The Marble Jar Channel

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll walk through what I learned about myself during Dry January. Dry January, or the practice of abstaining from alcohol during the month of January, is an exercise that started in the UK about 10 years ago.  But recently it feels like more people are trying it out.  Or at least some form of it.  Some folks do a lesser version, which they call Damp January or Dampuary.  I have a close friend who has stopped drinking for a while, so I thought I’d do Dry January this year in solidarity.  As I near the end of this little experiment, I thought I’d reflect a bit on what I’ve learned.  First some Background - I grew up in a family where alcohol wasn’t important — no one drank much at all.  That said, in my high school, drinking was synonymous with independence and rebellion — neither of which I experimented with much until my senior year.  But college for me was entirely centered around drinking since I w

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll show you how to control your Chromecast with a standard TV remote control and explain why you might want to. I've tested out a bunch of streaming media devices and have ultimately settled on Chromecast as the tool of choice for our household.  If you are interested in my full rationale, you can check out my video on this, but basically, it's cheap, efficient, easy to use, and the original versions don't have their own easy-to-lose remote.  Chromecast has you use your own device (smart phone, tablet or computer) to choose the show you want to watch and then you simply hit a button in the app to cast it (or wirelessly stream it) to play on your TV or monitor or whatever you have your Chromecast attached to.   In 2020, Google launched Chromecast with Google TV which comes with it's own dedicated remote, but the original remote-less system is elegant and usually works well. Th

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and this is the eighth video in a series where I share information that I think EVERY therapy client should know.  In this video, I discuss the second step of emotional behavior change -- creating positive behavior patterns. So, now we’ve talked about developmental behavior change, the key ingredient (emotional safety), and the first step, which is to break negative habits.  Now, we’ll talk about the second step or how to create new positive behavior patterns.  And again, this is developmental or emotional change, so we’ll be talking to your mammal brain.  So, how do you get a scared puppy to try new things? Small steps - first of all, you need to take small steps.  I remember when I was teaching my dog to ring the bell to indicate he wanted to go outside, I first rewarded him when he got NEAR the bell.  So, not even touching it yet.  If you start this process by wanting the puppy to ring the bell automatically, you are do

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll talk about why, in the context of adult relationships, we shouldn't use terms for children such as Need, Abandonment, Neglect, and Unconditional Love. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a controversial take, but this is a pet peeve of mine.  A little while ago, I did a video on a couple of words that most therapists use that I hate -- one of those words is "Need."  Specifically, I don't like when that word used in the context of an adult relationship.  And on further thought -- I've figured out why I don't like it.  And it has to do with hijacking words that were originally conceived to describe a child's experience for use in adult relationships. Hear me out. No one asks to be born.  We all come into this world vulnerable, helpless, and totally dependent on the human beings who brought us into it.  And as children, we have a LOT of needs.  And we have l

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video I'm going to give a summary and my takeaways from the 1990 book Healing Your Aloneness: Finding Love and Wholeness Through Your Inner Child by Margaret Paul and Erika Chopich.  I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole recently reading about Inner Child work.  I recently did a video summary of Robert Jackman's book Healing Your Lost Inner Child, but the book today, written in 1990, is one of the seminal resources on this topic and still has much to teach us. Here is the overall map to my book videos: I give an overview which covers a quick summary of the book, the audience, and some background on the authors; then I review the structure of the book and give some additional content; I'll give my recommendation and an explanation; and finally, I'll review 5-10 takeaways that were either surprising or new information for me.  First, an Overview This book was written by two mental healt

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'll give my summary and take aways from the book Healing Your Lost Inner Child: How to Stop Impulsive Reactions, Set Healthy Boundaries and Embrace an Authentic Life by Robert Jackman. Here is the overall map to my book videos: I give an overview which covers a quick summary of the book, the audience, and some background on the author/authors; then I review the structure of the book and give additional details; I'll give my recommendation; and finally, I'll review 5-10 takeaways that were either surprising or new information for me.  First, an Overview This is a book that introduces a process for healing your inner child.  This includes a foundational education on the concept of the inner child, the types of wounds and ineffective behaviors that result, a process for how to identify your wounds, ineffective behaviors, and triggers, and some exercises that walk you through how to adopt