This week we welcome a powerful guest, Vicki Savini. Vicki is one of those people whose mind and heart go full steam ahead all the time - she loves her people and pets deeply, and her compassion is endless. And, she is honest, open, direct, vulnerable, and creative. We get into all these things.

Vicki is a teacher, writer, mom, speaker, and intuitive life coach. She wears all kinds of hats, rising to the situations in her life and the lives of others with grace and dignity. She believes that fear is the root cause of the increase we are seeing in anxiety and depression, and her books and other services offer others a path to self love - the opposite of fear.

Vicki opens up about what led her to prioritize her mental wellbeing, and what continues to motivate her to share her 7 Essentials - tools that empower others to balance mind, body, spirit, and love our whole selves. She gets vulnerable about her own experiences of loss and loneliness, and how these experiences helped her grow and develop into the powerful force you hear in this episode.

You can check out all of her services at https://vickisavini.com/. Her newest book, Burn The Damn Cape, is available on Amazon, and on her website under Products.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

Today, we rant. Productively, and diagnostically speaking.

Here at Pieces to Wellness, we believe that while not everyone has mental illness, everyone has mental health. That's why we share tips, tools, strategies to keep you on the wellness side of the spectrum.

We also believe that mental health is essential to overall wellness. All too often, people who live with mental health challenges are reduced to their diagnoses. And we are so much more than that. We recognize that there are some ways in which diagnostics can be useful, and we emphasize how and why we should not let our diagnoses define or limit us. We are more than the sum of our parts, and our mental health diagnoses are just some of the pieces that make us who we are.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

This week we are honored to welcome the venerable Robina Courtin to Pieces to Wellness. Robina is a Buddhist nun with a remarkably direct, take charge personality that comes through immediately in our conversation.

Robina generously shares her wisdom with a real love for humanity that shines through. Together, we explore various daily practices that can literally help us change the way we think. Robina shares with us the importance of things like compassion, meditation, freedom, truth, and skillfully offers strategies to support us all in weaving these things into our day to day life. Consistently engaging in practices like meditation impacts how we experience and respond to our emotions and can have a significant positive impact on our quality of life.

Robina also gets personal with us, sharing a bit about her own journey throughout her life.

She shares her wisdom regularly on IG @robinacourtin. If you want to hear more, she also has a YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/@RobinaCourtinYouTube. Here's a quote that stuck for us:

Happiness is the mind that is free from attachment and the other neuroses... clear, blissful, happy and stable.” — Ven. Robina

If you enjoy this episode, check out our conversation with Timber Hawkeye: Just Keep Swimming

Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Did you know that Tim's a published author? Get a copy of his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

Routine maintenance is part of the regular vocabulary here on Pieces to Wellness. This week, we explore the origin story behind this favorite term.

Once a month, we do a quick "tune up" episode. Each of these shorter episodes explores one or more practical tools we have in our mental health tool kit. You know, the ones that keep us on the wellness side of the spectrum. These tools are well-used and dog eared showing how regularly we put them to use. Tim first shared this term in his book, and this week treats us to a excerpt from his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You from the chapter on Routine Maintenance.

We each share a bit about what routine maintenance means for us, those practices that we lean on day in and day out. As always, we hope that these episodes remind you how important it is to prioritize your wellness, and validate all the work you do to care for your mental health.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

Vulnerability - what does it look like, what does it feel like, how can befriending vulnerability support growth and healing? We're breaking it down and putting it all out there this week.

Tim and Karen open up about how much each of our relationships with vulnerability have changed over the years. We share how we've masked our authentic selves with things like sarcasm, people-pleasing, numbing behavior. Vulnerability is often uncomfortable, and all too often many of us avoid it, believing that our defenses will keep us safe. However, as mental health warriors, we have learned (generally the hard way) that to radically accept our whole selves, we must be willing to get vulnerable with others, and with ourselves. This too, is a practice. Even for us. One we're still working on.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Did you know that Tim's a published author? Get a copy of his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

You've probably heard the saying, "What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger." And while we don't wish tragedy on anyone, it is also true that sometimes we don't know what kind of strength we possess until we are faced with adversity.

This week we welcome Pieces to Wellness friend, Taylor Locke. Costume or no costume, Taylor is a true mental health superhero. Taylor wears many hats in the local, state, national, and even international mental health advocacy community. The challenges that Taylor has overcome, the resilience and humility they display, is nothing short of extraordinary.

Much of Taylor's work in mental health has been connected to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Taylor has been involved with fundraising, community events, working with the Next Gen community (young adult advisory group), and sitting on the Board of Directors for NAMI Capital Region NY. Most recently, Taylor is the superhero face of NAMI Capital Region NY Captain NAMI, literally embodying a superhero persona, costume and all, to break down stigma and connect with kids on mental health. All of this work is personal to Taylor. They remind us that perspective matters, change is constant, and relentlessness leads to resilience.

Click here to learn more about NAMI.

Click here to learn more about NAMI Capital Region NY

Want to meet the Pieces to Wellness hosts? Tim and Karen are participating this Saturday from 11-3 at NAMI Capital Region's Children's Mental Health Awareness fair at Colonie Center. Special appearance by Captain NAMI!

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Did you know that Tim's a published author? Get a copy of his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

It's often said that healing is not linear. Some people compare it to a spiral in which you uncover new layers and lessons over time and can travel up & down, back & forth. In this week's conversation, we focus on some of the ways in which we each have learned to feel the most difficult feelings and navigate through them. These are our stepping stones.

There's also a misconception that healing = happiness, sunshine, and rainbows. And while we are likely to experience more happiness as we heal, we are also likely to experience many other emotions that are uncomfortable, sometimes even painful. In fact, experiencing these emotions can often be a sign that you're doing the work. This is one of the paradoxes of healing.

We explore how we deal with anger, loss, change, and the confusion of feeling multiple things at the same time. We hope you find some solace and companionship in our experiences and stories. May our vulnerable sharing of how we have learned to prioritize our healing provide inspiration and lay a couple of stones before you so you can pave your own path.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Did you know that Tim's a published author? Get a copy of his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91

As Pieces to Wellness moves into our second year, we wanted to re-introduce ourselves in a super short and sweet tune up episode.

If you're new here, welcome! Pieces to Wellness podcast is hosted by Tim and Karen. We're a couple of regular people with experience living with mental health challenges. Each week we have a conversation about how we live with these challenges, what we're working on, and what we do to stay on the wellness side of the mental health spectrum. We talk with guests who inspire us with their stories and wisdom. We hope each episode leaves you with a fresh perspective, a new tool for your self-care toolbox, and/or a little touch of companionship on the healing journey.

If you want to learn more about Tim, check out Episode 20: Deep Water Exploration - Tim's Song.

Want to get to know Karen? Listen to Episode 22: Deep Water Exploration - Karen's Classroom.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at neverunderestimatetpp@gmail.com.
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Did you know that Tim's a published author? Get a copy of his book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91