Take What Serves. Leave the Rest.

Expressing his mental and emotional experience through drawing has been a healing outlet for Justin Jordan-Lake. He's now sharing his art through "The OCD Blog", providing light for others living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

In this week's episode, Bryan talks to Justin about his OCD journey, his approach to recovery, the intention behind "The OCD Blog", and much more.

You can follow "The OCD Blog" on Instagram: @theocdblog...

What does it mean to be gentle with yourself? 

In the fast-paced world we find ourselves in, it can sometimes be hard to cultivate a sense of gentleness towards ourselves. Bryan explores this more deeply with Dr. Anastasia Ristau in this week's episode. 

They discuss how "being gentle" may look different for everyone, how a gentle action towards ourself may vary depending on what we're experiencing in the moment, and much more. 

Dr...

Many people with OCD experience obsessions related to God, spirituality, and their faith. Reverend Katie O'Dunn is helping bridge the gap between spiritual traditions and effective treatment for OCD. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Katie about religious and moral scrupulosity and how it can manifest for some people living with OCD. She also talks about how she is reframing effective OCD treatment as a spiritual practice, and how s...

Learning to truly lean in, feel, and express what is arising in our body is some of the most nuanced and deep work we can step into as a human being. Especially living in a world that is often telling us to keep our emotions hidden. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about the process of honoring our own emotional landscape. As mentioned in the episode, this conversation was inspired by this video on TikTok. 

Bry...

Lauren Rosen started experiencing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when she was seven years old, and wouldn't be properly diagnosed for 17 years. She's now transformed her own journey into a career as a mental health therapist supporting people living with OCD.

In this episode, Bryan talks to Lauren about her mental health story, the manifestation of OCD often referred to as "Pure OCD", mindfulness, Acceptance & ...

In a world that is constantly telling us we need to be perfect, Colleen Lindstrom is on a mission to help us all celebrate the beauty in the average of life. 

In this episode, Colleen joins Bryan and Kelly Grosklags of the "See My Grief" podcast. Colleen is a former radio host in the Twin Cities, creator of The Bronze Medal Life and host of The Bronze Medal Life podcast. 

Colleen shares more about The Bronze Medal Life and her rela...

There is deep messaging in our world that happiness is somewhere off in the future.

"I'll be happy when...".

While setting goals and working towards things we want to create can be deeply powerful, the journey that we take to get there can often get lost in the mix. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about the idea that life is a journey that we are all on, not a destination that we arrive at. They discuss being ...

The holidays are a beautiful time of the year, and can also be very tender for some of us. 

In this week's episode, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about creating space for what arises this holiday season when it comes to our mental and emotional health. 

They discuss the shifting of routines that often happens, listening to signals from our bodies that we need some self care, creating new traditions, and much more. 

Dr. Ristau...

Getting on an airplane activates anxiety for many people. 

In this week's episode, Bryan talks to Jenny Matthews about maneuvering flying anxiety. 

Jenny is a licensed mental health therapist, and founder of State of Mind Therapy. 

Jenny talks about her personal experience with flying anxiety, different core fears that people often have when getting on an airplane, and ways to maneuvering the anxiety when it arrives before and duri...

You can often find Jared Fessler up close and personal at concerts in the Twin Cities, photographing artists from Taylor Swift to Queen. All experiences that would have been extremely difficult for him several years ago he was struggling with intense anxiety. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Jared about how anxiety forced him to start avoiding places like large crowds and driving in the car. He also shares how anxiety latched onto ...

We've all done it. Assuming that we know exactly what another person is thinking, feeling, or experiencing in a given moment. 

This week on the podcast, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about how those assumptions we make may be impacting us more than we realize. 

Dr. Ristau talks about the act of pausing when we notice we're making an assumption, opening up to the possibility of alternate explanations, communicating with our lo...

How do we carve out space to nurture our health in the world we find ourselves in every day? That’s a question that Pilar Gerasimo has devoted this stage of her career to exploring.

In this week's episode, Pilar joins Bryan to talk about the "unhealthy default reality", what it means to be a "healthy deviant", developing survival skills for the new era, and much more.

Pilar is a health journalist and author of the book, "The Healt...

Dr. Courtney Burnett says getting diagnosed with brain cancer has radically shifted how she lives her life, and had a profound impact on her mental and emotional health. 

In this podcast, Bryan talks to Dr. Burnett about getting diagnosed with a brain tumor in Thailand at the age of 29, and how the diagnosis has taught her how to live more in the present moment. 

Dr. Burnett is a practicing physician, public speaker, and author of ...

In 2021, Evan Hansen set out on a journey to raise awareness about suicide prevention. He ended up carrying a canoe over 300 miles across the state of Minnesota. He went on to write the book, "Into the Wind".

In this episode, Bryan talks to Evan about why he decided to make this journey, his own mental health story, opening up to taking medication for his mental health as a man of faith, and much more. 

As always take what serves y...

Wanting reassurance is a natural part of being a human being. 

In this episode Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about our relationship with it.

They talk about how sometimes reassurance can be used to avoid what we're feeling in the moment, ways it can fuel anxiety, when reassurance can be especially healing, and much more. 

Dr. Ristau is a licensed psychologist, and the Director of Psychotherapeutics at PrairieCare. 

This conve...

In this episode, Bryan talks to Anna Ransbotham-Cole about her journey of getting an ileostomy surgery after living with ulcerative colitis. 

Anna shares the depths that she reached when ulcerative colitis was at its worst, and how she says her ileostomy surgery gave her her life back. She shares more about what an ileostomy surgery is, what this journey has taught her about life, and much more. 

Resources that Anna recommends:

- U...

In a world where there is constant pressure to grow, evolve, do our best, strive, and achieve - perhaps some of the best medicine we can give ourselves is the permission to "be average". 

I know - encouraging someone to "be average" is almost like saying a bad word in the society we all live in today. But, hear us out. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about how "being average" maybe isn't such a bad thing, and ...

Lyndsay Guentzel was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago in her mid 30's. Then, recently was diagnosed with a rare, incurable muscle disease called Myositis. 

In this week's episode, Bryan talks to Lindsay about her journey. She shares what it's teaching her about life, what helps her maneuver the day-to-day, and much more. 

Lyndsay is an award-winning radio journalist and producer - working at WCCO Radio and Minnesota Public Radio...

Conflict can be deeply uncomfortable and something many of us often avoid. 

It is, however, an inevitable and natural part of being in all sorts of relationships. 

In this episode, Bryan talks to Dr. Anastasia Ristau about how conflict can actually deepen our relationships and draw us closer to the people in our lives. 

They discuss ways to maneuver those tough conversations we may find ourselves in during conflict, how perfectioni...