Category: Personal Growth & Change

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The True Nature of Compassion Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Compassion can be turned on and off like a switch, and much of what passes for it is really pity, sentimentality, or self-serving need. Armand DiMele draws on Buddhist definitions, mirror neuron research, and caller stories to distinguish genuine compassion from its counterfeits, and argues that true compassion flows from personal contentment rather than inner pain.

The Comfort Zone and Resistance to Change Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Why do we resist change even when our circumstances make us miserable? Armand DiMele examines the psychology of the comfort zone, repetition compulsion, and the moment people finally say no more. Real change, he argues, requires a kind of death before any rebirth is possible.

Giving the Gift of Your Time Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Armand DiMele makes the case that the most meaningful gifts cost nothing but effort and attention. He walks listeners through his homemade gift certificate system, offering examples like cooking a meal, chauffeuring, foot massage, and pledging an hour of undivided listening. The episode also touches on seasonal affective disorder and why holiday cheer often masks depression.

When the Cure Becomes the Problem Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Psychological compensation drives us to mask pain rather than face it, and the fix often grows larger than the original wound. Armand DiMele and co-therapist Lisa Arnone, LCSW explore how cigarettes, painkillers, bravado, and even love choices can be coverups that reinforce the very suffering they were meant to relieve.

Why We Refuse to Ask for Help Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Most people would rather struggle alone than ask for help, and Armand DiMele digs into why. Drawing on Jung’s archetype of the beggar, he traces the fear of asking to three roots: surrender of control, shame of appearing flawed, and the deep belief that no one is truly there for you. Callers bring the ideas to life.

The Art of Life Coaching Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Christine Ulrich
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Why does desire so rarely move us the way pain does? Armand DiMele and Christine Ulrich, a molecular biologist turned certified life coach, dig into the mechanics of change, exploring how coaches use whole-life assessment, probing questions, and pattern recognition to help clients reach goals they cannot reach alone.

Productive Obsessions with Dr. Eric Mizell Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Anne Mizell, Dr. Eric Mizell, Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Personal Growth & Change, The Mind & Neuroscience

Most people think of obsessions as disorders, but Dr. Eric Mizell argues they can be powerful engines of creative and personal achievement. He and co-host Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, join Armand DiMele to discuss how productive obsessions differ from anxiety-driven ones, why showing up daily matters, and what Beethoven reveals about the creative process.

Money as Illusion and Drug Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Money functions less as a tool than as a drug and a mirror for inner emptiness. Armand DiMele traces the psychology of wealth from Depression-era frugality to credit-card excess, arguing that arguments about money are always really about love, and that happiness cannot be purchased.

Heartwarming Workshops with Dolly Shulman Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dolly Shulman
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Dolly Shulman, a Philadelphia psychotherapist who lost her mother at age six, shares how that early grief became the foundation of her lifelong work. Armand DiMele walks through her heartwarming workshops, where participants reconnect with childhood feelings, release buried emotions, and rediscover their inner essence.

Living in the Present Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Natalie Reed
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Worry lives in the future, regret lives in the past, and neither leaves room for now. Armand DiMele argues that most suffering comes from one of these two mental habits, and that being present is not passivity but a kind of willful surrender. Callers share their own struggles to simply stop and arrive.