The Happier You: Recent Episodes
Bona Normandeau
The Happier You is a journey to find your happier self. Each episode is meant to inspire you to stop worrying so much about what others think your life should look like, and ask yourself, what do you want your life to look like. I'm on this journey myself, and I'm hoping you will join me and find more happy in your everyday life. The happier we are, the more happiness we have to share!
The Easy Plus One Method: A Nutrition Coach's Simple Approach to Lasting HealthGuest: Staci Lynch, Certified Functional Nutrition Coach
Episode Summary
Have you ever experienced "food fear"? That anxiety around social eating, not knowing what's safe for your body, or feeling like a high-maintenance guest everywhere you go?
In this powerful episode, Bona sits down with functional nutrition coach Staci Lynch, who shares her incredible journey from childhood food obsession and 250+ pounds in high school to helping others heal their relationship with food from the ground up.
What You'll Learn
Staci's Transformational Story:
- How food obsession started in elementary school and led to decades of restrict-binge cycles
- The moment everything changed when a doctor suggested dairy and wheat elimination for her sick baby
- Why traditional medical approaches left her feeling hopeless and alone
The Easy Plus One Method:
- Why foundations matter more than fancy testing
- How to build sustainable health habits without overwhelm
- The power of focusing on ONE thing until it becomes easy
- Why success breeds success in health transformation
Staci's 7 Pillars of Whole Health:
- Mindset
- Nutrition
- Hydration
- Sleep Optimization
- Muscle and Movement
- Stress Management and Recovery
- Hormone and Gut Health
Key Quotes From Staci
"I don't think that people are innately lazy. I think it is just that they don't understand and have an easy strategy to be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish."
"Your success is inevitable. I believe that for every single person. And if you don't have enough belief in yourself, please borrow mine 'cause I have enough for both of us."
"Health does not have to be hard."
Connect with Staci Lynch
- Free Facebook Group: Building to Thrive
- Instagram: @buildingtothrive
- Website: http://www.building-to-thrive.com
You know that feeling when you're "doing everything right" but still feel exhausted by 3 PM? Or when your doctor says your labs look "normal" but you definitely don't feel normal?
This week, I'm chatting with Sharleen Lucas—an RN who left traditional hospital nursing because she was tired of seeing people suffer without real solutions. Sharleen breaks down metabolic health in a way that actually makes sense (and doesn't make you feel like you need a medical degree to understand it).
What We Cover
- Why 93% of us feel crappy (but the good news is, Sharleen gives us practical tools to fix this!)
- What "metabolic health" actually means (hint: think of your cells as tiny factories)
- The "naked carbs" thing that's probably sabotaging your energy all day
- Super simple food hacks that don't require throwing out everything in your pantry
- Why your breakfast might be setting you up for failure (and what to do instead)
The Real Talk
Sharleen's story resonated with me—she dealt with her own mysterious health issues that traditional medicine couldn't solve. Sound familiar? She gets that you're already doing so much right, but maybe you just need a few tweaks to feel like yourself again.
Her favorite quote from fitness instructor Betty Rocker: "All or something is just fine." Because honestly, we don't need to be perfect. We just need to start somewhere.
If This Sounds Like You...
- You're successful in every other area of life but can't figure out why you're so tired
- You feel guilty for wanting more energy when you "should be grateful"
- You're tired of being told to just "eat healthy and exercise" without real guidance
- You want to feel good in the life you've already built
Connect with Sharleen
- Website: RNnextdoor.com (book a free 30-minute chat)
- Linked in: RN Next Door
- Facebook: Sharleen Lucas
- She also does these cool 2-hour lab reviews where she actually explains what your numbers mean and gives you real action steps
Remember: You're not broken. You're not asking for too much. You deserve to feel good in the beautiful life you've created.
In today's episode I'm talking to empty nest coach Diana McIntosh about navigating the emotional and identity shifts that come with children leaving home. Diana shares her personal journey as a single mom, her “3C Framework” for rediscovering passion and purpose, and practical tools—like her “Magic Morning Reset”—to help women move from surviving to thriving.
Key Takeaways:
- The emotional complexity of sending kids off to university
- How to avoid placing your sadness on your children
- The power of curiosity in rediscovering yourself
- Diana’s 3C Framework: Curiosity, Courage, and Confidence
- The importance of small wins and self-celebration
- Creating a supportive and nurturing morning routine
Links & Resources:
- 📸 Follow Diana on Instagram: @dianamcintoshcoach
- 👥 Face Book: Diana McIntosh on Face Book
- 📝 Free Download: The Magic Morning Reset (linked on Diana’s site)
Connect with Bona:
🌟 The Happier You Website
🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this episode spoke to you!
In this inspiring episode, I sit down with Chris Ayotte, former Army officer and host of The Northern Sentinels podcast, to explore what it means to live a life shaped by intentionality, priorities, and personal fulfillment.
After years of military service and multiple deployments, Chris made a life-changing decision: to step away from the Army and spend his daughter’s final two years of high school fully present at home. What followed was a transformative six-month journey of reflection, recalibration, and the creation of a new mission—this time, in civilian life.
We talk about:
- 🌱 The emotional and practical reasons behind Chris’s decision to leave the military
- 🧭 How he gave himself space to not rush into what's next—and what that taught him
- 🎧 The birth of The Northern Sentinels podcast during his transition
- 💡 The quiet, personal work of figuring out what really matters—and building around that
- 🙌 The power of aligning career moves with what brings genuine happiness and presence
Whether you're navigating a major life shift or seeking clarity about your next step, Chris's story offers a powerful reminder: You can pursue what’s next without leaving yourself behind.
🔗 Resources & Links
- Listen to The Northern Sentinel podcast
- The Greater Good Substack - with Chris' podcast and writings
The Power of Creative Expression: Healing & Transformation with Sam Horton
Have you ever felt stuck in your emotions or struggled to find a way to express yourself? In this episode of The Happier You, we explore the transformative power of creative expression with special guest Sam Horton. Sam shares her journey of using creativity as a tool for healing and personal growth, showing us how tapping into our artistic side—whether through writing, painting, music, or movement—can be a powerful way to process emotions and cultivate happiness.
We discuss:
✨ How creative expression helps us navigate life's challenges
✨ The connection between art and emotional well-being
✨ Practical ways to embrace creativity, even if you don’t consider yourself “artistic”
✨ Sam’s personal experiences with creativity as a form of self-discovery
If you’ve ever wanted to bring more joy, self-awareness, and healing into your life, this episode is for you!
🎧 Listen now and get inspired to unlock your creativity!
🔗 Links & Resources:
https://samhorton.co
https://instagram.com/samhortonstudio
https://thehappieryou.net/
💛 Let’s keep the conversation going! Share your thoughts with me at https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehappieryou
Does February ever feel like the longest, toughest month? You’re not alone! From the post-holiday slump to the pressure of Valentine’s Day, February can be a hard month to get through. But what if you could change that? In this episode, Bona discusses how small mindset shifts and intentional actions can transform February from a dark, dreary month into one filled with light and joy.
Discover practical tips for navigating the February blues and how you can take control of your happiness, even when the world seems to be against it.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- The February Blues: Why this month can be tough, and how to fight back with positivity and gratitude.
- Valentine's Day Pressure: How to shift the narrative from what’s missing to what’s already abundant in your life, regardless of your relationship status.
- Gratitude for Small Things: Learn how focusing on what you have, rather than what you don’t, can transform your perspective and lift your spirits.
- Action Creates Transformation: It’s not just about listening to positive messages—it’s about taking action to create real change in your life.
- Real-life Story: Hear how one listener, Nancy, changed her mindset and found joy during a challenging holiday season, proving that happiness begins with small shifts.
Featured Resources:
- The 30-Day Happiness Boost: Join Bona for a 30-day journey of small, intentional actions to boost your happiness. You’ll be guided step-by-step to create lasting joy in your life.
Key Quote: "Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions." — Dalai Lama
Join the Challenge!
If you’re tired of holding on to negativity and want to take action to change your February, join Bona for the 30-Day Happiness Boost. It’s time to create joy on your own terms.
In this episode of The Happier You podcast, I sit down with transition coach Jodi Webster to discuss navigating life’s major changes. Whether a transition is planned or unexpected, it can be difficult to handle. Jodi shares her personal journey into transition coaching, reflecting on her own career shifts and the challenges she faced without guidance.
This episode dives into Jodi’s top tools and advice for navigating transitions, from practical strategies like maintaining an up-to-date resume and building an emergency fund, to emotional tools like celebrating small wins and overcoming self-doubt. Jodi also explains why it’s crucial to plan ahead, invest in your skills, and approach job searching with resilience.
For anyone facing a career transition—or just wanting to be better prepared—this episode is packed with actionable tips and insights to help you thrive, no matter what life throws your way.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The difference between voluntary and involuntary transitions—and why preparation is key.
- Jodi’s 10 practical tools for navigating career changes,
- The importance of addressing the emotional challenges of transitions, like self-doubt and stress, and how to celebrate small wins.
- Why it’s essential to ask the tough questions during interviews, from salary to start dates.
- Tips for maintaining momentum in your job search, even when faced with setbacks.
Notable Quotes from Jodi Webster:
- “You want to keep as much money in your bank account as possible because everything takes longer than you think it will.”
- “Invest in your own skills—even if it’s free or online courses. It keeps you exposed to new ideas and concepts.”
- “Don’t get emotionally attached to a job lead. It’s a numbers game—apply, apply, apply.”
- “Celebrate small wins. Overcoming the fear of job searching and getting those first applications out the door is a victory in itself.”
Resources and Links Mentioned:
- Connect with Jodi Webster for transition coaching jodi@keyrehabservices.ca
- Tools for upskilling: LinkedIn Learning, free online courses, and certifications.
- Episodes on happiness tools for small wins: https://thehappieryou.net/take-charge-of-your-happiness-why-small-wins-really-matter/
Join the Conversation:
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced during a career transition? Share your experience and connect with us in The Happier You community.
Subscribe & Review:
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review! It helps others discover the podcast and join the journey toward happiness.
Do you want to make 2025 the year you truly love? In this episode, I simplify the process of goal-setting and annual planning with a fun and practical approach designed to work for you. Whether 2024 left you feeling accomplished or drained, this framework will help you celebrate your wins, set meaningful goals, and create a life you’re excited to wake up to every day. If you’ve ever struggled with staying motivated or sticking to resolutions, this episode is packed with tips to make 2025 planning easy, inspiring, and totally doable.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
- Why celebrating your wins is the most overlooked (but essential!) part of planning.
- A 4-step system to simplify your annual planning and make it enjoyable.
- How to align your goals with your values so they’re meaningful and achievable.
- The importance of anticipation and how to highlight moments of joy throughout the year.
- Tips to keep your momentum going, even when life gets busy.
The 4-Step Framework for 2025 Planning Made Easy:
- Celebrate Your Wins: Reflect on the highlights of 2024 with the Annual Highlight Reel to set a positive tone.
- Plan Ahead: Identify key milestones, events, and challenges coming up in 2025 to create a realistic roadmap.
- Set Meaningful Goals: Define what success looks like by December 31st, 2025, and make your goals deeply personal.
- Build Anticipation: Highlight both big and small joys to keep you inspired throughout the year.
Free Resource for Your Best Year Yet:
Want to start planning your 2025? Download my free Annual Highlight Reel tracker here. It’s the perfect tool to celebrate your wins and set yourself up for success!
Quote of the Episode:
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" – Mary Oliver
Let’s Stay Connected:
- Visit my website: thehappieryou.net
- Join my community: The Happier You Face Book Group
Let’s make 2025 your happiest year yet!
In this heartfelt episode of The Happier You podcast, I sit down with Patricia Van Der Laan, my happiness mentor of over four years. Patricia has been a guiding light in my own happiness journey, and this year, she has faced incredible challenges with resilience, grit, and grace that continue to inspire me.
Together, we discuss the real, messy truth about happiness—how it’s not always easy, and why it’s okay to acknowledge the struggles along the way. Patricia shares her insights into navigating life’s curveballs while holding onto joy and purpose. She reminds us that resilience isn’t about avoiding difficulty; it’s about showing up for ourselves and finding the strength to keep moving forward.
Patricia's Wisdom:
"I choose Joy. Every single day, I choose joy."
Mentioned in this episode:
- The mindset shift that keeps Patricia moving forward through tough times.
- How to embrace happiness as a lifelong practice, not a destination.
- Tips for building resilience during life’s biggest challenges.
This is a must-listen for anyone who needs a reminder that happiness isn’t just for when life is easy, its a choice you make even when life gets hard.
Tune in to learn:
- Why struggles and joy are interconnected in the journey to resilience.
- Simple ways to cultivate happiness even in the face of life’s challenges.
- How mentorship and connection can make a profound impact on your happiness journey.
Listen now and discover how you can find joy and resilience, even when happiness feels hard.
December at The Happier You community is all about gratitude! It’s one of the first happiness tools I implemented, and it’s simple, free, and life-changing. In this episode, I’m sharing a heartfelt story from Benjamin Hardy’s book The Gap and The Gain that hit me right where I live. It’s about focusing on what’s missing instead of appreciating what’s already there—and how gratitude can shift that perspective.
I also introduce you to a powerful tool called mental subtraction—a research-backed technique to deepen your gratitude and boost your happiness. Plus, I open up about my own struggles with staying in “The Gain” and how I’m learning to embrace gratitude even when life doesn’t go as planned.
If you’re ready to feel more joyful, even during life’s challenges, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The difference between living in “The Gap” vs. “The Gain”
- How gratitude strengthens your “happiness muscle”
- A simple mental subtraction exercise to boost gratitude and happiness
- Why practicing gratitude doesn’t mean settling for less or accepting unfairness
- How to appreciate the good in your life—even the smallest blessings
Today's Quote:
"I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness—it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude." — Brené Brown
Resources Mentioned:
- The Gap and The Gain by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan
- The Mental Subtraction Exercise (science-backed gratitude technique)
Your Challenge for the Week:
Take the mental subtraction challenge: Think of one thing in your life that you take for granted and imagine life without it. Notice how this shifts your perspective and helps you appreciate the blessings you already have.
Join the Conversation:
- How do you practice gratitude in your life?
- Have you ever noticed yourself getting stuck in “The Gap”?
Share your thoughts and takeaways with me over on Facebook.
Subscribe & Review:
If you’re enjoying The Happier You podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us reach more people and spread happiness even further.
Stay Connected:
- Join the Happier You Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehappieryou
- Sign up for my free December Gratitude Challenge: https://thehappieryounet.kit.com/gratitude30
Episode Description:
The holiday season can be both magical and overwhelming. As we navigate the busy festivities, it’s easy to forget to pause and appreciate the blessings we already have. In this weeks episode I am inviting you into our December Gratitude Challenge, a simple and powerful way to bring more holiday happiness into your life.
I discuss how practicing gratitude, especially during challenging times, can help shift your focus from what you don't have to appreciating what’s already right in front of you. Whether it's a small moment or a big win, gratitude opens the door to greater joy, connection, and peace—exactly what we need during the holidays.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
- The transformative power of gratitude and how it can unlock holiday happiness.
- How focusing on gratitude can help shift your mindset during stressful or overwhelming times.
- Practical ways to incorporate gratitude into your daily life this December.
- Why the holidays are the perfect time to practice gratitude and embrace the beauty in your life.
Join the challenge and start practicing gratitude today, because what you focus on expands—let’s expand the blessings in our lives this holiday season!
Episode Quote:
"Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation." – John Ortberg
Resources Mentioned:
- December Gratitude Challenge
- Connect with Bona and The Happier You community on The Happier You Facebook Group
- Join the Daily Gratitude Email Series
Connect with Bona:
- Website: The Happier You
- Facebook: The Happier You Facebook Group
As the holiday season approaches, we're surrounded by ads telling us that happiness can be wrapped, boxed, and gifted. But is the best gift you can give yourself something you can buy? In today’s episode, we’re exploring what it really means to give ourselves a gift that brings true joy and fulfillment—no price tag required.
Using Gary Chapman's concept of the Five Love Languages as our framework, we’re diving into how each love language can guide us toward discovering the most meaningful gift we can give ourselves. Whether it’s words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, physical touch, or receiving gifts, there’s a unique way for each of us to nurture and celebrate ourselves.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Why the best gifts might not be found in stores or under a tree
- How to identify your primary love language and apply it to self-care
- Practical ways to show yourself love that align with each love language
- Why self-reflection and a bit of journaling can help you get to know yourself better this season
Episode Highlights:
- Rethinking Gifts: How marketing shapes our beliefs about happiness and material gifts, and why the most precious gifts can’t always be purchased.
- The Five Love Languages: We break down each love language—Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Physical Touch, and Receiving Gifts—and share practical ways to express each one as a gift to yourself.
- Your Unique Gift: By reflecting on what brings you joy, you can find a truly meaningful way to celebrate and care for yourself.
A Little Challenge for You:
Grab a journal, and after listening, take some time to reflect on the love languages. Ask yourself: Which of these resonate most with me? How can I use this insight to create a holiday gift for myself that’s fulfilling and personal?
Quote of the Episode:
"The best things in life are not things." — Art Buchwald
Get In Touch:
We’d love to hear what you think! If you find this episode helpful, share it with someone who might need a little inspiration this season, and tag us on social media with your favorite insights.
Remember: This holiday season, think outside the box and give yourself the gift of what truly matters.
Episode Summary:
The holidays are just around the corner—are you ready? Whether you’re the type to have your Christmas shopping done in September or you prefer to wing it, this episode is for you! Today, we’re diving into how planning ahead can transform your holiday season from chaotic to calm. With practical tips and personal stories, you’ll learn how to set boundaries, create new traditions, and design a holiday season that brings more joy and less stress.
Inspired by Brené Brown’s approach to family vacations and my own happiness journey, I’ll show you how asking the right questions—of yourself and others—can lead to more meaningful holidays. This episode will help you reflect on last year, prioritize what matters, and prepare for the holiday season with intention and balance. Let’s make this year’s holiday season your best one yet!
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- How planning ahead can help you avoid holiday overwhelm
- The importance of self-awareness in creating a holiday that works for you
- Why asking your loved ones what they really want can lead to less stress and more joy
- How to set healthy boundaries before the holidays start, so you can enjoy the season on your terms
- Simple, actionable steps to reflect on last year’s holiday and plan for a better one this year
Resources Mentioned:
- My recent conversation with Diane Sorensen on setting healthy boundaries: EP#117
- The Brené Brown book I referenced about family Venn diagrams: The Gifts of Imperfection
Quotes from the Episode:
- “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” — Alan Lakein
- “What if this year, you’re the one brave enough to try something different? You might just find more joy and peace in a simpler, more meaningful holiday.” - Bona Normandeau
Join the Conversation:
I’d love to hear how you’re planning for the holidays this year! Share your thoughts with me on social media or in the comments below. What traditions are you keeping, and what new things are you trying?
Follow & Subscribe:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to The Happier You podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you found this helpful, please leave a review—it helps others find the podcast and grow our happier community!
In today’s episode, I’m diving into how we can turn setbacks into stepping stones. Instead of seeing failure as something that happens to us, what if we could see it as something happening for us—a way to help us learn and grow? I share a personal story about some of the setbacks I faced early on in my military career and the lessons I learned that still help me today.
I’ll walk you through a five-step process to help you reframe your own setbacks, moving from feeling defeated to feeling empowered. Whether you're facing a current challenge or reflecting on past ones, this episode is packed with actionable steps to help you gain momentum, rethink the stories you tell yourself, and ensure you have the right support system to keep moving forward.
In this episode, I cover:
- Shifting from “Why is this happening to me?” to “How is this happening for me?”
- My journey through setbacks in the military and what those experiences taught me
- A five-step system for transforming failures into opportunities for growth
- Why celebrating small wins is essential to building resilience
- How to assess your support system to make sure it’s working for you right now
Listener Challenge: This week, try applying my five-step system to a current or past setback. Notice how it shifts your perspective, and ask yourself where you could have supported yourself differently, sought help sooner, or taken a new approach.
Quote of the Episode:
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” – Confucius
Hey, happy people! In today's episode, I’m thrilled to welcome back Diane Sorensen. You might remember Diane from her previous appearance on the podcast, where we dived into the Rescue and Empowerment Triangles. This time, Diane and I explore the powerful and sometimes misunderstood topic of boundaries.
Have you ever found yourself saying yes when you really wanted to say no? I know I have! It’s something I’m working on myself, and in this episode, Diane helps us demystify boundaries so we can better understand their importance in maintaining healthier, more authentic relationships.
Diane shares her personal journey of going from having no boundaries to discovering how they have the power to set us free and strengthen our connections with others. Whether it’s a relationship with a child, a partner, or a parent, we all play a role in how those relationships develop. And, as Diane so beautifully puts it, it all begins with setting boundaries that respect both ourselves and others.
Here’s what you’ll hear in this episode:
- What boundaries truly are and why they matter for personal happiness
- Why setting boundaries is an essential step in any personal growth journey
- Practical tips on how to start saying no in a healthy, guilt-free way
- How boundaries create more honest and genuine relationships
- Why most of us have been conditioned not to set boundaries and how we can unlearn those habits
Diane also shares how boundaries are not just about saying no to others, but about saying yes to ourselves and our happiness. It’s a powerful conversation that I’m so excited to share with you. I hope it helps you, as it’s helped me, on this journey to living a more authentic and happy life.
Check out this free resource Diane has generously provided to help you take the first step toward setting healthy boundaries. Click here to access Diane’s Boundary Resource and start transforming your relationships today!
If you loved this episode, please share it with someone who could benefit from learning more about boundaries. Let’s spread the happiness and help each other live our best lives!
Are you waking up exhausted, rushing through your day, and still feeling like it’s never enough? Imagine waking up excited, saying yes to what really matters, and feeling confident and present in your own life. That’s exactly what we’ll work on in my Kickstart Your Happy. Enrollment is open now through September 28th, so visit thehappieryou.net/courses to learn more and join us.
Episode Title: What You Offer to Others, You Give to Yourself: Happiness Tools for Real Life
Welcome back to season five of The Happier You podcast! In this episode, Bona shares a powerful interview with Teri Murray, who participated in one of the early 21 Day Happiness Challenges. Together, they explore key happiness tools, including “What You Offer to Others, You Give to Yourself” and the importance of self-compassion.
Teri opens up about how she used these tools in her life, including helping her son navigate anxiety during the pandemic. Her journey reminds us that when we offer acceptance, kindness, and understanding to others, we are also working on giving those things to ourselves. Bona also reflects on the struggle we all face when learning new skills like self-compassion, sharing that it’s not always easy but is crucial for long-term happiness.
Key Takeaways:
- What You Offer to Others, You Give to Yourself: When we offer understanding and acceptance to others, we learn to offer it to ourselves.
- Self-Compassion: Struggling is a normal part of life; self-compassion helps us move through difficult moments with more grace.
- Personal Growth: Progress in happiness is an ongoing journey, not a destination.
Challenge for the Week: Take time to consider how you treat those around you. Are you offering kindness, patience, and understanding? As you do, remember that this kindness extends back to you. Offer yourself the same compassion when you're facing challenges.
Quote of the Week: “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha
Links and Resources:
- Join my next Kickstart Your Happy course to get personalized happiness tools you can implement step-by-step in your life.
- Subscribe to The Happier You newsletter for more tips and tools to keep happiness top of mind!
Thanks for tuning in, and as always, when you have a choice, choose happy!
Are you waking up exhausted, rushing through your day, and still feeling like it’s never enough? Imagine waking up excited, saying yes to what really matters, and feeling confident and present in your own life. That’s exactly what we’ll work on in my Kickstart Your Happy. Enrollment is open now through September 28th, so visit thehappieryou.net/courses to learn more and join us.
Episode Summary: In the final installment of the summer rerun series, I am encouraging you to focus on your strengths and stop being your own worst critic. This episode is all about recognizing the amazing things you're good at and embracing them instead of fixating on your weaknesses.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus on Strengths: Stop dwelling on your shortcomings and start acknowledging what you do well. Celebrate your talents, whether it's being a good friend, a supportive partner, or a dedicated employee.
- Know Yourself: Understanding your strengths begins with knowing yourself. Bona suggests taking personality quizzes as a fun and insightful way to identify your natural abilities.
- Stop Comparing: Avoid comparing yourself to others, especially on social media. Embrace who you are and what you have to offer.
Resources Mentioned:
- 16personalities.com: A free personality quiz that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Quote of the Week: "I do not want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." - Diane Ackerman
Final Thoughts: Remember, when you have a choice, choose happy. Take this week's challenge to heart and celebrate the incredible person you are. Have a good one, and go get your happy on!
Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review The Happier You Podcast. For more happiness tips and challenges, visit our website at TheHappierYou.net
In today's special rerun episode, we delve into the transformative power of play. Following up on our exploration of creativity in the first part of this two-part series, we now turn our focus to how play can rejuvenate our lives, reduce stress, and spark joy. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or simply in need of a little fun, this episode is for you!
Why Play Matters
Discover why play isn't just for kids—it's essential for adults too! Play has profound benefits for our mental well-being and personal growth. Drawing on insights from play researcher Stuart Brown, we explore how play helps us unwind, reconnect with our creative selves, and find balance in our hectic lives. Whether it's structured activities like building Lego sets or spontaneous fun like flying a kite, there's a type of play for everyone.
Play vs. Creativity
In this episode, we discuss the nuanced differences between play and creativity. While creativity often involves crafting something new, play can simply be an activity where you lose track of time and enjoy the moment. Hear a fun conversation with my friend Jodi as we debate the "two camps" of Lego enthusiasts: those who follow set instructions and those who build from imagination. This light-hearted discussion illustrates how play can manifest in various forms, each bringing its own joy.
The Benefits of Play
Explore the multitude of benefits that play brings into our lives. From reducing stress and enhancing our brain's executive functions to fostering better problem-solving skills, play is a powerful tool for improving overall well-being. Stuart Brown's quote, "The opposite of play is not work; it's depression," underscores the importance of incorporating play into our daily routines.
Practical Tips for Incorporating Play
Get practical advice on how to add more play into your life, even amidst a busy schedule. Whether it's through reading, puzzles, or outdoor activities, find simple ways to reintroduce play into your routine. I share personal stories and tips on balancing structured play with more spontaneous fun, encouraging you to explore different activities that bring you joy.
Resources Mentioned
- Brené Brown – The Gifts Of Imperfection
- Stuart Brown – on the importance of play.
- Tips for integrating play into daily life from various experts.
Challenge of the Week
This week, I challenge you to identify activities that feel like play to you. Reflect on past experiences where you lost track of time and felt completely absorbed in the moment. Try to incorporate at least one playful activity into your week and notice the difference it makes in your mood and energy levels.
Join Our Community
Subscribe to My Happy Notes Newsletter for weekly inspiration and to get the latest episodes delivered straight to your inbox. Visit The Happier You website and become part of our community dedicated to living a happier, more fulfilling life.
Quote of the Episode:
"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are p
Don’t forget about my summer Rate and Review Contest. I am giving away 5 of my happiness resources I created to help keep you and me building on your happiness habits and living our best life. When you send me a screen shot of your podcast review, or post it in The Happier You Facebook group, you will be entered in to the draw! Winners will get their choice of my Joyful Living Journal or My 3 Month U
Host: Bona Normandeau
Episode Title: " Rediscovering Joy: Why Creativity and Play Matter (Part 1)"
Podcast Website: The Happier You
Episode Summary:
Welcome to the Happier You Podcast! In this week's episode, I delve into the transformative power of creativity and play. This is the first part of a two-part series exploring how these elements can rejuvenate our lives. Do you feel uninspired or stuck? Are you feeling claustrophobic in your life or burdened by your current situation? If there's a lack of fun in your life, this episode is for you!
In my research, I discovered that creativity and play are essential, not just frivolous pursuits. Drawing on insights from experts like Stuart Brown and Brené Brown, I look at why we need to embrace these elements more fully. Creativity and play can overlap, but they're not the same for everyone, and that's what makes this exploration so fascinating.
In this episode, we focus on creativity, starting with the concept of cultivating creativity and letting go of comparison.
After reading "The Gifts Of Imperfection" by Brené Brown, I realized I have art scars from childhood. In this episode I share the joy of rediscovering creative expression and I share how creativity isn't about being inherently talented but about enjoying the process and exploring new ways to express yourself.
I also touch on the benefits of making art a habit, from reducing stress and anxiety to enhancing problem-solving skills. Whether it's through finger painting, cooking, knitting, or scrapbooking, I am encouraging you to find your own creative outlets and incorporate them into your daily life.
Key Takeaways:
- Creativity & Play: Essential for well-being, not just for the "talented."
- Overcoming Art Scars: Letting go of comparison and embracing the creative process.
- Mental & Emotional Benefits: Creativity reduces stress, anxiety, and enhances problem-solving abilities.
- Practical Tips: Try new creative activities, from cooking to painting, and don't worry about the outcome—focus on the process.
Resources Mentioned:
- Books & Authors:
- Brené Brown - The Gifts Of Imperfection
- Stuart Brown - on the importance of play.
- Podcasts:
- NPR's Life Kit - Making art is good for your health. Here's how to start a habit (practical advice on adding creativity and play to your life).
Challenge of the Week:
This week, explore different creative processes or activities that you can incorporate into your life. Don't worry about being perfect—focus on what brings you joy!
Subscribe & Connect:
- For more inspiration, sign up for My Happy Notes, my weekly newsletter to keep your happiness top-of mind and get the podcast delivered straight to your inbox!
Quote of the Episode:
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." — Maya Angelou
Don’t forget about my summer Rate and Review Contest. I am giving away 5 of my happiness resources I created to help keep you and me building on your happiness habits and living our best life. When you send me a screen shot of your podcast review, or post it in The Happier You Facebook group, you will be entered in to the draw! Winners will get their choice of my Joyful Living Journal or My 3 Month U
Episode Title: Don’t Wait for a Crisis: Life Lessons from a Plane Crash Survivor
Original Air Date: August 9, 2020 (Don't Postpone Your Life)
Hosts: Bona Normandeau & Dany Normandeau
Episode Summary:
In this thought-provoking episode, we revisit our conversation inspired by Ric Elias' impactful 2011 TED talk, "3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed." Ric Elias was one of the passengers aboard the flight that made a miraculous crash-landing in the Hudson River in 2009. His reflections on this life-altering experience offer thoughtful insights into living fully and intentionally.
Join us as we delve into the lessons we took away from Ric's talk and discuss how they reshaped our perspectives on life. We explore the importance of not waiting for a crisis to prioritize what truly matters, the significance of eliminating negative energy, and the value of appreciating the present moment.
In our conversation, recorded originally on August 9, 2020, we share personal stories and insights on how Ric's message inspired us to make immediate changes in our lives. We reflect on the idea that you don't need a dramatic event to start living with intention and joy.
Key Takeaways:
* Ric Elias' three life-changing lessons from the Hudson River plane crash
* The importance of living with intention and not postponing your dreams
* How to identify and eliminate negative energy from your life
* Practical steps to start living fully now, without waiting for a crisis
Links and Resources:
* Ric Elias' TED Talk: 3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed
* The Happier You Website
* The Happier You Facebook Group
We hope this episode inspires you to take action and live a more intentional and fulfilling life. Don't wait for a crisis – start making meaningful changes today!
Are you feeling stuck on your happiness journey? Not sure what to do to get your momentum going and moving forward in living your Happier life? You are not alone. When you don't know where to start, gratitude is a great place to get your momentum going . Come on over to thehappieryou.net/workwithbona and check out my 14 day gratitude challenge. In just 14 days you will discover at least 30 beautiful things in your life and start your journey to getting "unstuck" from the comparison game.
In this episode, I’m reminiscing about summer reading programs from my childhood. Whether you're traveling, relaxing by the lake, or diving into a good book, summer can be a time for fun and personal growth. Join me as I share some fantastic book recommendations to inspire your summer reading list.
Book Recommendations:
- Take the Stairs by Rory Vaden:
- The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha:
- Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center:
- Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown:
Resources:
- Neil Pasricha's blog: 1000 Awesome Things
- If you want even more reading ideas, you can check out my Summer Reading List from 2021
What's next:
- Share your summer reading lists and experiences with me!
- Start your own summer reading challenge and reward yourself.
- Come on over to The Happier You Facebook Group and join the conversation about your favourite books and summer reads.
Make time for the things you love this summer and capture those moments in your gratitude journal. Enjoy your reading adventures and choose happiness every day. Have a wonderful summer and go get your happy on!
Are you feeling stuck on your happiness journey? Not sure what to do to get your momentum going and moving forward in living your Happier life? You are not alone. When you don't know where to start, gratitude is a great place to get your momentum going . Come on over to thehappieryou.net/workwithbona and check out my 14 day gratitude challenge. In just 14 days you will discover at least 30 beautiful things in your life and start your journey to getting "unstuck" from the comparison game.
In this episode I discuss the power of "Easy Wins" – small, manageable version of your habits that can transform your day and enhance your happiness. Drawing inspiration from Brené Brown and James Clear, I talk about actionable steps to help you stay on track and cultivate positive habits, even on the busiest days.
Key Topics Covered:
- Understanding Easy Wins: Learn why small victories matter and how they build momentum.
- Insights from Experts: Discover how Brene Brown and James Clear's teachings can support your habit-building journey.
- Real-Life Examples: I share my experiences with the Happiness Planner and easy wins from the Discover and Thrive journaling group.
- Actionable Steps: Identify a neglected positive habit, define an easy win, and commit to it for 7 days.
Challenge for the Week:
- Identify a positive habit you've stopped doing.
- Define your "easy win" – a small, achievable step for this habit.
- Commit to your easy win for the next 7 days.
Quotes to Remember:
- "Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement." – James Clear
- "When we know better, we do better." – Maya Angelou
Resources:
- The Happier You Happiness Planner: Track your gratitude and small wins daily.
- 14-Day Gratitude Challenge: Sign up at thehappieryou.net for a free tracking sheet.
Join the Conversation: I love hearing from you! Share your easy wins on social media or on our website.
Subscribe & Review: Please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform to support our mission of spreading happiness.
Are you feeling stuck on your happiness journey? Not sure what to do to get your momentum going and moving forward in living your Happier life? You are not alone. When you don't know where to start, gratitude is a great place to get your momentum going . Come on over to thehappieryou.net/workwithbona and check out my 14 day gratitude challenge. In just 14 days you will discover at least 30 beautiful things in your life and start your journey to getting "unstuck" from the comparison game.
Join me this week for an enlightening conversation with one of my favorite people in the world, Doris Belland. Doris is not only a close friend but also a renowned women's money coach, bringing a wealth of wisdom and experience to our discussion.
In this episode, we delve deep into the transformative power of identifying and living by your core values. I've been reflecting a lot on my own happiness journey and realized that the pivotal moment was when I truly understood my values. This clarity has been a game changer, guiding every decision-making process and helping me live a more authentic life.
We often think we know our values until we actually sit down to clarify and prioritize them. Doris and I discuss the importance of this introspective process and the profound impact it can have on our lives. We also explore the role of journaling in this journey, as a tool for both self-discovery and maintaining an authentic lifestyle.
This is such an inspiring conversation with Doris Belland, filled with practical insights and heartfelt advice. Whether you're looking to find clarity in your values, enhance your decision-making, or simply live a more authentic life, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways.
Tune in and get ready to be inspired!
Resources from today's episode:
Free Downloadable Cheat Sheet from Doris: The #1 Mistake Women Make in Managing Their Money (and What to Do Instead)
Doris' Website: Yourfinanciallaunchpad.com
#WomensMoneyCoach #CoreValues #DecisionMaking #PersonalGrowth #HappinessJourney #SelfDiscovery #Journaling #AuthenticLiving #ValueClarification #TransformYourLife #Podcast #Inspiration #LifeCoach #FinancialCoach #Mindfulness
Are you feeling stuck on your happiness journey? Not sure what to do to get your momentum going and moving forward in living your Happier life? You are not alone. When you don't know where to start, gratitude is a great place to get your momentum going . Come on over to thehappieryou.net/workwithbona and check out my 14 day gratitude challenge. In just 14 days you will discover at least 30 beautiful things in your life and start your journey to getting "unstuck" from the comparison game.
Welcome back to The Happier You! In today's episode, we're diving deep into the Empowerment Dynamic with our returning guest, Diane Sorensen. The Empowerment Dynamic serves as the antidote to the familiar Drama Triangle we explored in a previous episode.
As we unravel the roles entrenched in the Drama Triangle, a newfound awareness emerges. We start questioning our involvement in the drama, paving the way to ask, "How can I break free from this toxic cycle?"
In this enlightening discussion, Diane sheds light on the Empowerment Dynamic, a framework crucial for fostering healthier relationships. Reflecting on our previous conversation, I realized the significance of Diane's insights and the profound impact they can have on our lives.
Not only does Diane delve into the three pivotal roles within the Empowerment Dynamic, but she also equips us with three transformative concepts essential for nurturing effective communication. And the ripple effect? It leads to the cultivation of stronger, more fulfilling relationships.
Join us as we navigate through this empowering journey of self-discovery and interpersonal growth. Because who wouldn't want to embrace healthier communication and thriving relationships?
Resources referenced in this episode:
The Drama Triangle Podcast with Diane on The Happier You
Diane's Podcast - Beautiful Behaviors
Diane's Website - www.dianesorensen.netDiane on Instagram - dianesorensen.bb
Are you feeling stuck on your happiness journey? Not sure what to do to get your momentum going and moving forward in living your Happier life? You are not alone. When you don't know where to start, gratitude is a great place to get your momentum going . Come on over to thehappieryou.net/workwithbona and check out my 14 day gratitude challenge. In just 14 days you will discover at least 30 beautiful things in your life and start your journey to getting "unstuck" from the comparison game.
In today's episode we have Lori Mitchell back on the podcast to talk about how her journaling practice has supported her over the past year. Lori was on the podcast almost a year ago when she agreed to let us join her on her journey of creating a journaling practice. Today we check in with her so she can share her thoughts on journaling.
Loir is a fun guest because she is open, honest and shares some great takeaways for anyone wanting to try this amazing self-supporting practice. Check out the link below to her interview from last year.
Resources:Lori's interview from last year - How To Find Your Journaling Inspiration - Interview With Lori Mitchell
In this episode I am talking about how focusing on the good multiplies blessings! Have you really thought about what you are focusing on?
When we don't think about it, we end up focusing on what we don't want to expand. The way other people annoy us. How our kids didn't put away their things. How our carpooling partner is always late! How it feels like you are the only one who empties the dishwasher!
What we focus on expands.
So when we focus on things that drive us crazy...well... you get the picture.
In today's episode I give you some ideas of things you can focus on so that they can expand in your life.
If focusing on the good multiplies blessings, then don't you think its worth a try?
What do you want more of?
Resources I referenced in this episode:
If you want to know more about Small Wins, here is a previous episode I did: Take Charge of Your Happiness, Why Small Wins Really Matter EP070
The FREE 14 Day Gratitude Challenge I mentioned in the podcast: The Happier You 14 Day Gratitude Challenge
Today's episode is about The Power of Choice: Your Authentic Path to Happiness.
Have you ever felt like life's demands left you with little room to choose, or maybe you've found yourself going with the flow, unsure of what you truly want? Well, I'm here to tell you that embracing your power to choose is your authentic path to happiness.
Join me as we dive deep into the transformative power of choice. In this podcast, we'll explore how every decision, whether big or small, shapes our happiness and fulfillment. I know it might sound a bit controversial, but trust me, when you take a closer look, you'll realize that everything in your life is there because of a choice.
Together, we'll uncover three key ways that actively choosing for yourself can lead to a happier and more fulfilling life:
- Choosing Your Presence: Every day presents an opportunity to decide how we want to show up in our lives. By being present and mindful, we reclaim control over our experiences, ensuring that we align our actions with our values and intentions.
- Authenticity versus Expectations: Let's talk about the pressure to meet everyone else's expectations and how it often leaves us feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from our true selves. By embracing authenticity and prioritizing what truly matters to us, we can break free from the cycle of people-pleasing and live with greater integrity.
- Taking Ownership: It's time to stop playing the blame game and start taking responsibility for our choices. Whether it's making decisions in the moment or accepting the consequences of our actions, owning our choices empowers us to learn, grow, and create positive change in our lives.
In the podcast I'm sharing some practical tips, and actionable strategies to help you embrace your power to choose and cultivate a life filled with joy and authenticity. From celebrating small victories to learning from setbacks, every step you take towards conscious decision-making brings you closer to your happiest self.
Are you ready to start making positive changes in your life?
In today's episode we are talking with Diane Sorensen. Diane is a Transformational Coach specializing in parenting and relationships.
Diane helps us figure out why we struggle in some of our relationships.We learn about the Drama triangle and the 3 roles that we can find ourselves in. I was fascinated by this talk with Diane because a friend mentioned the rescue triangle to me a while ago and I think it can be a useful tool to understand how we keep getting ourselves into the same frustrating patterns when we are communicating with our loved ones.
Diane doesn't just explain the 3 roles to us. She gives us suggestions to recognize which roles we might be unknowingly settling into. Then she suggests a game plan to escape the triangle!
So much goodness in today's episode. To learn more about the Drama Triangle and Diane's work:
https://www.instagram.com/dianesorensen.bb/
https://www.dianesorensen.net/
The resource we talked about in the podcast that further explains the Drama and Empowerment Triangles:
Shift from Drama to Empowerment with This Transformative Workbook! (dianesorensen.net)
In today's episode we are talking about beating chronic pain and living your authentic life with Movement and Yoga Therapist Brittany Wassef. Brittany shares her personal journey breaking free from chronic pain and how that lead to discovering her authentic life!
Join us in this episode as Brittany shares ways we can deal with chronic pain and encourages us all to pay attention and notice more of what is going on in our bodies. She tells us that she is not pain free, but she is free of chronic pain and now knows what her body is communicating to her when pain shows up.
Today's episode is celebrating 100 episodes of The Happier You and honouring the journey that has brought us here. My friend Johanna Wickie takes the interviewer seat and helps me reflect on and celebrate what it took to get to this point.
Grit, curiosity, determination, connection and inspiration.
It takes a little bit of all of those to hit 100! We talk about all that and more in today's episode. Join me in celebrating our 100 episodes!
No matter where you are at on your journey, there is always room for 1 more in The Happier You Community. I hope you enjoy this episode because I never would have reached it without listeners like you.
Here is the link for the free Workshops I'm running in February:
https://thehappieryou.net/courses/
In this episode I am talking to Amber Frauenholtz about how to take back control of your health and your happiness this year.
Amber is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), Restorative Wellness Practitioner (RWP), and Health Coach who specializes in helping women feel their best through custom, holistic health plans that start with food. She is passionate about helping others avoid the nutritional depletion and stress that accompanies being a woman in our culture today.
Amber specializes in helping people unlock their individual health and nutrition concerns. However, today she shares some easy wins ,and life hacks, that all of us can start with.
I loved Amber's contagious laugh, and I really appreciated that she encouraged us all to start with something small and achievable instead of getting stuck in the "all or nothing" perfectionistic mentally that can halt so many of us in our tracks.
I couldn't help but love Amber when she said, "I want to help women have access to the tools and the knowledge to help them feel their best." Amber is a kindred spirit and I am super excited for you to meet her in this interview.
If you want to know more about Amber you can check out her out here:Find her on Instagram at @amberdawn_wellness or atamberdawnwellness.com.
In this week's podcast I am talking about setting yourself up to create some goals for 2024. Maybe you are like me and are having a slow start to this year.
I don't know about you, but I was holding myself back from setting goals.
In today's episode I shared a tool that really helped me combat my reluctance to create new goals and remind me to stay focused on the positive things I've accomplished. I was also reminded to learn from all my 2023 experiences, be they successes or failures.
I encourage you to try the tactic I share in this episode and would love to hear how it works out for you. I created a tracking sheet to help you with this week's challenge. Check it out in the resources below and let me know how it goes!
Resources I referenced this week:
Annual Highlight Reel - This is a one-page tracking sheet to keep your monthly wins and accomplishments all in one place.My Happy Notes and Podcast Emails - This is to get the podcast emailed to you as well as My Happy Notes, keeping you up-to-date in-between podcasts, of all the cool things going on over at Happiness Headquarters!
Today I'm talking about harnessing the power of gratitude for joyful living . In today's episode I share 6 reasons why I think gratitude is an important happiness tool and why I think you should try the Gratitude Challenge and see for yourself.
The Holidays are not the most wonderful time of the year for everyone.
When you grow your gratitude practice, you'll find yourself focusing on what good you do have in your life. Instead of this time of the year being a painful reminder of all the things that are wrong or missing in your life.
A few years ago I started a tradition of sharing a gratitude quote on The Happier You Facebook page every day in December. This year, I wanted to up the game a bit and encourage people to actually express more gratitude in their daily life. Thus The Gratitude Challenge was born.
Grab a friend and try the challenge. Its free! See what happens when you focus on gratitude for the next 30 days.
Resources I referenced this week:
The Happier You Gratitude Challenge
Today's podcast is with Katie Allen, Personal Stylist and host of the Styled For Life Podcast. Katie tells us that when we feel good in our body, we feel good in our life. Katie's special skill is helping women feel good in their body by helping them figure out their own personal style.
In today's episode she talks about self awareness. As I get more and more comfortable showing the real me to the outside world I benefitted greatly from Katie's guidance. I love how she uses the bowling analogy to explain how we can use style formulas until we are comfortable creating our style ourselves.
You don't want to miss this episode. #Stylesquadsexy What do sexy and confidence mean to you?
Resources I referenced this week:
Katie Allen: Personal Stylist & Podcaster
www.katiejuststyled.com
@katieallenstylist
Podcast | STYLED FOR LIFE
Today's episode is about being okay with our best until we know better. Its from a famous quote by Maya Angelou. But the question is, when are we supposed to "know better?" I think there are 3 times that spur us into figuring out when to know better. Join me in today's podcast and I'll tell you what I think they are.
One of them requires us to slow down enough to ask ourselves, "who am I being in all this doing?" Its a question I ask myself often. Its not about criticizing ourselves and looking for perfection, its about being okay with imperfection and learning how to be better through trial and error.
Remember if you want to get the podcast delivered right to your mailbox, you can join my email list here.
Resources I referenced this week:
If you want to know more about Doris and her financial literacy courses you can check out her website here.
This week's episode is a Mindfulness Coaching Session with Mindfulness Coach and Registerred Psychotherapist, Kara Braun. As I am working on growing my mindfulness practice I ran into some trouble with equanimity...or so I thought. Today's podcast is a coaching session where I learn more about the 3 Attentional Skills used in mindfulness, and particularly more about sensory clarity.
Join me in today's podcast as Kara helps me slow down and pay attention to what my body is telling me AND to learn to make space and stop judging myself.
Resources I referred to this week:
If you want to find out more about Kara and her mindfulness coaching and psychotherapy practice you can find her at karabraun.house on instagram and on her website https://unifiedmindfulness.com/team/kara-braun/ Here is the link to the first Podcast with Kara:Will Someone Please Help Me Figure Out This Mindfulness Thing?
🌟 Dive into a transformative tale of resilience and empowerment as we sit down with the remarkable Johanna Wickie on today's episode. 🚀 We hear how she went from some of the toughest months of her life to figuring out what she needed to go from surviving to thriving.
Johanna shares the 'how' and 'why' behind her decisions, providing listeners with powerful insights to apply in their own lives. 💪
In this conversation, you'll uncover:
🌈 How to become your own greatest ally during challenging times.
💡 Actionable tips to take charge of your well-being and happiness.
🌱 A reminder that it's never too late to embark on your own journey of transformation.
Prepare to be inspired, uplifted, and motivated as Johanna Wickie shares her story. Her story reminds us all that we have the power to take control of our lives.
Don't forget to subscribe for more empowering stories and practical wisdom to enhance your life. 🔥🎙️ #Inspiration #Resilience #PersonalGrowth #Empowerment #PodcastInterview #Thriving
If you want to learn more about Johanna and her practice here is a link to Johanna's Website: Arbutus Counselling
This week I am talking to Janene Russick about how refining our expectations can increase joy. Janene is an organizing coach and I asked her on to the podcast today to talk about this exercise she has her clients do each month called a "Calendar Conversation." This monthly exercise has helped me support me! I think that the more supportive we are to ourselves, the more happiness we discover. Instead of always setting unrealistic expectations, this exercise gives us a way to set better boundaries, know when to ask for help and really refine our expectations so we can increase the joy in our lives!
Who wouldn't want that. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Janene. She's always a joy to have on the podcast.
Resources I referenced this week:If you want to learn more about the Calendar Conversation or working with Janene you can find her over atThe Art of Living Simply (janenerussick.com).If you enjoyed this conversation here is the link to the previous podcast I had with Janene: How To Deal With All Our Stuff - Interview With Janene Russick EP#087 ⋆ The Happier You
In today's episode we are talking about how validation helps us connect to others and support ourselves. My guest Kathleen Thaler is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and a friend. I asked her on to the podcast because over the summer we had a conversation about validation and how important it is when raising teens, connecting with others and for OURSELVES and I wanted to share what I learned with you.
In today's interview we touch on a little bit of everything and its so juicy!
As we continue on our happiness journeys, I think learning to validate ourselves as well as others is going to be key in our self-compassion as well as connection. I think you will love meeting Kathleen in this interview and learning all the tips and tricks she gives us for building more validation in our daily lives!!!
Resources I Referenced This Week:
If you want to know more about working with Kathleen, she is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in the province of British Columbia and you can connect with her here:
https://www.southislandcounselling.org/
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts in between podcasts and a way to keep you up-to-date with upcoming courses and challenges being offered over at The Happiness Headquarters!
I'm super excited that we are entering season 4 of The Happier You Podcast. You know its all bout figuring how to make each of our journey's unique, authentic and happier. So join me for season 4 as we continue on this journey together to living our best lives, and inviting more happy in to our daily lives!
Resources I referenced:Here is the link to get the podcast and My Happy Notes delivered straight to your inbox so you don't miss an episode or any of the resources in supporting you in living your best life:
My Happy Notes and The Happier You Podcast
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts in between podcasts and a way to keep you up-to-date with upcoming courses and challenges being offered over at The Happiness Headquarters!
Today's episode is the final episode of Season 3. I'll be back with exciting new episodes in September. If you need your does of happy, don't forget the Summer Journal Challenge starting 1 July! What are you doing to work on your "Happier" this summer?
This week's episode is about the how & the why of creating a happiness support team. In this episode I get to interview 3 ladies from a group of 7 who created their own "Happiness Support Group." I have been lucky enough to get to know these ladies after they all participated in one of our Happiness Challenges last year. Many of them have continued to reach out as they have participated in different Happiness Events over the past year and a half. I am so excited to share these ladies with you today.
I love how they were willing to share their experience with me on the podcast. I think these ladies it did it right. Creating a supportive community around ourselves as we continue on our personal happiness journey is integral.
Inviting friends to do a challenge with you can be intimidating if we fear rejection. However, just because rejection is a possibility, doesn't mean we shouldn't reach out. As you will hear in today's interview, the timing was perfect for two of the ladies when they jumped onboard. No regrets. They each benefited from and enjoyed a memorable experience for their whole group. Listen in as these ladies give us the inside scoop on the how & the why of creating a happiness support team.
Don't forget the Summer Journal Challenge is coming soon. You will want to sign up here by the 28th of June!
Have you heard about The Happier You Summer Journal Challenge 2023? We'd love to have you join us as we build and strengthen our journaling practices this summer.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts, tips and tricks to keep you focusing on your happiness and an update as to what is going on over here at The Happier You Headquarters in between podcasts.
This week's episode is an interview with Lori Mitchell. Lori is a friend of mine who I have been talking to about starting a journal practice with for the past few months. In today's interview she shares how she got to the point that she feels she is ready to start her practice and some of the realizations she's had in getting to this point.
Lori invites you to start your journaling practice with her this summer in our Summer Journal Challenge 2023.
I hope today's interview inspires you to take the leap and start your personal journal journey. Whether it is with us in the challenge or on your own. The important thing is to just start.
Here is a link to The Happier You Summer Journal Challenge 2023.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts, tips and tricks to keep you focusing on your happiness and an update as to what is going on over here at The Happier You Headquarters in between podcasts.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today's podcast is about why self-awareness is important to our happiness journey. Many people tell me that they don't know where to start on their happiness journey, because they don't know what their happiness actually looks like. If you feel like this, you are not alone.
What I have learned on my happiness journey, is that you don't actually have to know what your ultimate happiness looks like, you just start your journey, and as you learn and grow you will increase your self-awareness and be able to build more happy into your everyday life.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter where you are starting from, it just matters that you start. In today's episode I talk about how while I was creating the Building Your Happiness Foundation Course, I realized that by just working on building the habits and mindset shifts into our lives we are not only increasing happiness, but we are increasing our self-awareness. Not only is self-awareness important to our happiness journey, it also helps us get better at taking care of ourselves. We not only find more happiness but we are in a better position to meet life's stressors head on.
Resources I referenced in this episode:The 30 Day Happiness Challenge we are doing this summer. You can sign up here! This week I referenced 4 happiness tools. here are the links to the podcasts I did on those tools:RechargeWho Are You Choosing To BeJournaling
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts, tips and tricks to keep you focusing on your happiness and an update as to what is going on over here at The Happier You Headquarters in between podcasts.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today's episode is an interview with Organizational Coach, Janene Russick. Janene approaches organizing through helping us organize our thoughts and clarify who we are and what we really want. She shares one of her tricks to start moving toward what we want in a "less scary" way. She also shares the trick to her 8 minute sweep and how she discovered it!
I loved learning from Janene and I know you'll love her too! I finished the interview and just wanted to get started clarifying what I do and do not want in my life so I can get to work letting go of all the "stuff" I don't need!
Resources I referenced this week:
If you want to learn more about Janene's 8 minute Sweep, you can get it here:
The Guide to The 8 Minute Sweep
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me with my happy thoughts, tips and tricks to keep you focusing on your happiness and an update as to what is going on over here at The Happier You Headquarters in between podcasts.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today's episode I share how grateful I was when a coach unknowingly gave me my own advice. After being stunned and more than a little uncomfortable, I realized the blessing and the lesson there.
Happiness is not a one and done. It is not something that you achieve and then it just comes to you. We have to keep working on it and adapting as things change around us.
Today's episode is about not being lazy about our happiness and remaining open to having our ideas and strategies challenged. When we are challenged we either realize we need to change something, or we are happy with our course of action.
Today's episode also has a spoiler about what is coming up in The Happier You Community.
Things I referenced this week:Amanda Walker: Here is herwebsiteif you want to find out more about her and see what other cool challenges she might have coming up.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. My Happy Notes is a note from me between podcasts with the goal of helping you keep your happiness top-of-mind and ensure you don't miss all the new things coming up in The Happier You Community.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today's episode my friend Kara Braun walks me through up leveling my mindfulness game. It has been bugging me for a while that I don't really "get" mindfulness, and so when she offered to chat with me about it, I said YES PLEASE and hit record so I didn't miss a thing. As I said on the podcast, I wanted to take my mindfulness knowledge up from a .5. Kara shared three things with me that I didn't know before. And as you will hear, one of them just floored me. I know I have a lot to work on. I hope you enjoy today's podcast and it gives you what you need to grow your mindfulness practice too.
References:
If you want to know more about Kara and what she does you can check out her website here: Kara Braun
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. A reminder that Building Your Happiness Foundation, my new happiness course is now open for enrolment! It starts on Saturday 22 April, so make sure you don't miss it and sign up before Friday 21 April!
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
This week I am talking about why I chose to embrace possible failure instead of taking the known path.
We are so worried about being shamed, judged and made fun of that we often hold ourselves back from trying new things. What if we took back our power and tried new things that weren't a guaranteed success...how many new things would we try and find out we love? Or try and find out it isn't for us, but that's okay...because we at least tried it?
Waiting to do something because we hope for perfection holds us back from so many experiences in life. A couple of years ago I decided that if something scared me and had a chance of failure or a less than perfect result, I was going to go for it and see what I learned. From it I have discovered that I am resourceful, resilient and I love the feeling of accomplishing something that wasn't a foregone conclusion of success.
Things I referenced This Week:
A couple of the James Clear articles about Failure :
Why Aiming for Perfection Won’t Help You Achieve Your Goals (jamesclear.com)Treat Failure Like a Scientist (jamesclear.com)
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today's episode I am talking about how we can speed up the process of change by lighting that fire inside that inspires us to finally make the change we really want. If you are like me, I know I want to make change but I have trouble finding the motivation to go through the steps to get there. It's usually just easier to complain and go with the flow instead of instigating change. Except, once we finally make the change we wonder what took us so long!!!
Today I'm giving you a 4 (and a half) step process to help you speed this process along. The steps aren't difficult, its just that we know that making change takes work...and that work isn't always fun, or easy. The half step might be a really "out there" concept for you...so if you want to know more you can listen to the episodes I did on Positive Affirmations to learn more. Here are the links to episodes 37 & 13, both about the power of positive affirmations.
As I talked about in today's episode, here is the link to thehappieryou.net if you want to sign up for My Happy Notes to keep you up-to-date on what's new, what's coming up and any happy thoughts I want to share with you between episodes. Remember Building Your Happiness Foundation is launching in mid April, you don't' want to miss out on that!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today's episode is about how to STOP limiting your ability to experience happiness. I was inspired by a great book I have been re-listening to called The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks. A friend recommended this book when I told her something that I was stuck on and worried about. She immediately said, "READ THIS BOOK." I love books and I hate getting stuck on things...so I did. Well, today's episode is only one of many great things I learned from this book.
I think all of us have "upper limit" challenges in many areas of our lives. Today, I am talking about how I have seen it play out for me as well as many other members of The Happier You community. Hopefully I articulate the concept well enough that you can stop yourself from limiting your ability to experience happiness as well as carry this concept into other parts of your life where you are imposing limits on yourself.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get my Happy Notes and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
This week I'm talking about How Connecting To Your Future Self Helps Increase Focus and Happiness. What do focus and happiness have in common? Today I talk about this book I read about connecting to our future self. As I was reading the book I realized that when we connect to our future self, it puts life in a different focus. That focus can help us find more happiness today AND in the future.
If you are interested to know more about the book I reference today, its called Be Your Future Self Now by Benjamin Hardy. I only shared a couple of the great things that jumped out at me in the book. There really is a lot more to what he shares.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today’s episode I’m going to show you how to use re-framing and anticipation to make February great even if you are like me and you aren’t a fan of Valentine’s Day. Don’t give control of your happiness to anyone else, especially marketers, social media and retailers! Figure out what is great about YOUR February and focus on that.
Today I'm sharing 5 things I'm going to focus on this month to keep it positive. You are welcome to share mine or come up with your own. February is all about working the anticipation and re-framing muscle and creating things you can get excited about, instead of dwelling on things you can't control.
Links to references I made in the Podcast:The Episode on The 5 Love LanguagesThe Happier You Newsletter- so you don't miss out on the course launch of Building Your Happiness Foundation coming soon!
If you want to hear more about using anticipation as a happiness tools you check out the previous episode where I talked about it here: Bring Back Anticipation
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today I am introducing you to this 5-Step System To Add More Positive In Your Life.
What do you do when you want to make a positive change in your life but you don’t know where to start? Or your Inner critic has you so wound up you are afraid to even try? When you think there is absolutely no way you can make a positive change in your life?
If we wait for all the lights to be green, we would never start anything. That’s an easy excuse to never put ourselves out there and try.
This 5-Step System outlines how to add new positive habits in your life whenever you want. Will you accept the challenge to add more positive into your life today?
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today's episode I am encouraging you to ditch New Years Resolutions and get on with setting up your best life. I love fresh starts...and well, January is a chance to take stock and use this fresh start to get you on you way to living your best life! I will walk you through my 4 part system to use this fresh start to figure out how to craft a life you can get excited about. Fresh starts are filled with hope. Let's take that hope and make it work for you!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today's episode is about bringing joy into your annual review so you can honour and acknowledge everything you've learned in 2022! I firmly believe that experience doesn't make you wiser, evaluated experience makes you wiser. And learning to be humble and learn from your experiences doesn't always have to be a daunting or demoralizing job. Its all about how you look at things and the attitude you take into the activity. Its important to embrace your life and face it head on.
When you bring joy into your annual Review and honour this year's lessons you are putting yourself squarely in the drivers seat of your life. This gets you one step closer to living your authentic and happier life. You've got this! Join me today as I walk you through the process with more joy and self-compassion.
Resources I referenced this week:
More episodes on Self-compassion- #27 & #42 More episodes on Reflection & Review #69, #21 & #28 Join Our Face Book Community The Happier You
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
Today's podcast is a very inspiring interview with Christine Heinrichs. I came across Christine's podcast one day when I was looking for something new and inspiring to listen to. I was so excited when Christine agreed to come on and talk about what she is doing.
The episode title...Get Unstuck and Craft A Life with Purpose has special meaning to Christine. Join us in this fun interview and find out why I think she is so inspiring and how she is helping people get unstuck and craft a life with purpose!
Links to find out more about Christine and her awesome work:Podcast: The MilSpouse Mastermind Show
Website: https://milspousemastermind.com
FB Community: https://milspousemastermind.com/community
Free Find Yourself Again Workshop:milspousemastermind.com/workshop
IG: @milspousemastermind
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the newsletter and the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my free downloadable PDF with 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
In today's episode I'm talking about how knowing your love language will help you figure out what you really want this Christmas Season. There is so much gift giving at this time of year, but that isn't necessarily what brings you the most joy.
Heading in to this holiday season knowing how you want to receive love just puts you more in the driver's seat of your happiness. Even better if you can get those around you to figure out their love language too. Its creates a great discussion about what is important to everyone as you navigate this tricky season.
Resources I referenced this week:The 5 Love Languages Quizzes
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you heard about my 5 Happiness Tools To Boost Your Mental Health? You can get it here!
How does finding your happiness help you appreciate taking the stairs? Well, both are a journey where you need to go through all the steps. Join me in today's episode where I make my case that there is no coasting or short cut. We need to do the work and keep using our happiness tools to ensure we are constantly working on our happiness. Sorry. It is not a one a done! No escalator. No elevator. Learn to enjoy the journey and take the stairs. I think I make a pretty compelling argument.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and what happiness tools you are recommitting to this week. Also, in the podcast, I invited you to the The Happier You Face Book group as I will share my "gratitude quote a day" in December again this year.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
In today's episode I am talking about how "Doing Something Different" and going outside your comfort zone can bring you small wins to celebrate. Not only what you learn outside your comfort zone, but the pure fact that you went outside your comfort zone is a very large small win!
Today I tell you about a recent clash with my comfort zone, the rise of fear and self doubt, and how I think pushing through the discomfort is worth doing it afraid. Its not easy, and the fear and self doubt will keep coming back, but the more you get outside your comfort zone, the more confident you will get in your ability to do it.
Our next 21 Day Happiness Challenge is starting Monday 7 November. You can Sign Up here so you are ready to go on the 7th.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox...
This week I am talking about how you can get to the point of embracing and accepting your uniqueness. I believe figuring this out is a big part of figuring out your happiness. Instead of letting outside factors tell you what YOUR happiness looks like, I think you are worth the investment of time to figure out what you really want by getting to know that beautifully unique person you are underneath all your different roles. In today's episode I make my case as to why I think journaling is the best way to help you get this figured out.
We have another happiness challenge coming up soon. Be sure you visit us on thehappieryou.net/challenges and get on the wait list so you don't miss your next happiness boost!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to yo...
This week we are talking about discovering your Happiness Lid and then figuring out how to Increase the limit the lid is imposing on you. Most of us don't even realize that we limit how much happiness we allow in our day to day life. Today I talk about what different factors determine where our happiness lid sits, and then I give you some steps to start to push it higher! Only you get to decide the height of your happiness lid. I couldn't find who said today's episode quote, but its so good... Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket. Grab hold, its yours. You've got this!
We have another happiness challenge coming up soon. Be sure you visit us on thehappieryou.net/challenges and get on the wait list so you don't miss your next happiness boost!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week we are talking about how to take charge of your happiness, why small wins really matter. And they do! They really matter. Its so important to celebrate all your small wins along the way to your goals. No large goal is achieved without all the small steps, and today we are talking about how powerful it is to celebrate those. When we do this we build momentum and belief in ourselves. When we learn to enjoy those moments we bring more happiness into our daily life.
Some Previous Episodes that talked about The Power of Small Wins are:
Real People Finding Real Happiness – Interview with Karen Holliday
Take Back Control of Your Life and Create Powerful Habits
Celebrating The Small Wins
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week's episode is focusing on what we can take from our summer experience and use it to learn more about our self and be proactive in creating the life we want. Whether you had a great summer or a less than stellar summer...reflecting on your summer and learning from all your experiences can help you find your happier. This week's happiness tool is a powerful one! Be sure to post comments and let me know what you think about this week's challenge.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here. Have you heard about our Happiness Challenges? We will be running another one soon, be sure to check it out and get on the waiting list here.
In today's episode I am challenging you to step up, have fun and grow your happiness this summer. Its a fun summer project to ensure you come out of your summer feeling rested, recharged and that you've done something awesome for yourself! For the last couple of summers I have just survived! I am determined to thrive this summer! I believe the key to thriving is the Summer Happiness Challenge! Who doesn't want to add more happiness in their daily life? I can't wait to see what this form of "summer camp" does for our happiness community this summer!
You can do the challenge with a friend, you can do the challenge with your family, or you can just sign up to do the challenge and meet the other challenge participants on our closed Facebook group. We are going to have fun this summer! Through the challenge, we're going to have fun together and support and encourage one another.
Summer Happiness Challenge Sign Up is Here!
For more info on the Summer Happiness Challenge you can go to our Happiness Challenges page.
If you know you are already up for the challenge you can sign up here The Summer Happiness Challenge sign upI hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week I am talking about how happiness is unique to each of us. As we get to know our authentic self, we will be able to stop being sold to and start living our happier life now! We are all at different stages in our life and therefore ready for different things. In today's episode I suggest 3 activities, or happiness tools that you can use to start living your happier life now. Because happiness isn't a destination, but small decisions we make on the journey, we are able to keep making adjustments to learn and grow and find more happy in every day life.
Resources I referenced this week:
Here are the podcast episodes that relate to the three happiness tools I referenced this week:Finding Ways to Recharges during COVID 19Who Are You Choosing To Be Summer Happiness Challenge Sign Up is Here!If you want to join us for our summer happiness challenge where we not only build on our happiness tools, we are going to do the happiness activities! Sigh up here and build on your happier this summer!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox hereas well as make sure you get notified when enrollment opens for our Summer Happiness Challenge.
In this episode I am talking about how knowing and living your values helps you create an authentic life. I think this is the foundation of finding your happier because you won't be truly happy until you figure out what your authentic life looks like and start living it. I believe that figuring out your values is a great way to clarify what matters most to you. Then you can design your life to fit that. Knowing your values helps clarify where to spend you time, money and attention. Decisions are all around us. Can you imagine how much clearer your path would be if you held your decisions up against your values? You are worth the work!
Resources I referenced this week: Knowing Your Values Will Help You Find Your Happier - Podcast with Doris BellandList of Valuesthat Doris Uses in her teachingsIf you want to learn more about Doris and what she teaches, you can check her out on her website Your Financial Launchpad I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox hereas well as make sure you get notified when enrollment opens for our Summer Happiness Challenge.
This week's podcast is an interview with Natasha Mang. Natasha is a Happiness Community Member who completed the 21 Day Happiness Challenge and has offered to come on the podcast and share her insights and lessons learned. In today's episode Natasha shares how she used her experience in her first happiness challenge to get even more out of the second challenge. She makes me laugh when she shares how she "beat the system" on her first challenge and how she is consciously choosing how she shows up each day. She also shares insight on how her whole family is using the Love Languages to improve communication and more effectively show each other love. Such a fun interview and so many great take-a ways.
Previous podcasts covering some of the happiness tools Natasha talks about in today's episode:The Podcast on Gratitude:How Gratitude Can Boost Happiness and Change How You See The WorldThe Episode on The Five Love Languages: How To Ask For What You NeedThe Episode on Who Are You Choosing To Be: Who Are You Choosing To Be
The Episode on Anticipation: Why You Need To Bring Back Anticipation
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week I am talking about 5 happiness tools that can help you increase your resilience. Resilience is your ability to get back to your normal state after a struggle or a crisis. Its not really something most of us spend time thinking about until we find ourselves having to dig deep and work our way through a crisis or struggle. I am convinced that by working on these 5 happiness tools, you are actually building your resilience muscle as well. How cool is that? More bang for your personal growth time! YES!! I think that if you choose one of these happiness tools and work on it for a couple of months, you will notice an increase in your happiness AND your resilience. Don't you think that its worth a try?
Resources I referenced this week:The podcasts that go deeper on the 5 happiness tools I mentioned are:Reflection and ReviewCelebrating The Small WinsSelf-compassionGratitudeChanging The Way you Talk to Yourself And whenever I talk about Self-compassion I like to refer you to Dr. Kristen Neff and her Guided meditations on self-compassion. I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week I am talking about how gratitude can boost your happiness and change how you see the world. I believe gratitude has changed the way I see the world. Today's episode is a reminder of how powerful gratitude is and even though I think I'm quite good at it, I forget sometimes to focus on the good of what I have instead of what I lack. This happiness tool is an easy "go to" tool to change the way you feel in any moment. However, when you add it to your life as a daily practice you will just be different. Today's episode is meant to be a reminder of how powerful gratitude can be and to encourage you to keep at yours and give it a boost if you can.
Resources I referenced This week:
Remember you can always pop over to the website, www.thehappieryou.net, and listen to past episodes if you need a happiness boost.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week we are talking about how to get yourself through the yucky stuff so you can feel more happy. If you are like me, your inner critic berates you for every screw up and misstep. One mistake and you can spiral into a judgemental dark place identifying with your screw up. Today's episode is to get you to remember that how you react to things and support yourself through the tough stuff is a choice. I want to encourage you to be a good friend to yourself in the rough stuff, and help yourself out of that yucky stuff with self compassion, understanding and care.
Resources I referenced this week:
Episdoe 33 of The Happier You Podcast
The Gifts of Imperfection ~ Brene Brown
Dr. Kristen Neff on Self Compassion - www.selfcompassion.org
This week's podcast is an interview with Karen Holliday. Karen is a Happiness Community Member who just finished the 21 Day Happiness Challenge. Karen asks, "Who wouldn't want to be happier?" Which is a great question! Listen and find out why Karen believes that a small daily investment in yourself can bring you joy. And that joy can spread to others around you. I really enjoyed getting to know Karen in this interview. I think you will love her insight and honesty.
Resources I referenced in today's episode:The Podcast on Play: The Transformative Power of Creativity and Play – Part 2The Podcast on Habits: Celebrating The Small WinsThe Episode on Journaling: How To Set Yourself Up For Success on This JourneyAtomic Habits, James Clear
The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today's episode is about how community support can help you live your best life. As I was reviewing my month to see how I could make the next month better, I realized that despite a seemingly "all over the place" month, I maintained some of my positive habits. I attribute my success last month to 3 online communities I have joined and the positive peer pressure I get from being part of them. All 3 communities inspire me to live my best life. Join me in today's episode and learn what those communities have done for me and find out the power of what I call a "Victory Selfie" is!
What communities are supporting you in living your best life?
Resources I referenced this week:Interview with Teri Murray was called :Real People Finding Real Happiness - Interview with Teri Murray ⋆ The Happier You
Interview with Doris Belland: Living Your One True Authentic Life - Interview With Doris Belland ⋆ The Happier You
Values with Doris Belland: Knowing Your Values Will Help You Find Your Happier ⋆ The Happier You
Link to Doris's Womens Money Group: WOMEN'S MONEY GROUP - Your Financial Launchpad
Link to our Face Book Group: The Happier You Podcast
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today's episode is discussing who has control over your happiness level? I think happiness is a decision you make daily. If you don't know what your happiness looks like then how can you focus on it and make decisions to increase it? What you focus on expands. What are you focusing on? Sometimes we need to slow down and figure out what our happiness looks like, even if its just the first small step, so we can focus on that.
Resources I referenced in this episode:
Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline - The 7 Basic Skills For Turning Conflict Into Cooperation - Becky A. Bailey, Ph. D.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today's episode is about how to build momentum in your happiness journey. When you celebrate small wins in your daily life, you build momentum, and happiness. Celebrating small wins keeps you motivated to continue on with your progress and goals. If you are looking for small wins to celebrate in your daily life, today's challenge is figuring out a new positive habit you can add to your life, so you can try this "celebrating small wins" concept for yourself.
Resources I referenced in this episode:
Atomic Habits - James Clear
Essentialism - Greg McKeown
Celebrating The Small Wins - the previous episode where I discuss my first attempt at adding a positive habit to my life with flossing!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week I am talking about taking steps toward creating your happiness instead of waiting for it to come to you. When you choose happiness then you can enjoy the journey to those things that you think will bring you happiness, instead of just the accomplishment of the goal or achievement.
Each of us has our own happiness journey, there is no set path. However, you have to start somewhere. Don't sit back and wait for happiness to come to you. Your Happiness is inside of you.
In this episode I am sharing why I think being proactive is important, and how I think you can jump start your happiness journey today.
Resources This Week:
The Happier You 21 Day Challenge
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week I am asking, "Do New Year's Resolutions help or hurt your happiness level?" The answer isn't a clear yes or no. It depends on how you choose your resolutions, or goals, as we sometimes call them. It also depends on how you go about evaluating their success. Today, I discuss what tactics I think guarantee an increase in happiness when it comes to your 2022 goals. I also talk about what I think should be avoided when setting them. The question I learned to ask before setting my 2022 goals is this, “What can you accomplish in 2022 that will make this a great year for you?” By taking the time set the right goals now, and committing to working on the 3 happiness tools I discuss in today's podcast, you will set yourself up for a successful 2022! To learn more about the happiness tools, come join us on our next Happiness Challenge starting 31 Jan, 2022. Its always a lot of fun and definitely enlightening.
Resources I referenced this week:The Happier You 21 Day Challenge I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This episode I am looking at 2021 through the lens of my gratitude jar and realizing I am grateful for quality time with quality people. As we look back on 2021 I am asking you to perform your reflection and review and celebrate the wins, no matter how small. Using this review, we ask ourselves, what can we do in 2022 to make it a great year!
Resources I referenced this week:The Happier You 21 Day Challenge
In this episode I am encouraging you to invite more Happy into your life. Getting more happy doesn't always need to be huge sweeping changes. In an attempt to inspire you to find what can invite more happy into your life, I share the top 3 Happiness Tools that have given me the biggest return on my time. I was inspired by a friend saying, "I just need real actionable items". The tools that give me the biggest happiness boost, may not be what you are ready for, so stay tuned for Part 2, where Hot Guy Editor shares his top 3, in hopes you can choose the right happiness tool to set you up for a strong happiness start in 2022.
Resources I referenced this week:Join the Next21 Day Happiness Challenge to figure out what happiness tools work best for you.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today’s Living Your One True Authentic Life podcast is an inspiring interview with Cindy Stradling, the founder of the Courage In Action Organization. When Cindy asked herself, “What if?” she had no idea how much joy that seemingly inconsequential question would bring to her life. Now, 8 years after she asked that question and put her idea out to a few friends, she is sharing her happier with many.
I loved getting to know Cindy and more about the “Courage in Action” Organization in today’s interview. We aren’t all going to start a charitable organization with the answer to our “what if?”, but as Cindy points out, “What if your purpose is just to be the best you, you can be?” She really is an inspiring woman. I hope you enjoy getting to know this amazing woman as much as I did. And, maybe you know someone who could benefit from the Courage In Action Organization.
Resources I referenced this week:Here is the link to the Courage In Action website so you can find more about the amazing work they do.
Don't forget we are running a new and improved 21 Day Happiness Challenge starting January 31st, 2022. You can register here!
This week we are looking ahead at the upcoming holiday season. I am heading into this often stressful season, armed with 3 happiness tools. I decided that instead of assuming everything will go well, I was going to plan for possible stressors and have a game plan for when things get overwhelming or go sideways. This year I'm going in "eyes wide open" by planning to use tools from my happiness toolbox to help make this a great holiday season! I'd love to hear what strategies you come up with this holiday season too!
Resources I referred to this week:
The Gifts of Imperfection - Brené Brown
The 21 Day Happiness Challenge - Sign Up here for our next 21 Day Happiness challenge!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
In today's episode I am interviewing Doris Belland. She made 3 big transitions in her life but the most recent was toward her happier. As she tells us in today's interview, her one true authentic life decision took time, a lot of honesty with herself, and was executed, one step at a time. And its still going on! Doris's story is inspiring. Join us for today's podcast where she tells us its okay to be stuck...we just can't stay there!
Resources referred to this week:
Your Financial Launchpad This is the link to Doris' website. Remember to click on the "get tips" at the top so you don't miss out on her 30 financial literacy tips in November!
Check out our resources pagefor a link to Doris’ book and see what other episodes she’s been on.
I hope meeting Doris inspires you to figure out what one next step you can take in your life towards your happier. Remember, finding your One True Authentic life takes time.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
In today's episode we are talking about how to take back control of your life and create powerful habits. Have you ever stopped and wondered how you got here? Where did all your healthy habits go? What about that strong healthy body? Where did it go? When did you stop taking care of yourself? In this episode we are talking about how habits can build happiness. Creating Small daily wins for yourself builds confidence, creates momentum and allows you to celebrate the journey, not just the end goal. Join us this week as we talk about happiness through habits!
Resources I referenced this week:Atomic Habits – James ClearClick this link to join us on ourCelebrating The Small Wins October Challenge.Or check out more episodes and what is going in in The Happier You Community atthehappieryou.net Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Have you ever met someone who seemed to be really comfortable living their One True Authentic Life that you felt intimidated? Well, today I'm interviewing Kyra Wong, and she was that for me a few years ago. After figuring out what my one true authentic life looks like, Kyra's incredible "Sparkle and Glitter personality" no longer intimidates me. It inspires me! I am so thrilled that she agreed to share her journey, her energy and the work she is doing with The Happier You Community in this interview. Are you ready to embrace your own unique glitter?
Resources I referred to this week:
The Magical Unicorn Project. This is the non profit that Kyra created to help make the world a better place! And she's doing it, check out her website!
Celebrating The Small Wins Challenge - Its not too late, you can still join us for this month's challenge! We've embarked on a 30 day challenge to add a positive habit to our lives in October!
I hope meeting Kyra and learning about her mission and her energy inspired you to "choose you" and make some changes in your life.
Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
How do you Successfully get back on your happiness journey after a pause?In today's podcast, we are talking about just that. On a journey, sometimes you take breaks and pause, but you do NOT quit. You get back at it, figure out what you have done well, ask yourself, what you could have done better, and maybe tweak a few things, then keep going. Getting down on ourselves doesn't help, so skip that step and jump back in. No good comes from berating yourself. Reflection and review? YES. Nitpicking negativity? NO. HARD NO.
So join me as we talk about learning from our summer and heading into this fall and this new season recommitting to our positive habits and putting what we have learned to good use! Welcome back to a new season of The Happier You Podcast!
Resources I referred to this week:Below are links to the episodes from season one where we talked about these happiness tools. Mindfulness, Self compassion , Gratitude, Journaling, Play, Connection If you are interested in joining our October Challenge of Celebrating the Small Wins you can sign up here.
Celebrating The Small Wins - episode from season one that can help you prepare for our October Challenge.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today's I'm sharing my summer reading List for 2021. I hope to motivate you to invest in your future happiness by adding some inspirational reading to your summer plans! What we read today will take a few years to get implemented in our lives. The more we stretch and grow now, the happier our future selves will be! What's on your summer reading list? Here are my top 5 recommendations. Enjoy!
Resources I referred to this week:
The Gifts of Imperfection – Brené Brown
Finding Your Own North Star - Martha Beck
Daring Greatly- Brené Brown
Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline - Becky A. Bailey
Think Like a Monk- Jay Shetty
If none of these call to you, I have other books I love at The Happier You Resources page
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Once you choose your summer reading, whether its one of these or so meting else, I would love for you to share it. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week's Real People Finding Real Happiness podcast interview is with Christie Parcigneau. Christie was not only a 21 Day Happiness Challenge participant, she also created the guided meditation during the challenge. In this episode, Christie gives us some great insight into building our meditation practice. As well, she shares her biggest take-a ways from the challenge that remind us to celebrate the small wins, ask for what we need and focus on our strengths. I think you will enjoy getting to know Christie in this episode and see that her guided meditation, positive outlook and infectious laugh will draw you to this incredible woman.
Resources I referred to this week:
Check out Christie's Guided meditations in French and English.
You can learn more about Christie and the healing work that she does at Wheel of Life Wellness.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
If you want to hear any of the original podcast episodes that were referenced in Christie's 3 biggest take-aways, you can follow these links:
Celebrating The Small Wins
How to Ask For What You Need
Acknowledge Your Strengths
This week we are talking about why we need to avoid negativity and the 3 C's to increase happiness. Negativity is contagious and the 3 Cs of Comparing, Complaining and Criticizing spread that negativity in our lives. They are so prevalent in our culture that we often don't even realize when we are doing them. The sooner we identify why and where they show up in our lives, the sooner we can stop them! Eliminating these negative factors or at least decreasing them will add to our happiness journey.
Resources I referred to this week:
Think Like a Monk - Jay Shetty
21 Day Happiness Challenge Sign Up Page - we'll be starting another one again soon!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
Today's question we're contemplating is, Does each of us have a limited amount of happiness? Is there only so much happiness to go around? Are you thinking that because someone else is happy, you can't be? Well guess what? The answer is, No! In fact, I believe that the more happiness there is, the more there is to share. More like it's contagious than limited. I explain my thought process in today's episode.
Resources I referred to this week:
Info I found on theDynamic Spread of Happiness Study
The Magic Penny Song - Malvina Reynolds
Who Do You Spend Time With? - The podcast episode on how who you spend time with makes a difference
21 Day Happiness Challenge Sign Up Page - we'll be starting another one again soon!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week we are talking about how to find your happiness when it feels like it is just outside your comfort zone! Many of us don't know where to start because our personal happiness seems elusive and unclear. How do you try to work towards something when you aren't even sure what that "something" looks like? Well, today's episode is about exactly that. What do you do when you don't know where to start. Come find out my thoughts on when and how is the best way to start your happiness journey.
Resources I referred to this week:
Finding Your Own North Star - Martha Beck
21 Day Happiness Challenge Sign Up Page - we'll be starting another one again soon!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week's Real People Finding Real Happiness podcast interview is with Teri Murray. Teri has been on her own happiness journey for over 2 years and I know that you will enjoy learning about her journey. As Teri shares her biggest take-a ways from the challenge she also encourages us all to try the challenge if we are feeling kinda stuck or feel something is missing! Teri is a joy to be around. As you will hear in the interview, her happiness and positive attitude are infectious.
Resources I referred to this week:
21 Day Happiness Challenge Sign Up Page - don't forget, we're starting early May!The Original Podcast where we referenced this topic was titled:How to Change The Negative To Positive
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast! You can also sign up to get the podcast delivered right to your inbox here.
This week is another interview where we find out what practical tools Happiness Community Members got by doing the 21 Day Happiness Challenge. This week Lisa Parr is our guest and she shares her biggest take aways from the challenge! Lisa has great energy and I think we can all benefit from the insights she gained during the challenge. She reminds us that play is not only for kids and we can push the limits at any age. I think you will really enjoy getting to know Lisa and sharing in her 21 Day Happiness Experience.
Resources I referenced this week:
The 21 Day Happiness ChallengeRemember we are starting another one in May!
Play Is More Than Just Fun with Dr. Stuart Brown
If you want to know more about Lisa, here's her website: Aboveparrfitness.ca I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can sign up for the next 21 Day Happiness Challenge Here.We’ll be starting another one in May!
This week is our one year anniversary episode! We are celebrating the 1 year milestone with a fun interview with my Hot Guy Editor (aka Norm, my hubby). We created a set of questions, answered them separately and then came together in the podcast booth to see how far apart our answers were! Its a fun celebration of the Happier You Podcast Community and the ups and downs of its first year. Thanks for a great year everyone, it is way more fun because you are here with us!
This years' success has only fueled the excitement to bring more happy to more people. Let's share this awesome community of people finding their happy and inspire others to do the same.
Resources I referenced this week:Why You Need to Bring Back Anticipation (episode 14)
The Gifts Of Imperfection - Brené Brown
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can sign up for the next 21 Day Happiness Challenge Here.We'll be starting another one soon!
This week is the first episode where we are finding out what practical tools Happiness Community Members got by doing the 21 Day Happiness Challenge. This week Jenni MacDonald is our guest and she is sharing how she used the 21 Day Happiness Challenge to pinpoint some specific things in her life she could change to rediscover her happy. She had already realized that she wasn't as happy as she had once been and so she used the challenge to help her refocus and find her happier! Its a fun interview with some great take-aways for all of us!
Resources I referenced this week:The 21 Day Happiness Challenge - We'll start another challenge again soon!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Mid Week Motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
In Today's episode I share the 5 Steps To Learn To Love Yourself And Discover The Dream In Your Heart. When I share the story of how the Happier You Podcast came to be, what seems to be resonating with people the most is that feeling of being gutted or having a big gaping hole when I realized I didn't know the dream in my heart. Today’s podcast is my answer to the question, “What advice would you give someone who understands that awful feeling of not knowing the dream in their heart and wants to find their own.” I hope this helps you find your dream and start on your personal happiness journey.
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Mid Week Motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about how to find and strengthen your best self by adding positive scripts in your happiness toolbox. Experts tell us that we have around 77,000 thoughts in a day and a lot of these are negative. This week I share how this has worked amazingly well for me and I give you some example scripts that you can start using today. I am amazed at how much they have done for me. I can't wait for you to try it yourself!
Resources I referenced this week:Ultimate Confidencebook by Marissa Peer
Master Your Money Mindset Course with Doris Belland
Positive Script Examples PDF
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Mid Week Motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are asking, "Are You Up For The Challenge?" Did you set a New Year's goal or did you shy away from the challenge? What if I told you that the most important thing is choosing the right challenge? When you tap into the right challenge your best qualities come out to show you what you are made of! I share this really cool exercise I learned to get you to identify those qualities in YOU!! Once you do that, you will never set a "meh" goal ever again!
Resources I referenced this week:The 21 Day Happiness Challenge -click to join our challenge starting 1 Feb 2021!Dorothy Lazovik - Check out herwebsite. She has a great blog there too.
Doris Belland - Check out her website. Her recent blog post is one of my favourites. Check it out!!!
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
How do you know if the goals or resolutions you set for 2021 are in alignment with your happiness journey? This week we are talking with Patricia Vander Laan because she is further along her happiness journey than I am! I asked her to share her advice to our community. She shares how she ended up on her personal journey as well as some awesome advice. Patricia and I agree, its still an inside job.
Resources I referenced this week:
Patricia's Facebook Page: Blue Sage Energy Arts Patricia also joined us previously on episode 029 – Find The Things That Make Your Soul Sing
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about HOPE and New Years Resolutions. What does one have to do with the other? Well, I don't know about you, but each new year holds hope for me. Hope for better things, for renewed commitment to goals and excitement for the possibilities. I think its important to use that hope to effect change in your life. Not just hope others will change things for you. Happiness is an adventure. When we dare to set and achieve goals we have things to celebrate on this journey.
Resources I referenced this week:
Matt Cutts TED Talk - 30 Day Challenge
Episode 3 of The Happier You -Celebrate The Small WinsJohn Dooer TED Talk - Why The Secret To Success Is Setting The Right GoalsDan Harris's Book - 10% HappierI hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about how we cannot let our mistakes diminish our happiness. I share a mistake I made and how I used my new "happiness tools" (and the help of my family) to pull myself out of it. Its humbling to admit that I got dragged down by the shame gremlins over something that was totally preventable. However, it made me realize that its going to happen, and when it does I have tools in my toolbox to pull myself out of that downward spiral. I hope that by sharing it with you I can inspire you to keep going on your happiness journey despite the hiccups. We've got this. As long as we get better at dealing with things, we get closer and closer to that happiness.
Resources I referenced this week:
The Gifts of Imperfection~ Brené Brown
This week we are taking a look back at 2020 for our annual review to set ourselves up for greater happiness in 2021. We are doing this with a focus on gratitude, forgiveness and optimism. We can only move ahead into 2021 with evaluated experience when we take an honest look at the past year and learn from it. Before we can welcome the new year with an open mind, we must first properly acknowledge the lessons of 2020. As Angela Duckworth said, "When you keep looking for ways of changing things for the better, you stand a better chance of finding them!"
Resources I referenced this week:Grit by Angela Duckworth
Values Coursewith Doris Belland from Your Financial Launchpad
Knowing Your Values Will Help You Find Your Happier - Episode 30, The Happier You Podcast
I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about those thousands of thoughts we have during a day, and how to change them from negative to positive. The idea that "What we offer to others, we give ourselves" means that we can be kinder to ourselves when we offer kindness to the world. What we see in others we strengthen in ourselves. So by seeing kindness, acceptance and love in others we strengthen that in ourselves. What a gift!
Things I referenced in this week's episode:Easy To Love, Difficult To Discipline. The 7 Basic Skills For Turning Conflict Into Cooperation ~Becky A. Bailey, Ph.D. I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about how knowing your values will help you make all decisions in your life easier. I am joined on this episode by Doris Belland, the woman who taught me this lesson a couple of years ago. Doris' passion is financial literacy for women, but as you will find in this episode, values don't just apply to your finances, they affect every part of your life.
When I did this exercise, it took me six months! And when I finally did clarify them, I think that's what started me on this journey that led me to this podcast. I discovered a gaping hole between my values and how I was living. I wasn't unhappy, but there was definitely something missing.
In this episode Doris shares a tool she uses to start people down the right path to clarifying their personal values. You can find that document here: YFL's List of VALUES
You can find more about Doris on her webiste: yourfinanciallaunchpad.com I hope you enjoy this week’s podcast. Don’t forget we’d love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week’s episode we are talking about loving and accepting ourselves for who we are right now. This week we are joined by Patricia Vander Laan who shares success tips from her personal happiness journey. She is alot of fun and has great ideas to share with us. One of the most important things she encourages is to figure out what makes your soul sing!! Doesn't That sound amazing?
Resources I referenced this week:If you want to reach out to Patricia she can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/patriciabluesage
I hope you enjoy this week's podcast. Don't forget we'd love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we talk about why reflection and review help us stay on our happiness journey. Too often we avoid this process and wonder what happened. I did a reflection and review on the podcast and then realized, I needed to do one on all aspects of my life! Its a great tool. Not always something we want to do because we might have to change things, but totally worth the time, effort and honesty it takes.
Resources I referenced this week:
James Clear -jamesclear.com(I really enjoyed his book Atomic Habits, but I also recommend going to his "articles" tab on his website. Lots of great reading there.)
I hope you enjoy this week's podcast. Don't forget we'd love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the Happiness Newsletter emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about your newest superpower. Self Compassion. It really makes sense to be a better friend to ourselves. We wouldn't let anyone else talk to us the way our inner voice does. Self Compassion allows us to have more compassion and kindness for ourselves and therefore more to share with others. Its a win-win all around.
Resources I talked about this week:
Dr. Kristin Neff - Website with different self compassion exercises
Dr. Kristin Neff - Self Compassion TestThe Power of Self-Compassion - Laurie Cameron ( on Audible)
The Gifts of Imperfection - Brené Brown
I hope you enjoy this week's podcast. Don't forget we'd love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the midweek motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week we are talking about increasing your happiness by connecting with people. With today's automated conveniences and social distancing requirements, now more than ever we have to consciously reach out and connect with others. We talk about the happiness benefits, health benefits and there are some who even say it can increase your life expectancy!
Resources I shared this week:TED with Robert Waldinger - What Makes a Good Life, Lessons from the longest study on HappinessThe Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos - Mistakenly Seeking Solitude
This week we are checking in on your happiness journey and talking about excavating the real you hiding underneath the cultural conditioning and other people's opinions. We each have to follow our own journey, but the unique beautiful person underneath is totally worth the work. Are you doing the work to ensure your journey gets you to where you want to go?
Resources I referenced this week:
Emily McDowell & Friends-The Fun Journal about Finding yourself I found in NYCMarianne Williamson - The great quote that gave us today's title
I hope you enjoy this week's podcast. Don't forget we'd love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the midweek motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
This week's podcast we are talking about the importance of taking care of ourselves and rest. Well, and mostly, SLEEP! It is so powerful, why do we fight it? When you are well rested you show up as the best you, not what's left of you.
A few weeks ago I was talking to my my friend Kathleen and she told me that for her Master's Program she studied her sleep and what affected it.
I had the idea for this podcast on my mind for a while and was super excited to hear about her study and her findings. I am constantly analyzing myself, but I've never done a study to that level.
I asked her to join me on this week's podcast to talk about what she learned.
Links to the books I referenced in this week's podcast:
The Gifts of Imperfection – Brené Brown
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids– Dr. Laura Markham
I hope you enjoy this week's podcast. Don't forget we'd love to see you over on the Facebook Group, The Happier You Podcast!
And remember you can get the podcast and the midweek motivator emailed to you weekly when you join our mailing list here!
In this episode we talk about the daily living part of personal growth. Sadly there is no quick fix, drive through or magic cream solution. When you decide to change something in your life for the better, it will take action to make it part of your life. Just deciding you want to change is only the start. We need to be patient with ourselves as we learn and grow.
You can join The Happier You Podcast Community by signing up for the newsletter. This ensures the podcast is delivered to your inbox each week as well as the Mid Week Motivator. This helps you to keep your happiness top of mind. You can also join our Facebook group called, The Happier You Podcast. If you have a chance, we would love for you to rate and review the podcast however you listen.
Have a great week! Go get your happy on!!!
When you listen to the outside world you can constantly hear the message that you are not enough. You need to do more, have more, buy more, work more. However, when you realize that you are enough you can begin your journey towards the happier you. Stop looking outside yourself for you happiness. It starts on the inside. Take the life you have and make it the best you can! Don't compare to anyone else, just figure out your happy and GO FOR IT!!! No one can tell you how happy you are allowed to be. That's only for you to decide and make happen.
This week I reference a book from Lynne Twist called Unleashing the Soul of Money. In it she talks about the "great fullness" that comes from appreciating all that you have. Realizing you are enough and that you have so much to be "great full" for. It sparked this week's topic of acknowledging that you are enough. Right now, at this moment. You are enough.
This week's episode is about honouring the work that you have done! Looking back at your happiness journey so far and acknowledging the progress you have made. Big or small...a win is a win and it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated.
This Episode was inspired by a 2011 TED talk with Ric Elias, 3 Things I learned While My Plane Crashed. He was one of the passengers who was on the flight that crash-landed in the Hudson River in 2009. In his Ted Talk he shares what he learned from that experience.
We talk about how his TED talk impacted us and how it made us start a conversation about how we are choosing to live our lives. We figured why wait for a huge event to learn the lessons he shared. Let's talk about it and do something about it now. "Don't Postpone Your Life" means figure out what is important to you and live it now. And in the wise words of Ric, "I collect bad wine."
Who do you surround yourself with? Do you let other people's negativity and negative energy affect you?
This episode we talk about how hard it is to find your happier if you are constantly surrounded by negativity and criticism. What can you do about it? You have options, you always have options you just have to figure out what best suits you.
We also talk about what kind of energy you are giving out. Have you looked at yourself lately and figured out if maybe you are someone else's criticizer? None of us want to be that for our loved ones, so let's do the work we need to do to get ourselves to a better mental space.
Remember, the happier we are the more we have to share!
And sorry, no funny bloopers this week so HGE shared a YouTube video that will make you smile. Its totally worth a watch! This is what happens when you reply to spam email. James Veitch
Do you let the little things in life get you down? Do you find yourself favouring negative instead of positive? This week we are unleashing the power of gratitude. You don't always have to focus on the big things...noticing the small things in your life that you are grateful for can bring you more happiness. And, side benefit, it gets you to stop focusing on the things you don't have or don't want in your life and appreciate the things that you do have.
Life is too short to not to appreciate all the amazing blessings we have in our lives. Now more than ever it is important to figure out a gratitude practice and focus on the good. Sometimes you just need to take those frustrating moments and re-frame them.
Are you like me and still trying to figure out you? Do you sometimes get so busy being the person you are expected to be that you forget who you really are? Do you have designated masks for each role you play in your life, and sometimes forget the real person underneath? Have you been wearing these masks for so long that you are not even sure you remember the real you?
This week's episode was inspired by something Ronsley Vaz said at Podfest 2020, “In a society that profits from you not liking yourself, being you is a rebellious act.” I think I want to be a little rebellious. I think we all need to be a little more rebellious. Find the real you and own it.
This episode is about being the real you. I talk about discovering the poem, Please Hear What I am Not Saying when I was in a speech competition in middle school. Even back then I realized I had different masks for different roles. I think its about time I dug through all the masks and found the real me.
In the Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown says “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” She also says, "You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs." Let's do this. Let's be authentic and brave and be real.
Sometimes the road to the happier you is not easy and fun-filled. Even after you have done some personal growth work you get tested on some of your decisions. Setting boundaries is tough because sometimes those boundaries require you to turn down things that you would have previously said yes to. This week I share my struggle with saying no, honouring my boundaries, admitting I'm high maintenance and getting through some of the tough stuff on my journey towards the happier me. Good thing this is a journey, and the joy is in the journey.
Are you constantly noticing what you aren't good at? Only focusing on your weaknesses instead of acknowledging and celebrating your strengths? When was the last time you noticed when you did something right? Too many people undervalue what they are, and overvalue what they are not!
The journey to happiness starts with liking yourself. And a great start towards that is acknowledging and celebrating your strengths. Last year I did a personality test with 16personalities.com and seeing my strengths on paper was empowering. It broke it down by work, parenting, marriage, and friendship. Seeing my strengths pointed out in all those relationships felt good.
In today’s world we are so busy comparing ourselves to others, we only notice our faults or weaknesses instead of honoring our strengths. Life is so much more fun when you start from your strengths and work from there. Working in your strengths gives you confidence and makes life way more fun and less of a struggle. If you continue to try to live up to what others think you should do and say and be, it will always feel wrong.
Honour the amazing person you are by acknowledging your strengths and sharing those with the world. Stop living in denial of the amazing person you were put on this earth to be. Share your talents with the world and see how much happiness comes your way.
Do you remember the anticipation leading to summer holidays as a kid? Or what about Christmas? Your Birthday party? The Anticipation for it lasted way longer than the actual event. The event came and went and you felt like you hardly blinked. When COVID 19 happened, all anticipation for upcoming events was taken away. Suddenly the world was on hold. We realized that having nothing to look forward to was not a fun feeling, so we decided we needed to add some “anticipation” back into our lives.
The appreciation for anticipation was a discovery for us a few years ago. I think we either ended up on a trip that we were too busy to plan and get excited about. Or, we decided to surprise our son with something, and we realized by doing that we took away all the conversations and excitement leading up to the event. Whatever it was, we decided that we didn’t want to do that anymore. We wanted to enjoy the build up. The planning, preparation, research and ANTICIPATION for our upcoming adventure is a big part of the actual adventure.
Anticipation extends the event. It makes it longer than a one week spring break, or the 4 day Thanks giving long weekend. Anticipation is enjoying the build up and the waiting. If the event isn’t as awesome as you had dreamt up in your mind…well, you did still get to enjoy the preparation. So it wasn’t a total bust. Consequently we have found that the build up prepared us to find all the good things we could do and see and experience before hand so we didn’t miss anything!
Are you like me and have negative thoughts about yourself? That inner critic can be really mean and hit you right when you are most vulnerable. Getting past this starts with how you talk to yourself. How you think and talk about yourself and what you allow into your life affects your happiness.
Where do you start? You start by shutting down that inner voice with the negative talk that tells you you are stupid, a loser and that you aren’t good enough so don’t even bother trying. Have you even noticed how awful you are to yourself sometimes? It’s a terrible habit that needs to stop immediately.
I was the worst for beating the critics to the punch. I was constantly saying “I’m such a loser. I’m so stupid. And I don’t think there was a dumb blond joke that I couldn’t beat you to. Years ago I learned how detrimental this is. You know they say that positive mantras help you? Well imagine what negative ones do. Luckily, it is a habit that you can break, and shut down. I learned this lesson years ago, and I don’t speak like that to myself anymore. I also don’t allow friends and family to speak like that about themselves around me. EVER! That is mean and unacceptable. Just because it is you saying it DOES NOT make it okay.
Does it bring you joy? Have you ever asked yourself this question? If you have heard of Marie Kondo you know that is her main question. Marie Kondo is famous for her book 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing'. This week I talk about my experience with the “KonMari” method and what it has done for me.
Why do you allow things in your life if they don’t bring you joy? Instead of ignoring all the stuff around you, noticing whether something brings you joy or takes away from your joy will help you create a happier you! The more things you have around you that bring you joy, the more little happy moments you get in your day. When something doesn’t bring you joy then you need to figure out how to reconfigure it and make it work for you…or figure out how to let it go. Re-purpose it or donate it and let it bring someone else Joy!
Through this exercise you become more aware of what’s around you and you become proactive in creating a positive environment for yourself. If something is in your life but it doesn’t bring you joy or serve you, then why are you letting it stay? I found that noticing what brings me joy every day makes me grateful for all I have. The more proactive you are in creating your happy life, the more empowered you feel.
When you try to learn something new, or conquer something that intimidates you, do you get frustrated and overwhelmed? This often leads to us giving up. I have learned that as I take on a new challenge I actually follow a certain emotional pattern.
I wanted to share this idea with you because I think on this happiness journey, it is important to recognize that there are struggles and ups and downs. When you identify something that you want to overcome or learn, it isn’t usually easy and you can very quickly find yourself in overwhelm. In this conversation with Doris Belland, I realized that I definitely go through overwhelm, but on the other side of it I become more confident, and then eventually feel powerful for having overcome an obstacle or challenge I had. Here is a link to a picture of the emotional cycle Doris and I discuss.
Doris and I started talking about this emotional cycle of learning, and then we just kept going from there. We so often let mindset issues get in our way as we try to conquer fears or learn something new. Doris’s passion is helping women transform their lives by helping them take charge of their money and build their confidence. She is an educator, coach and mentor. As I chat with her in this episode you will hear her passion for teaching and empowering women come through.
My whole quest is to find the Happier me. I think one of the key things is self-awareness and self-acceptance. One of the ways to be self-aware is knowing how to ask for what you need.
How do you know what you need?
One of the ways you can know what you need is by knowing your love language. I’m no expert in this, but my husband and I read The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman around 20 years ago. I have been a self-improvement person for many, many years. We read this back before we really had a major argument in our relationship. I think that reading this book together and being able to talk about what is important to us helped shaped our relationship.
For many years I gave the Five Love Languages book to friends and family as wedding gifts. I think the gift of communication is the best thing you can give any relationship, especially marriage.
Why am I talking about it on the Happier You podcast?
If you don’t’ know what you need to communicate and feel loved in your closest relationships, then how can you set boundaries and ask for what you need outside those relationships? The five love languages concept isn’t limited to couples. For instance, once we had our son we continued on and delved into the 5 love languages of children. Likewise, Dr. Chapman has also written books specifically for teens, singles, men…and I even saw one for military families.
This is particularly important right now during COVID 19.
As we are currently all mostly stuck at home with our closest family, or conversely, alone if you are single or circumstances have you living apart from your family, we need communication more than ever.
Once you are able to communicate what you need to feel loved and valued to the people closest to you, you will then be able to do that in all relationships.
Its not just a one-way road though. If you can look at the people closest to you and communicate your love in their language, your most precious relationships become stronger. I am a total believer in this!
How do you figure out your love language?You can go online to www.5lovelanguages.com and take the quiz. There isn’t just a quiz for couples. You can take the quiz for singles, teens and children. I actually retook it because I suspected mine might have changed and it did. My number one and two switched. It could be just the phase I’m in right now…I’m not sure, but either way, my top two were still my top two.
How full is your Love Tank?
One way you can check in with your loved ones is to ask them “how full is your love tank?” If you think of your love tank like a bank account or gas tank of a car, you need to continually make deposits because the money/gas constantly gets used up as you go through life. Checking in and asking how their love tank is doing will give you an indicator of whether you are making enough “deposits” in your loved ones account or if you need to make more and maybe even change how you are doing things. It gives you any easy check-in of how well you are communicating your love.
Knowing how to effectively show love to the people you care about and how to ask for what you need is a great communication too. I don’t think the power of communication can be under valued in any relationship!
What is your Love Languange?
Are you feeling overwhelmed with everything in your life? Do you need help to find your focus? It feels like the world is throwing a lot more at us these days despite the social distancing! This episode I encourage you to step back from all the busyness and "to do" lists and take a breath and figure out what you want to focus on right now. It's hard picking just one thing. However, when you stop to breathe and really think about your own priorities, it helps.
No Judging! You are here and it is what it is, now you need to figure out the best way to move forward. This is not the time to pick apart your faults. It’s a time to say, "okay, that’s done, now, how am I going to step into this next phase keeping my priorities top of mind?"
If you don't know your own focus then others can pull you into their priorities.In the episode I suggest you go to the My Intent website and go through the "What's your word?" exercise. If you do the exercise and you still can't come up with a Focus Word, scroll down on that page and there are some suggestions that may help inspire you. Another option if you want a pre-fab inspirational focus word, there are talented people on Etsy who sell inspirational words painted on rocks. I don't know the seller for the link I've included, I just offered it as a way to start your search if you are interested. However you go about it, finding your focus and setting your intent will help bring you peace in this crazy world, as well as helping you say "no" when it is required!
Finding Your Focus is NOT a "one and done" exercise!!
As life changes, as you grow, as new opportunities arise, you will find that you need a different focus. I hate sitting in overwhelm and dealing with feelings of inadequacy. Regrettably, I took too long to redo this exercise this time. If nothing else, it instigated me starting this conversation and encouraging you to Find Your Focus!
What can you do right now to help relieve stress in your life? Play! How is play defined and how can we add more of it in our lives? Do we have to be creative to successfully play and reap the benefits?
Continuing on with the Transformative Power of Creativity and Play we look at how important it is to our happiness right now. The health benefits are huge! From our ability to relieve stress to helping us improve our day to day executive functioning. Can you remember the last time you got so caught up in something that you lost your sense of time and self consciousness? Its a beautiful thing.
Let's start a conversation about adding play and creativity into our lives so we can live better now!
Are you feeling stuck in a rut and uninspired?
Is your current situation weighing you down?
This week we are talking about creativity and play, and why we all need more of it in our lives. It all started when I listened to Brene Brown's book The Power of Vulnerability and she talked about art scars. Alot of us have them and have never gotten over them. Once you realize that art is a form of creativity and not a pass or fail endeavour, you are free to add more of it to your life. Stop comparing yourself to other people and just enjoy the process of creating.
Being creative makes connections in your brain and helps you process things. It also gives you confidence to problem solve other challenges down the road. The act of being creative is problem solving. Once I started looking for ways to add creativity into my day to day life I found I got excited that me, the girl who always claimed to have failed art in grade 8, could just spur of the moment be creative and have fun with it. Creating something just for the fun of creating it instead of looking for or worrying about someone else's approval is actually fun and freeing.
We also talk about how you can make art and creativity a habit. After listening to NPR's Life Kit episode titled Making Art Is Good For Your Health. Here's How To Start A Habit I learned that you just need to figure out how to fit it into your life. Maybe its once a week, maybe its 10 minutes a day. The more you make art a habit, the greater the reward!
Here is the link to SGN
Are you sick of starting new projects and then stopping because you don’t feel like you are getting anywhere?
Do you feel like you are stuck and you can’t change anything?
This week I talk about the surefire way to ensure success on this journey! Happiness is an inside job and the only person who can do the work is you. That’s good and bad right?
· BAD - because you can’t blame anyone else for your happiness.
· GOOD – because you are in charge of your happiness! Everything you do either gets you closer or further away.
Sometimes along the journey called life we give up on things because we feel they aren’t working, they take too much effort, or we are just downright discouraged.
Well not anymore. Today you are going to learn how to keep your motivation up even when you feel like you haven’t made any progress and you forget why you even started in the first place!
This week we talk about trying something new. When you try something new you have to be fully present. It takes courage to try something new. You might be bad at it, but who cares, just do it!
Are you living a life true to yourself or trying to keep up with the Joneses? If you don't make decisions in your own life, then others will do it for you! This week we are talking about showing up and being present in your own life! Every morning you get a new opportunity to wake up and choose how you approach your day! So, who are you choosing to be? And how are you showing up?
Have you stopped setting goals because you never achieve them? This week I talk about the importance of celebrating small wins! I share my embarrassingly small personal wins so that you know that no win is too small. Celebrate you, celebrate your wins and have more fun getting to where you are going!!! Life is way better when you celebrate success (however small) rather than focus on failure. Learn how two of my favourite books tell us how to make it easier.
In this episode I admit that COVID-19 made me question what I was doing. I didn't feel worthy of this project, of inspiring people and motivating others to find their happy. Luckily a good friend basically said "get over it! Acknowledge COVID-19 and then keep going." That is what this episode is. Me admitting that fear of not being good enough almost shut me down before I even really got started. Admitting that I've been sulking and eating my way through this "unprecedented time" and used that as my excuse not to start this podcast. That's done. I'm done sulking and I'm ready to get back to finding more happy in my life and helping you find more happy in yours!
This is the intro episode to The Happier You Podcast. In this episode I explain how I ended up on this journey and starting the podcast as my passion project. I think discovering our own personal happiness is a journey about accepting who we are right now, but realizing that we can strive to be better and happier.