IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson - Live On Your Edge with Dr. Orna Guralnik

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Dr. Orna Guralnik, famed psychoanalyst and star of Showtime’s Couples Therapy, joins Michelle and Craig to answer a listener’s question about disconnection and boredom in her marriage. Craig explains why he hid the problems in his first marriage from his family, Michelle discusses a pet peeve that drives her nuts, and Dr. Orna explains how to be truly present with another person in any long-term relationship. Plus, IMO gets its first furry guest! Have a question you want answered? Write to us at imopod.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What are you thinking about? You know, I penny for your thought. What are you thinking about? And then do you really go there? And then. Do you really say, because how many times do somebody asks, what are you thinking about? And you're like, well, let me make up a thing. Right.

Because I don't want to actually tell you what I was thinking about. Which was like, the way you're chewing makes me want to smack you upside the head. That's why guys don't want to have. Which could be an edge. That would be a head. And that would be really interesting. You could like open something. It's like, why does you're chewing annoying me so much?

Right. Let's discuss. Right. This episode is brought to you by Rivian and Progressive Insurance. Well, hi there. How are you? I'm terrific. How are you?

I like you blue. Yeah. I'm more blue more. You're looking good. I feel good. Yeah. Yeah. That's good.

So today's show is going to be a knockout. Yeah, yeah. You know, one of my favorite topics and one of my favorite people. Yes. You know, talking about marriage, the challenges of marriage and all that good stuff. Yeah. You know, one question is now that, you know, I'm on my second marriage, people ask me, do we talk about our relationships? Yeah.

And I tell people all the time, now we do. Yeah, I mean, when you were on your first marriage, we were very close. We were close with you and your first wife lived down the street from one another. Socialized. Did a whole lot together. But then, you know, it was sort of a surprise when it ended. Yes. And it was a surprise.

And let me help the audience understand why it was a surprise because I was always of the mindset that it was going to work out. We were going to figure it out. We go to counseling. We do this. We do all these things. And things would work out. and that if they worked out and you guys knew all the things that were going on, I will have forgiven her and then you all would still be mad

because I know how you and mom are. But the thing is now, because all those years that you guys were struggling and dealing with stuff, I'd check in with both of you. How's it going? You'd be great. We're fine. And after that I was like, don't, your fine means nothing to me. It didn't.

I'm sorry. I guess that's the long way of saying, no, we actually didn't really fully talk about our marriages. Given all the stuff that we talked about, too, and continue to talk about, we never talked about our marriages. And by me not wanting to talk about mine made me not ask you about yours, because then you'd ask me about mine and then I'd have to tell you what's going on. And it wasn't good. And it wasn't good. It wasn't good. So it made me think about mom and dad, right?

And I tell people all the time, I remember mom and dad having one argument in front of us. One argument. And I don't know what it was about, but I do remember that dad, and we can laugh at this now. You know, for those of you out there, didn't know, my dad was disabled and he had crutches. And he got mad at my mom, and he tried to act like he was going to get up and leave. And this would have been like one of those, like a 20-minute thing for him to leave. You can't just walk out when you got crutches. And so he's getting his cat, he put his cap on and he hear these crutches crumbling around, clanging around.

And my mom was like, Frazier, I cannot believe. Are you getting ready to leave? You're just going to leave in the middle of an argument. And I would stand there with my mouth open. Do you remember that? I do. And I remember going, Dad, we wouldn't let him leave. I mean, I think I was hanging on a leg.

We were going to make it really hard for him to walk out the door. Kick a crutch out from under him. Really, you're walking out the door? Because you're right. We didn't know what the argument was about. But, yeah, he called himself, I'm just going to take a walk around the block. We're like, no, we've got you trapped in here. Yeah, we were little.

Yeah, now that you bring it up. That is how traumatic that was. Yeah. Because it was the one and only time that they had a fight. So I don't remember them even talking about their relationship with each other. Yeah, I think mom probably shared more with me as I got older. Because I, you know, I do remember because as I started getting, as I became a married woman and I talked to mom, I shared some of the frustrations and some of the ups and downs. And, you know, one thing she divulged to me was she said that for people,

period when we were in school and she was at home because she was a housewife until I went to high school, she said every spring she would wake up, there would be a day she'd wake up and think about leaving dad. I was like, what? How come I didn't know that? She never told you that. No, of course not. I would have been. But she used it as an example of like, you know, well, what she would say is like you think you have problems, you know, you think you can't deal with it, But if you leave this one, you're just going to go out in the world and find somebody else and you'll have to deal with their issues. Because her point was, everybody has issues. So when she told you this, were you already married?

Yes, yes. I was older. She didn't tell me this when I was eight. That would have probably devastated me. Yeah, I was thinking maybe while I was in college and you were in high school still. This was after I got married. This was during our conversations, you know, I'd get into the, how would you put up with me? and let me tell you what Parak did.

And she'd always say, you know, no one's perfect. You know, everybody brings their baggage to the table. And she used that example. She said every year it was almost like she had to renew her faith in her marriage. And springtime was that time. It was probably, as I think about it, it's like you're sort of trapped in the winter, the dark long winter of Chicago where nobody's going. anywhere because it's just too cold.

And then it starts to warm up. And, you know, she always had that spring cleaning ritual too. Right. She would have gotten the house ready for the new season. And it was probably her ritual of kind of shedding all the stuff from the winter, including thoughts of her husband. Cleaning him out. Cleaning him out.

But I think she replaced leaving with cleaning. And she said once she just sort of thought it through, She was like, well, we're, you know, do I really want to leave or do I, or am I looking for something else? Yeah. And that, I found that to be a helpful disclosure. And I think that's an example of the way I think mom and dad tried to talk to us as openly and honestly about what life was, including marriage. So I think that helped me not walk into my marriage with completely, unrealistic expectations that this man that I was going to marry was going to be my all and

everything forever and ever. Amen. That's just not, you know, the way it works. And I, I'm grateful to Mom for being honest. And that's one of the reasons why I try to be honest with the world, with the people who follow up, me and Barack, to our girls, because, you know, people look at our marriage as the ideal, you know, because in an Instagram world, you know, you see two loving people doing a hard thing in the world, you know, always on stage, giving each other a hug after a big speech. And making it look easy. And making it look easy. Right. And it's not. And a lot of young people could look at that and go, I want a marriage like Michelle and Barack. Right. And it's like, well, let me, you know, let me talk about what marriage is, you know, because.

even when it looks good, even when it's great, it's hard. Yeah. And so I think it's important because, you know, it's very easy to quit on a marriage. Yeah, yeah, which, you know, I'm thinking back now, and I probably wouldn't have ever gone to a marriage counselor if I hadn't had trouble in my marriage. Did you guys go to counseling in your first marriage? Oh, yeah. See, I didn't even know that. I know.

I know. Oh, my gosh. Because I'm not iconic and on social media, you don't, everybody doesn't know my business. But after all this time, I never knew that you guys actually went to counseling. Okay. But we tried some counseling. And, you know, counseling only works as well as the people who are giving out the information. Well, I shouldn't say that.

We'll have Dr. Orna come on and tell us the real scoop. But, you know, the way I looked at it is I'm going to be completely open. You'd be completely open and maybe we can work on that. But I didn't even know that there was an industry of therapy. Counseling, yeah. Yeah, that wasn't anything that our parents' generation. No way. I don't think I knew a single person who went to individual, let alone couples counseling.

And the closest thing was, you know, the counselor at school for the kids who had mental issues. You know, you only thought about therapy if you had some kind of mental issues. especially in the black community, right? People either went to their pastor or they went to their barbershop and talked to the rest of the fellows. That was the extent of dad giving me some advice, right? We'd go to the barbershop and listen to the stuff and then we talk about it in the car.

And then as I got older and in college and I would talk about girls, he was still of the mindset. Don't settle down. Make sure you wear protection. And atta boy. Yeah. You know. Did he ever give you, did dad ever give you any advice when you first got married?

So remember, dad had died early on. But he knew Janice. He knew Janice. And he knew that. But it was before we were having issues. So at that point, the advice went from the sort of add-a-boy, protect yourself to, there's a lot of temptations. out here and you can possibly feel like you're getting bored in your relationship.

Don't. Yeah, right. Don't do that. Don't do that. That's the deep, the deep advice that you get, the therapy that would, was supposed to carry you through. Yeah, but you know, Dad had his way of talking about things in using humor and using the example of his friends and family who made bad decisions. There were wonderful examples of what not to do. But there weren't a lot of, there weren't a lot of really guiding principles of what to do.

And speaking of that, let's have our expert come in. Well, yeah, I guess we should get some real help. Now, this is an introduction that I have to read because this is powerful here. Dr. Orna Goralnik is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. She is on the faculty of NYU postdoctoral program in psychoanalysis and writes and teaches on the intersection of politics, dissociation, and psychoanalysis. She is on the editorial board of psychoanalytic dialogues and studies in gender and sexuality. That's a mouthful right there. But you did it. She is the therapist on the Showtime documentary series, Couples Therapy.

One of my favorite shows, by the way. One of my sister's favorite shows. Now one of Kelly and I's favorite shows because this was one of those shows that we just didn't watch because we still have kids at home. But we went back and watched. Excellent. And now we are fans as well. Dr. Orna, would you come join us, please? And we have Nico here, too.

It's so great to meet you. Welcome, Nico. It's like, let's get a pro here. I know, Nico. It's like now we're getting to work what you're used to. Well, welcome. She did keep coming over when something intense was coming up. Can she feel it?

She feels it. Wow. Really? Yeah. See, I was paying attention to my sister. didn't even notice. I saw her. Yeah.

She's like, yeah. You know, it's like, doing her job. She's doing her job. Well, welcome. Welcome to our table, our conversation. My big brother and one of my favorite people in the world, I admire this woman deeply. I really do. I love the work that you do and the way that you do it.

But welcome. Thank you. I have so many questions. Let's go. This segment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, a brand who believes that everyone should have the access and opportunity to own a home. What are some of the first that we were able to accomplish in our family? What were some of our first? Well, I was probably the first first lady in our family.

You were the first person to get drafted by the NBA in our family. Yes, I sure was. and the first to actually play professionally overseas. We were the first in our family to graduate from Ivy League schools. You were the first person in our family to live abroad. Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one. We are the first people in our family to have our own amazing brother-sister podcast.

Yes. And that has been an amazing first for us. That's been a really fun first. That's been a really fun first. And it feels like it's a first that the whole family can celebrate. Because, you know, everyone is giving us ideas and opinions. And it has been really fun spending time hanging out together. And, you know, it feels like we haven't been together in a long time.

And we've just been apart for about a couple of months, which was no time. That was nothing in the past. And the thing about being the first is that sometimes it can be a little scary. Like starting this podcast, even though we're having a lot of fun, now we've never done this before. And there was a little trepidation about how is it going to work or people going to enjoy it. Are we going to have enough to say week after week?

Can we get guests? Can we get guests? Will anybody come and talk to us? So the first come with a lot. of fear, but a lot of excitement and a lot of reward. So we recommend being the first. And for a lot of folks, that first might be buying a home, something no one in their family has done before. Home ownership is more than just buying a house. It's about creating opportunities. That's where Progressive comes in through a $7 million commitment to housing initiatives in

2004, and the recent creation of a down payment assistant program called the Up Payment, Progressive is helping people attain their first homes, maintain them through life's challenges, and build generational wealth. Homeownership isn't just a milestone. It can be your first step in changing your family's financial future. If you're ready to make your first move, visit progressive.com slash open the house to find helpful resources and educational tools for every step of the home ownership journey. Progressive insurance is here to help you open the door. So I just, I'm trying to, I mean, first of all, I told my sister this when we started watching it, finding people to come on the show and be so open in front of cameras. I don't know if I could do that.

Can you talk about that? Sure, yeah. You know, when we started doing the show, we all had a question of whether this could do this, whether you could really do therapy on camera. You know, the basic idea of therapy is typically like full confidentiality. Like, I never talk about my patients with anyone. It's a very different way of framing therapy.

Right. So it was kind of a wild, jump to try to do this. But, you know, over time, what I realized is that, you know, in a way when people come and talk to a therapist, they're always talking to more than just the therapist. They're talking to some kind of internal audience that they have, like a family member that never listened to them or the world, like, wait a minute, there's something that didn't happen right in my life and I need the world to know this.

and I need to tell my story. So when they talk to a therapist, in a way, they're always talking to a certain kind of hidden camera anyhow. It's not that different. They're trying to tell their story and get it right. What led you to couples therapy? I mean, what's the advantage of working with a couple versus working with an individual or is there an advantage?

Yeah. Well, first of all, when people are in therapy, most of what they talk about is their relationships, right? And what you want to do in individual therapy is you want to get into like the very personal story, how a person sees their world, how they see the relationship. But you're always missing the other side, right? You're always missing, well, what's another perspective on this? People only know what they know about themselves. Yeah. And that's all they can share. Exactly. So I'm often curious, like if I have the spouse in the room, what would they say? And if I had the mother in the room, what would she say?

And that's what got me kind of interested in couples' work. So I actually recruited the person who's my advisor on the show, Virginia. Oh, yes. Years ago, I hired her and I said, teach me the art of couples therapy. Oh, wow. Wow. And just tried it out, and it was amazing. It was just a really powerful way of working. I think you've done taken huge steps to expose people to what therapy is and to demystify it.

And, you know, I think that the way it's done, the quality of the production and the way you approach the work, because we've had, Barack and I, we've done, I've done individual therapy, we've done couples therapy. There's just a way to, as I was saying in our earlier conversation, to, you know, bring our marriage down

to reality for people. Yeah. And to let people know that even in the best marriages, getting help, having periods where you need support, you need to think things through is a normal part of making it through. And it's such, it's an amazing thing that you're doing by actually speaking about it. I was listening to your conversation earlier and just breaking through all these fantasies and illusions that people have about marriage and about relationships trying to get real and open people up both to their own inhibitions

and struggles and then to be able to talk about it with each other. I mean, it's incredible what you're doing from the place that you are. Yeah, it can be a little scary because you don't want to jinx your own relationship. Yeah. Or you don't want to, you know, feel like because you say a little bit that you have to say everything. Right. But I do think that we don't talk enough with young people.

I agree. About what marriage is, what building real relationships are. We spend way more time on the wedding and the dress picking. Yeah. And the, you know, the wishboard and the all of that. And I see that even now, even now. as therapy has become more of the norm in our society, I see too many young people who haven't really thought through their why. They haven't asked real questions. They're so busy rushing to the

ceremony. And that's all we focus on is the day. And then they're not prepared for the next year or the next 50 years. And that's one of the reasons why I like talking openly. Because I think young people give up. They give up too soon. Yeah. And Dr. Orna, why do you think that is? Is it because we didn't have modeling with our parents, or is there a

fear of actually finding out what your partner thinks of you? Oh, there are many reasons why people don't talk about what's going on. There's so many fears of addressing. I mean, people love staying

at the surface of things. They're afraid of themselves of what they're going to find out in themselves. They're afraid of what their partner might say to them. They're afraid of the world, what the world will think. There are many ways that people just hide all the time from their most personal truth and the other person's truth. And the way people are raised and then we have the extra layer now of social media and like all the disnification that happens around that, that people don't know how to make contact with their true self. And we're not even trying.

That's not like a personal goal. We don't, we're not raising, we're not raised or we're not raising our children to do that work. Yeah. To even understand that that work is a part of being human. Being human. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that's why the show worked so well.

And we were surprised by how successful it was. I think that's what people really need. And they know it when they feel it. Like when people come into therapy and they can suddenly like, oh, I'm allowed to think about this. I'm allowed to talk about this. I can talk to my partner about this. It's such a relief. It's such a, oh, this is what life is instead of this like defensive way that I've been living.

People know it. When they get it, they know they need it. Well, we typically have a question. from a caller or a viewer. And I think now is a great time to get our question in and answer our questions. So Natalie, you got it. Hi, Michelle and Craig. I'm Rachel.

I'm 40 years old and a mom of three. Lately, I've been feeling fairly bored in my marriage. It's like every day is kind of a repeat of the last. We wake up, do school drop off, work, run errands. and then it's the same weekend routine. Even if my husband and I managed to carve out time for a rare date night, it still feels like we're just going through the motions. Last week, for example, we went out to dinner,

but it turned into a quick meal where we talked mostly about the kids and then listened to each other's work complaints. It feels like we're roommates, not romantic partners. Meanwhile, I find myself getting increasingly jealous of this close friend of mine who has two kids and whose relationship seems pretty vibrant and fulfilling. She often shares stories about how attentive her husband is, and I don't mean just emotionally. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help comparing our lives, and I'm realizing it's starting to make me unhappy. I do love my husband, and I feel lucky for the life we've built together, but I am craving more depth and

excitement in our relationship. I'm willing to put in the work. I just don't know exactly where to start, or how to talk with him without him becoming defensive or scaring him. Do we book a big vacation together? Do we try and write romantic notes to each other? I know that sounds silly, but I'm open. What's the secret to kick-starting a romance with the husband of 14 years? Rachel. I think that's a great question.

It really is. And there's so many different parts. So as the only husband at the table. What do you say? Yeah, really. I want to help Rachel be able to talk productively to her husband about her issues. How can we help Rachel talk a little bit more productively about this to the person that she should be feeling like she has her closest relationship with? Yeah.

Oh my God, there's so much in this question. Yeah, yeah. So much. First of all, I have to say that the question of, boredom. Bortem in my mind is, I mean, when patients talk to me about boredom, to me it's like a big symptom of, first of all, a disconnect. A disconnect from some kind of deeper, more real layer of things.

It's not, I mean, there's nothing to be bored about ever in life. Especially if you have a two and a three-year-old or however old Rachel's kids were. Exactly. I mean, just think about like when you go to sleep at night and what our mind creates every night in terms of dreams, we are full of interesting experiences all the time. I mean, look outside at nature. I mean, you can just stare at a flower and it's like, the world is fascinating. But we're not, we don't think like that, especially in this day and age. I mean, that's the first word out of a kid's mouth is, I'm bored and just the way you put it. It's like, how can, how can you

be bored? There's nothing to be. There's nothing to be. bored of, I mean, if you're a mother and you're watching your children, every moment that you look at them, it's like unbelievable what's happening. Yes. And what's happening inside of you when you're with your children, all the different emotions, the fears, the memories that it brings up for you, I mean, there's nothing to be bored about ever. So if you're bored, something is disconnected. So that's already something for me as a therapist to think about, work with. And is it something within Rachel to, you know, okay. So I start with what's going on with each person.

Like what are you disconnected from in yourself that first of all you're looking to your husband to fulfill before checking in with yourself. If you're bored and you're looking at your husband, that's already not exactly the right direction to be looking at. There's nothing to be bored. Let's start from that. If you're bored, something is to. disconnected. So we can deal with that aspect of things. Like what are you, what's happening inside

you that you're bored with? Are you not giving yourself enough time to have an inner life? Are you running, running, running? I mean, having three kids and she's 40. So the kids are young. I mean, it's going to be, this is a phase of life where this is not like fun and games. I mean, this is intense. Like you're at the level of. of like, are you getting any sleep? Is there money around? Like, are you, you're at the level of the body? It's very hard to carve out space to have an inner life during that period.

So what are you expecting? I mean, this is a period where you're giving out a lot. How are you dealing with that? Are you giving yourself the space to really have an experience? When you're with your kid, do you have the moment to actually notice the wonder that's in front of you, the wonder that's inside of you, like, can you take 10 minutes in the morning before everyone wakes up and just sit with yourself, jot down a few thoughts, a few feelings, even meditate for a few minutes, just create an inner space so that you can notice the wonder

around you and inside you, not only the wonder, the intense anxieties, everything, like have an inner life before you're turning to your marriage and your husband to kind of supply you with something. And don't mothers in particular feel guilty about everything? Yeah, about everything, let alone taking the time out to focus on an inner life. Yeah. How do you even help, especially a new mother dealing with all kinds of guilt to even think differently about that investment in self? Yeah, there's been quite a lot of recent more feminist literature that's trying to help women think through that, think through the intense experience as a woman is going through as a mother and a young mother. There's so much there. And there's so much, I mean, talking earlier about like all these like Disney ideas. Yeah.

So many ways in which mothers are prevented from really noticing what they're going through because you're supposed to be this, that, and the other. you're supposed to be perfect in this way and perfect in that way and anyway, all these different ways contradict each other, so there's no way to be perfect, and then you got your mother over your shoulder. So there's a lot out there now

in terms of feminist writing that helps women think through their experience and honor the complexity of their experience as mothers. All of this is like inner work before you even turn to your marriage. But then let's talk about the marriage. The marriage. Similar to like the way you can't, you know, you can't show up for your kid and say, okay, I have 10 minutes now.

I'm going to be a perfect mother now for 10 minutes. Are you ready for me? Yeah. And the kid's like, who are you? And seen. Yeah. Right. So similarly for a marriage, I mean, you have to connect between two people, the connection between two people,

requires a certain amount of attention or space, a certain kind of space. You can't just show up for dinner and just like, okay, we have an hour. Let's have a really meaningful experience and then we're back home. So what does that mean? First of all, how do people spend their time? I mean, it's really interesting when you do like a detailed analysis. I do it with myself every day and fail. But when you do a detailed analysis of how you're spending your time,

a lot of it is spent on basically crap, right? For me, like my vice is the news. But for other people it might be, I don't know, doom scrolling through Instagram or... Real housewives. Shopping, bad TV. OCD, like cleaning, cleaning just to empty your mind. Oh, and our inless phones. Endless phones.

So how are you spending your time? Are you arranging your life in a way that meaning can emerge? Or are you basically cutting yourself off from anything that could be meaningful? And, I mean, that's the problem we're all stuck in nowadays, especially with these like phones. And then between, so the couple needs to understand how they're spending their time. How are they creating conditions where they can have an experience with each other? And by experience, because that sounds like, that could sound overwhelming.

Because you say experience, and does that mean we have to go skydiving? And does it have to look a certain way? Because, again, in the ideal world, you're walking hand in hand through some magical date. You know, like date nights become a thing, right? So the experience feels like it needs to be big. And especially as women, we think that attention has to look like flowers and Prince Charming coming in. But what counts as an experience? This episode of IMO is brought to you by Progressive Insurance,

who help people move forward and live fully. Owning a home can be one of the most powerful ways to build financial security. But for many, especially first-generation buyers, it can feel out of reach. That's why I appreciate what Progressive is doing. In 2024, they contributed over 7 million, million dollars to help individuals and families break the cycle of renting by providing support, offering educational resources, and developing tools to build long-term financial stability

through home ownership. Their work goes beyond just insurance. Their opening doors. Through their newly created uppayment program, Progressive is helping first-generation homebuyers move closer to the dream of home ownership by offering eligible applicants a chance to receive a down payment assistance grant. You know, owning a home for me made me feel grounded and also set me up for the future. And as a coach, when your life is dependent on wins and losses, it's really important to have the comfort of a really nice home to come home to, especially for your family. Home ownership is one of the biggest investments you'll ever make, and Progressive wants to help more people take that life-changing step.

Learn more today at progressive.com slash open the house. This episode of IMO is brought to you by Coligard, a non-invasive colon cancer screening test. Currently, the American Cancer Society recommends that if you are at average risk, you should begin screening for colon cancer at age 45. There are an estimated 60 million adults age 45 plus in America who are not up to date with their colon cancer screening. So we need to change that by spreading the word about another option. The Kologard test can help you put your health first and feel more in control of your colon cancer screening process. This easy-to-use screening test is delivered right to your door and allows you to collect a sample comfortably at home.

on your own schedule. The sample is shipped back to the lab for testing and results are available within 8 to 10 days. It's simple. But the best part about the Kola Guard test is that it allows you to start screening for colon cancer without all the hassle of preparing for a colonoscopy. So you don't have to prep the day before. And by prep, you know I mean fasting and drinking all that liquid. You get to skip the stress of having to request off work, go under anesthesia, get a ride home, and all the other hassles that come with an invasive procedure. And in addition to its convenience, coliagard is also affordable. Most insured patients find they pay nothing out of pocket.

With zero downtime, no special preparation, and a screening test that's delivered right to your door, let's start prioritizing. our health. So, if you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your health care provider about screening for colon cancer with the Colergard test. You can also request a Coligard prescription today at colagard.com slash podcast. The Coligard test is intended to screen adults 45 and older at average risk for colorectal cancer. Do not use a coliagard test if you have had adenomas, have inflammatory bowel disease and certain hereditary syndromes, or a personal or family history of colorectal cancer. The coligard test is not a replacement for a colonoscopy in high-risk patients.

Coligard test performance in adults ages 45 to 49 is estimated based on a large clinical study of patients 50 and older. False positives and false negatives can occur. Colagard is available by prescription only. This episode of IMO is brought to you in part by Acorns. Back when I was coaching basketball, I saw firsthand how powerful consistency can be. With Acorns, it's the same play. Show up, stay steady, and let time do the rest. Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start saving and investing for your future. You don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you

get started with the spare money you've got right now, even if all you've got is spare change. You don't need to be an expert. Acorns recommends a diversified portfolio that can help you weather all the market's ups and downs. You just need to stick with it, and Acorns makes that easy. Acorns automatically invest your money, giving it a chance to grow with time. This reminds me of the consistent steps it took for me to go from a player into the business world and back into coaching. Sign up now and join over 14 million all-time customers who have already saved and invested over $25 billion with Acorns. Plus, Acorns will boost your new account with a $20 bonus investment.

Offer only available at Acorns.com slash IMO. That's A-C-O-N-S dot com slash IMO to get your $20 bonus investment today. From Acorns, Mighty Oaks do grow. Investing doesn't have to be complicated. Acorns makes it easy to invest for your future, plan for tomorrow, and spend smarter today. Paid non-client endorsement, compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns. Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors, LLC, and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com slash IMO.

What counts as an experience is when each of you is willing to come a little bit to your edge to the thing that matters to you really and speak from there. Listen to each other from there. Be curious. Say that again. That was deep. All right. It's for each of you to bring yourself to the edge of your experience to the thing that really matters to you, the place where you tremble, little bit where you're a little not sure about what your mind is going to bring, how you feel about things, the thing that really matters to you, the place where you tremble. Yeah. And to be able to be there with each other and ask your partner, like, it could be about anything. Like, you could talk about, I don't know, I mean, I think she talked about, like, the boredom of

talking about work every day. Right. You could talk to someone about, or talk about the kids, but everything you talk about, You can get to your edge and to that thing that really, again, made you tremble. Like, and speak from there and listen from there. Ask your partner like, okay, so that thing happened with your boss. But what did you really think? What were you really feeling in that moment?

And what fears and hopes did it bring up for you in that moment? And what did it remind you of from when you were, I don't know, 12? What did your dad do in that situation? There's so many places you can go with everything. I mean, Barack and I are even, we're in these conversations about what are the experiences that we have with each other, you know, that build connection between us, right? Because we are very different people with very different habits, very different needs. And we're constantly throughout our marriage trying to bridge that gap. So this is fascinating to me.

But a lot of people talk in terms of love language Because all of this experience being at the edge Sharing this stuff that sounds like Well, your love language is talk You know And if talk isn't his love language Like he doesn't want to go to the edge of anything You know, because he just wants you to hold him

That's the experience he wants Or he wants you to just leave him alone That's the experience he wants with his wife His love language is solitude. That's interesting too. That could be interesting too. You can ask plenty about that. But you know what?

It's true that I rely a lot on language. But you can be at the edge with another person without words. How? It's being present. It's feeling each other. There's so many ways that people communicate that they send, I mean, so much of what transpires between people is actually beyond. language. I mean, you know, we're sitting here together. There's body language. There's

facial expression. There's the smell and sound of things. There's, I mean, that's why Zoom, for example, is so reduced in terms of like a therapy encounter. There are many ways that we can be on the edge of things with each other that are not only in words. It helps when there's a connection between the experience of the body and the words when it all kind of works together. But you can listen to music together and have like a really intense experience with no words. You can, I don't know, watch an amazing movie together and you're having a profound experience. It's not only words. It's about bringing yourself to a place of vulnerability where you don't know, you don't know

what your partner is going to say, what they're going to do, and you don't know what's going to come out from within you. and you're touching each other in one way or another by being on that edge. And of course, it could be physically, sexually. There's many ways to be. Why are we so scared of that? It's scary. It's scary.

Is it just straight up scary? It is scary. Yeah, yeah. It is, I mean, when two people are in the presence of each other in some naked form, I don't only mean naked body, but naked mentally, it is scary. Yeah. There's a lot of risk, a lot of vulnerability. And I'll jump in here.

You know, from the time young men are developing, we have been the ones who had to ask girls to dance. And you know what we're afraid of? Rejection. Yeah. So scary. And so then you just keep adding that on until you get to be 60 years old and you're still afraid of rejection. Because I'm listening to you, Dr. Orna, and it's just. fantastic. And Kelly and I, my wife, we still have young kids. So we have a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old.

But we don't just talk about the kids. We talk about a lot of different things. And now I'm trying to see how can I get my, when am I on the edge? And it's not on the edge, and it's not superficial because I've never, I don't feel like I'm too scared to bring up anything. You know, I'm not scared to bring up anything. Although you said, you started by talking about rejection. Right. So I'm trying to see how I'm preventing myself from being rejected. Stay out of this. From being rejected, am I not getting to the meat of the matter? You can, I promise you, you can always push yourself for a bit. That's what I'm hearing. You know, you're like an athlete. You can always go and do more.

And maybe we're just right at the surface here. Because the thing about, because you're still in kid mode, Barack and I are empty nesters, right? So the funny thing is it's like we, now we don't have the kids. I mean, we always have the kids to talk about, right? But not on a day-to-day basis. They live in another state, another city. They're living their lives.

And we've noticed how much of our time we've spent talking about them, right? Yeah. So now that we're empty nesters, it's like, well, what are we going to talk about? So we're together all day. And we do this thing where it's like, I'll see him and it's like what you've been doing. It's like, oh, don't tell me until dinner, because we're, we got to have something to talk about at dinner. So if all throughout the course of the day, I'm getting caught up on his stuff, then it's like we're sitting, staring at each other. You should always have something to talk about. First of all, that's not true. That's not true.

Yeah, yeah. That's not true. It's not true. You're wrong. Wrong again. I'm just getting her back for buttoning to my discussion. No, there's, first of all, there's, I mean, this is a little radical what I'm saying, but there's a way to be next to another person, even in silence, that can be very alive, right?

Like, you know, people sit and meditate next to each other. There's a way that you could be together that is very alive. To me, it's a question of, like, again, are you sitting? sitting there in a place that you know what matters to you in that moment. And are you curious about your partner's edge or where they're at? Like, what are you thinking about? You know, that penny for your thought. What are you thinking about? And then do they, do you really go there? And then do you really say, because how many times do somebody asks, what are you thinking about? And you're like, well, let me make up a thing because I don't want to actually tell you what I was

really happened right now. Which was like the way you're chewing makes me want to smack you upside the head. Which could be, would that be an edge? That would be an edge. And that would be really interesting. You could like open something up there in a big way. Why does your chewing annoy me so much? Let's discuss.

Right. Yeah, I don't know if I'd bring that up. But that's an edge. That's an example of an edge. That's an example of an edge. And it actually, symbolically, it's a great example because chewing is. hearing another person chewing is you're hearing the essence of who they are, their otherness, their bodily functions.

It is like that. It's like it's not like that at all. No, no. Because the girls and I talk about. It's a thing. Yeah. I didn't realize that. That's good to know because the girls and I are very irritated with the way Barack choose.

Oh, my. Well, that's... Chewing is the essence, like you hear the otherness of a person. person, right? You hear they have a body, they have saliva. They're like you, ah, it's like another person. But why does it annoy us? Should we, is that a statement of something deeper? And if it doesn't annoy you, is that a statement of something deeper? No. That's not fair. Wrong again, Craig Robinson. That's not fair. Sorry. You got one more strike and then you'll have to leave the table. You guys can be sitting here crunching on serious and it wouldn't bother me.

I'm sure we can find other ways in which we can dig in there. But we digress though. But it's fascinating that that's even that edginess. Yeah. I like this, you know, that poet Keats that has the idea of like negative capability, like emptying yourself in a way and really opening yourself up to be curious to another person. Not listening so that you can talk, but listening so you can really hear another person,

like what matters to them? And that's endless. Yeah, and that's an interesting thing. I don't want to genderize this, right? And then there are a lot of people who are not curious. They're not, you know, open. They have a way of dialogue that is, I'm going to relay information to you,

and then I'm going to move on, or I'm going to solve a problem, or I'm going to, there isn't a curiosity. We aren't taught that. And I wonder whether that's some of what Rachel might be experiencing or might want to consider in her marriage. But as a, yes, I think many people are not taught to look for that in themselves and speak in that way to other people. But you can cultivate that. Yeah.

I mean, that's what I do as an analyst. I sit next to people and I turn my curiosity towards them and I create an environment that invites them to look inside and talk to me. Yeah. And you can do that. You can do that with your husband, even if he doesn't know how to talk. There was, in the last series that we did, there was this wonderful Chinese American man, Rex. Oh, I remember him. Do you remember Rex?

who I don't think growing up, I don't think anyone ever asked him a question. That's right. Ever. Yeah. And he had no clue what was going on inside him. No clue. And their conversations in the beginning were like dead ends. But you'd just sit there for a few minutes and ask him a question.

And suddenly the whole world would open up. And he'd be shocked by what's coming out of his mouth. Just give the person a chance. Ask. Ask. Invite. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. I'm just jotting down some notes. And to Rachel's point of looking externally and the comparing the, I mean, I don't. Compare and despair. I know we haven't begun to scratch the surface of so many other things, but I know she's in that comparative mode, which so many of so many of us. which so many of us are in this day and age. Instagram. Yeah.

Compare and despair. I think if you want to look at other people for something useful rather than compare and despair, you can look at other people and get inspired, just like you were saying earlier, talk to people in order to learn something. If you have friends, a couple who are doing something well. you can learn from them. You can ask them about it and learn from them. If you're just looking at other people in order to feel bad about yourself

or to generate envy, it's a complete waste of time. Really. Like, really, like an addiction to be gotten rid of. Yeah. It seems, and maybe it's just technology, that I don't remember folks trying to be like the Joneses

as much as I'd, do today. I agree. I agree. There's some, I mean, there's something about this, the younger generations. They live a very different life than ours. You know, I don't want to be like one of those like older people that's like, oh, the younger generations, they got it all wrong. It's different the way they're living. Definitely it, the, the world on social media calls on people to perform their lives, compare more than we did. There's a saying in basketball that my assistant coaches used to always say to me, you never know what's going on in the other guys huddle.

And whenever I was worried about the other team doing this or having better players than this, he's like, stop worrying about the other guys' huddle. They're yelling at each other over there. We can win this game. It's the same thing in relationships. But I want to turn back to, Rachel talked about, is there something I can do to kickstart our relationship? And that sounds like that could be good or bad.

But is there a switch? Is there something that she can do? Is there something you can tell her that she can do while she's working on this other stuff? You know, I'm a psychoanalyst. So I don't believe in like quick fixes and tricks. Seven steps to feeling more connected. I don't have them.

But I think what we're talking about is like this inner orientation both towards like every minute you can bring yourself to a place where you're taking more risks. And you can ask your partner to do that. I actually liked what she said about like writing notes, writing notes to each other. It doesn't have to be love notes. But sometimes when people write, they have to go deeper inside themselves to generate something. So maybe communicating through writing as a way of, in a way, announcing to each other, we're trying to speak from a more interesting place to each other.

That could be interesting. Read poetry. poetry to each other. Poetry is like a very direct line to like, when I feel like I'm losing something in myself, there are certain poets that I turn to and I pull up and gets me right there. Listen to music.

I mean, things that get you there, that get you to a place where you're alive. I wanted to ask you guys earlier, like, what makes you feel alive? What makes you feel like you're present? In the life I live, which is so abnormal now, it's really, it's like being outside. You know, I mean, we've, I say this a lot. Something that comes with fame that people don't, that they don't appreciate, they're not cautious of, is the loss of anonymity.

Like, it's hard for Barack and I to just be in the world. unobserved. And as a couple, so much of your interaction just happens because you two are experiencing the world together, sitting in a park and watching life go by, you know, stopping at a cafe and getting a cup of coffee. And then the conversation turns to the conversation next to you, right? We're always the conversation next to the people we're sitting, right? So you find yourself not looking out at the world. So for me, aliveness these days comes from those kind of experiences. It's just taking a walk, you know, breathing fresh air, hearing the sound of the ocean and being

completely unnoticed and just being able to experience the world in that way, which is, I would have never thought that that would be. And conversely, that's what we have fun doing. Like, we can go for a walk and we can experience auto. and the trees turning. And our discussions range from the kids to work, to family, to politics. And that's how we generate our joy, is doing family things. That reminds me of something else with Rachel and the focus on the husband.

And you mentioned it earlier that your spouse can't be everything. I mean, especially at that phase of life. Right. You need, you need friends, you need family, you need to kind of, you need more people in your life to carry the intense load of what it means to raise young children. And I've said this before, we now have this crazy notion that we're supposed to be this little unit of a family, parents and children, toughen it out together, you know, in some kind of isolation when in fact, throughout, humanity. That's not how families were structured. There was an extended family. There was always a big community. There were always others, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends. And some of what Rachel might be experiencing is what typically happens in young families. They're trying to do it

all alone, all by themselves. And that's a piece of advice that I give when I'm out and about what got me through as a young mother was, you know, there came a point in that mother, the mother-father relationship when I felt like my husband had all this free time, that he was going to the gym and, you know, he was still prioritizing his life and I was just stewing about it. And I realized I can go to the gym too. Right. Now, but I have to organize it and make it happen. That was sort of the kickstart to me to stop.

looking to him for what I needed. Yeah. And once I started doing that, I gave my self-permission to do other things, like go out with my girlfriends or have my friends over or build a strong community of other mothers. It made me feel more alive. Of course. Let us alone, less bored. Of course.

But it was almost like I had to give myself permission because you were just, you thought that being a parent meant you spent every waking moment with alone. with your child by yourself. Yeah. And if Rachel's trying to follow that, she's not bored. She's probably mad. Yeah. Right.

Right. She's probably very angry. Yeah. Yeah. That is, it's what you're describing is a very common phase that women go through. And men are somehow freer from that. They somehow know better how to take care of themselves. Well, let's start there.

That's what they focus on, taking care of themselves. Which is important. It is good. It's important. You know, we criticize it. I think we're envious. Yes, we're envious. We should learn to emulate it.

The sort of sheer laser focus on one's self. Well, this is a great time to give Rachel two or three tidbits to walk away with. If you had two or three things that we could give Rachel that she could come away with from this episode, what would it be? Okay, so I'm actually going to start with what you said, Michelle, which is like, how about you carve out some space for yourself where you make sure you're alive, you're not bored? Love it. Could be like 30 minutes a day and figure out what brings you there, what brings you there, what brings you. to a place where you feel alive and content in yourself before you're talking to your husband, before you're thinking about your husband.

Number one. Number two, when you're spending time with your husband, how about you get, you try to bring yourself to a place where you're really present and really curious? Like, ask questions. Oh, that's good. Ask questions that will surprise you. Yeah. I love that.

If I could redo a lot of things in my early motherhood time in my marriage, it would be to communicate my feelings to a husband that was actually willing to listen. But you have this fear of like, well, if I'm complaining, if I'm not doing it all, then maybe I'm failing. Maybe I look weak. Maybe I don't look like I can handle it. And that's all you want to be as a mother is somebody who, it appears to be handling it all. So you don't want to share those vulnerable moments, those moments of doubt, those moments of loneliness, because you might be accused of not being a good mother.

Absolutely. And I would add, as a husband and a father, if you were to open up and say to me, I'm worried that I'm failing or I'm worried that I'm not doing it right, I would, I don't have any empirical data, but most husbands would be sympathetic. and be helpful. Yeah. But the reason why I think you don't do it is because you're worried about him being negative. And it's, boy, I'd like to hope that it's unlikely. Yeah. Well, then we can just tell Rachel to have her husband listen to this episode.

Rachel's husband. And it gets back to the husband, Rachel. Rachel's husband, the message from us to you, listen, be curious, be on your edge. and, you know, make sure she gets to the gym and the spa, dude. Yeah. Focus on her. Yeah. If you're not doing that, Rachel's husband.

Right. You think? Yeah. And Rachel's husband should know that his wife's feeling bored, but she's going to work on it. Yeah. And if you're feeling bored, you'll have to work on it. Absolutely. And go to counseling.

Yeah, that's another thing you can do. You know, I think that that's also a piece of. of it. Carve out that time. Right. It's okay. I think, you know, you may find that in 10 years, you may need another checkup. And I'm finding that because we're, you know, I'm doing therapy now because I'm 60.

And at the end, I'm an empty nester. Yeah. I'm at a different phase in my life. I'm trying to figure out who am I now, you know, now that I can make all, all the choices that are make are mine. And now how do I give myself permission? How do I deal with the new level of boredom and the newness? So it never ends, you know?

Never ends. You're always figuring out yourself, yourself in relationships, and that's what therapy is for. It's to help you see parts of yourself that you can't see on your own. You know, you never try to fix the back of your hair without a mirror. Right. You know, you can't see behind your back. And wonderful therapy, but you also have to find good ones. like Orna, and they're out there. And if you can't find Orna, watch couples therapy. Because the beauty

of that show is that you, sometimes often you see yourself in the couples that you select it. And then you get Orna's therapy. I highly recommend it. It is truly one of my favorite shows. It really makes me think deeply about myself and about. my relationship. And it could be a good kickstart to couples out there who don't know what couples therapy is, but, you know, can gain some insights just from watching those amazingly brave people share their stories with all of us. So, thank you. Thank you for being here. This has been terrific. Thanks so much, Orna. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much.