Mindful Expat, With Dana Nelson, Ph.d.

What you’ll hear in this episode: • I’ll introduce you to the concept of the “rentrée” in France (basically back-to-school but for adults and kids alike!). • We’ll discuss how this time of year can be an opportunity to take stock of what we have accomplished and learned in the past year and set our intentions for the year to come. • I will provide you with some tips for how to begin to build habits in the service of your goals so that you can continue to make progress throughout the year on the things that are most important to you.  Resources mentioned in this episode: • For those of you currently focused on helping kids make a transition to a new school (possibly in a new country), be sure to go back and listen to my conversation with Kate Berger from the Expat Kids Club in episode 22, where we talk about how parents can support their kids through relocation. • In talking about how we can take care of our future selves, I mentioned a funny episode of the show Seinfeld with “Night Guy” and “Morning Guy.” Wh

What you’ll hear in this episode: • Today’s episode will be a brief welcome back to the podcast. I’ll share with you a bit about what I have in mind for Season 3! • I’ll invite you to connect with me and stay in touch as we move into Season 3. • I’ll request YOUR participation in the podcast by leaving me an audio message! I'd love to be able to share some of your voices and stories in a future episode! Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episodes of Mindful Expat, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app. To receive monthly summaries of podcast episodes and stay up to date on other announcements and resources, sign up for the Mindful Expat Podcast Newsletter! (When you sign up, you’ll also receive a free mp3 guided mindfulness exercise to practice on your own!) And, finally, if you’d like to get in touch and leave me a voice message with a question or comment that may be played in a future episode, you can do so here!

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Claudia Neiman! Since moving away from the US at the age of 18 for school, Claudia has lived in Spain, Brazil, and Portugal. Although she has never actually lived in the UK, she has dual US/British citizenship, which lowers administrative hurdles to her living in the EU long-term, and she considers herself a global citizen. Rather than doing just a semester or year abroad, Claudia actually enrolled directly at the University of Grenada in Spain, where she completed her undergraduate degree in sociology. Still in Grenada, she is now working on her masters degree in teaching while also working as a researcher at the university there. Claudia and her friend Dani (who we heard from in Part 1 of this series) started a website together called Sincerely Spain, where they share their experiences and insights on topics related to living in Spain and cultural adaptation for students studying abroad. What you’ll hear in this episode: • Claudia's experience of being an international student

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Dani Jauregui! Dani is originally from the Chicago area. While studying at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois – majoring in Sociology and Hispanic Studies – she decided to do a semester abroad in Alicante, Spain. After returning to the US to finish her degree, Dani then decided that she wanted to move back to Spain, so in 2013 she moved to Granada, where she worked as a teaching assistant in a bilingual elementary school. After a brief stint also teaching in Costa Rica, Dani missed Granada and decided to move back. Since then, she has been working full time as an online English teacher, reaching students around the world from Granada, which she now considers to be her home. Dani and her friend Claudia – both of whom live in Granada and also both of whom have studied sociology – started a website together called Sincerely Spain, where they share their experiences and insights on topics related to living in Spain and cultural adaptation for students studying abr

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Amanda Zetah! Amanda is originally from the United States, from the state of Colorado. While she was in college, inspired by the dream of becoming a travel writer, she started traveling independently and soon caught the travel bug. As soon as she graduated, she jumped at the opportunity to start traveling full-time. Over the past 6 years of traveling independently, Amanda has been to over 60 different countries. She has spent time living in Sierra Leone, Iraq, Myanmar, and she now lives in Azerbaijan, where she works as an English teacher. In addition travel, Amanda is also passionate about staying healthy – both physically and emotionally. From her own first-hand experience, she knows that travelers face some extra challenges in this realm, so she has started a website and blog for fellow health-conscious travelers called Health Nut Nomad, where she shares ideas and insights on ways to stay healthy and grounded while on the move. What you’ll hear in this episode: • About Amanda

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Claire Handscombe! Claire is a freelance writer, blogger, and fellow-podcaster (host of The Brit Lit Podcast) living in Washington, DC. Born in London to a British father and French mother, Claire then spent much of her early adolescence in Belgium before returning to the UK at the age of 12. She later returned to Belgium as a young adult, before moving to DC to do her MFA in Creative Writing at American University. From 2005-2012, Claire taught English, French, and Spanish to adults of all levels in both London and Brussels. In 2011, she published a book called Conquering Babel: A Practical Guide to Learning a Language. What you’ll hear in this episode: • Claire's experiences of moving abroad to countries where she spoke the language, but where subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle!) language differences still impacted her cultural adaptation. • We discuss the interplay of language and culture, including some metalinguistic cultural differences that can lead to misunderstandings.

What you’ll hear in this episode: • How self-care is really having empathy for your future self (and what this really means). • A fun Seinfeld clip to illustrate this concept (in the inverse) • Some ideas for what this type of self-care might mean for you. Resources Mentioned in Today’s Episode: • I mentioned our wonderful New Year's episode, featuring all of the past year's Mindful Expat guests, sharing their self-care tips! Be sure to listen in for some great ideas to add to your own self-care repertoire. • Here are a couple of articles on this same topic that you might enjoy: - Thought Catalogue article: “This Is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake,” by Brianna Wiest (mentioned back in episode 37). - Atlantic article: “Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self,” by Ed Yong (obviously very relevant!) Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episodes of Mindful Expat, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite po

Today's Mindful Expat Guest is Carolyn Parse Rizzo! Carolyn is a certified Child Life Specialist and Life Transition Coach focusing on healthcare and vitality abroad. From her home in Italy, she works as a health coach and consultant, supporting people who are dealing with various types of health conditions while living abroad. Through her company, Interval Coaching, she helps her clients navigate some of the challenges of managing health conditions in a foreign medical system, while also assisting them in shifting their perspectives toward their health, developing positive coping strategies, increasing their resiliency, and nurturing creativity and connectedness in their lives. What you'll hear in this episode: • Some of the common challenges that expats and other internationals face when managing a health condition in a foreign medical system. • How our mindset can impact our experience of health issues and our experiences navigating a foreign medical system -- and how we can shift our interpretations in a

What you’ll hear in this episode: • We'll talk a bit about New Year's resolutions and making sustainable self-care a priority in 2018! • We'll hear from all of our Mindful Expat guests from the 2017, listening to their self-care tips from their own experiences as inspiration for our own self-care in the coming year! Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode: • If you're interested in thinking more about setting New Years' resolutions, check out this previous episode of the podcast, Episode 26, which I mentioned in today's episode. • Show-notes for all previous episodes (including all guest episodes featured in this episode) can be found here.  • Thought Catalogue article I mentioned, "This Is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake," by Brianna Wiest. • Atlantic article (not mentioned directly in the episode, but very relevant!), "Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self," by Ed Yong. Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episodes of Mindful Expat,

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Lois Bushong! Lois is a licensed marriage and family therapist living in the state of Indiana in the United States. She is originally from the US, but grew up in Central America (mainly in Honduras) as part of a missionary family, and she also spent 10 years working in Honduras as an adult. Having grown up as a Third Culture Kid (or TCK) herself, Lois has specialized in working with TCKs, adult TCKs, and intercultural couples.  Lois is also the author of the book, Belonging Everywhere and Nowhere: Insights into Counseling the Globally Mobile, which is how I first came across her work. In addition to her therapy practice, she also offers services as a consultant and coach for TCKs and others navigating this intercultural space. What you’ll hear in this episode: • About Lois' experiences growing up as a TCK missionary kid in Central America and how she came to want to help other TCKs find their true sense of belonging. • How frequent moves can lead some TCKs to experience unresolv

What you’ll hear in this episode: • Why the holidays can be an especially challenging time of year for expats — whether we’re traveling home or staying in our host countries. • Some specific tips for meaningful expat holidays when we’re far from home that you can implement in your life this holiday season! Resources mentioned in this episode: • I mentioned a number of ways you can stay in touch with friends and family back home over technology. Some great tech resources include Skype, Facetime, Whatsapp. Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episodes of Mindful Expat, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app. To receive monthly summaries of podcast episodes and stay up to date on other announcements and resources, sign up for the Mindful Expat Podcast Newsletter! (When you sign up, you’ll also receive a free mp3 guided mindfulness exercise to practice on your own!) And, finally, if you’d like to get in touch and leave me a voice message with a que

What you’ll hear in this episode: • How not all issues in relationships can be completely resolved, but how this may actually be ok — we just need to learn how to manage them! • Some problematic patterns that couples can fall into (what John Gottman calls the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” — criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling — because in his research these variables have been used to predict divorce with impressive accuracy) — and how to shift away from these into healthier, more productive dynamics with your partner • Some specific examples of how you can word things to address problems that may come up in relationships.  Resources mentioned in this episode (and related resources): • I mentioned the research of relationship expert John Gottman as well the organization that he cofounded with his wife, The Gottman Institute. To learn more about the research discussed in this episode, you can go here. • You can also check out John Gottman’s book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Wo

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Claudia Landini! Claudia is an intercultural trainer and mobile careers coach. Originally from Italy, Claudia has been living abroad for the past 27 years, since 1989! She has lived in four African countries (Sudan, Angola, Congo Brazzaville and Guinea Bissau), two Latin American countries (Honduras and Peru), in Jerusalem, and she now lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. She also speaks quite an impressive number of languages – Italian, English, French, Spanish, and German – and as if that weren’t already enough, she also knows a little bit of Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, and Arabic. Claudia is the founder of the non-profit organization ExpatClic, which is an online platform and community supporting expat women in a number of different ways through their transitions abroad – both personally and professionally. She is also an intercultural trainer and cross-cultural transitions coach with a focus on helping expat women develop and maintain their careers as they move abroad. What you’ll

What you’ll hear in this episode: • The benefits of practicing gratitude (to our emotional, psychological, and physical health!). • What it even means to "practice" gratitude. (And how doing so can help you experience more spontaneous gratitude as well!) • A short gratitude practice that you can incorporate into your daily routine that is supported by a bunch of research. Resources mentioned in this episode: • I mentioned Robert Emmons (from the University of California, Davis) and his research on gratitude. To learn more about this fascinating research, check out this article from Greater Good magazine. • To check out Robert Emmons' book on this topic, go here. • I also referred back to a previous episode of this podcast, where we talked about some related topics: www.mindfulexpat.com/episode24. Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episodes of Mindful Expat, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app. To receive monthly summaries of podcast episo

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Karen Wilmot! Karen was born and grew up in South Africa. Growing up with a mother who was a midwife, Karen was exposed from an early age to inspiring stories of women giving birth. She followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a midwife herself. Karen’s love of travel led her to live in many different countries – including Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, and Mexico. For the past 13 years, she has been living in Oman, where she established the first private community services there supporting expat women during pregnancy and birth. More recently, Karen was inspired to take her work online to reach women around the world in search of support and guidance as they navigate the birth process while living abroad. She started the Virtual Midwife, an interactive online platform where she provides personalized care, information, and support for expat women around the world, many of whom who have limited or no access to quality prenatal advice and care. An advocate for a holistic approach t

In this special bonus episode, I share with you Dr. Carmen Roman's interview with me for her podcast, Emotions in Harmony. (Carmen was a guest on the Mindful Expat back in episode 27.)

What you’ll hear in this episode: • Some of the different contexts in which students may study abroad and how these contexts might impact their experiences as international students. • Some of the amazing benefits of studying abroad! • Some of the common challenges that international students may face. • Some of my recommendations for current and future international students to help them make the most of their experiences abroad. Resources mentioned in this episode: • I mentioned that there is a bunch of interesting research on the benefits of learning a foreign language (beyond being and to communicate with other people, of course). For a taste of some of this research, check out this article from The Atlantic and this one from The Guardian. • In this episode, I mentioned that back in episode 5, we discussed culture shock and some of the ways that the stress of adaptation to a new environment can add up and take a toll in different areas of our lives. • I also mentioned the International Therapist Director

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Louise Wiles! Louise is an expat coach who works with international assignees, expat partners, and international organizations to help expats and their families not only survive but thrive in their lives abroad! Louise is originally from the UK, but she has spent much of the last 18 years living in Spain and Portugal. Three years ago, she repatriated back to England with her husband and 2 daughters. When Louise first moved abroad for her husband’s career, she left behind a corporate career of her own, so she is intimately familiar with the challenges that dual career couples face when deciding to move abroad and navigating their expat experience. Along with her (former) business partner, Evelyn Simpson, both trained coaches, she began a business called Thriving Abroad, to help expat partners and expat assignees navigate these challenges and create a life they love. Louise also has her own podcast, also called Thriving Abroad, where she interviews guests and covers topics related

What you’ll hear in this episode: • My reflections on foreignness during my travels in South Korea. • Some of the pros and cons of being an obvious foreigner vs. a hidden foreigner (or "hidden immigrant"). • Some of the benefits of living abroad and experiencing being "the other" first-hand -- and how this experience can make us reflect differently on our own cultures as well as become more compassionate to other people's experiences. • How all of this relates to my idea for starting this podcast in the first place. Resources mentioned in this episode: • In this episode, I mentioned Third Culture Kids (aka TCKs). If you aren't familiar with this term, be sure to go back and listen to episode 8 where Josh Sandoz and I discuss this topic in depth. • I also mentioned Ruth van Reiken's book, Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, which is a great source of information about the TCK experience (and which actually has a new edition that just came out!). Stay in Touch! To make sure you don’t miss future episo

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Dr. Carmen Roman! Dr. Roman is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. She is originally from Mexico and practiced as a psychologist there for a number of years before moving to the United States in 2007. Dr. Roman is bilingual in English and Spanish and offers bilingual and bicultural psychotherapy to her clients in the San José region of California, where she lives. She also has a specialty in creative expression and art therapies. Dr. Roman also has her own podcast, called Emotions in Harmony, which is a bilingual podcast (in English and in Spanish) and which focuses on topics related to emotional wellbeing – so very relevant to things we talk about here on this podcast too, and I highly recommend you check it out! What you’ll hear in this episode: • About Dr. Roman's experience of moving to the United States from Mexico and her journey of becoming a licensed psychologist in the US, specializing in working with Latinos living abroad and navigating this intercultur