Men Talking Mindfulness

How to Mend a Broken Heart with Psychotherapist Elaine Smookler

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Episode notes

This week we welcome Elaine Smookler onto the show to dive deeper into her article on what it takes to mend a broken heart. Will and Jon share some very personal stories (and get some free psychotherapy!), and we learn all about what it means to be aware of our emotions, understanding them as different from our thoughts, and that there's no "right way" to heal a broken heart. Elaine Smookler RP, CMT-P is a Registered Psychotherapist, Certified Mindfulness Teacher, life-balance coach, keynote speaker, teacher, writer, singer and comedic performer. For more than 20 years, Elaine has been shaking things up in the mindfulness world with her lively and unique programs, including "Mindful Martinis," "Breathe in, Laugh Out," and her long-running online course "A Mindful Way Through the Creative Process" offered through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.  Elaine also connects with those facing loss, grief and stress, providing wellness programs for the staff, doctors and parents of the Hospital for Sick Children and has been an instructor at University of Toronto Medical School. She provides ongoing clinical programs, such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and stress-management for a wide variety of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's). Elaine is a long-time faculty member at eMindful and The Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto.  She writes the Inner Wisdom Column at Mindful Magazine which has over 750K monthly users. //TIMESTAMPS (00:00) How to Manage a Broken Heart with Psychotherapist Elaine Smookler (04:30) Jon leads Opening Grounding Practice (~2 min) (08:00) Will’s heartbreak (12:00) Jon’s heartbreak (15:00) Being tough doesn’t stop the heartbreak (19:30) The impetus behind Elaine’s article in Mindful Magazine (23:00) Thought vs Emotion (32:00) Not all heartache is from a romantic relationship (35:00) How do we deal with this pain? (39:00) What does awareness mean? (46:00) How do we move forward after we’re aware? (53:00) Preparing for grief (57:00) Honoring those who are gone (01:05:00) Elaine leads closing practice (~4 min) //LINKS Connect with Elaine - https://www.elainesmookler.com/ Elaine’s Article in Mindful - https://www.mindful.org/how-to-mend-a-broken-heart/ Sign Up for Elaine’s Next Course - https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/courses/3269-mindful-way-through-creative-process  //WHERE YOU CAN FIND US Website - http://mentalkingmindfulness.com/ Listen on Spotify - https://bit.ly/MTM-Podcast Listen on Apple Podcast - https://bit.ly/MTM_Apple_Podcast Watch on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@mentalkingmindfulness Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mentalkingmindfulness Follow Will - https://www.instagram.com/willnotfear/ Follow Jon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmacaskill Join the MTM Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/153173176744665