiness waiting for someone to follow through on a commitment they said they'd do. When they don't however, what's your next step?

We all know that anger and upset can hide so many emotions that you may not even know what's under there. If you become emotionally triggered and wish you didn't, learning which questions to ask yourself so that you can get to the heart of some deeper, repressed emotions may be the path to feeling better.

Sometimes life can take you in a direction you don't want to go. But you don't always have to end up with the bottom-of-the-barrel results you may get. It might take some planning and some scary steps, but there is a way to alter the course of your life for the better. If life is a bit too complex, it might be time to correct your course and find another way.

There's always someone that's harder to deal with than most other people in your life. And when you have to deal with them, do you have all the self-empowerment tools at your disposal to get through the interaction unscathed? Whether you do or not, practice makes perfect. This is a jam-packed episode filled with your practice steps to self-empowerment so that difficult situations aren't so difficult.

Sometimes becoming happier in life involves taking huge steps that seem so scary when you're going through them, but come with the reward of increased self-worth and self-esteem. And when you take that leap of faith, a whole lot more good stuff usually comes with it.

If you know that a difficult or even toxic person in your life is not doing the best they can to show up in a way that tells you they're at least trying to improve themselves in some way, maybe they are not capable. At least, not at this time. And sometimes we have to see people for who they are today, not who we or they believe they will become tomorrow.

Some people will lash out and rebel when they feel like they aren't being heard, or they're holding something back from the past. They swallow anger, sadness, and more, and that can turn into depression or the ultimate expression of bad behavior. Children are experiencing the world for the first time, pushing boundaries, and figuring everything out. The good news is that it is a very exciting time. The bad news is that it can be quite stressful for both the children and the parents.

Sometimes we're stuck with someone that doesn't have our best interest in mind. Not only that, they may even have a not-so-pleasant plan to make us miserable. What do you do with the toxic person that doesn't want to, or can't, change? Is there hope when you're in what seems like a no-win situation?

It can get tiring trying to do the right thing, be the right person, and say what you're expected to say. On top of that, when you try, it can sometimes feel as if the world has turned against you, and now you're a lone ranger tackling all the challenges on your own. Can you catch a break from this? Is there a way you can show up where the world doesn't send you so many challenges? It's a great topic to explore. more episodes at

Should family, no matter how toxic they are, be in your life because of your relationship with them? Some people are so emotionally dangerous to be around that unless you distance yourself, you will always suffer when they are around (and even when they aren't).

Emotional affairs almost always lead to pain. They are a betrayal of trust and an escape from the conversation you should be having in your relationship. Sometimes you have to bring up the hard truths so that those involved have an opportunity to find solutions or closure. Either way, it's easier to deal with a hard truth today than string someone along until it comes out in another, more painful way later.

Some people have so much self-confidence that they carry themselves in a way that might put certain people off. Those confident in themselves can be kind, respectful, supportive, and caring, yet their personality can still rub people the wrong way. In this episode, I talk about what might be happening. I also go over how the way you make decisions can lead to self-confidence. If you've been working on that in yourself, this episode could be helpful.

I read three emails from people in three different circumstances. The first one is a troubled marriage where the wife doesn't know why she is staying and can't figure out how to make the decision to leave. Segment two is about dealing with the victim mentality and what questions you can ask a chronic complainer in order to get them to do something about what they're complaining about. Segment three is about a wife who discovered her husband watches porn and since then their once happy, amazing marriage is now in shambles with little hope for the future. Lots to talk about in this episode!