Everyday Rockstar, Value of Collectibles, Ballroom Dancing, Useful Feedback, Summer Travels, Future Pandemics, Lucid Dreaming

Everyday Rockstar (0:00:00) Lisa and Richie feature this week’s Everyday Rockstar, a nurse combatting the COVID-19 pandemic who received a birthday surprise from Taylor Swift. You or someone you love could be featured too! Send your Everyday Rockstar nominations to thelisashow@byu.edu. What Makes Collectibles Valuable (0:08:12) Did you know that there’s a collectible stuffed bear valued at half a million dollars? That’s right, the “Princess the Bear” Beanie Baby is the most expensive of its type –but is not the only stuffed animal to be valued at more than a few thousand dollars. This is just part of the world of antiques and collectibles that seeks out some of the oldest and rarest relics of cultural significance. But how is it that a stuffed bear could be worth as much as a house? What makes these collectibles so valuable? Today we are joined by Pamela Siegel, an appraiser and owner of Chic Antiques, here with us to discuss how these little toys can really be prized possessions. Adult Ballroom Dancing (0:18:51) There are so many reasons we tell ourselves we can’t try new things. We’re too old, too embarrassed, or it takes too much time. But, we’re here to tell you that you never get too old or busy for this fun activity—ballroom dancing. Ballroom dance has been around for centuries, and today it has become a competitive sport. But that doesn’t mean you can’t dance just for fun. Sunnie Page is a professional ballroom dancer, teacher, and founder of the country’s largest ballroom dance studio—The Ballroom Dance Company. She’s here to tell us about the benefits of ballroom dance and how to get started as adults. Giving Useful Feedback (0:34:42) We give a lot of feedback in our lives. Here are just a few examples: When we’re at home, we have to correct our kids when they don’t do their chores right. At work, constructive criticism is important for getting the results we want. And who hasn’t had a friend come to them with advice on a sticky situation that they created? Telling people when they’ve messed up is part of life and often pretty uncomfortable. So, instead flying blind into these situations we thought it would be a great idea to get some feedback on the art of feedback from Roi Ben-Yehuda. He’s a professor of conflict resolution at both Columbia University and John Jay College and a leadership trainer at LifeLabs Learning. Summer Travels (0:52:50) I think traveling is the best part of summer. Getting to see different parts of the world—or even just a different part of your state—can be rejuvenating. But with COVID looking like it will still be a concern this summer we’re wondering how we can adapt our travel plans. Here to share her ideas with us on how we can travel safely this summer is Cindy Richards, editor-in-chief of the popular travel website,  TravelingMom.com. Mitigating Future Pandemics (1:10:13) As we see the beginning of life returning to normal, we may be feeling some anxiety about the possibility of a pandemic like this happening again. If that does happen, what can we do? How can we be prepared and how can we stop the spread of a virus like this early on so it doesn’t reach pandemic levels? Dr. Michael Greger is a physician who recently came out with a book called “How to Survive a Pandemic.” With all the concerns going around in the world, we thought we would invite him onto the show to discuss how we can mitigate future pandemics. Lucid Dreaming (1:28:31) Have you ever had a dream you never wanted to wake up from? Or on the opposite side of the spectrum, who here has had a nightmare that maybe still haunts you? We all have crazy dreams, especially right now. If you’re having COVID-19 dreams, you’re not alone. In fact, the pandemic is causing people to have incredibly vivid dreams. But what if I told you there is a way to control your dreams? It’s called lucid dreaming, and today, we have Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a Professor Emerita of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, here to tell us all about it.