Live Happy Now: Recent Episodes
Live Happy
Bringing you scientifically proven tips and ideas to live a happier and more meaningful life through interviews with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders.
The editors of Live Happy magazine bring you best-selling authors and happiness gurus that share their knowledge on topics such as wellness, gratitude, well-being and mindfulness. Interviews are conducted with people like Shawn Achor, Michelle Gielan, Dr. Christine Carter, Margaret Greenberg, Dr. Drew Ramsey, Gretchen Rubin, Barbara Fredrickson, Tal Ben-Shahar, Deepak Chopra, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Stacy Kaiser, Darin McMahon, Michelle McQuaid, Fred Luskin, Shani Robins, Kristin Neff, Dr. Rick Hanson, and many more.
This week, Live Happy Now visits the mountains — not to climb them, but to learn from them. Alpinist and award-winning author Michael Schauch joins us to explore how nature, intuition, and the practice of “non‑self” can help us navigate a world that feels increasingly fast, loud, and divided. His stories from the Himalaya and his new book Anatta: Heart of Wisdom offer a grounded, hopeful way to move through troubled times with more clarity and compassion.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why understanding “non‑self” helps us reduce conflict and polarization.
- How nature reveals our true patterns — and helps us reconnect with others.
- Practical ways to quiet the mind, dissolve reactive habits, and respond with compassion.
Even in a world overflowing with tension, we are biologically wired for cooperation and connection. This week, Dr. Jeremy Pollack, a leader in conflict resolution and author of Wired for Peace, shares how we can keep disagreements from escalating and learn to regulate our nervous systems even during the most challenging discussions. Listen in to discover his practical tools for regulating our nervous system, staying curious, and building trust even in difficult relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why your brain reacts to social conflict the same way it reacts to physical danger.
- How curiosity and cognitive empathy open the door to real conflict resolution.
- A five‑step, 60‑second brain hack to regulate yourself during an argument.
In this season‑closing episode, Paula Felps and Michelle Jones recap one of the busiest seasons yet for Live Happy Now and look at what’s coming. Tune in to learn about our new content offerings, including research‑based reports launching this fall, and an upcoming Substack. You’ll also learn about the Wake Up Happy weekly text series designed to help you start the week with humor and encouragement, and get a look ahead to Season 12, which will explore how to maintain well-being in chaotic times.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Live Happy is expanding its content offerings and store.
- Why Season 12 will focus on thriving during turbulent times.
- New ways to connect with Live Happy.
If you like your mindfulness served without BS, you’re going to love this week’s episode! Join us as mindfulness coach and yoga teacher Oneika Mays shares insights from her book, Sit with Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation. Oneika explains how yoga helped her reclaim her sense of self; why teaching mindfulness inside Rikers Island transformed her understanding of compassion, justice, and human connection; and how loving‑kindness (or metta) can help us navigate a world that feels heavy and chaotic.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How mindfulness helped Oneika move from reactivity to response — and why that shift changed her life.
- Why loving‑kindness (metta) is a powerful antidote to fear, hate, and overwhelm in difficult times.
- What meditation is really for — and why it’s not about feeling good.
As we close out our Summer Reading Program, host Paula Felps sits down with cognitive and behavioral neuroscientist Dr. Sydney Ceruto to walk through her book, The Dopamine Code: How to Rewire Your Brain for Happiness and Productivity, which explores one of the most misunderstood forces shaping our motivation, mood, and modern wellbeing. Sydney explains why today’s overstimulated world leaves so many of us feeling restless, stuck, or burned out — and how understanding the true role of dopamine can help us reclaim clarity, satisfaction, and forward momentum.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why dopamine isn’t the “pleasure chemical” but is the “molecule of motivation” that shapes everything from restlessness to burnout.
- How modern life overstimulates your reward system, making everyday joys feel flat and pushing you toward unhealthy dopamine defaults.
- How to build your own “dopamine menu” to help you shift from cheap dopamine spikes to meaningful, sustaining rewards.
In this week’s episode of Live Happy Now, Paula Felps sits down with author Angelica Glass to explore her remarkable book, Scavenging Beauty: A Memoir in Walks, which chronicles her decision to walk every street in Santa Cruz County. What began as a stress‑relief habit unfolded into a profound journey of awe, healing, forgiveness, and rediscovery. Angelica shares how intentionally seeking beauty — one photograph, one street, one quiet moment at a time — opened the door to long‑buried memories, deeper self‑understanding, and renewed connection with her siblings. Through nature, silence, and curiosity, she learned to reframe her past with tenderness and compassion, ultimately transforming her internal landscape and her relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How awe, silence, and slow travel can unlock emotional healing and neuroplasticity.
- Why seeking beauty — even in life’s “wreckage” — reshapes how we see ourselves and our past.
- How sharing personal stories with loved ones can strengthen connection, change perspectives, and open new conversations.
This week, as part of the Live Happy Summer Reading Program, host Paula Felps sits down with Elizabeth Margulis, a professor of music at Princeton University and director of the Music Cognition Lab, to talk about her book, Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams. Elizabeth explains why our minds naturally wander when we listen to music, how those imaginative journeys shape our sense of self, and why these experiences are far more meaningful — and scientifically important — than we realize. Listen as she reveals how reconnecting with this simple, often overlooked way of listening can deepen our relationships, boost our mental health, and bring us back to the joy that first made us fall in love with music.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why unfamiliar songs can trigger similar imagery across listeners.
- How music helps us process memories.
- Why daydreaming to music may be essential for creativity and emotional well‑being.
The Live Happy Summer Reading Program continues this week as host Paula Felps sits down with author and activist Deborah Santana to talk about Loving the Fire: Choosing Me, Finding Freedom, her powerful memoir about identity, courage, reinvention, and choosing a life aligned with your spirit. In this episode, Deborah candidly shares how she found the strength to leave a life that no longer reflected who she was, the spiritual practices that guided her, and the generational resilience that shaped her path. Listen as Deborah shares how stepping into your truth can transform not only your life, but the lives of those around you.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Deborah found the courage to leave a life that no longer aligned with her spirit.
- The role generational strength, family history, and activism built her identity — and continue guiding her work today.
- What it means to “walk through the fire” in your own life, and how to recognize misalignment, reclaim your voice, and choose a path rooted in integrity and self‑reflection.
For Week 2 of the Live Happy Summer Reading Program, award‑winning journalist and author Donna Jackson Nakazawa sits down with host Paula Felps to discuss her groundbreaking new book, Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist. Donna explains that rumination is an evolution‑wired survival response that has gone rogue in modern life, trapping us in negative “mental movie reels” fueled by the brain’s default mode network. Using neuroscience, personal insight, and research‑backed tools, she shares how we can transform rumination into clarity, creativity, and a renewed sense of belonging.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why rumination happens and how the brain creates vivid “movie reels” of old stories, future fears, and intense emotional and physical reactions.
- How the MIST framework works — and how to use it to interrupt rumination and reduce stress chemistry.
- How to turn rumination into insight, using neuroscience‑based strategies that help you rewrite outdated beliefs, reclaim your voice, and use your mental energy for more meaningful, joyful pursuits.
This week on Live Happy Now, we launch our Summer Reading Program with Jodi Wellman, whose book You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets invites us to rethink how we spend our days and start living with fewer regrets. Jodi joins host Paula Felps to explain how embracing the reality of our limited time can actually make life feel richer, more vibrant, and more meaningful. Drawing from personal experience, positive psychology research, and her signature humor, she explains why we’re so prone to postponing our lives — and how small, intentional choices can help us feel more “astonishingly alive” every day.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why the concept of memento mori can be a powerful motivator for living more fully.
- How Jodi’s personal wake‑up call shaped her mission to help others stop postponing their lives.
- Simple, accessible ways to feel more alive — without a dramatic life overhaul.
Summer is here, and so is our very first Live Happy Summer Reading Program. In this episode, Live Happy Now Host Paula teams up with Senior Happiness Editor Chris Libby to unveil six weeks of books designed to inspire, uplift, and spark real‑world joy. From science‑backed guides to deeply personal memoirs, they walk through each pick, explain why it made the cut, and tell you how to join the fun.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the Live Happy Summer Reading Program works — and how to follow along each week
- What’s on this year’s reading list and why these books were chosen
- The new book‑lover goodies coming to Live Happy, including Shelf Care and Shelf Care for Kids
This week on Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Sherry Hamby, a leading researcher on trauma and resilience and author of Stronger Than You Think: Building Lifelong Resilience. Drawing from more than three decades of studying violence, healing, and human strengths, Dr. Hamby explains why our biggest misconception about trauma recovery is believing we must “push through” alone — and why resilience is not a trait but a multidimensional journey. She introduces her four-part resilience portfolio, shows how nature and supportive relationships can accelerate healing, and shares why even those with heavy trauma histories can still move toward thriving.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why resilience isn’t about toughness but about building a diverse portfolio of strengths.
- The four domains that shape your resilience — and how to use the ones you already have.
- How nature, meaning-making, and connection can support healing just as powerfully as regulation strategies.
In a world where fake news and misinformation is rampant, what role does honestly play? This week, Wake Forest philosopher Christian B. Miller dives into the ideas behind his new book The Honesty Crisis, revealing why honesty is far more complex — and essential — than simply telling the truth. In this thoughtful conversation with host Paula Felps, Christian explores why honesty feels harder in today’s world and what’s at stake for our relationships, our well-being, and our society when we abandon it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why honesty means more than just telling the truth.
- How modern technology makes dishonesty easier, more tempting, and harder to detect — especially in classrooms and workplaces.
- How honesty supports trust, reduces stress, and allows for genuine connection.
This week on Live Happy Now, Paula sits down with Dr. Korie Leigh, an internationally recognized expert in childhood bereavement and author of When Everything Changes: Parenting Through Loss and Grief. Drawing from her work in pediatric palliative care and thanatology, Dr. Leigh explains why children grieve differently than adults and why honest, concrete communication matters when helping them navigate loss. She also shares how parents can support their children even while managing their own grief, and why resilience is a muscle families can build together.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why euphemisms around death can confuse children and increase fear or guilt.
- How children “puddle jump” through grief and why their processing looks so different from adults.
- How parents can support a grieving child even while grieving themselves — and why “good enough” parenting truly is enough.
On this Mother’s Day episode of Live Happy Now, Paula Felps sits down once again with mother‑daughter duo Leslie and Lindsey Glass to explore how mental health patterns, coping strategies, and emotional habits are passed down through generations. Drawing from their own lived experience — including estrangement, reconciliation, and years of therapeutic work — Leslie and Lindsey share practical, compassionate tools for breaking unhealthy cycles, setting boundaries, rebuilding trust, and creating new family patterns rooted in safety and connection.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How generational patterns of anxiety, emotional suppression, and coping get passed down — and how to interrupt them.
- What healthy reconnection looks like, from “baby‑step conversations” to shared activities that rebuild safety and trust.
- How to navigate estrangement, boundaries, and forgiveness when one person is ready to heal and the other isn’t.
This week on Live Happy Now, Paula Felps sits down with University of Virginia professor and author Leidy Klotz to explore a topic we rarely think about: how the spaces around us are quietly shaping our well-being. He explains why our homes, workplaces, and everyday environments can either nourish or drain our basic psychological needs for agency, competence, and connection. From choosing where you sit to spark creativity to reclaiming small freedoms in spaces you can’t control, Leidy shows how simple shifts in how we interact with our environments can profoundly change how we feel.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why your physical spaces influence your happiness more than you realize — and how they feed (or starve) your core psychological needs.
- How to use your surroundings intentionally to boost creativity, strengthen family connection, and reclaim a sense of control — even in places you can’t redesign.
- A simple practice for experiencing more awe in your daily life by noticing and revisiting the spaces that shift your perspective.
In this joyful episode of Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with bestselling author, musician, and kids’ mindfulness expert Kira Willey to explore how parents can transform everyday chaos into meaningful moments of connection. Drawing from her new book The Joyful Child, Kira shares simple, playful practices that help families navigate transitions, reduce stress, and build stronger bonds — without adding more to the to‑do list.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to turn stressful daily transitions into joyful, cooperative moments.
- Why children struggle with structure — and how movement, music, and imagination help them thrive.
- Simple one‑minute practices that calm your child’s nervous system (and yours).
When times get tough, it’s time to play! This week, creativity expert Piera Gelardi — author of the new book, The Playful Way — joins host Paula Felps to talk about why play is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline. Drawing from her own burnout, creative journey, and even profound grief, Piera explains how shutting down our playful selves limits resilience, narrows thinking, and fuels anxiety. Find out how everyday play can help us navigate heavy times with more creativity, connection, and joy.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why play deprivation leads to burnout, rigidity, and increased anxiety.
- How play can coexist with serious times — and even help you move through grief.
- Simple ways to build a daily play practice, even if you think you're “not playful.”
April is National Humor Month, so it’s time to dig into the amazing power of humor and laughter. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with comedian, TV writer, and podcast host Chris Duffy, author of the new book, Humor Me, to explore why laughter is more than a mere distraction. Drawing from personal experience, clinical research, and years of teaching and performing, Chris explains how humor strengthens connection, boosts resilience, improves well‑being, and even helps us navigate difficult moments.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why humor is essential for emotional and physical well‑being.
- How self‑deprecating humor increases likability and perceived competence.
- Simple ways to rebuild your “humor muscle.”
What if we could get to the root of our divides and start bridging them? In this powerful episode of Live Happy Now, Paula Felps sits down with Tom Rosshirt, co‑creator of the Dignity Index, to explore why our public conversations feel so fractured — and how dignity offers a practical path back to connection. Tom explains how contempt, not disagreement, is what drives our divisions, and he shares the ways that dignity can heal what contempt has damaged.
Three things you’ll learn:
- Why contempt is the real source of division — and how to recognize it.
- How dignity strengthens trust, communication, and problem‑solving.
- How small, everyday choices can shift the culture around you toward connection.
The latest edition of the World Happiness Report focuses on the effects of social media on well-being. In this episode of Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Zeynep Özkök and Dr. Jonathan Rosborough, co-authors of one of the report’s chapters, to unpack their research on internet use, trust, social connections, and emotional well‑being. They reveal why social media affects Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers in dramatically different ways, and how online environments are reshaping foundational elements of happiness such as trust, safety, and real‑world social ties.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why the impact of social media on well‑being varies sharply across generations.
- How Internet use is linked to declining trust, social comparison, and reduced in‑person connection.
- What researchers believe this means for the future — especially for Gen Z and the emerging Generation Alpha.
In this episode of Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. John La Puma — physician, chef, and author of Indoor Epidemic — to explore how our increasingly indoor lifestyles are quietly harming our sleep, mood, focus, and long‑term health. Dr. John explains why spending 93% of our time inside has become a “biological emergency” and reveals how simple, intentional practices like morning light exposure, green exercise, and reconnecting with nature can dramatically improve our well‑being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why missing morning light can leave you “wired but tired” and shorten your longevity by up to five years.
- How green exercise lowers stress hormones, reduces rumination, and boosts immune function.
- What simple daily habits can counteract indoor toxins and restore your natural biological rhythms.
In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Deepika Chopra to explore what real optimism looks like in a world filled with uncertainty. Drawing from her new book, The Power of Real Optimism, Dr. Deepika explains why optimism isn’t about rose‑colored glasses or pretending everything is fine; it’s a trainable psychological skill rooted in authenticity, resilience, and the belief that challenges are temporary and navigable.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why optimism is a skill — not a personality trait — and how to strengthen it.
- How your brain processes uncertainty and the small, science‑backed practices that help restore safety and regulation.
- How tools like visualization, evidence‑collecting, and scheduled “worry time” can shift your mindset and build real resilience.
A new Gallup poll says that Americans are feeling unusually pessimistic about the future, with optimism hitting its lowest point in two decades. This week, host Paula Felps and social media manager Michelle Jones dig into the poll results and explore why so many people are struggling emotionally, and — more importantly — what practical, evidence‑based habits can help us stay grounded, hopeful, and connected during difficult times. They also share what’s ahead for Happiness Month and how listeners can participate in this year’s community‑driven #HappyActs initiative.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why Americans are reporting historically low levels of optimism.
- How negativity bias and nonstop news consumption intensify feelings of gloom.
- Why balancing heaviness with humor or uplifting content can help regulate emotions.
During chaotic times, our ability to adapt is more important than ever. In this episode, resilience expert and author Anne Grady sits down with host Paula Felps to share how to stay grounded in a world that’s changing faster than our nervous systems can keep up. Drawing on personal experiences and insights from her new book EvolvAbility, Anne explains why adaptability is not a soft skill but a critical survival skill.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Anne’s EVOLVE framework and how emotions shape our reactions.
- How to reduce overwhelm and navigate uncertainty with intention.
- How simple, science-backed practices — like gratitude, humor, and setting boundaries — build adaptability over time.
Hope isn’t a soft emotion; it’s a powerful, science‑backed strategy for navigating stress, uncertainty, and the challenges of modern life. In this episode, resiliency expert Dr. Robyne Hanley‑Dafoe joins host Paula Felps to discuss strategies from her new book, I Hope So: How to Choose Hope Even When It’s Hard. Dr. Robyne explains how cultivating a hope practice can calm the nervous system, strengthen resilience, deepen connection, and help us show up more fully for ourselves and others, even in difficult times.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why hope is different from optimism — and why it’s a more sustainable tool for resilience.
- How hope physiologically shifts your brain and body, helping you think more clearly and make better decisions under stress.
- Simple daily practices to build a “hope habit,” from morning rituals to community‑building conversations that elevate your emotional well‑being.
We know we need friends, but finding “our people” can be hard! In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with therapist and author Anna Runkle about why so many of us struggle to build meaningful friendships, how covert avoidance keeps us from true connection, and what practical steps help us identify the relationships that genuinely support who we’re becoming.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why finding your people matters more than simply having people.
- How to recognize red flags, energy drains, and covert avoidance.
- Practical steps and mindset shifts that make adult friendship easier and more authentic.
As we kick off International Friendship Month, it’s the perfect time to talk about what it means to be a friend in a world that often feels disconnected. Join host Paula Felps as she sits down with award‑winning filmmaker and author Barnet Bain to explore the surprising origins of his fascination with friendship, the “bubble” we all live inside, and why genuine connection requires presence, curiosity, and courage.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why friendship is a skill — not something we simply “fall into.”
- How to create safety, consistency, and presence in your closest relationships.
- A simple 24‑hour practice that can transform how you see and respond to others.
We all have a deep desire to matter, but do we know why? In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with philosopher and author Rebecca Newberger Goldstein to explore the “mattering instinct” and why it shapes everything from our personal fulfillment to our political divides. She explains our longing to feel significant influences our choices, our relationships, and even our conflicts — and how reframing our own mattering projects can lead to a more meaningful, connected life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the need to matter often drives us more powerfully than the need to be happy.
- How different “mattering projects” shape our behavior and our relationships.
- What we can do — individually and collectively — to create a world where everyone feels they count.
If you’ve been hearing everyone talk about the vagus nerve but aren’t totally sure what the buzz is about, this episode is your shortcut to understanding it. Trauma therapist, author, and polyvagal expert Rebecca Kase joins host Paula Felps to break down what the vagus nerve actually does, why it affects everything from your stress levels to your relationships, and how simple daily practices can help you feel calmer, more connected, and more resilient.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the vagus nerve plays such a central role in both physical and emotional well-being.
- How breathwork and other everyday practices can strengthen vagal tone.
- What your nervous system has to do with connection, compassion, and healthier relationships.
Are you thriving in life, or merely surviving? This week, host Paula Felps talks with leadership coach Jon Rosemberg, author of A Guide to Thriving, to explore what it truly means to thrive. Jon shares how connection and purpose shape our capacity to flourish, and introduces his AIR framework (Awareness, Inquiry, Reframing) to provide practical, compassionate guidance for building habits that support long‑term thriving.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why thriving is not the same as succeeding.
- How to recognize when you’re stuck in survival mode.
- A simple, science‑based formula for increasing your sense of agency.
To kick off the new year, host Paula Felps sits down with Jodi Wellman, author of You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets, to explore how to make the most of the new year. Jodi explains how embracing life’s ultimate deadline can spark astonishing aliveness and help us break free from our comfort zones, rediscover what lights us up, and consciously reprioritize what truly matters. Listen as Jodi tells us how to stop postponing joy and start living like we mean it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why acknowledging life’s “deadline” can motivate us to live more fully.
- How to recognize signs of feeling “dead inside” and reignite vitality.
- Practical ways to say yes to experiences that create meaning and aliveness.
As we look toward the new year, it’s the perfect time to look at how to make lasting change. In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Madi Murphy — author of In the Cosmic Zone and host of the CosmicRX Podcast — to explore how astrology, neuroscience, spirituality, and practical tools can help us ignite our purpose as we step into a new year. Madi shares her personal journey of transformation, the lessons she’s learned from leaving her comfort zone, and how we can all activate our purpose rather than simply search for it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why leaving your comfort zone is essential for growth — and how to recognize when it’s time.
- How to activate your purpose through alignment, rather than waiting to “discover” it.
- Practical tools and mindset practices to overcome blocks and live in flow more often.
This is the season for giving back, which makes it the perfect time to talk to a Holiday Happy Activist! In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Lindsay Morehead-Oates, a Dallas-based graphic designer who has turned her passion for giving into meaningful action. Lindsay shares how her early experiences with volunteering shaped her values, why she continues to dedicate time to both people and animals, and how she recently fulfilled a long-time dream by cooking and delivering Thanksgiving meals to those in need.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How childhood traditions like the Angel Tree inspired Lindsay’s lifelong commitment to giving.
- Why volunteering at a wildlife refuge and serving her community bring her joy and perspective.
- How she and her best friend turned a simple idea into a Thanksgiving feast for 50 people, proving that generosity can be both affordable and transformative
The holidays are a time for togetherness — so why do so many people feel lonely during this time of year? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Jody Carrington to talk about why loneliness feels worse during the holiday season, the role modern technology plays in increasing loneliness, and how we can navigate holiday loneliness and rediscover joy through authentic connection. You’ll also learn about the Live Happy Holiday Loneliness Toolkit, filled with resources to support anyone who is navigating feelings of isolation during the holiday season.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why loneliness is not just a mental health issue but a human epidemic shaped by modern life.
- How emotional regulation practices — like simple body cues — can help restore connection and reduce stress.
- Practical ways to build depth in relationships, embrace chosen family, and find community during the holidays.
As the holidays approach and everyone gets busier than ever, feelings of goodwill can give way to stress and anxiety. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with licensed mental health counselor Travis McNulty, clinical director and founder of McNulty Counseling and Wellness, to explore how we can reduce holiday stress and emotional overwhelm. Travis explains why the season often triggers old family roles and patterns, how expectations can set us up for disappointment, and what practical tools we can use to stay grounded. From breathing techniques to boundary-setting, he shares strategies to help us move through the holidays with more calm, intention, and joy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why holiday environments can trigger old emotional roles and stress responses.
- Simple tools like exercise and diaphragmatic breathing to calm the nervous system.
- How setting boundaries and redefining expectations can make the holidays more enjoyable.
As the holidays approach, it’s time to plan family gatherings — and that can often mean stress and conflict. In this episode, host Paula Felps welcomes mother-daughter duo Leslie and Lindsey Glass, authors of the Mother Daughter Relationship Makeover Workbook to explore the emotional complexities of family dynamics during the holidays. Drawing from their personal journey and professional work in recovery and relational healing, they unpack why the season often amplifies unresolved tensions — and how to navigate them with compassion, boundaries, and grace.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to set loving boundaries before holiday gatherings to reduce conflict and anxiety.
- Why childhood memories can distort present-day interactions — and how to reframe them.
- Tips for navigating grief, crisis, or estrangement during the holiday season.
Unhappiness at work is a growing problem, but reconnecting with purpose can change everything. Join host Paula Felps as she sits down with WorkHappy founder Greg Kettner to explore why so many people feel unfulfilled at work and what steps they can take to discover their passion and use purpose to fuel resilience — even on the hardest of days.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why lack of communication — not workload — is often the biggest source of workplace unhappiness.
- How living with purpose makes it easier to navigate setbacks and stay motivated, even in uncertain times.
- Simple, daily practices to cultivate more happiness and meaning — without needing to quit your job.
November is National Gratitude Month, and that makes it a great time to talk about what new research says about gratitude. Host Paula Felps welcomes social media manager Michelle Palmer Jones for a heartfelt conversation about the power of gratitude in everyday life: From personal stories of resilience to emerging research on how gratitude supports mental and physical health, this episode explores how intentional practices can transform our well-being. Paula and Michelle also highlight new studies on gratitude’s impact across generations, including college students and older adults, and invite listeners to share their own gratitude stories for a chance to win Live Happy merch.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How gratitude improves mental health in young adults through tech-based interventions.
- The link between gratitude and increased longevity in older adults.
- How to practice “gratitude in disguise” during difficult times and emotional challenges.
We’ve heard a lot about the dangers of loneliness, but how is loneliness different from solitude? In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Robert Coplan to discuss his new book, The Joy of Solitude. Rob shares insights from decades of research on how intentional alone time can foster emotional clarity, creativity, and well-being — and how it differs profoundly from loneliness. From childhood development to adult relationships, he reveals why solitude is a vital part of a balanced life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The surprising benefits of spending just 15 minutes alone each day.
- Myths about loneliness and solitude, including why living alone doesn’t mean being lonely.
- The science of “aloneliness” — the longing for solitude — and how it impacts mental health.
We’re getting ready to turn back our clocks this weekend, and for some people, the shorter days can spark mental health challenges. In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Hannah Nearney, a clinical psychiatrist and medical director at Flow Neuroscience, about the mental health challenges that arise during seasonal changes — particularly the onset of winter. Dr. Hannah explains how shorter days and reduced sunlight can disrupt circadian rhythms and neurotransmitter balance, then discusses the importance of proactive strategies like light therapy and changes in lifestyle to better manage symptoms.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How seasonal changes affect brain chemistry and mood regulation.
- The difference between winter blues and clinical seasonal depression.
- Practical tools and practices to protect your mental health as the days get shorter.
Halloween might be all about ghosts, costumes, and candy—but science says it’s also a powerful happiness booster. In this episode of Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps and social media manager Michelle Palmer Jones explore the surprising research behind why the spooky season lifts our spirits. From the nostalgia of childhood traditions to the thrill of a safe scare, Halloween taps into the emotions that help us feel more playful, connected, and calm — just when we need it most.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How nostalgia and play during Halloween boost joy and reduce stress.
- Why even a small piece of candy can trigger big feelings of happiness.
- How safe scares — like haunted houses — can actually make us less anxious afterward.
If you’re dealing with feelings of stress and anxiety, you’re not alone! But this week, host Paula Felps sits down with psychologist and author Dr. Seth J. Gillihan to explore his latest book, Your Daily Reset: 366 Practical Exercises to Reduce Anxiety and Manage Stress Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Designed as a daily companion, the book offers bite-sized, actionable practices rooted in CBT and mindfulness to help you gently reset your emotions and navigate life’s challenges with greater clarity and compassion. Find out how embracing anxiety, practicing self-compassion, and tuning into the present moment can transform your mental health — one small step at a time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why “just this” might be the most powerful phrase for calming overwhelm.
- How to restart your mental health habits without guilt or judgment.
- A simple framework for embracing anxiety instead of fighting it.
One of the most universal struggles today is a feeling of disconnection, so this week host Paula Felps talks with Anna Runkle — better known as the “Crappy Childhood Fairy” — about her new book Connectability: Heal the Hidden Ways You Isolate, Find Your People and Feel (At Last) Like You Belong. Anna shares how her own journey from childhood trauma to building genuine, sustaining friendships shaped the practices she now teaches to thousands. With humor and heartfelt insight, she explains why connection is essential yet elusive — and how we can all start creating it for ourselves.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why disconnection is often a hidden symptom of early trauma and how it affects our ability to build relationships.
- Practical, non-therapy tools from Connectability to regulate your nervous system and begin forming authentic bonds.
- How letting go of unhealthy relationships and practicing new social skills can help you “find your people” at any age or stage of life.
What if everything you believe about mental health is wrong? In this episode, host Paula Felps chats with psychotherapist and author Joe Nucci about his myth-busting new book, Psychobabble: Viral Mental Health Myths & the Truths to Set You Free. Joe dives into the wild world of mental health misinformation — especially the kind that spreads like wildfire on social media. From self-diagnosis pitfalls to the overuse of therapy-speak, he offers a refreshing reality check and empowers listeners to better understand their emotional lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why not every tough emotion equals a mental illness — and why that distinction matters.
- How social media can distort mental health conversations (and what to watch out for).
- The difference between emotional intelligence and just “sounding like a therapist.”
What if practicing happiness was as simple as learning your ABC’s? This week, host Paula Felps talks with work psychologist and certified Chief Happiness Officer Klaudia Mitura, author of The Alphabet of Happiness. After a series of life challenges during the pandemic, Klaudia embarked on a hands-on happiness experiment, testing evidence-based practices and transforming them into accessible, everyday tools. That led to a podcast and her new book, which helps us cultivate happiness through small, intentional habits. From cold showers to gut health, Klaudia offers a fresh, practical take on what it means to thrive.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to create your own happiness experiments using science-backed micro-habits.
- Why cold showers can boost dopamine and improve mood for hours.
- How gut health directly influences emotional well-being and resilience.
We talk a lot about how trauma affects our mental health, but have you thought about what it does to your body? In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Aimie Apigian, author of The Biology of Trauma, to explore how trauma is stored not just in our minds but in our bodies — and how that impacts our physical health, relationships, and overall well-being. Drawing from her experience as a physician and foster parent, Dr. Aimie shares how traditional talk therapy often misses the mark, and why understanding trauma as a biological process opens the door to more effective healing.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How trauma differs from stress — and why trauma, not stress, is what makes us sick.
- Why stored trauma shows up in physical symptoms, emotional patterns, and relationship dynamics.
- How somatic self-practices can help shift your nervous system and begin healing —even when energy is low.
Labor Day is behind us, so that means we’re putting the lid on summer and getting ready to roll into fall. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take our lighthearted summer vibe with us. This week, on the heels of our Summer of Fun campaign with Mike Rucker, PhD, we’re telling you how to start planning now to use what we’ve learned from this campaign to make it a fun-filled fall.
What you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important to commit to fun during the fall and winter.
- Tips for incorporating more fun into life’s busy seasons.
- How scheduling fun adds joy to more areas of our life.
In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with psychotherapist and author John Tsilimparis about his transformative approach to grief. John shares insights from his new book, Magic in the Tragic: Rewriting the Script on Grief and Discovering Happiness in our Darkest Days, offering a that blends emotional healing with beauty, purpose, and resilience. Drawing from personal loss and clinical experience, John introduces powerful concepts like “constructive aching” and “painful joy,” encouraging listeners to move toward their grief rather than away from it. He also shows how grief can become a gateway to growth, meaning, and even happiness.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to use “inspiration exposure” to activate healing and emotional resilience.
- Why pairing grief with beauty can transform your experience of loss.
- Practical tools to reframe painful memories and foster personal growth.
This week, meet Happy Activist Gabri Blankson, who is using film to illuminate teen mental health. Her award-winning short film MIME, created through the Black Girls Film Camp, explores the emotional impact of pandemic isolation through a fantasy lens, using mimes as metaphors for internal struggles. Drawing from personal experience and inspired by Inside Out, Gabri crafted a visually expressive story that resonates deeply with young audiences. She also developed a downloadable viewers guide to help audiences interpret emotional cues and access mental health resources — proving that storytelling can be both healing and transformative.
What you'll learn:
- How Gabri used metaphor and fantasy to express complex emotional experiences.
- What led her to focus on the challenges of mental health and isolation during the pandemic.
- How she developed her viewers’ guide — and how it enhances emotional awareness and encourages open dialogue.
If you’re looking to lose the stress in your life, this week’s guest has a spoiler alert: The only people without stress are dead. But the good news is, you can learn to turn that stress into a powerful ally for change and growth. This week, host Paula Felps talks with stress physiologist Dr. Rebecca Heiss, whose new book, Springboard: Transform Stress to Work For You, explains how to make the most of it. She offers tips on how to harness stress and look at it in a whole new way to help you change your relationship with it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why self-help practices often fall short in managing stress and what to do instead.
- How transforming your physiology allows stress to serve you rather than causing you to spiral into fear.
- What the FEAR(less) Stress Formula is and how it can help you manage stress effectively.
Many people today feel unfocused or overwhelmed, and that’s not just a challenge for our heads; it could be harming our hearts. Join us as host Paula Felps talks with cardiologist and health psychologist Dr. Alan Rozanski, who offers a groundbreaking look at how our mindset influences our heart and overall well-being. He explains how chronic stress, emotional negativity, and mental clutter can physically impact your heart function and increase disease risk. Then, he shares how to shift your thinking and cultivate energy, optimism, and a sense of purpose to thrive in today’s distracted world.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How mental clutter and chronic stress trigger harmful physical effects like inflammation and heart dysfunction.
- Why focusing with intention and nurturing emotional vitality are key to sustained well-being.
- How the Six Domains of Health can guide you toward a more balanced, purpose-driven, and heart-friendly lifestyle.
Are you struggling to find hope these days? You’re not alone. But this week, resiliency expert Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe returns to share what hope can do for you and, importantly, where to find it. With her signature blend of science and soul, Dr. Robyne explains how hope calms the brain, strengthens resilience, and helps us navigate uncertainty. If you’re managing stress, feeling world-weary, or just need a reset, this conversation reminds us that hope is something we can build into our everyday lives.
What you'll learn when you listen:
- Why hope is biologically and psychologically beneficial (hello, “hope molecules”!).
- How to design your day to support resilience and emotional well-being.
- The difference between hope and optimism — and why it matters.
Summer vacations aren't just fun; they’re essential for your mental well-being. In this episode, host Paula Felps and Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz share how unplugging from daily stress can spark creativity and emotional clarity, and why even a staycation (if done right!) can deliver major mood boosts. Whether you're heading to Hawaii or hanging out in your backyard, this episode is your permission slip to reset, reflect, and reconnect.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why taking a vacation can make you a better parent, partner, and employee.
- The best ways to prepare for a vacation to make it more refreshing.
- How to make the “reset” of a vacation last longer.
Can you giggle your way to inner peace? In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with author Tom Rosshirt to explore the joyful — and surprisingly profound — power of silliness. Drawing from his book, Chasing Peace: A Story of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and the Spiritual Power of Neuroscience, Tom reveals how embracing our goofy side can be both spiritually liberating and scientifically beneficial. From dancing like no one’s watching to reciting nursery rhymes alone, silliness helps us sidestep rigid self-images, face embarrassing emotions, and retrain our brains for resilience.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How silliness acts as a spiritual practice.
- Why laughter and childlike play can retrain the brain and reduce stress.
- Simple, everyday ways to embrace your silly side (even if it feels embarrassing at first).
This summer, recharge your happiness with a tech break! In this episode of Live Happy Now, Paula Felps sits down with digital wellness expert Amy Blankson to explore how an intentional digital detox can bring more joy, focus, and freedom to your day. Whether you're unplugging for five minutes or five days, Amy shares clever strategies to help you reconnect — with yourself and your summer bucket list.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why summer is the perfect time to ditch your device.
- How tiny tech-free habits can spark lasting happiness and calm.
- Smart tips for replacing screen time with soul-filling activities.
This week, host Paula Felps chats with Scott Crabtree, chief happiness officer at Happy Brain Science, about the surprising science behind music festivals. In this energizing episode, you’ll discover how live music fires up your brain with feel-good chemicals, why dancing helps bust stress and boost memory, and how festivals foster powerful connections that fight loneliness. Whether you're a seasoned festivalgoer or thinking about jumping back in, this episode makes the case for putting live music on your summer self-care list.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why music festivals support improved well-being.
- How music festivals can help us feel more connected.
- How to start your own “music therapy” practice.
This week on Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with Emely Rumble — licensed clinical social worker, bibliopsychotherapist, and author of Bibliotherapy in the Bronx— to explore the healing power of stories. Emely shares how fiction, poetry, and even children’s books can help us reflect, process emotions, and build empathy in ways traditional self-help books can’t. With summer reading season in full swing, she explains how to create your own “book prescription” for better mental health and reconnect with the joy of reading — not as a task, but as a tool for transformation.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What bibliotherapy is — and why it works.
- How engaging with fiction can help us heal.
- How to start your own bibliotherapy practice.
Dreams aren’t just fleeting images; they’re powerful tools for transformation. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Bonnie Buckner, PhD, founder of the International Institute for Dreaming and Imagery®, to explore how dreams can unlock creativity, solve life’s toughest challenges, and help us live with greater purpose. As an expert in creative dreamwork, Buckner blends insights from cognitive psychology, neurobiology, and leadership coaching to reveal how an ancient dreaming method can reshape personal and professional lives. Her new book, The Secret Mind: Unlock the Power of Dreams to Transform Your Life, explains how to embrace dreamwork for deeper self-discovery and creative breakthroughs. Get ready to rethink the way you dream!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How dreams can tell us more about what we need.
- How to create a dreaming practice and use it to solve challenges.
- How children can use dreaming as a tool for creativity and transformation.
Summer officially begins on June 20, and that’s the perfect time to bring back Live Happy’s Summer of Fun! We’ve teamed up with organizational psychologist Mike Rucker, PhD, to offer a free eight-week email course based on the principles of his book, The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life. In this episode, he explains how this course will help you learn to program your life for fun this summer — and beyond.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why making a commitment to have fun is so important to your mental health.
- How to make room for more fun in your life.
- What to expect when you commit to having a Summer of Fun.
When we talk about becoming strong women, we’re often not talking about something physical. But this week’s guest explains how reclaiming our physical power can also build our inner strength. Anne Marie Chaker is a veteran journalist and professional bodybuilder who discovered the connection between strength training and inner transformation. In her debut book, LIFT: How Women Can Reclaim Their Physical Power and Transform Their Lives, she shares her personal story and the research showing how strength training can help women find true power and confidence.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What led Anne Marie to discover the transformative power of strength training — and how it changed every aspect of her life.
- Why increasing physical strength has such a powerful emotional effect for women.
- Where women can start their own quest for strength.
In a time of deep division and unease, overcoming our loneliness and uncertainty is a massive challenge. This week, award-winning author, educator, lawyer, scientist, and meditation teacher Anu Gupta sits down with host Paula Felps to explain how — and where — we can start. His best-selling book, Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From and the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them, is a rich toolkit to help each of us understand how to cultivate the wisdom and compassion we need to transcend the bias, exclusion, and turmoil in the world around us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The five causes of biases and how they’re playing out today.
- How social media reinforces our biases and how to use it more intentionally.
- How to stay calm and mindful when we’re feeling emotionally triggered.
As we wrap up mental health awareness month, it’s a great time to talk with someone who is literally changing how we talk about mental health. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dominic Lawson, an accomplished, award-winning podcaster whose new show, Mental Health Rewritten, is tackling stigmatized mental health topics head-on. By taking on issues surrounding addiction and recovery, he is changing the way we talk about such things as sex, suicide, and cultural identity — and is teaching all of us about the role of empathy in overcoming shame.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The connection between addiction, recovery, and mental health.
- Why it’s important to break through shame and isolation.
- The role of family in mental health and addiction recovery.
Our brains are incredibly powerful, and the trick is to learn how to make them work for us, not against us. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Kyra Bobinet, a physician, public health leader, and behavior change designer whose work focuses on how to build optimal health for a more fulfilling life. Her new book, Unstoppable Brain: The New Neuroscience That Frees Us From Failure, Eases Our Stress, and Creates Lasting Change explores a relatively new area of study that changes what we know about how our brain influences our habits, self-care, and addictions — and how we can use these findings to improve our well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The role of the habenula in losing our motivation and managing failure.
- How growing up in trauma hijacks our brains and heightens our reactivity.
- How social media and doomscrolling affect your brain — and how an iterative mindset can help you get unstuck.
By now, we’ve all heard how important friendships and connections are for our well-being, but sometimes we’re unsure where to find those connections. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Lori Whatley, a clinical psychologist and author who specializes in the effects of digital usage on our relationships. Her new book, Happier Together: How to Find Your People and Make Friends That Last, walks us through how we can create new connections, deepen existing ones, and discover what we need from our friends. She’ll even tell us the exact number of close friends that we need for our well-being!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to intentionally seek out friends.
- How to identify what you need in a friend.
- Tips for deepening your current friendships.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which makes it a great time to remind ourselves of some of the best practices to improve our well-being. Join host Paula Felps as she talks with Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz about some of the new research around happiness, why our mental health is at risk these days, and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why our happiness is declining and how the lack of civil discourse is exacerbating it.
- The dangers of toxic positivity.
- Tips for preserving your mental health in trying times.
We are living in rapidly changing times, and many people feel exhausted by the events that are unfolding. But this week’s guest says that letting go of our attachment to what’s happening could be the best thing for our mental health. Host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Bob Rosen, a bestselling author known for his work on leadership and personal development, about his latest book, Detach: Ditch Your Baggage to Live a More Fulfilling Life. He explains how we sabotage our happiness with unhealthy emotional attachments to events we can’t control and how his strategies can help us detach from the political whiplash we’re experiencing right now.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The 10 attachments that hold us back and block our joy/fulfillment.
- The role that fear plays in our attachments – and how to confront that fear.
- How looking at world events objectively changes our response to them.
Scott Crabtree founded the company Happy Brain Science to help others discover well-being rooted in positive psychology. And, as a semi-professional musician, he knows firsthand how we can use music as a tool for boosting our mood and regulating our emotions. During difficult times, music can be particularly helpful, and in this episode, Scott sits down with host Paula Felps to talk about why music is so good for your brain, how it can help us find a state of flow, and how songwriting is a great tool for releasing emotions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the science says about music and well-being.
- How Scott uses music to boost his mood.
- Scott’s top three tips for improving happiness during hard times.
What if the only thing standing between you and a more fulfilling life was your mindset? This week, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman — a leading cognitive psychologist, professor at Columbia University, director of the Center for Human Potential, and host of The Psychology Podcast — about how today’s culture has helped foster a victim mindset. His latest book, Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself & Realize Your Full Potential, explains what is driving a rise in victim mindset and how it impedes our development. He also tells us how we can start changing this mindset and take control of their lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How social media reinforces and rewards the victim mindset.
- The payoffs that keep us in a victim mindset.
- How overcoming the victim mindset creates full aliveness and cultivates a richer life.
When Sam Simon’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, he used his theatrical experience to chronicle his journey as a caregiver. And when he was diagnosed with cognitive decline in 2022, he turned that into a theatrical experience as well. Today, his one-man play, Dementia Man: An Existential Journey, recounts his journey and reshapes the narrative for families living with dementia and cognitive decline, offering hope and encouragement along the way.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Sam discovered the power of theater.
- How being on stage and talking about his journey has helped him see his condition differently.
- What others can learn about living with a terminal condition.
We all have birthdays, but maybe we’re not getting as much out of them as we could! This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming, a birthday aficionado and author of the book and workbook, How to Have a Happy Birthday: Create Meaning, Fulfillment and Joy on Your Special Day. Tamar offers a new spin on how we approach birthdays and explains how we can use it as a yearly chance to drive lasting growth and change.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Tamar discovered the transformational power of birthdays.
- What happens when you make your birthday an opportunity for growth.
- Simple ways to change how you celebrate birthdays.
In tumultuous times, mindset matters more than ever. So this week, host Paula Felps sits down with Michael Pilarczyk, bestselling author of the book Master Your Mindset: Live a Meaningful Life and founder of the Meditation Moments app. Michael shares how we can create a happier life — even in the most challenging times — by changing our mindset.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to let go of negative thinking patterns.
- Why meditation can be done anywhere — and doesn’t have to take a lot of time.
- Simple ways to start mastering your mindset.
The release of the World Happiness Report each year offers insight into our global well-being. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. Felix Cheung, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and a faculty fellow at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. He’s also the Canada Research Chair in Population Well-being at the University of Toronto and one of the co-authors of this year’s report. Felix shares what the report tells us about social connections – and where the U.S. stands on this year’s list of Happiest Countries.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a wallet taught researchers about well-being.
- The role that sharing meals with others plays in our happiness.
- Where the U.S. stands on this year’s list of happiest countries.
March 23 is National Puppy Day, which makes it a great time to talk about how and why we celebrate puppies. But before talking about how and why we celebrate that event, host Brittany Derrenbacher sits down with Paula Felps to dive into some new research on petting your dogs that just might change the way you leave the house. Then, Brittany explains what your dog might be thinking while you’re gone.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How petting your dog before you leave the house helps ease their anxiety.
- The physical and emotional benefits humans receive by petting dogs.
- The origins of National Puppy Day and how to celebrate it.
Some of our most vital connections are those we make with our romantic partners, but they can also be our most challenging. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Greg Kettner, relationship expert Dr Gloria Lee, a professor of counselling psychology and clinical director at Brentwood Counselling Centre in Vancouver, Canada, and author of the best-selling book, The Connected Couple: 7 Secrets to Transforming Your Relationship. She explains what it takes to truly connect as a couple, how to navigate conflict for greater connection and shares a gratitude practice that can change your entire relationship.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we need to learn our triggers and conflict habits.
- Tips for de-escalating conflict.
- Why women are more comfortable seeking therapy — and what men are often surprised to discover.
As we continue exploring the importance of connections, we can’t ignore the growing problem of loneliness in the workplace. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Greg Kettner, a speaker and workplace happiness expert who founded the Work Happy movement. Greg has studied how loneliness at work affects us all, and in this episode, he shares what he’s learned and what we all can do to become more connected and happier in our jobs.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Some of the factors driving loneliness at work.
- How loneliness affects leaders.
- The importance of creating deeper connections in the workplace.
As part of Happiness Month, we’re exploring the theme of Connections, so this week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. Nichole Argo, founder and executive director of the TogetherUp Institute, which has launched a national movement of Americans who want to connect and collaborate across our differences. Nichole also co-hosts the Reimagining Us podcast, which looks at how to heal division in our communities and create a sense of belonging. In this episode, she shares how we can learn to make connections in a time of polarization and how to start building more connected communities.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The SAVE method for understanding our differences.
- How our differences can strengthen relationships.
- The 3 essential components of connection.
This week, as we move toward our Happiness Month, we’re bringing you what you might call a happiness double header. In this episode, host Paula Felps is joined by two influencers of the global happiness movement: Deborah Heisz, co-founder of Live Happy, and Karen Guggenheim, founder of the World Happiness Summit (WOHASU). Tune in to find out how connections and community are taking center stage in this year’s celebrations how you can be part of it!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What to expect from Live Happy’s #HappyActs campaign this year.
- How Karen’s journey to happiness is rooted in unhappiness and loss — and how that led her to launch an initiative that is changing lives around the globe.
- How to be part of WOHASU this year.
We’ve all seen service dogs in action, but most of us don’t know just what heroes they are. Today’s guest is here to tell us all about the secret lives of service dogs. Shannon Walker is the CEO & Founder of Northwest Battle Buddies, a nonprofit providing service dogs to combat veterans with PTSD. Inspired by her father, who was a veteran, she also founded Man’s Best Friend Dog Training and has worked tirelessly to not only train service dogs but to educate the public about what they do and how they provide a vital lifeline for veterans. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Shannon became involved in training service dogs and what she’s learned along the way.
- The difference between therapy dogs, emotional support dogs and service dogs.
- What kinds of disabilities service dogs assist veterans with.
From childhood, we’re taught that helping others is the right thing to do. But what happens when it goes too far? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with author and podcast host Amy Wilson to talk about her entertaining new book, Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser, to learn more about what turns us into people pleasers, when to know it’s a problem, and what to do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why women are more likely to become “helpers” throughout their lives.
- What demand sensitivity is and how it contributes to people-pleasing behavior.
- How breaking the people pleasing habit changes relationships — for the better!
This is a time of year when we celebrate love, but we sometimes take for granted the special love that our friendships offer. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with professor and research psychologist Dr. Kimberly Horn to learn more about just how important friendships are for our health and happiness — and what we can do to make them stronger and more fulfilling.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What’s driving the loneliness epidemic and what effect that has on us.
- The concept of “dynamic friendships” and the 8 tenets of friendships — and how they can support your relationships.
- Why it’s harder to make friends in adulthood and what to do about it.
The cold, gray days of winter can have a direct effect on our mental health, so this week, host Paula Felps sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Michele Leno to learn more about how we can make the next few weeks a little brighter — regardless of what’s going on outside our window. Michele offers insight into how seasonal changes affect our brains and what we can do for ourselves and those around us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What causes physiological changes during winter months and how that affects our brain’s neurotransmitters.
- How these changes may affect children and older adults – and what to look for.
- What changes to look for in yourself and those around you — and when to get help.
It's a common belief that achieving our goals and reaching success equates to peace and happiness. But what happens when it doesn’t? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Tom Rosshirt, a former Capitol Hill press secretary and White House speechwriter who reached the pinnacle of his career only to find himself battling anxiety, depression, and illness. In his new book, Chasing Peace: A Story of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and the Spiritual Power of Neuroscience, Tom reveals how his relentless pursuit of success led to a physical and emotional breakdown. He shares how he used neuroplasticity to address ailments rooted in the brain's neural circuits, ultimately reversing the patterns that kept him unwell and opening the door to the life he was seeking.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- Why so much illness and chronic pain begins in the neural circuits of the brain – and why mainstream medicine can’t cure it.
- How reducing fear can help us heal from chronic conditions.
- How retraining your brain will change every area of your life.
As we grapple with the challenges of living in a polarized society, psychologist Kurt Gray returns to talk about how we can find common ground. In the second part of this two-part episode, Kurt, author of the new book, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground, guides us through the steps to foster more civil dialogue. He also delves into the role that empathy plays in overcoming our outrage and explains why we need people who don’t think like we do.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- The three-part framework you can use to bridge divides (and where to start).
- How storytelling can foster greater understanding of each other's perspective — and how that leads to respect.
- Steps we all can take to start coming together.
We have entered a time of unprecedented polarization that’s creating division among friends, family members, and co-workers. Understanding what’s driving our outrage is the first step in discovering what we can do about it, and in this first of two episodes, host Paula Felps sits down with Kurt Gray, author of the new book, Outrage: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground. This week Kurt – a professor in psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of its Center for the Science of Moral Understanding – unpacks how our perceptions of harm shape our outrage and then explains how our concerns and differences can foster hope for the future.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How our perceptions of harm drive our outrage and create moral divides.
- Why facts aren’t effective in bridging our divides.
- How we can use political and moral disagreements to strengthen our relationships.
This is the perfect time to think about what we’d like to accomplish in the new year, and starting a creativity practice is one way to discover new strengths and reach new goals. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Rochelle Seltzer, a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Live Big: A Manifesto for a Creative Life. She explains why creativity is a natural boost for our mental health and tells us how we can use it to navigate uncertain times and how it can give us direction for the new year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What “creative power” means – and how to connect to it.
- How the “Discovery Dozen” can help us discover our intuition.
- How to start a daily creativity practice – and why it matters.
As we wrap up 2024 and head into the new year, many of us start thinking about what we’d like to accomplish in 2025. But it’s important to pause for a moment and look at what we’ve done over the past 12 months. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz to talk about the power of reflection. Find out why taking time to celebrate what you’ve done and review what you’d like to do better can have a profound impact on the way you approach the new year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How reflecting on the past year can help shape what you’d like to accomplish in 2025.
- Using a year-end review to remind you of what went well in 2024.
- Different types of reflection practices and why they’re useful.
It may be called the most wonderful time of the year, but for many people, it’s the most stressful. Nine out of 10 Americans report feeling stressed out right now, so this week host Paula Felps talks with author and mindfulness expert Julie Potiker about how her SNAP mindfulness method can help lower your stress level throughout the holiday season — and beyond.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why mindfulness is such an effective tool for managing stress.
- What the SNAP method is and how to use it.
- The importance of gratitude in a mindfulness practice.
With holiday gatherings just around the corner, many of us are experiencing a familiar feeling of anxiety. Annual gatherings can often unearth familiar arguments, so this week, host Paula Felps talks with author and success coach Dr. Andrea Goeglein to learn how to navigate those gatherings with less stress and greater success.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What drives anxiety around family holiday gatherings.
- How to set guidelines ahead of time to avoid common arguments.
- Tips for creating a more peaceful environment during the holiday season.
As we move toward the new year, it’s common to think about what we’d like to see unfold in the coming months. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Francesca Sipma, an international speaker, trainer, and author who created a process called hypnobreathwork to help people connect with their state of flow and discover their purpose. In her powerful new book, Unblock Your Purpose: Breathwork, Intuition and Flow, she walks readers through the methodology to tap into their unique purpose and find clarity for the future.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why breathwork is such a powerful tool for releasing your intuition.
- How to identify the blocks that often keep us from reaching our true potential.
- The power of intuitive action and why it is so essential to our spiritual and emotional growth.
During this time of year, there’s a lot of talk about gathering with loved ones, but what does that mean for those who are estranged from their families? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Gina Moffa, a licensed clinical social worker and author of Moving On Doesn’t Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss. Gina, who specializes in grief and loss, trauma, and painful life transitions, discusses estrangement during the holidays and offers tips for self-care as well as advice for those who know someone struggling with estrangement.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to be estranged from family and some of the most common reasons for it.
- Why estrangement has become more prevalent in current times.
- Healthy ways to manage estrangement and how friends can offer support.
The holiday shopping season is here, and for many people, that creates stress and anxiety. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Bright Dickson, co-host of the Money and Mindset with Bright and Brian podcast, to talk about how we can change our approach to holiday spending for less stress and more joy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Some of the things to consider before you start buying presents this year.
- Why setting an intention about how you want to feel can help in your gift-buying decisions.
- The power of choosing experiences over gifts.
Resiliency plays a crucial role in how we recover from setbacks, solve problems, and navigate our personal and professional relationships. This week, we’re sharing an episode of our sister podcast, Built to Win, from the leadership team at Neora. Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz, who also is co-CEO at Neora, sits down with Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe — an author, speaker, and educator who specializes in workplace well-being — to tell us how to cultivate everyday resiliency and what it can do for us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Robyne’s inspiring personal story that led her to discover resiliency.
- Practices we can use to become more resilient.
- The important role hope plays in weathering life’s storms.
By now, most people have a good idea of what outcomes they want from this year’s presidential election. But what happens if it doesn’t turn out as you had hoped? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Lauren Cook, who created Live Happy’s Overcoming Election Stress email series. She’s here to offer tips on self-care this election day and how we can use the outcome to build resilience and lasting connections.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What you can do on Election Day to minimize anxiety.
- How to respect the emotions of others if your candidate wins.
- Signs that you might need help managing your emotions about the outcome.
This week, we’re celebrating Halloween, but did you know that in addition to being fun, Halloween is good for you? In this episode, Live Happy’s Casey Johnson sits down with host Paula Felps to talk about why participating in Halloween traditions has a positive effect on our well-being and how this holiday offers a playful way to approach personal development.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we need Halloween — especially now!
- How to use Halloween-themed affirmations to improve your self-talk.
- How to participate in Live Happy’s #HalloweenHappyActs.
We intrinsically know that animals and nature have a lot to teach us, but this episode’s guest takes that education to a whole new level. Vanessa Chakour is an author, naturalist, and former pro boxer whose new book, Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature dives into the parallels between our human struggles and the experiences of our wilder neighbors. Looking at 23 wild animals, from wolves to sea lions, Vanessa explores how developing empathy for wild animals can help with our own understanding of humanity and see just how interconnected we are with the planet.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What rewilding is and why it’s so valuable to the human experience.
- How discovering empathy for wild animals can help us better understand our humanity.
- What we can learn from spending time in the natural world and what that will do for us.
Body image is a struggle for many people, but for tweens and teens in the era of influencers and social media, it has become even more challenging. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Charlotte Markey, a best-selling author, professor of psychology, and chair of the Health Sciences Department at Rutgers University. Charlotte has devoted much of her career to helping adolescents sort out the complex issue of body image, and with her new book, Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life, she brings her empathetic sensibilities to a slightly older demographic. Listen as she explains the important role adults play in helping them learn to take care of their mental and physical health while fostering greater self-acceptance.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the pandemic and social media have affected body image for young people.
- The importance of media literacy to improve body image and how to cultivate it.
- How to curate a social media feed to support body image and positivity.
We live in a world where we’re connected to our devices 24/7, but how connected are we to what really matters? This week, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Adam Dorsay, a licensed psychologist, executive coach, and host of the award-winning podcast SuperPsyched. In his new book by the same name, Adam explores four types of essential connections that we all need but might not be getting in our busy, distracted lives. Join us as he explains why each type of connection is so important and, even better, tells us how we can create each one in our own lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why connections are essential to our well-being.
- What the four types of connections are — and which one is most important.
- How to start building authentic connections.
World Kindness Day is just about a month away, but you the 5th Annual Kindness campaign encourages you to start celebrating it early. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Michelle Robin and Bayleigh Petty of Small Changes Big Shifts, an organization dedicated to the whole-body approach to wellness and wellbeing. Their Kindness Campaign is a 31-day email series that begins on October 14, and this week they’re here to talk about their mission of kindness, what it can do for you, and how you can be part of it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The relationship between kindness and overall wellbeing.
- Why spreading kindness is more important than ever today.
- How to participate in the 5th Annual Kindness Campaign.
This week, we’re sharing an episode of Need a Lift?, a show that focuses on bringing people together during a tough time in our culture. Host Tim Shriver talks to wise guests who have transformed painful moments in their lives into purpose through their spiritual rituals and practices. Guests like bestselling novelist Min Jin Lee on why she creates complicated characters who hold the secret to our transformation, and Olympic athlete Michael Phelps and his wife Nicole discussing the importance of cultivating an inner life in competition, mental health and in their marriage. Need a Lift? is truly the antidote to the hatred and despair we’re all exhausted of hearing, giving us hope that change is possible. In this episode, The Office’s Rainn Wilson explains that we can quiet the world's chaos and deal with our collective sense of overwhelm by believing in something bigger than us. Find more episodes of Need a Lift? at https://link.chtbl.com/needalift?sid=livehappynow
Since the pandemic, there has been a 70% increase in stress-based illnesses. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. David Clarke, whose practice in internal medicine and gastroenterology led him to explore how stress and emotions create chronic pain. As president of the non-profit Psychophysiologic Disorders Association, Dave is dedicated to educating people about the stress-related, brain-generated medical conditions. He’s here to explain why we’re seeing more stress-related illnesses, how to identify them, and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What’s driving the rise in stress-based illness.
- Examples of the most common stress-based illness.
- Strategies for overcoming stress-based illnesses.
When award-winning journalist and bestselling child development author Wendy Lyons Sunshine adopted a difficult puppy, she found that traditional training methods didn’t work on her dog. So she began applying the evidence-based parenting practices she wrote about and found this new approach was life-changing for both her and her dog. In her latest book, Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs, Wendy offers therapeutic concepts designed to meet each dogs’ needs, and in this episode, she tells us why this approach is so effective.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What attunement is and how it affects the dog/human relationship.
- How the essential HEARTS strategy works for both kids and dogs.
- Why adopting a parenting perspective with our pets can improve our relationship with them.
We are in the midst of a tumultuous election cycle, and that can take a toll on our sleep, our mental health, and our relationships. But the good news is it doesn’t have to be like that! This week, host Paula Felps talks with psychology instructor and resiliency expert Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, author of Stress Wisely: How to Be Well in an Unwell World. Dr. Robyne offers tips to help us navigate potentially volatile conversations, understand the stress that we’re feeling right now, and learn how to better navigate this unusual time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we tend to take political discussions personally.
- How to stay informed without becoming overwhelmed.
- Setting boundaries on political discussions at work and home.
Burnout and stress continue to create tremendous challenges at home and on the job, so this week, we’re looking at how we can reclaim our joy and energy. Join host Paula Felps as she talks with clinical psychologist Chris Germer who, along with researcher Dr. Kristin Neff, developed the world-renowned Mindful Self-compassion program. Their third co-authored book, Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout, looks at how self-compassion can help overcome burnout and offers simple anti-burnout tools to de-stress, recharge, and develop your inner kindness.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What self-compassion is and why it’s so important to practice.
- Why burnout is so prevalent these days — and what’s causing it.
- How self-compassion can help alleviate burnout.
Mindfulness is known for preventing depression and improving mental health, but how do you create a practice that works for you? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Willem Kuyken, the Ritblat Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science at the University of Oxford in the UK, to answer that question. Willem’s most recent book, Mindfulness for Life, offers three keys to living well through mindfulness and explains how to develop and sustain a mindfulness practice that works for you.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How mindfulness affects our psychological well-being.
- The effect that living a mindful life can have on your relationships.
- How to start a mindfulness practice that works for you.
Some days kindness seems in short supply, but this week host Paula Felps is joined by Kristina Joy Carlson, founder of the KINDd Method and managing director of global philanthropy at Carter Global. Kristina has turned her personal practice of outrageous kindness into an inspirational campaign that can be practiced by individuals and corporations alike. In this episode, she explains what it means to practice outrageous kindness and how it can change the world we live in.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why listening to people with different viewpoints fosters greater kindness.
- What the KINDd Method is and how to practice it.
- How to start looking for ways to make each moment better.
Election season is now officially underway and that means that many of us are already feeling election stress. That’s why Live Happy has partnered with licensed clinical psychologist and author Dr. Lauren Cook to offer a free four-week email course, Overcoming Election Stress. In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Lauren to talk about some of the symptoms of election stress and explain how this email course can help get you through the next couple of months.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What we mean by “election stress” and what’s causing it.
- Practices to help you manage anxiety throughout the election season.
- How Live Happy’s free email series, Overcoming Election Stress with Dr. Lauren Cook, can help.
If you’ve never thought of cows as intuitive healers, this episode just might change your mind. Ellie Laks is the founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national organization that rescues and rehabilitates abused and discarded farm animals. She is the creator of cow hug therapy and, as she explains in her book by the same name, she has learned amazing lessons from these animals about life, death, and everything in between. She’s here today to share some of those lessons with us. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The origins of Cow Hug Therapy.
- How farm animals can aid in emotional healing.
- What we can learn from barnyard animals and why they’re such great teachers.
If you feel like your workday never ends, you aren’t alone! This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Janelle Wells and Doreen MacAulay, partners in the consultancy WellsQuest and authors of Our (In)Visible Work: How Everyone Everywhere Experiences It Every Day. Their work focuses on the effect of the unpaid work we do both on the job and at home, and they’re here to talk about how taking on these essential tasks can tax our time and lead to burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion — and how we can manage it better.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to define invisible work and determine where it lives.
- Why identifying your priorities can change the way you approach your to-do list.
- How to get help at work and home to share some of your invisible workload.
Students and teachers are heading back to school, but just because summer is ending doesn’t mean our fun has to end, too. This summer, Live Happy teamed up with organizational psychologist Mike Rucker, PhD, to offer the Summer of Fun email series, filled with ideas about how to bring more fun to your summer. As we head into fall and winter, host Paula Felps sits down with Mike to talk about how we can carry this commitment to fun with us as the days get shorter.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How (and why) to commit to fun when time seems to be in short supply.
- Why it’s important to plan to have fun during the fall and winter.
- How scheduling fun adds joy to other areas of your life.
As we head toward the end of summer, many of us are talking about the contentious election environment. In this episode, host Paula Felps is by Rob Volpe, an empathy activist, consultant, and author of Tell Me More About That: Solving the empathy crisis one conversation at a time, who talks about how we can avoid some of the hazards that come with discussing differing opinions. He’ll also explain how learning to approach these conversations differently can change the way we interact with one another in the long run.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the discourse has become so heated and how social media has contributed to the problem.
- How it changes to stop viewing someone as being on “the other side.”
- The power of the Curious Breath — and how to use it.
As Live Happy Now wraps up its ninth season, we’re looking ahead to some exciting new things to share with our listeners. In this episode, Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz flips the script to interview host Paula Felps and find out what’s in store.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we’re going to look at Election Stress in Season 10 and how to sign up for our related email course.
- Why (and how) Gen Z is playing a big part of our next season.
- More about the Live Happy Newsletter and how to discover it.
Acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming has performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, performing in operas, concerts, theater, and films. But now, the five-time Grammy Award winner is using her voice to help improve our wellbeing. In her new book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, Renee has curated a collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, musicians, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare providers about the powerful impact of music and the arts on health and the human experience. She’s here to discuss how this project came about and why she is so committed to sharing this message.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What compelled Renee to advocate for the arts as a healing tool.
- How following the Neuroarts Blueprint can improve your mental health.
- What Renee considers to be some of the music’s “best-kept secrets.”
Summer is a recess for all of us, but what if you could prioritize play all year long? This week, host Paula Felps talks with Jeff Harry, who uses a combination of positive psychology and play to foster healing and help individuals overcome their biggest challenges. Learn why we all need to embrace the power of play and how to create your personal play practice.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to discover your “play values.”
- The power of having a “play partner.”
- How adding play to your life can improve your productivity and well-being.
We’ve all heard the advice to stop and smell the roses, but this week’s episode is a reminder to take a moment to arrange them. Talia Boone is a social entrepreneur whose work has centered around human and civil rights issues. A few years ago, she discovered flower arranging as a form of meditation and self-care, and in the height of the pandemic she launched Postal Petals to help others relieve the anxiety they were feeling. Today, her company’s mindful approach to flower arranging is being used by companies, individuals, and community groups who are discovering just how life-changing her workshops can be.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Talia discovered the impact of flower arranging on mental and emotional well-being.
- Why arranging flowers is so therapeutic.
- How a flower arranging practice can support mindfulness.
For years, wolves have been revered as spirit animals and in many spiritual traditions, they’re believed to help people connect with their instincts and inner wisdom. At the Sedona Wolf Sanctuary in Arizona, rescued wolves on sacred land create a healing experience for those who have experienced trauma or who are looking for a renewing spiritual experience. In this episode, host Brittany Derrenbacher talks with Cynthia Heisch, founder and CEO of the sanctuary, to talk about how and why wolves can help us heal.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How wolves can help humans on their healing journeys.
- What wolf medicine is.
- What we can learn from interacting with wolves.
If you’re feeling more stressed than usual these days, you aren’t alone. But this week, host Paula Felps is joined by author, psychology instructor, and resiliency expert Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe to find out why that is and what you can do about it. Dr. Robyne’s latest book, Stress Wisely: How to Be Well in an Unwell World, looks at why the stress of today’s fast-paced world is having such a devastating effect on us, both physically and mentally, and how we can learn to manage it better.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why our bodies aren’t designed for today’s always-on world and what to do about it.
- How to prepare for stress before it happens.
- How to learn to treat stress as an ally — and how that helps us.
It’s summertime, and if your body feels like it needs a vacation, it’s not alone – so does your brain! This week, join host Paula Felps as she talks with Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science and Brain HQ, who explains why vacations are so good for your brain. As you’re about to find out, when you go on vacation, you’re giving your brain all kinds of ways to stay healthy and happy. Listen in to learn how that works, how to make the most of your vacation, and how to keep those benefits going once you get home.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What your brain needs to keep itself healthy.
- Why vacations are so good for your brain.
- How to get the same benefits of a vacation when you “staycation.”
We know that kindness is crucial, but sometimes it seems to be in short supply these days. That’s why Randall Hutto, mayor of Wilson County in Tennessee, has made his office the starting point for spreading kindness. This week, Mayor Hutto and project administrator Susan Shaw explain why they created the initiative known as Wilson County Kind and how it is helping create a happier, kinder place to live.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What inspired Mayor Hutto to create a kindness initiative.
- Why it’s important for local governments to get behind initiatives like this.
- How others can start their own kindness initiative.
Summer officially begins on June 20, and that’s the perfect time to launch Live Happy’s Summer of Fun! We’ve teamed up with organizational psychologist Mike Rucker, PhD, to offer a free eight-week email course based on the principles of his book, The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life. In this episode, he explains how this course will help you learn to program your life for fun this summer — and beyond.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why making a commitment to have fun is so important to your mental health.
- How to make room for more fun in your life.
- What to expect when you commit to having a Summer of Fun.
Loneliness is one of the major challenges facing our society today, and since this is Loneliness Awareness Week, it’s a great time to look at what’s behind this loneliness epidemic. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with physician, teacher, innovator, and author Dr. Jeremy Nobel, founder of The Foundation for Art & Healing and the Project UnLonely initiative. Jeremy, who is also on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has published the book Project UnLonely: Healing Our Crisis of Disconnection, and he’s here to talk about what loneliness is doing to us – and what we should be doing about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The three types of loneliness — and what to do about each one.
- How chronic loneliness affects both physical and mental health.
- How engaging in creative expression can help navigate loneliness.
Younger generations are experiencing stress and anxiety differently than previous generations, and that’s something we’re making part of the ongoing conversation at Live Happy. For this episode, host Paula Felps is joined by author and clinical psychologist Dr Lauren Cook. Her latest book, Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide for Staying Afloat in Uncertain Times, looks at why millennials and Gen Z are so anxious and how that is affecting them. She shares some of the things that are driving that anxiety and, importantly, offers insight into what we can do to help change this downward spiral – and what that will mean for future generations.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important to talk about anxiety and mental health.
- Signs that someone is struggling with anxiety.
- Steps to take to better manage our own anxiety or help someone else.
As we wrap up Mental Health Awareness month, it’s a great time to talk about how social media affects mental health — and how you can use it to support a happier, more meaningful life. Host Paula Felps is joined by coach, speaker and influencer Giselle Ugarte, who helps people learn how to build their confidence, reframe their relationship with social media, and show up more authentically at work and in their relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to use social media for positive interactions and deepening your relationships.
- Signs that social media may be having a negative effect on you and what to do about it.
- How to curate your social media feed so it will have a positive impact on your self-esteem and self-confidence.
Music can be a powerful tool for improving mental health, and in this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Brandon Staglin, co-founder and president of One Mind, a mental health nonprofit organization committed to improving brain health by supporting research and providing resources. Central to their mission is music, which Brandon explains has been an incredible healing tool in his own struggle with mental illness.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why One Mind was created.
- How Brandon uses music for healing and connection in his own life.
- How to be part of this year’s One Mind Music Festival for Brain Health.
May is Mental Health Awareness month, and this episode is a reminder that we can’t just be aware of the problem – we need to take action. Host Paula Felps is joined by mental health advocate Patrick J. Kennedy, whose new book, Profiles in Mental Health Courage, shares the dramatic stories of people who are living with mental illness. Because of his own challenges with mental illness and addiction, the former congressman is on a mission to change how we view mental illness in this country and, importantly, change the way we treat it. His bold plan for the future of mental health includes bipartisan action to identify, treat, and manage conditions earlier to enrich the lives of all those affected.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What inspired Patrick to share his own story and how it helped him change the narrative around mental illness and addiction.
- Why talking about our mental health challenges helps us heal — and helps others.
- How Patrick would like to see the approach to mental illness and addiction treatment change — and what he’s doing about it.
The relationship between mothers and daughters can be tricky, so this week, host Paula Felps sit down with co-authors and mother/daughter duo Leslie and Lindsey Glass, who’ve just released the book, The Mother-Daughter Relationship Makeover: 4 Steps to Bring Back the Love. They know all too well how fraught the mother/daughter relationship can be, and they’re here to talk about what makes this relationship so difficult for many and how to start rebuilding fractured family ties.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The most common areas of conflict between mothers and daughters.
- Why learning your mother’s and grandmother’s mental health history plays an important role in the mother/daughter relationship.
- Where to start reconciling a damaged relationship.
As companions for our animals, most of like to take a hands-on approach. But learning the ancient art of Jin Shin Jyutsu can take that one step further by deepening the human/animal connection and keeping everyone happy and healthy. Join host Brittany Derrenbacher as she sits down with internationally known teacher Adele Leas, the originator of Jin Shin Jyutsu for animals. Although this practice was originally designed for humans, Adele has discovered its amazing ability to balance the body, mind, and spirit in diverse species of animals and now helps others learn how to use it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What Jin Shin Jyutsu is — and how it can improve health and happiness.
- How Adele discovered its powerful healing abilities.
- How it can be transformative for rescue animals.
We’re going to celebrate Mother’s Day in just a few days, but in reality, moms should celebrate themselves every day. This week, host Paula Felps sit down with Jennifer Mulholland, a working mom, conscious leadership expert, and co-author of the book Leading with Light: Choosing Conscious Leadership When You’re Ready for More. Jennifer’s work focuses on cultivating presence and rediscovering the light within, and she’s here to talk about how we can bring that business principle into our lives as mothers and how it can change the world for us — and around us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to be a mindful mother.
- Why our presence is the greatest gift we can give our loved ones.
- Simple tips for practicing being present even in chaotic times.
As we enter May — which is Mental Health Awareness Month — it’s the perfect time to talk about recent findings about Gen Z. Multiple recent studies show that Gen Z has unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns. In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz to talk about what’s causing this mental health crisis among young people and what we all can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What recent research shows us about Gen Z’s mental health.
- How social media and traditional media are contributing to the problem.
- Why it’s important to be aware of this mental health crisis.
In a time when we are increasingly distracted and overwhelmed, many people are rethinking what’s important and how to achieve it. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with acclaimed psychologist Emma Seppälä, author of the new book, Sovereign, who explains how our we can overcome the chaos around us and take steps to live a more vibrant, courageous life that aligns with our true desires and potential.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The danger of self-criticism and how to overcome it.
- The importance of becoming more aware of the information you’re exposing yourself to.
- How self-care improves every area of your life — and where to start.
As we get ready to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, it’s the perfect time to talk about how we can better care for our planet. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Live Happy Marketing Manager Casey Johnson, who created the Earth Day Happy Acts campaign and is a fierce advocate for the planet. She talks about the daily practices she uses to help preserve and protect Mother Earth.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why Millennials and Gen Z are so passionate about environmental issues.
- Small steps we all can take to help improve the health of the planet.
- The importance of being in nature and learning to appreciate it.
What if thinking about death could give more meaning to your life? In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Jodi Wellman, who founded Four Thousand Mondays to help people make the most of the time they have left on this planet. Her new book, You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets furthers that mission by providing readers with a roadmap to live each day to the fullest. Find out how and why Jodi started this mission and how we all can live better by counting the Mondays we have left.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to prevent deathbed regrets.
- Why reflecting on death can help us start living the life of our dreams.
- How counting down the Mondays you have left can make them more valuable.
We know that a positive mindset is good for your health, but did you realize it can change how you age? In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with lifelong adventurer and New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul about her new book, Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age. In Caroline’s book, you’ll meet inspiring women in their 70s, 80s and beyond who combine a positive mindset with outdoor adventure to defy common beliefs about aging. Caroline also shares the science and psychology of how outdoor adventure affects both your brain and your body — and can help you become more active, joyous, and adventurous later in life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How a negative view of aging changes your brain.
- Why outdoor adventure isn’t usually encouraged for older women—and why it should be.
- The five pillars for fulfilling aging and the role going outside plays in them.
Each year, the release of the World Happiness Report gives new insight into global well-being. On this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Lara Aknin, a distinguished professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University and one of the editors of the report. Lara explains why the U.S. fell out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time in the report’s history, which age group is thriving in the U.S., and shares some encouraging findings about how benevolence is changing worldwide.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What age group is happiest around the world — and how it differs in the U.S.
- What is driving unhappiness among America’s young people.
- Good news about well-being and dementia.
Plenty of research shows that pets can help us heal, and now even hospitals are warming up to the idea. On this episode, host Brittany Derrenbacher sits down with Heather Stohr, a certified child life specialist at Norton Children’s in Louisville, KY. Heather manages the facility dog program at Norton Healthcare, which allows animals to play a very important role in the healing process for patients, families, and caregivers. Find out how they are changing lives one hospital bed at a time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a facility dog does in a hospital — and how it changes the way patients heal.
- How dogs are trained to become facility dogs.
- How dogs are also changing the lives of prisoners as they are being trained.
March 20 is the International Day of Happiness, and that makes it the perfect time to meet Will Thomas, a Happy Activist who founded Good News magazine during the pandemic to give people a break from the steady stream of negative news. What was supposed to be a one-off publication has grown into a thriving media brand with magazines in eight communities. In this episode, Will joins host Paula Felps to explain how it evolved and why it’s so important to spread positivity in your own community.
Then, Live Happy’s Casey Johnson and Laura Coppedge talk about how you can celebrate the International Day of Happiness and share some of their favorite ways to make the most of the day.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How sharing positive stories can change the way people see their community.
- Why it’s important to celebrate the International Day of Happiness.
- How to spread happiness on Live Happy’s Digital Happiness Wall.
If you feel like you’re stuck in survival mode, this week’s episode is just what the doula ordered! Host Paula Felps sits down with life doula and author Brandi Sellerz-Jackson to talk about her new book, On Thriving: Harnessing Joy Through Life’s Great Labors, which is part memoir, part roadmap to leading a happier, healthier life. She’s here to offer tips on how each of us can go from surviving to thriving and discovering true joy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we should treat ourselves like a houseplant.
- The four labors of life that everyone experiences.
- Brandi’s three tips for cultivating joy.
This week, we celebrate International Women’s Day, which makes it the perfect time to talk about how women can help empower and support each other. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Amber Olson Rourke, an award-winning marketing executive, mom, co-founder of the direct sales company Neora, and co-host of the Built to Win podcast. Amber is passionate about empowering women to step into their full potential and reach for more than they think is possible, and she’s here to talk about how we can look for opportunities to support one another — and how that can change the world.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance and value of women supporting each other.
- How raising girls to support one another can change their future.
- How to create your own community of supportive women.
To hear more from Amber follow her on Instagram and subscribe to the Built to Win podcast.
Throughout March, Live Happy celebrates Happiness Month with 31 days of happy actions that we call #HappyActs. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz about how we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary of #HappyActs and how you can share happiness with our new digital wall on the International Day of Happiness on March 20.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why practicing happiness with intention is so good for you.
- What a #HappyAct is — and how you can practice them.
- New ways to celebrate the International Day of Happiness.
Music has the power to help us heal, and that’s why one Musicians on Call delivers music where it might be needed most: the hospital. This volunteer organization connects musicians with hospitals to provide live and recorded music to patients. In this episode, host Paula Felps is joined by Katy Epley, executive vice president at Musicians on Call, to learn how this program came about and how it has changed the lives of both patients and the musicians who perform for them.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The physical, emotional, and mental benefits of experiencing live music in a hospital setting.
- How this program has changed the landscape for accessing live music in the hospital.
- How to get involved with Musicians on Call.
Enduring the Loss of Love With Clare Mackintosh
Grief and loss are an inevitable aspect of love, and this week, best-selling author Clare Mackintosh sits down with host Paula Felps to discuss her new book, I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This. Written years after the death of her son, it’s filled with important insights about love, loss, and the journey to healing — and shares hope for those who are walking through a painful time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why grief and love are two sides of the same coin.
- The importance of understanding grief before losing someone.
- How writing about grief can help with healing.
This week, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, so today, we want to talk about the greatest love of your life — yourself. In this episode, host Paula Felps is joined by Brittany Derrenbacher and Sarah Pavey of The Healing Collective in Louisville, Kentucky. In their practices, Brittany and Sarah teach clients how to discover a deep lasting love for themselves, and they also hold workshops on creating self-love vision boards. Today, they’re sharing some insights on how self-love improves our lives and our relationships and offer some tips for starting your own self-love practice.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why self-love is the foundation of all our relationships.
- How practicing self-love changes the way you interact with others.
- Simple ways to begin practicing self-love.
It’s February, which means the message of love and Valentine’s Day is all around us. But did you know this is the make-or-break time for many couples? This week, host Paula Felps welcomes Dr. Julia DiGangi, a neuropsychologist and author of Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power. She’s here to discuss some common mistakes we make in our relationships and how we can improve those relationships by learning more about what our brains – not our hearts – are doing to complicate things.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The three styles of attachment and how they affect your relationships.
- How the patterns in your brain affect how you respond to your partner.
- Why self-love is a vital part of every relationship.
As we approach February, our minds turn to love. For the next few weeks, Live Happy Now will look at the many ways love shows up in our lives and how we can create more of it. To kick it off, host Paula Felps talks with Maria Baltazzi, author of Take a Shot at Happiness: How to Write, Direct and Produce the Life You Want. In her book, Maria outlines eight happiness essentials and, not surprisingly, one of them is love. In this episode she talks about some of the practices we can use to build more love into our lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to use journaling to build more love in your life.
- Using photography to retrain your brain to look for love.
- How a loving kindness meditation can create more love for yourself and others.
Throughout January, we’ve been sharing practices that can help you create habits that increase your wellbeing. And now, it’s time for an adventure! This week, host Paula Felps talks with Steve Taylor, a best-selling author and senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University in England. Steve has devoted his life to investigating spiritual awakenings for himself and others and his new book, The Adventure: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Awakening, provides a roadmap to walk through practices to help you embark on your awakening journey.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why awakening is the greatest adventure any of us will ever experience.
- The eight qualities of wakefulness and why they matter.
- How embracing our mortality improves our spiritual awakening.
As we venture a little farther into the new year, it’s a good time to pause, take a breath, and – if you have three minutes – learn to meditate! This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Richard Dixey, a lifelong student of Buddhism who has devoted the past 15 years of his life to teaching meditation. His new book, Three Minutes a Day: A Fourteen Week Course to Learn Meditation and Transform Your Life, is designed to teach readers how to change their lives with simple meditation practices that truly do take just three minutes a day.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why meditation is so good for us.
- How learning to meditate for just three minutes a day can transform us.
- Simple practices to begin your meditation journey.
Dr. Joanne Cacciatore knows first-hand the trauma caused by grief and loss. And she also knows how animals can help us heal. On this episode, host Brittany Derrenbacher sits down with Dr. Jo, founder of the Arizona-based Selah Carefarm, which provides a compassionate, healing space for those who have suffered trauma and loss. Listen in as they discuss how humans and animals help each other heal from abuse, trauma, and grief.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why animals are such experts at helping us heal from trauma.
- How working with abused animals has had a profound effect on Dr. Jo’s life.
- What a day on Selah Carefarm is like.
What’s so funny about 2024? You’re about to find out! This week, host Paula Felps talks with Paul Osincup, a speaker, corporate trainer, and author of the forthcoming book The Humor Habit. Paul recognizes the importance of humor as a tool to relieve stress, improve our physical and mental health, and to make the world more enjoyable for ourselves and those around us. He’s here to tell us how to create a humor strategy for 2024 and make it a healthier, funnier, and happier year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What humor does for your mental health.
- The value of finding your Humor Homie.
- How to become hardwired for humor.
If you’re looking for an adventure to start the new year, why not take an inner field trip? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Leesa Renee Hall, a mental health wellness advocate and author of the Inner Field Trip workbook, which helps explore what drives us, what oppresses us, and helps us identify our personal biases. Armed with that information, Leesa says we can change the way we move through the world and transform our relationships — which seems like a great way to start the year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to go on an inner field trip.
- How going on this journey is helpful to your mental health.
- Why self-reflection is such a powerful tool for healing.
The holidays are here, which means we’ve been filling our ears with the sounds of the season. As we hit the final stretch, host Paula Felps sits down with Jasper Smith of the popular a capella group Straight No Chaser. Since being discovered on YouTube, this group has become an international sensation and has become part of a holiday tradition for many.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How a 10-year-old video from college launched the band’s career.
- Why Straight No Chaser has become synonymous with the holiday season.
- Why the band loves delivering happiness for the holidays.
Grief is a difficult path to walk any time of the year, but during the holiday season, it becomes even more challenging. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Gina Moffa, a licensed psychotherapist specializing in grief and trauma. Her new book, Moving On Doesn’t Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss, is a travel companion guide to the most difficult journey people will take in their lives. In this episode, Gina talks specifically about how grief is compounded during the holidays and tells us how to navigate it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to take care of ourselves during the holidays if we are suffering fresh loss.
- How grief manifests itself in our bodies and how we can practice self-care.
- Tips for supporting someone who is experiencing grief during the holidays (and beyond).
If you’ve ever wished you could talk to the animals, we’ve got great news for you: Today’s guest says you can! Join host Brittany Derrenbacher as she sits down with Joan Ranquet, a well-known animal communicator, author, TEDx speaker, educator, and animal advocate. Joan and Brittany talk about the many ways we can learn to listen to our animals and they also discuss the benefits of “tapping,” which Joan talks about in her newest book, Emotional Freedom Technique for Animals and Their Humans: Creating a Harmonious Relationship Through Tapping.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why Joan believes all of us have the ability to tune into what animals are telling us.
- Simple ways we can learn to listen to animals.
- How the emotional freedom technique, or “tapping,” can ease anxiety in pets.
Holidays are the time for gathering with family and that can often be stressful. But having a good strategy in place can help make the season run more smoothly. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Trakida Maldonado, a licensed professional counselor for SonderMind who brings more than a decade of clinical experience to the table. In this episode, Trakida offers actionable advice for navigating common holiday situations with family members, setting boundaries before your holiday gatherings, and how to make the holidays a little bit easier on everyone — no matter what your situation is.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to handle family gatherings when your relationships aren’t going well.
- Managing the expectations of your extended family to make the holidays a positive experience for children.
- Tips for setting boundaries and managing conflict at gatherings.
This year, as you’re shopping for the perfect holiday gift, why not put forgiveness on your list? It’s always the perfect size, never goes out of style, and it’s also like giving a gift to yourself. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Barbara J. Hunt, a forgiveness specialist, speaker, workshop leader, and bestselling author of Forgiveness Made Easy. Barbara explains how forgiveness is one of the best gifts we can give ourselves and how we can use forgiveness as a practice to help us navigate those often-tricky holiday gatherings.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why forgiveness feels so hard.
- What forgiveness really is — and what it isn’t.
- How forgiveness can transform relationships.
Studies show that our world is becoming less optimistic, but this week’s guest believes we can change that — and we can start this holiday season. Dr. Emily Bashah is a psychologist whose private practice specializes in mental illness, collective trauma, grief, and relationship dynamics. She’s also co-host of The Optimistic American podcast, where she and Paul Johnson create space for a positive and hopeful view of America and help us feel more optimistic about the future. In this episode, she shares how we can regain our optimism by changing how we think.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we’re feeling less optimistic these days.
- How to overcome your innate negativity bias and find your optimism.
- What to keep in mind this holiday season to boost optimism.
For many people, the holiday season marks an increase in anxiety. But this week’s guest explains why that’s not always a bad thing! Dr. David Rosmarin is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, program director at McLean Hospital, and founder of the Center for Anxiety. He’s also author of the new book, Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You, and in this episode he talks about why the holidays cause so much anxiety and offers tips for thriving throughout the season (and beyond!).
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between stress and anxiety.
- How to identify your anxiety triggers so you can manage them.
- The importance of self-care — especially during times of stress — to reduce anxiety.
November is Adopt a Senior Pet month, and that makes it the perfect time to talk to Dr. Julie Buzby, an integrative veterinarian with a special place in her heart for senior pets. She’s here to talk with host Brittany Derrenbacher about some of the misconceptions we often have about senior dogs and why in many cases a senior pet may be the best option for adoption. So listen in as she and Brittany talk about what senior pets can do for us—and what we should be doing for them.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What age dogs are considered seniors.
- Tips for caring for a senior pet.
- Benefits of senior pets for senior citizens.
November is National Gratitude Month, and this year, we decided to look at gratitude through a new lens. Host Paula Felps and Social Media Marketing Manager Casey Johnson went on a quest to find fresh new ways to practice gratitude, and in this episode, they share several unique ways to bring gratitude into your life. They’re here to talk about what they found and how these new practices can help improve your well-being — and they even share ways to get the whole family involved.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why finding a new way to practice gratitude is a great way to change your daily routine.
- How to turn gratitude into a game the whole family can play.
- How to participate in the Live Happy Gratitude Challenge.
Now that we’ve turned back our clocks, it’s time for shorter days — and for many, that also means the onset of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with world-renowned researcher and psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal, the doctor who was instrumental in identifying SAD and also pioneered light therapy as treatment. His new book, Defeating SAD: A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons, provides a roadmap for beating this disorder and in this episode, he explains how we can better prepare for the next few months.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Dr. Norm’s own experiences with seasonal affective disorder inspired him to research it.
- The role that light plays in seasonal affective disorder.
- Simple steps you can take to minimize the effects of SAD.
When you’re going on a trip, it’s important to make sure you pack all the essentials. And when you’re starting a journey to well-being, you need to pack the happiness essentials. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Emmy Award-winning television producer, well-being teacher, and author Maria Baltazzi about her new book, Take A Shot at Happiness: How to Write, Direct and Produce the Life You Want. A world traveler who has developed and produced TV shows around the globe, including the hit reality show Survivor, Maria has truly used the planet as an extraordinary classroom. Her book explores the eight happiness essentials she’s discovered and teaches us how we can use them to improve well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What she considers her three most important Happiness Essentials.
- Why she created a practice of photo journaling and how to use it for greater well-being.
- How her work on “Survivor” changed the way she looks at the world.
Sound frequencies can change not only our mental state, but change how we feel physically, too. Laura Widney first began using sound frequencies to help her wellness clients manage stress and anxiety. As she learned its many applications, she became chief innovation officer of Soaak, a company that offers sound therapy on the go. In this episode, she talks about how we all can use sound frequencies to boost our energy, enhance our focus, and improve our overall sense of well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How different sound frequencies affect our physical and mental health.
- Why sound is so effective at changing how we feel.
- How to use sound as part of a daily wellness practice.
The world is experiencing an extremely difficult time right now, and sometimes that can leave us wondering if it’s selfish — or even possible — to pursue happiness in such a chaotic time. This week host Paula Felps sits down with Matt Derrenbacher, Solo Rabbi for Congregation Beth Shalom in Columbia, Missouri, to talk about why searching for happiness right now is so important and how we can find — and offer — comfort in the face of so much uncertainty.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What we can do for others when we’re not sure what to say.
- Why it’s important to look for ways to pursue happiness during hard times.
- Tips for managing anxiety and/or feelings of being overwhelmed by the news.
If you don’t love your life at work, you’re not alone. New research shows that workers are the unhappiest they’ve been in years, so this week host, Paula Felps sits down with Greg Kettner, founder of the organization Work Happy and an expert in workplace well-being. They’re here to talk about what’s making us so unhappy on the job and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why workers are less satisfied now than during the pandemic.
- What unhappiness on the job is doing to our mental health.
- How finding your purpose can change how you view your job.
We know that the bonds we have with our pets are special, but this week’s guest may have you thinking about that connection at a deeper level. Jen Golbeck is the creator of social media’s popular The Golden Ratio channel, which shares photos and videos of her rescued golden retrievers. In this episode, she talks with host Brittany Derrenbacher about her new book, The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection, which provides the science behind those incredible bonds and offers new insight into how we can use that information to improve our relationships with our own animals.
In this episode, you'll learn: * Why our bond with our pets is so powerful — and so important. * How pets help make us happier and healthier. * What Jen learned from working with special needs and senior dogs.
If you’ve ever wished there was a magic way to make anxiety disappear, this week’s guest has the next best thing! Brad Yates is an expert in emotional freedom tapping, also known as EFT or tapping. This practice combines the principles of acupuncture and positive psychology to help people overcome fears, relieve stress, and enjoy greater well-being. In this episode, Brad — author of the best-selling children’s book The Wizard’s Wish and co-author of the book Freedom at your Fingertips — explains how tapping works, some of the different ways to use it, and how to get started.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The science behind tapping and why it works
- How tapping can help in stressful situations
- Simple ways to start a tapping practice
Ten years ago, the happiness movement was just beginning to gain a global presence – and that paved the way for the birth of a company called Live Happy. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Deborah Heisz, CEO and co-founder of Live Happy LLC, to look back on 10 years of sharing happiness. Deb explains how her work in personal development led to discovering positive psychology and how that opened the door to launching a company that remains committed to sharing the many ways we can discover greater well-being and lead more fulfilling lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Live Happy began and why it was so important to be rooted in science
- How the Live Happy mission has evolved over the past decade
- What to expect from the next 10 years
Anxiety is so pervasive today that more than 40 million adults in the U.S. are living with it. This week’s guest, Dr. Jud Brewer, offers new insights into this growing problem and provides simple steps to help end the cycle of constant worrying. As New York Times best-selling author and director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, Dr. Jud released the book Unwinding Anxiety in 2021 and now the same techniques used in his book are available the Unwinding Anxiety app. In this episode, he tells us how we all can start breaking free from anxiety.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why willpower isn’t the answer to overcoming anxiety
- Three steps to breaking an anxiety habit
- How curiosity can help disarm anxiety
Creative arts such as painting, dancing, acting, and singing can play a powerful role in self-care and mental health, but they’re often overlooked – especially in rural communities. This week, host Paula Felps sits down Happy Activist Becca Finley, founder of This is Noteworthy, a nonprofit designed to help creatives explore their artistic gifts and discover what it can do for them and the community they live in.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important for creatives to learn how to express themselves through their gifts.
- How we all benefit from tapping into our creative side.
- How celebrating the arts can enhance a community.
Animals play an important role in our happiness, and with this new podcast from Live Happy, you’re going to learn why they’re so good for us and how to nurture our relationships with them. Each month, therapist and pet loss expert Brittany Derrenbacher will sit down with a new guest to explore some of the many ways we benefit from our relationships with animals. In this inaugural episode, she’s joined by Paula Felps, host of the Live Happy Now podcast, to talk about why we’re doing this podcast, why you need to pet more animals, and why you should put down your phone.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to understand what animals do for our emotional well-being.
- How petting other people’s animals is scientifically proven to be good for us.
- Why you should stop phubbing your pet.
We’ve become more comfortable with talking openly about mental health, but we’re still reluctant to talk about mental illness. This week’s guest knows first-hand the challenges of mental illness and why it’s so important to talk about it. Gabe Howard is an author, speaker, and host of the Inside Mental Health podcast. After being committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2003, Gabe was diagnosed with bipolar and anxiety disorders and today he uses his experience to help others navigate and understand that difficult path.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How mental illness affects everyone in the family.
- Why we must lose the shame surrounding mental illness.
- How to help those around us who are struggling with mental illness in their own family.
It’s a common belief that we must live with ailments and declining well-being as we age. But this week’s guest, Dr. Ellen J. Langer, has decades of research that tells a different story. Known as the mother of mindfulness, Ellen is highly regarded as one of America’s most influential psychologists. Her new book, The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, shows how our thoughts and perspectives can change our health.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why embracing mind-body unity creates new possibilities for improving our health.
- How our thoughts could be undermining our health.
- Simple ways to change your way of thinking to improve your health.
Why More Money Doesn’t Equal More Happiness With Tal Ben-Shahar
We’ve all heard that money can’t buy happiness, and new research is telling us why. This week, host Paula Felps talks with author and lecturer Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, co-founder of The Happiness Studies Academy and creator of the Master’s Degree in Happiness Studies at Centenary University. Tal talks about recent findings that show how our perception of money is damaging our happiness — and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why our perceptions of money have changed in a post-pandemic world.
- How social comparison can negatively affect our views on money.
- Why it’s so important to change our view of money for the sake of our well-being.
We are now back in school, and this week’s guest is going to be everyone’s favorite science teacher! In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Marsha Goodman, a cognitive neuroscientist turned popular children’s singer, songwriter and recording artist who performs under the name Marsha and the Positrons. As the name implies, her music is imbued with positivity and teaches listeners about things like kindness, friendship, and taking care of the planet and the people who live on it. She also throws some science in there and makes learning as fun and easy as listening to a song.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How she went from being a cognitive neuroscientist to becoming a popular children’s artist.
- Why she wanted to use her music to spread positive social messages.
- What to expect from her new album, “Energetic.”
Doing good for others is good for us! This week, we’re talking with Happy Activist Nancy Giammarco, a musician who rediscovered her love of art during the pandemic. She started enhancing children’s simple drawings for fun, which led to the creation of The Joanne Project, which she named after her late mother. Now, she focuses on bringing joy to children by turning simple drawings into works of art.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the pandemic served as a catalyst for starting this project.
- What creating art for others has done for her.
- Why it’s so important to celebrate the artwork of children.
The International Positive Psychology Association held its semi-annual World Congress in July. Over the next several weeks, Live Happy Now host Paula Felps is talking with thought leaders about some of the main themes that emerged during this year’s event and what takeaways we can borrow to improve our well-being. This week, Andrea Goeglein addresses some of the growing concerns about loneliness and the lack of social connections as well as giving us a fresh perspective on the World Happiness Report.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why empathetic listening is so important.
- How individuals can take action to improve mental health policies — and why it’s so important.
- The difference between meaning and mattering.
Loneliness is a tremendous problem in today’s world, and solving it begins with understanding the root cause of it. In this episode, author and educator Dr. Randall Hansen sits down with host Paula Felps to talk about why loneliness has become an epidemic, what it’s doing to us, and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it truly “takes a village” to combat loneliness.
- How to reach out to others who may be feeling isolated and lonely.
- How our social media habits can make us feel more isolated — and how to use it wisely.
It’s the start of a brand-new season for Live Happy Now and we’ve added some things to make your life happier! In this episode, Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz and host Paula Felps share some of the new ways we’re working to deliver happiness to you every day.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What to expect from our new pet podcast, Happiness Unleashed with Brittany Derrenbacher.
- How to get happiness delivered to your inbox every week.
- Why we want to know about the Happy Activists in your life.
It’s time to go back to school, and for some kids — and their parents — that means a whole lot of stress. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Dr Laura Phillips, the Senior Director and a Senior Neuropsychologist in the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute. Laura specializes in working with children who have learning disorders, mood disorders and anxiety, among other things, and in this episode, she explains how going back to school can create anxiety for kids of all ages and how it also can affect their parents. Then, she tells us what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Some of the causes of back-to-school anxiety and why it is more prevalent today.
- The role that social media plays in cultivating greater anxiety — and how to manage it.
- Tips for starting the school year smoothly and creating new morning practices.
Doing good for others is good for us! With our new Happy Activist series, we’re spotlighting ordinary people who are changing the world around them just by doing good. Every few weeks we’ll introduce you to a new Happy Activist, and for this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Dawn McMullan, who found her calling when she met a woman who had fled the Democratic Republic of Congo. As Dawn learned more about the plight of girls and young women in the Congo, she was compelled to act. Today, she has helped change the future for hundreds of women while at the same time finding a greater sense of purpose.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why giving back has become so important to her.
- How doing good for others and made her life better.
- How to find the “thing” that lights you up.
Can picking up a pen change your life? This week’s guest says it can! Beth Kempton has been writing nearly her entire life, and she’s learned the value of a daily writing practice. Her latest book, The Way of the Fearless Writer, looks at the many ways writing can help clarify our goals, reconnect us with our dreams, and teach us to listen to our inner voice. In this episode, she explains how becoming a writer is more about what it does for your soul than becoming a best-seller — and how just a few minutes of writing a day can change the way you see the world.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why writing is good for your overall well-being.
- How writing can help you reconnect with your creativity.
- Tips for starting a writing practice.
We are now officially in the middle of summer, and that means it’s time to take it a little bit easier and take time for ourselves. So this week, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy brand marketing manager Casey Johnson to look at some of their favorite episodes offering great advice on how to have a happier summer. They revisit a few of their faves and tell us why these episodes are perfect for helping us make the most of this summer.
We know that the mind and body are connected, but how do we use that knowledge to create our best life? This week, host Paula Felps is talking with Dr Greg Hammer, a Stanford University School of Medicine professor, physician, and a mindfulness expert who developed the four-step GAIN method of mindfulness. As he explains in his book, GAIN without Pain, this is an acronym for Gratitude, Acceptance, Intention and Nonjudgement. He teaches this method to reduce stress and increase well-being, and in this episode he talks about how we can learn to live with intention.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to live an intentional life.
- How intentional living can change your brain—and your life.
- The connection between your physical and mental health.
We know that listening to music can help heal our hearts, but what can it do for the songwriter? In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Morgan James, a singer and songwriter who has appeared on Broadway stages and with symphony orchestras in addition to writing and recording her own music. While working on her latest album, she and Doug Wamble — her husband and cowriter —were grappling with the devastating illnesses of dear friends. Morgan explains how they put the tangled emotions of uncertainty, grief and loss into a song called I’ll Be Holding On, which also has become the album’s video centerpiece.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How songwriting helps her process difficult emotions.
- Why it was so important to write about the grief she was experiencing.
- How performing songs helps her work through challenging situations.
As commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Captain Brett Crozier made a choice during the pandemic to take a stand to protect his crew. His actions quickly led to his dismissal, but also were effective in providing the protection he was looking for. In this episode, he talks about his new book, Surf When You Can: Lessons in Life, Loyalty, and Leadership from a Maverick Navy Captain, and shares some of the life and leadership lessons he has learned along the way.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s imperative to choose your conscience over your career.
- The power of kindness as a leadership principle.
- The importance of creating a life/work balance.
June is filled with holidays encouraging us to celebrate our pets. In addition to being Adopt a Cat Month and National Microchip Month, it is National Foster a Pet Month. To learn more about how fostering pets can improve your physical and mental well-being, host Paula Felps sits down with Brittany Derrenbacher, a clinical mental health counselor and founder of Luna Bells Moonbows Special Needs Rescue in Louisville, Kentucky. Brittany explains the many benefits of pet fostering for the entire family and offers tips on how to get started.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How fostering pets can improve mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression.
- Creative alternatives to full-time pet fostering.
- How fostering pets can teach children important emotional skills.
It’s National Garden Week, so it is the perfect time to talk about what plants and digging in the dirt can do for you. This week’s guest is Joeleen David, a master gardener and owner of Wine Cottage Gardens near Nashville, and she’s here to talk about how gardening is much more than growing food or flowers; it’s also a natural way to improve mental health.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How gardening can help with mental health challenges like anxiety and depression.
- Why gardening is a fun way to build exercise into your life.
- How she is using Wine Cottage Gardens to give back to others — and you can too.
We all know vacations are fun, but did you know how good they are for you? This week’s guest is Dr. Andrew Stevenson, a social anthropologist, filmmaker and senior lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Andrew’s new book, The Psychology of Travel, looks at what travel can do for us and how we can approach it differently to get the most out of it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why travel is so good for our mental health.
- Why we’re never really traveling “alone” and how other people affect our travel experiences.
- The link between memory and travel.
All of us procrastinate once in a while, but chronic procrastination creates stress — for ourselves and those around us — and damages our well-being. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with coach, author, and speaker Sherri Fisher to learn more about how procrastination affects us and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why procrastination isn’t just a time management problem.
- How mindfulness interval training can help overcome procrastination.
- Self-care tips to help beat procrastination.
Recording artist gnash has made mental health a central part of his music, delivering messages through music that might be difficult to talk about in conversation. As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month in May, it’s the perfect time to talk to gnash about his latest album, The Art of Letting Go, which is a journey through the tumultuous emotions brought on by the pandemic. In this episode, you’ll hear how making this album helped save his life during the pandemic and what he hopes we all take away from it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How The Art of Letting Go developed during the pandemic.
- Why he shares breathing exercises with his audience when he’s on stage.
- How he uses music, movement, and meditation to manage anxiety and worry.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this episode’s guest has found a unique way to help clients process such difficult emotions and grief, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Sherry Walling is a clinical psychologist, best-selling author, and mental health advocate who began using movement — particularly the circus arts — to manage loss and grief in her own life. She soon discovered what an effective outlet it provided for releasing trapped emotions and began offering workshops to help others learn these same techniques.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How movement improves your mental health.
- How loss in her own life led Sherry to discover the circus arts.
- Why it’s important to make mental health a priority.
In just a few days we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day, which makes it the perfect time to talk to Dr. Shefali, a New York Times best-selling author and an expert in family dynamics. She has developed a highly acclaimed approach to parenting that she calls conscious parenting, and in this episode, she explains why much of what we think about parenting is wrong and how we all can become more conscious — not just as parents but in all our relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important for parents to recognize their patterns.
- How addressing childhood wounds helps make us better parents.
- Why it’s never too late to become a more conscious parent.
Our digital lifestyles often don’t seem to support our well-being, and that’s a great reason to observe Digital Wellness Day on May 5. This week’s guest, best-selling author and speaker Amy Blankson, offers tips on how to become more present in an increasingly distracted world — whether we’re at work, home, or school. As CEO and Co-Founder of the Digital Wellness Institute, Amy has made it her mission to cultivate happiness and well-being in the digital era. She’s here to share tips about how to create boundaries and find balance in our digital lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to practice digital wellness (and how to do it).
- Why it’s important to create boundaries with digital tools.
- How to observe Digital Wellness Day on May 5.
When the World Happiness Report was released on March 20, Finland was named the World’s Happiest Country for the sixth year in a row. This week, Heli Mende of Visit Finland joins host Paula Felps to talk about why the country has earned that designation so frequently and explain how it inspired the country to offer a Masterclass of Happiness that will be held in June. Heli talks about happiness, Finland-style, how they developed the masterclass, and shares some of the things we all can do to enjoy that same kind of well-being no matter what country we’re in.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How being named the World’s Happiest Country has affected Finland.
- The value of connecting with nature and how that influences Finland’s happiness.
- The surprising role that saunas play in the country’s overall well-being.
Death is inevitable, but as with many things in life, music can change how people experience the journey. That’s the idea behind Threshold Choirs — an international movement in which a trio sings healing and comforting songs for people who are nearing the end of life. In this episode, Jan Stanley, a long-time Threshold Choir member, explains how sharing songs at this uncertain time not only brings comfort to the dying and their family members, but can be transformational for the singers as well.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a Threshold Choir is and how they began.
- How music provides such comfort to those who are ill and dying.
- How being part of a Threshold Choir can impact members.
As children every new discovery filled us with wonder and awe. But somewhere along the way, most of us lost that — and this week’s guest is helping people rediscover it. Monica Parker is a renowned speaker and writer who has spent the past decade helping people discover their meaning and purpose at work. Her new book, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead, explains why we lose our sense of wonder and how we can reclaim it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The power of slow thought and how to develop it.
- What a wonderbringer is and how to find them in our lives.
- Practices to build more wonder in your daily life.
Every day we’re surrounded by sights, sounds, and smells — but we often take them for granted. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin, to talk about how tuning into our five senses can make us happier and healthier. Her new book, Life in Five Senses: How exploring the senses got me out of my head and into the world, takes a deep dive into what each of our senses has to teach us and explains how we can explore them to improve our well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How dialing into our senses can reduce anxiety, boost productivity, and spark creativity.
- The connection between our senses and memories.
- Using our senses to stay grounded and live in the present moment.
We know that getting out in nature is good for us, but this week’s guest understands it better than most. Mya-Rose Craig is a 20-year-old bird watcher, environmentalist and diversity activist who was raised in a home that revered nature. At the age of 14, she formed the Black2Nature organization to encourage other teenagers of color to engage with nature. Bristol University awarded her an honorary doctorate for her pioneering work in this area and now her memoir, Birdgirl: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future, looks at the power of nature and birds, and the important role they have played in dealing with her mother’s mental illness.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What nature has taught Mya-Rose about well-being and why she’s so passionate about it.
- Why access to nature is so important for mental health.
- How her family has used birdwatching to cope with mental health challenges.
Every year on March 20 — the International Day of Happiness — the Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases its World Happiness Report. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy co-founder and CEO Deborah Heisz to talk about how we’re faring when it comes to happiness, what we learned from this year’s report and why it appears that our happiness is improving.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What kind of “happiness” the report is talking about and how we gauge it.
- Why the U.S. is improving in happiness and what is holding us back.
- How the past few years have encouraged us to become more altruistic.
We know that pets and happiness go hand-in-hand (or maybe hand-in-paw), but did you know that your pet could also improve your brain health as you age? This week, Brittany Derrenbacher, a therapist and founder of The Healing Collective KY in Louisville, explains how pets can change how we age and help keep our brains and bodies healthy throughout our lifetime.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The different ways that pets help keep us mentally sharp.
- What the latest research says about pet ownership and aging.
- How we can use our pets to create happiness for the older people in our lives.
When acclaimed jazz vocalist Allegra Levy became a parent, she began noticing that the lyrics of classic children’s songs didn’t fit in today’s world of equity and inclusion. As a mother, she was concerned about what messages children were getting from the music and as a musician, she didn’t want to raise her child with songs that had been musically “dumbed down.” So she began writing her own jazz-tinged children’s music with a positive spin on mental well-being. The result is a new album, Songs for You and Me, and in this episode she talks about the importance of experiencing music as a family.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the pandemic inspired her to rethink children’s music.
- Why children need to hear more inclusive music.
- What parents can do to use music as a tool for learning and creativity.
Burnout is a common problem for women today, but it’s also something that isn’t openly discussed. This week’s guest, Dr. Mary Sanders, is on a mission to empower women over 40 to bounce back physically, emotionally and energetically from the stresses of balancing work and life. She’s here to talk about what burnout is, why it’s so prevalent today and how an integrative approach can help you overcome it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Some of the warning signs that you’re experiencing burnout.
- Why burnout is so common among women right now.
- How practices like meditation and mindfulness help ease the symptoms of burnout.
This week, we are celebrating International Women’s Day, which is a time to acknowledge the diversity and achievement of women. As part of that celebration, we’re talking to Texas businesswoman Linda Allen, who has made it her mission to make women feel seen by supporting them both in their careers and their personal achievements. In this episode, she explains why it’s so important for us to lift up the women around us and how it can change them — and the world they live in.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why a single simple interaction can be so impactful.
- What happens when women begin to feel seen and heard.
- How to adjust our mindset to be more supportive of other women.
As we begin the month of March, Live Happy is celebrating with an entire month of #HappyActs. Throughout this month, we celebrate happiness with special acts each day, and on March 20, we observe the International Day of Happiness. In this episode, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy CEO and Founder Deborah Heisz, E-commerce Marketing Manager Casey Johnson and Marketing Manager Laura Coppedge to talk about why we are so excited about this month – and how you can be a part of it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we celebrate #HappyActs throughout the month of March.
- What the International Day of Happiness is all about.
- How you can be a part of the #HappyActs movement.
We know that being in nature is good for us, but this week’s guest shows us how tuning into our wild side can help us connect with the earth, our emotions and our creativity. Rebecca Wildbear is creator of a yoga practice called Wild Yoga that helps us learn to listen to the earth. She explains more about it in her new book, Wild Yoga: A Practice of Initiation, Veneration & Advocacy for the Earth, and this week she’s here to tell us how deepening our connection with the earth can help us better understand ourselves.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between Wild Yoga and other types of yoga.
- What Rebecca means by “Earth Grief” and what you can do if you are experiencing it.
- How practicing communication and yoga in nature can change the way we feel about the world we live in.
Sav Buist and Katie Larson were shy high school students when a music education presentation brought them together — and changed their future. Ten years later, they front a trio called The Accidentals and have earned glowing album reviews while packing venues with their live shows. But because they’ve never forgotten how that high school presentation changed their lives, they also host and lead workshops across the country to inspire young musicians to find their voice and use music to improve their mental health. In this episode, they talk about how it all came together and how they are changing young lives one song at a time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of music education.
- How music helps us process what’s hard to express.
- Why it’s so important to give back to others and help them follow their dreams.
What better time than Valentine’s Day to look at how to improve your relationships? This week’s guest, Michelle Becker, is a marriage and family therapist who also specializes in compassion. Through workshops, online education, and her Well Connected podcast, she shares her understanding of compassions and offers couples the tools they need to relate to each other better. Her new book, Compassion for Couples: Building the Skills of Loving Connection, offers exercises and insight into how we can use compassion, and she’s here to explain why it’s so vital to a healthy relationship.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why self-compassion is the first step to a truly compassionate relationship.
- What happens to our brains when we fall in love — and why that changes over time.
- How compassion can change the way you view your significant other and deepen your relationship.
Would your life be happier if you were a unicorn? This week, we’ll find out as host Paula Felps talks with Andrea Goeglein about her 60-Day Unicorn Challenge. Andrea, who is also known as Dr. Success, holds a PhD in organizational psychology and hosts the Hey Boss Lady! podcast. She created the 60-Day Unicorn Challenge to offer small, daily tasks that will help you take steps toward reaching your goals — either personal or professional — while learning to make yourself a priority.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the 60-Day Unicorn Challenge came about.
- What to expect from the challenge.
- How prioritizing your own needs leads to success.
Creativity is a driving force of innovation, and in this episode, we look at how it can make us happier both at work and at home. Steven Kowalski, PhD, is a leading voice in the global movement for conscious creativity. In his new book, Creative Together: Sparking Innovation in the New World of Work, he explains that all of us are creative — whether we think we are or not. And recognizing that creativity is the first step in learning how to harness it and discover our true potential in all areas of life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to be “consciously creative.”
- How to identify discover your personal creative style — and why that’s important.
- Why tapping into our creativity makes us happier at work and at home.
Learn How to Move Toward Happiness in Negative and Uncertain Times
Life is full of inflection points. Divorce, career upheaval, illness, empty nests, retirement, and other life-changing events are full of uncertainty and stress. But what if those difficulties could become the doorways to positive possibilities? When approached in the right way, these challenges hold the opportunity to explore, strengthen, and move towards happiness.
Join Paula Felps and Megan McDonough, Founder of Wholebeing Institute, and see how to take the next step toward happiness. Learn how the challenges you’re facing today — no matter how daunting they seem — actually hold the opportunity to explore, strengthen, and reshape your life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What inflection points are and how to identify them in your life.
- The concept of liminal space and how you can use it to thrive.
- The importance of “selfing” and “unselfing” — and what that means.
Most of us feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day — but what can we do about it? In her book, Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, Cassie Holmes, PhD breaks it down for us. And on this episode of Live Happy Now, the award-winning teacher and researcher on time and happiness talks about what it means to feel “time poor” and why that has become so prevalent today. Then she’ll explain how we can better structure our days and begin using our time instead of losing it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How much time you need to feel “time affluent.”
- How tracking your time can help you identify where to find more of it.
- The philosophy of “time left” and how it can help you enjoy your hours more.
David Fishof is a legendary music producer and founder of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, which invites everyday people to play alongside world-renowned rock stars. David has seen first-hand the incredible power of music and how it transforms people both in their personal lives and their professional aspirations. His amazing story is told in the new documentary, Rock Camp, available now on Amazon, as well as in the book by the same name. In this episode, he shares how Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp began and how he has seen music change the lives of hundreds of people along the way.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp was inspired by a backstage “fight” between Joe Walsh and Levon Helm.
- Why music is so powerful in bringing people together.
- How playing with their rock heroes has inspired campers to pursue new dreams off the stage.
Studies show us – and social media often backs it up – that we are becoming less empathetic. But this week’s guest tells us how we can begin to solve the empathy crisis. Rob Volpe is a thought leader in the role of empathy in the marketing and workspace and is author of Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time. Today, he offers some unique insights into what’s causing our lack of empathy and what skills we need to develop to bring it back.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What is creating the empathy crisis in our modern world.
- The important role empathy plays in our personal happiness.
- The five steps you can take to begin restoring empathy.
After a busy holiday season, we all could use a bit of stillness in our lives. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Jeanine Thompson, a former clinical psychotherapist and Fortune 50 executive whose new book, 911 From Your Soul, is all about how to learn to listen for what you need and discover your greatest potential. Today, she’s here to talk about how important it is to learn to do nothing and listen to the lessons that are waiting for us in the stillness. And then she’ll teach us how to do that.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What stillness is and how you can add it to your life.
- The five main benefits of creating stillness.
- How stillness can help you live more of your true potential.
It’s a brand-new year and we’re all thinking about creating new habits, so … why not make yours a fun one? This week’s guest is Mike Rucker, PhD, an esteemed organizational psychologist and author of the new book, The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life. His research shows us how prioritizing fun can make us happier, more productive, and more energetic.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between happiness and fun.
- Why the pursuit of happiness may make us miserable.
- How to assess your daily activities and design your day for fun.
While many people are thinking about their New Year’s Resolutions, others are taking a different approach to the new year and setting an intention. To do that, choosing one word to focus on throughout the year is a helpful and effective practice, and this week’s guest is here to tell us how to do it and how it works. Matt Derrenbacher is a fifth-year rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and has served as a chaplain candidate for the U.S. Air Force and a Jewish educator. He explains how using a single word can help us set an intention for the year and help us stay on track in the months to come.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why choosing one word to focus on throughout the coming year can help guide your actions.
- Why many people find it more effective than setting a resolution.
- How to decide what your word should be—and how to remind yourself of it regularly.
With her bestselling book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, psychotherapist, author and podcast host Lori Gottlieb taught us more about how therapy can change our lives. Now, she has created a guided journal based on the feedback she received to that book, which is designed to walk users through 52 weekly sessions that will transform their lives. This week, she talks about how to use it to create positive change in the coming year.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How regular guided journaling can help work through challenges.
- Why small incremental changes are the building blocks of big transformations.
- How to use journaling to help make the new year happier and more fulfilling.
The sounds of the season are all around us, but have you thought about why holiday music makes us happy? This week, Paula Felps sits down with sonic strategist Steve Keller to find out how holiday music is tied to nostalgia and what happens in our brains when we listen to it.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why even melancholy holiday music can make us feel happier.
- What role dopamine plays in the memories involving music.
- How to use holiday music to boost your mood throughout this busy season.
Grief and loss are something all of us experience throughout our lives, but they can be more difficult to manage during the holidays. This week’s guest, Julia A. Nicholson, shows how reframing that loss can help us navigate it better. As an executive leadership expert who has made it her mission to help others transform the way they view and manage grief, Julia drew upon the immense losses of her past to create a new framework that she shares in her forthcoming book, Move Forward Stronger.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the holiday season may amplify feelings of loss — and how to manage those feelings.
- Why the traditional stages of grief often don’t apply.
- How to change our neural pathways to create a more positive approach to grief — while still honoring our loss.
Navigating difficult emotions are challenging for all of us, but that’s especially true for children. This week’s guest, Nadine Levitt, has turned even our most complicated emotions into a magical adventure. The author, educator, music artist, lawyer, and parent wanted to change the way children learn about their emotions, so she created Emotion Wonderland: a magical place where all our emotions coexist and we get to meet them, befriend them, and better understand them.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How Nadine created the Emotion Wonderland — and why it was so important to her.
- The many different tools children can use to learn to express their feelings.
- How approaching our emotions differently can change the way we process our feelings.
December 1 marks Women Supporting Women Day, and this week, author, speaker and coach Caroline Miller is here to talk about why it’s so important for women to start looking out for one another. Her concern about women’s failure to support one another led her to write the ebook, #IHaveYourBack, which is about creating mastermind success groups for women. This week, she shares what she’s learned about why women don’t support one another, explains what it’s doing to our culture, and then tells us what we can do about it.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why women consciously and subconsciously fail to support each other’s success.
- The importance of having a group of women that support you.
- How to show support for the women in your life.
As the holiday season begins, getting caught up in the frenzy of buying gifts is easy. But this year, decluttering expert Tracy McCubbin is asking us to take a step back and become more intentional with our shopping. In this episode, she explains how we can approach the holidays differently to create more joy, focus on giving ourselves rather than giving gifts, and shift the focus from shopping to sharing the spirit of the season.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to be more mindful as you shop for holiday gifts.
- Why experiences can be more meaningful than “stuff.”
- What to keep in mind as you begin shopping.
When you hear Snoop Dogg’s name, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t social emotional learning. But with his latest venture, Doggyland, Snoop has teamed up with producer Claude Brooks and recording artist October London to create a very special learning project. On this episode, Claude sits down with host Paula Felps to explain how Doggyland was created, what they want to accomplish with their songs and how they’re using music to change the way children view themselves — and the world around them. Let’s take a listen.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How they use music as a learning tool.
- Why music and rhyme is a great way for children to learn acceptance of themselves and others.
- How they are working to make sure this message is available to everyone.
It’s beginning to look a lot like the holidays, and for many of us, that can be a challenging time for many. This week’s guest, Melissa Urban, tells us how setting boundaries now can make the holiday season run smoother. The Whole30 founder has become known as “the boundary lady” and her bestseller, The Book of Boundaries: Set the Limits That Will Set You Free is changing the way people learn to say no.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a boundary is — and how to learn to set one.
- How setting boundaries can improve relationships.
- How to hold boundaries throughout the holiday season.
Can being a sports fan make you happier? Research says yes, and this week, David Sikorjak and Ben Valenta, authors of the new book, Fans Have More Friends, explain why. These two strategies and analytics experts are die-hard sports fans who set out to prove their hypothesis that being a sports fan leads to happiness. In this episode, they share what they’ve learned and tell you why cheering on your favorite team is doing more for you than you might have realized.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why sports fans show higher levels of happiness.
- The importance of “passing down” fandom within families.
- How sports fandom can help overcome polarization.
Not everyone feels that work and happiness go hand in hand. But in this episode, Tia Graham — a certified Chief Happiness Officer, founder of the company Arrive at Happy, and author of the new book, Be a Happy Leader — explains the importance of leading with happiness. Tia has multiple certifications in neuroscience, positive psychology and leadership coaching, and she works with executives and teams to help create happier workplaces. This week, she talks about how we all can find more happiness at work.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why happiness is such an important part of being a leader.
- The high cost of unhappiness and stress in the workplace.
- How to manage your job if you work for an unhappy leader.
If you ever wonder why you think or feel the way you do for seemingly no reason, you’re not alone. And this week’s guest is going to explain how—and why—that happens. Judy Wilkins Smith is a world-renowned speaker, author, and expert in family patterns. In her new book, Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint: A Powerful Guide to Transformation Through Disentangling Multigenerational Patterns, she explains how our DNA is influenced by trauma and emotions and can create patterns that limit us from reaching our full potential. She’s here to tell us how to identify some of those beliefs and patterns and, more importantly, give us the tools to overcome them.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How trauma and thought patterns from previous generations could be affecting you.
- Ways to identify your family patterns and understand systemic sentences.
- Tools to start rewiring your brain and changing those patterns.
If you’re like most people, you probably have a little bit of extra “stuff” lying around the house. But listening to this episode might just change the way you look at it. This week, decluttering expert Tracy McCubbin, author of Make Space for Happiness: How to Stop Attracting Clutter and Start Magnetizing the Life You Want, shares some surprising insights about the relationship between clutter and happiness. And she’ll also tell you what straightening up the space in your house can do for the space in your head.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why decluttering goes hand-in-hand with positivity.
- What “clutter blocks” are and how to get rid of them.
- The benefits of living an uncluttered life.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that made it the perfect time to sit down with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, best known as the Grammy-winning duo Cathy & Marcy. They have been entertaining audiences for more than 40 years, and when Marcy received a breast cancer diagnosis, they faced it the same way they have faced all of life’s challenges — side by side, with music and humor. The result is the comedic musical All Wigged Out, which has been made into a film and details Marcy’s journey with breast cancer. They sat down with host Paula Felps to talk about how they transformed this health challenge into a musical story of hope and healing to share with the world.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How they used music to process Marcy’s diagnosis.
- Why celebrating even small milestones was important to their journey.
- How they turned the experience into a humorous healing story.
World Kindness Day is just a month away, but there’s no reason not to start observing it now. This week’s guest is Dr. Michelle Robin, founder of Small Changes Big Shifts, the Big Shifts Foundation, and the 31-Day Kindness Campaign. Launched in 2019, the Kindness Campaign is a free inspirational email adventure that begins October 14. When you sign up, you’ll receive a daily email suggesting an act of kindness that you can do that day, and Michelle tells us what to expect from the campaign and explains what kindness can do for your overall well-being.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why kindness is so good for us — and those we share it with.
- What happens in our brains when we practice kindness every day.
- How Michelle’s desire to spread kindness grew into a month-long campaign.
October is one of our favorite months at Live Happy, and this week, you’ll find out how to make this a truly Happy Halloween. Host Paula Felps is joined by Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz and e-commerce marketing manager Casey Johnson to talk about our all-new #HalloweenHappyActs campaign. If you’ve been with us for a while, you already know that every March, we encourage well-being with a month of intentional activities that we call #HappyActs. This year, we’re combining #HappyActs with our favorite holiday to create an entire month of happiness while celebrating the spirit of Halloween.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What #HappyActs are — and how to practice them.
- Why Halloween is the perfect time to explore #HappyActs.
- How to turn #HalloweenHappyActs into a challenge for greater participation.
Fall is a time for turning inward, and this week’s guest, Kassandra Reinhardt, is here to help us learn how to connect with ourselves through yoga. Her newest book, Year of Yoga: Rituals for Every Day and Every Season, helps experienced and novice yogis alike move through the seasons using affirmations and intentions that coincide with the time of year. She’s here to tell us why our practice may change along with the seasons and talk about what affirmations may be particularly helpful as we move into fall.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How yoga can help us manage stressful situations
- Why yoga is not a one-size-fits-all practice.
- Affirmations to focus on this fall.
This week, host Paula Felps sits down with renowned cinematographer, director and producer Louie Schwartzberg. Louie is best known for the stunning imagery he creates using time-lapse photography; in films like Fantastic Fungi and the 3D IMAX film Mysteries of the Unseen World with National Geographic, he has shown us the beauty of the world in ways we’ve never seen before. With his new film, Gratitude Revealed, he has created an immersive, awe-inspiring experience that takes us inside the human spirit to explore the wonder, beauty and joy of gratitude.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How this film was a natural evolution of his work with nature.
- What he learned about gratitude while creating this film.
- Why gratitude is so important to him.
The right song lyrics can express exactly what you’re feeling, and they can even help kids open up about what’s happening in their lives. With the Sound It Out campaign, parents and caregivers can support emotional wellness in young people by using songs and lyrics to help kids express their feelings. In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Regina Miranda, a professor of psychology at Hunter College and one of the advisors for the program, to learn more about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the campaign offers and how it came about.
- How music supports emotional wellness.
- How to use the Conversation Starter Pack to talk with kids about their feelings.
As we all settle into our post-summer routine, certain family members can sometimes get overlooked. This week, therapist Brittany Derrenbacher is back to talk about how a change in routine can affect our pets. Brittany is a certified grief and pet loss specialist, founder of the special needs animal rescue Luna Bell’s Moonbows and owner of Sunshine Healing & Empowerment in Louisville, Kentucky, and she explains why our furry family members are so affected by the end-of-summer change in routine and tells us what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How pets are affected when we go back to school and back to work.
- How small changes in your morning routine can make a big difference.
- What we can do to make being alone less stressful for pets.
We’ve hit the end of summer and for many people, that means dealing with end of summer anxiety. And it’s not just for kids! This week’s guest, Eli Weinstein, is a social work therapist and host of The Dude Therapist podcast, and he’s here to talk about how we all can handle that end of summer anxiety and head into fall with a new game plan for the whole family.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What causes end-of-summer anxiety.
- Why creating a routine helps manage stress.
- How to find a strategy that works for your family.
As we go back to school, it means kids are spending even more time on their screens. So what’s a parent to do? This week’s guest will tell you! Childcare advocate and author Florence Ann Romano joins us this week to talk about the importance of balancing time on devices. Florence Ann is a big fan of ditching the devices and discovering off-screen play, and she’s here today to talk about how parents can get a handle on their children’s screen time — and maybe even improve their own screen habits.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What too much screen time does to developing brains.
- How to develop learning opportunities without screens.
- How parents’ screen usage affects their relationship with their children.
Whether we admit it or not, most of us spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to others. But what if our true superpower is learning just to be ourselves? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. Ronald Siegel, a psychotherapist, Harvard psychology professor and mindfulness expert whose latest research looks at what a climate of self-comparison is doing to undermine our happiness. His new book, The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are, looks at the trap of constant self-evaluation and explains how we can learn to let go of our comparison culture and live a more satisfying, happy life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s natural for us to compare ourselves to others.
- How social media has amplified the climate of self-comparison.
- How practices like gratitude and mindfulness help minimize the effects of constant self-evaluation.
Music has such a powerful healing ability that some researchers are even looking at “sonic pharmacology” — using music as a tool to improve patients’ health. Steve Keller is one of the world’s leading experts on sonic strategy. As a researcher, he has explored how music and sound affect everything from our physical wellbeing to our emotional state to our relationships and overall perception of happiness. In this episode, he looks at the many surprising ways music can be used as a healing tool — and explains why, one day, your doctor might give you a musical prescription.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the medical community is using sound to enhance healing.
- Some of the surprising ways noise affects our health — and how music can help.
- The unexpected ways music can change your eating habits and promote a healthier lifestyle.
As kids (and teachers) head back to school, what if they started focusing on subjects like gratitude, kindness and empathy? This week’s guest, Ash Manuel, left his teaching career after discovering positive psychology and set out on a mission to change how children learn. Now, his Growing with Gratitude program is a global positive education program that helps build and protect children’s mental wellbeing.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Ash became interested in positive psychology.
- How he has applied his teaching skills to develop the Growing with Gratitude program.
- What he hopes to accomplish by taking gratitude into classrooms.
This is a special week at Live Happy Now because we’ve reached an important milestone — and we truly could not have done it without you. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy CEO and Co-founder Deborah Heisz for an important announcement and to talk about the future of the podcast.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What led to the launch of Live Happy Now.
- How our podcast has changed over the past seven years.
- What we hope listeners gain from listening each week.
Bullying is a huge issue for kids today, and as we go back to school, many children are dreading having to face that challenge every day. This week’s guest, Jennifer Fraser, PhD, is author of the powerful new book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health. Jennifer is an award-winning educator whose online courses and workshops teach the impact of neuroscience on personal development and culture change. In her latest book, she breaks down how bullying affects our brains and, more importantly, she tells us how to help our brains heal from that trauma.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What happens to our brains when they are being bullied.
- How society has normalized bullying from adults — and why it’s so important to stop that cycle.
- Steps to take to address bullying in schools and the workplace.
As the world opens up to traveling again, can you make your travel experiences more meaningful? This week’s guest will show you how! Jessica Blotter is a speaker and journalist who specializes in sustainable and regenerative tourism. After witnessing extreme poverty on a vacation to Belize, Jessica launched a movement in 2016 called Kind Traveler, which allows travelers to positively impact the communities they visit — and enjoy incredible experiences as well. In this episode, she explains why it’s so important to travel kindly, and every trip you take can make a difference.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What sustainable and regenerative tourism is and why it matters.
- The role that giving back plays in creating a more positive travel experience.
- How you can embrace sustainable tourism in your own travels.
Music education typically focuses on teaching students who want to be musicians or music teachers, but this week’s guest sees it as a vehicle for teaching an entire spectrum of social emotional learning skills. Nadine Levitt is a mother, former opera singer and the founder of WURRLYedu, which uses music to teach children about things like empathy, collaboration, impulse control and so much more. In this episode, she explains how music can help change the way young learners look at the world and broaden their understanding of complex emotions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How her career as a performer led Nadine to create Wurrlyedu.
- How music can help children learn critical life skills.
- Why using music for social emotional learning is particularly important in our current environment.
Laughter and humor feel good, but have you thought about how much good it can do? This week’s guest, Dr. Shepherd Siegel, is a musician turned educator whose recent research has centered around the idea of play, playfulness and humor as a driving force of change. His latest book, Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love: How Tricksters through History have Changed the World, looks at the trickster archetype and the role it plays in social change. On this episode, he talks about the importance of finding fun and humor in our lives — and how to reclaim those habits as adults.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to explore fun and playfulness.
- The importance of discovering humor in dark times.
- How to get more humor and playfulness in your life.
It’s summertime, and that makes it a great time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. But this is about more than working on a killer tan; this week, Laura Allen and Courtney Crim from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, talk about the amazing power of nature. Laura and Courtney developed the course The Natural Environment and Well-being, and on this episode, they explain why it’s so important to get outside every day and what nature is doing for your mind, body and spirit.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The mental, physical and emotional benefits of spending time in nature.
- Tips for getting more nature in your life — even if you live in an urban area.
- How much time you should spend outside every week.
Summer is all about fun and happiness, so this week, we’re looking at how to make this your family’s happiest summer yet. On this week’s episode, educator and children’s emotional health expert Maureen Healy talks about how to do that! Her new book, The Happiness Workbook for Kids, looks at how to navigate the difficult times we’re in and create fun, positive experiences for children. In this episode, she talks about some of the things we all can do to make this summer happier – and healthier – for the whole family.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of teaching emotional health to children.
- How positive emotional health makes us happier.
- Ideas for where to start making this summer your happiest yet.
We all want and need relationships — but you might be surprised to find out how little we actually know about them! This week, bestselling author Eric Barker joins us to talk about his newest book, Plays Well With Others, that takes a deep dive into friendships, marital relationships and every other kind of relationship to explore what we’re doing right, where we could improve and how the pandemic has changed the way we look at our relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why friendships are the most important relationships we have.
- What science says we can do to build stronger friendships.
- How the way we fight with our spouse predicts the outcome of our relationship.
If you’re one of those sensitive people out there, congratulations – you’re about to learn what an incredible superpower it is. This week’s guest is Katie Abey, author of the new children’s book We Feel Happy, which helps children explore their feelings. As a sensitive person herself, Katie is aware of some of the challenges that can bring, and her book is designed to help children learn more about their feelings and how to embrace them. And the great new is – it works for adults, too!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important for children to learn to identify and embrace their feelings.
- How parents and other adults can help on this journey.
- How Katie uses art to help others “be proud of their weirdness.”
Music is a great tool for bringing people together, and during the days of lockdown, the Marsh Family from the UK began sharing song parodies to express what they were going through. As it turns out they were exactly what the world needed, and their viral videos now have received more than 30 million views. They were dubbed the “Von Trapped Family” by the New York Times, and in this episode of On a Positive Note, parents Ben and Danielle Marsh talk about how their family’s humorous approach to the pandemic helped them keep their own sanity while turning their family into a global sensation.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What inspired them to start doing parodies.
- How humor has helped them tackle tough topics.
- How singing together has brought them closer as a family.
June is Pride month, which makes it the perfect time to revisit the theme of unity. This week’s guest, Wes Schmitz, is co-host of the popular Two Bottles Deep Podcast, which is designed to open up conversations between the gay and straight communities. Wes has been connecting people his entire life and his podcast has picked up an unexpected following thanks to its honest, open conversational approach. Let’s hear what he has to say about how listening really can build a bridge and create more unity.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important for the gay and straight communities to listen to one another.
- How this could help us find unity in other areas.
- Why Wes thinks the Two Bottle Deep Podcast has been so well-received by a surprising audience demographic.
In this always-on world, it can be a challenge to find downtime. But cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Sara Mednick, author of the new book, The Hidden Power of the Downstate, says that spending too much time in our upstate is leaving us unhappy, exhausted and unhealthy. In this episode, she explains the need for us to discover our downstate and leverage it to enjoy a healthier, happier life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the downstate is and why it’s so important.
- How spending too much time in the upstate can harm your health.
- What activities we can engage in to get some of the same health benefits as being in our downstate.
Wil Wheaton burst into the spotlight in 1986 in the iconic coming of age movie Stand By Me. He went on to play many more roles throughout his teen and young adult years, including starring as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation and playing a version of himself on the hit TV show, The Big Bang Theory. But his success hid a childhood filled with trauma and abuse that led to a lifetime of depression, anxiety and complex PTSD. In his new memoir, Still Just a Geek, Wil opens up about his life and explains how he came to grips with his past. This week, he talks about why it’s so important to him to talk openly about mental health. In this episode, you’ll learn: * What led Wil to revisit his life in his new memoir. * How writing the book helped him find empathy and compassion for his younger self. * Why it’s so important for him to normalize the conversation around mental health.
Can a doodle improve your mental health? If it’s drawn by Danny Casale, it just might! Under the moniker of Coolman Coffeedan, Danny is using his art to provide encouragement, make people laugh, and even explore the challenges of mental health. His work took off during the pandemic, and now he has millions of followers who rely on his adorable characters to uplift and inspire them. His new book UR Special: Advice for Humans from Coolman Coffeedan, tackles topics ranging from loneliness and anxiety to grief and self-confidence. And just like this conversation, his art will make you smile.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Danny turned doodling into a mental health movement.
- Why it’s important to him to address mental health issues openly.
- Why he thinks so many people are connecting with his drawings.
Music is one of the most powerful — and accessible — tools we have for improving our mental health. On this episode of On a Positive Note, host Paula Felps is joined by acclaimed music therapist Jennifer Buchanan, author of Wellness, Wellplayed: The Power of a Playlist, to talk about the many ways music can be used as a tool for healing and growth. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why music and mental health go hand in hand.
- How to make a purposeful playlist.
- What an “anchor song” is and how it can help change your mental state.
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental disorders today, and it affects more than 40 million people. Today’s guest, Liza Kindred is a licensed minister, reiki practitioner and meditation teacher whose work has been featured in publications worldwide. Her new Calm Your Anxiety Journal is a hands-on workbook to walk users through their anxiety, discover their personal triggers and use journaling and other practices to make peace with it finally.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What happens in your brain when you’re feeling anxiety and overwhelmed—and what to do about it.
- Why it’s important to acknowledge and talk about our trauma.
- How to start rewiring your brain and develop new habits to calm the chaos.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and throughout the month we’re taking on some of the tough topics around mental health. This week’s guest is Mattie Cummins, a counselor, brain coach, and CEO of Cerebrations, which provides counseling and coaching for people with anxiety, chronic pain, neurodiversity and other life transitions. Her mission is to empower people to tap into their own inner strength, beauty and experiences to calm their mental chaos, and she talks about some of the tools we can use to create more calm and joy in our lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What happens in your brain when you’re feeling anxiety and overwhelmed—and what to do about it.
- Why it’s important to acknowledge and talk about our trauma.
- How to start rewiring your brain and develop new habits to calm the chaos.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and here at Live Happy, we realize that happiness and good mental health go hand in hand. So we’ve brought the whole crew together to talk about it! Throughout the month of May, we’re going to focus on tools for better mental health. But to kick it off, our team sat down for a conversation about how the past couple of years have affected each of us and some of the ways we’ve coped. Joining host Paula Felps for this special episode are Live Happy CEO and Co-Founder Deborah Heisz; e-commerce Marketing Manager Casey Johnson; Web Editor Chris Libby; Senior Marketing Manager Britney Chan; and Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Shane Lee.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important to talk about mental health.
- How the pandemic increased anxiety and loneliness.
- Practices we use for improving mental health.
We all want to live longer, healthier lives — and if we can get younger while doing it, well then, all the better! In this episode, Dr. Kara Fitzgerald joins host Paula Felps to talk about her new book, Younger You: Reduce Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better. Kara is one of the leading voices in the intersection of nutrition, epigenetics and aging, and she’s here to talk about what her research says about how to not just become healthier, but to actually reduce our biological age from the inside out.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between genetics and epigenetics — and how each one affects your health.
- What nutrients can help slow aging and improve your health.
- How exercise suppresses tumors — and why it becomes more valuable as you age.
Every one of us has a dreamer inside, but as we grow up, we often forget to listen to them. On this inaugural episode of On a Positive Note, host Paula Felps sits down with songwriter and recording artist Sylvia, who’s best known for her mega hit “Nobody.” Now, Sylvia has released the concept album Nature Child – A Dreamer’s Journey, which is earning rave reviews and has put her back on the Billboard music charts. Listen to find out how this album was 30 years in the making and why it’s time to awaken the dreamer in all of us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How her early concert audiences inspired this album.
- Why the pandemic became the perfect time to explore these songs.
- Why it’s so important to rediscover our inner dreamer.
We celebrate Earth Day on April 22, so this week we’re asking not what our planet can do for us — but what we can do for our planet. On this episode, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. Dana Ellis Hunnes, an assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and author of Recipe for Survival: What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life. In this timely episode, Dana talks about how we can create a healthier, happier and more environmentally friendly life — and even get our kids involved!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How eating more plants and less meat helps the planet.
- Why taking care of our health is beneficial to the environment.
- The role of CSAs and community gardens in improving the environment.
A sense of humor – and a sense of purpose – are key ingredients for living a happy life. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Emmy Award-winning actress Sharon Gless about how she has used both of those attributes throughout her storied career. In her funny but touching new memoir, Apparently There Were Complaints, Sharon talks candidly about her journey to success as well as her struggles with alcohol, marriage and menopause. In this episode, she talks about some of the highlights of that journey and the important roles that gratitude and purpose have played in her life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How humor has helped her handle life’s challenges.
- What she learned about taking responsibility for everything in her life — and how that changed her life.
- How the characters she’s portrayed have affected her.
There are many ways to practice happiness, but the key is to find what works for you – and make a habit out of it. This week, Jackson Kerchis sits down with host Paula Felps to talk about Rewired, his Happiness Habit Challenge beginning April 11 designed to help you develop three solid happiness-supporting habits over 30 days. Jackson is founder of the Happiness Studies major at the University of Alabama, and now he’s offering this crash course in creating happier habits.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to go from “knowing” to “doing.”
- The importance of training your brain for happiness.
- How small changes in daily habits can produce big results.
April is National Humor Month, which is the perfect time to talk about how to bring more laughter into your life. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Greg Kettner, a TEDx speaker, happiness coach and podcaster who helps organizations create happier, healthier cultures through his WorkHappy™ Game Plan. He teaches companies how to use laughter as a leadership tool, and he talks about the power of humor, how he turned the loss of a job into an entire happiness movement – and what you can do to work happier.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How laughter makes our workplace — and our world — better.
- How humor can increase productivity and job satisfaction.
- How to apply the WorkHappy™ principles.
Throughout the month of March we’ve been taking on the issue of unity. Today, host Paula Felps is joined by Reverend Jennifer Bailey, who, in addition to being named one of the 15 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress, is the founder of Faith Matters Network. She’s also co-founder of The People’s Supper, which brings people together to engage constructively on issues affecting their communities. This project has brought together thousands of people to create a space for collective healing … all while enjoying a nourishing meal and civil conversation. She’s here today to share some of the tools she uses for bridging our differences.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why getting curious can help build a bridge.
- The role of radical hope in bridging our differences.
- The benefits of spending time with “senior saints and playground prophets.”
As we continue celebrating March as the month of happiness, we’re using this time to focus on the theme of unity. This week, thought leader and author Peter Montoya joins host Paula Felps to talk about how to restore civil discourse and promote healing in these challenging — and divided — times. Peter’s latest book, The Second Civil War: A citizen’s guide to healing our fractured nation, looks at the challenges we’re facing as a society and how things like technology and media consumption increase our anxiety. Then he talks about what we can do to promote unity and civility. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the world feels so divided right now.
- Simple ways to avoid being triggered.
- How to change the conversation to promote civil discourse.
Throughout the month of March, we’re celebrating the International Day of Happiness and a whole month of Happy Acts. And, as part of this year’s celebration, we’re looking at the theme of unity. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Jessie Kanzer, author of Don’t Just Sit There, Do Nothing: Healing, Chilling & Living with the Tao Te Ching. Jessie talks about social media and how we can use it to become less divided.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why social media is so addictive.
- How to become more mindful about what you’re posting — and what you’re consuming.
- Tips for creating healthier relationships on social media.
Every year, Live Happy celebrates the month of March in a big way! As we prepare to celebrate the International Day of Happiness on March 20, our team also creates a full month of activities called #HappyActs to help make the most of every day. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Live Happy CEO and Co-Founder Deborah Heisz; E-commerce Marketing Manager Casey Johnson; Web Editor Chris Libby; Senior Marketing Manager Britney Chan; and Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Shane Lee to talk about what’s planned, why this month means so much to us, and how you can be part of it. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the International Day of Happiness is all about.
- How to create your own Happiness Wall.
- What #HappyActs are and how you can participate.
As we prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, Live Happy is proud to be the media sponsor for The Women’s Day Event, an all-day, free virtual event featuring the world’s top female experts on happiness, entrepreneurship, intimacy, female empowerment, parenting, and so much more. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Carin Rockind about why she created this annual event, what women can expect to get out of attending, and why this mission is so important to her.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s more important than ever to celebrate feminine empowerment.
- What topics and speakers are being featured.
- How to take part in this free event.
There’s a special day in February for us to celebrate love — and it isn’t Valentine’s Day. In honor of National Love Your Pet Day on February 20, host Paula Felps sits down with Brittany Derrenbacher, a clinical mental health counseling intern and founder of Luna Bell’s Moonbows, a special needs animal rescue. She’s here to talk about why pets are so good for our physical and mental well-being, and then tell us how we can learn to celebrate them every day — and enrich our lives in the process. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Four of the main benefits of having a pet.
- How pets can help people heal from trauma.
- How to add more joy to your pets’ lives.
Kindness is more important than ever these days, but it can also seem hard to find. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Brooke Jones, vice president of the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, to talk about what kindness can do for us individually and as a society — and to tell us how we can start adding more kindness to our daily routine. She’ll also tell us how to get involved in the Random Acts of Kindness Day activities!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation does and how you can be part of it.
- Simple ways to practice kindness at work, home, and school.
- How to enter the Random Acts of Kindness coloring contest and help #MakeKindnessTheNorm.
The chaos of the world around us is causing an uptick in anxiety, depression and an overall sense of dis-ease. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with acclaimed speaker and author Udo Erasmus, who has impacted the lives of millions with his teachings on health, peace, nature and human nature. Udo, who has combined his master’s degree in counseling with extensive education in biology, nutrition and genetics, offers a deeper understanding of the human condition and how each of us can create a foundation of peace and harmony to discover better mental and physical health. In this episode, you’ll learn: * Why change feels so difficult to us. * How to redirect our attention to cut through the chaos. * How each of us can cultivate more calm in our lives.
Many of us are feeling fatigued and a little bit powerless over the past couple of years. But this week, host Paula Felps talks with Ashley Bernardi, author of Authentic Power: Give Yourself Permission to Feel, who explains how our most challenging times can hold the secret to our authentic power—if we’ll give ourselves permission to feel it and heal from it. She’ll explain what she learned from her own healing journey and how we can use those same techniques to find greater happiness and authentic power.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why authentic power requires you to acknowledge your traumas.
- Healthy ways to deal with difficult emotions.
- What the FEEL framework is and how to use it.
Positivity is a great thing—unless it becomes toxic. And this week, host Paula Felps sits down with psychotherapist Whitney Goodman, author of the new book, Toxic Positivity: Keeping it Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy. Whitney explains what toxic positivity is, what it does to us, and how to manage it in ourselves and others.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between toxic positivity and healthy positivity.
- What the shame cycle is and how to avoid it.
- The benefits of complaining—and how to do it effectively.
If you’re looking to lead a healthier life this year, it’s important to make sure you’re getting your recommended daily allowance of fun. And this week, host Paula Felps talks with Scott Novis, a former Disney executive and founder of Bravous, a company that helps businesses improve employee experiences through live and virtual games. He shares how he uses fun and games to create happier workplaces — and how you can use those same ideas to deepen connections and create more fun at home.
In this episode, you'll learn: * Why it’s important to carve out time for fun. * How to start a fun committee — and why it matters. * Tips for creating better connections through fun.
It’s the start of a brand-new year, and many of us use this time to set new goals. This week’s guest tells us how we can use neuroscience to coach our brains for happiness. Joseph O’Connor is co-founder of the International Coaching Community and author of 19 books on coaching, training, and neuroscience. His newest book, Coaching the Brain, offers insights into how you use brain coaching techniques and emotional intelligence to create a happier, more fulfilling life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between brain coaching and therapy.
- The importance of memories in being happy.
- What it means to become “well-stressed.”
Making the world a better place and helping those around us begins with change from within. And this week’s guest, Shelly Tygielski, gives us the blueprint on how to do that. Shelly is the author of the new book, Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the Community. She joins host Paula Felps to talk about how each of us can create profound change in the world if we first turn inward and care for ourselves.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How each of us can become an agent for social change.
- The power of showing up and making incremental change.
- Why a commitment to self-care is the best way to help others.
When the pandemic began last year, traditional ways of volunteering and helping others disappeared. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Shelly Tygielski to learn how this Florida mom and meditation teacher brought people together by creating a pandemic of her own. Shelly came up with a plan to connect people who needed help with people who were eager to give help. Her efforts went viral, kicking off what became known as Pandemic of Love — a global, grassroots, mutual aid organization that, within one year, had matched more than 1.5 million people and had allowed donors to directly give $54 million to those in need.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Where the idea to create the Pandemic of Love came from.
- The profound benefits of helping others in your community.
- How you can be involved in this viral movement.
Breathing is something we do every day, but have you thought about the way your breath is affecting your health? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Josh Trent, founder of Wellness Force Media, host of the Wellness Force podcast and the creator of the BREATHE: Breath & Wellness Program. Josh has spent the past 19 years as a trainer, researcher, and facilitator discovering the physical and emotional intelligence we need to thrive in our modern world. In this episode, he talks about how our breath affects our physical and mental well-being — and gives us timely tips for using our breath to get through a hectic holiday season.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What deep breathing does for your overall well-being.
- How to use breath to lower your anxiety.
- What “type” of breather you are — and how it affects you.
It’s time for celebrating the holidays, and for many people, that means walking through the minefield of social gatherings. But this week’s guest has the map to navigate them. Relationship expert Rachel DeAlto, author of the new book, Relatable: How to Connect With Anyone, Anywhere (Even if it Scares You), joins host Paula Felps to talk about why social gatherings may seem more daunting right now and how to ease social anxiety during the holidays (and into the new year).
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to become relatable—and why it can be difficult for so many.
- How to lower your anxiety in social settings.
- Why it’s important to share good news or discuss positive topics.
With the holiday season now officially in full swing, there are a lot of emotions swirling around. And one that often isn’t discussed during this time of year is grief. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Gina Moffa, a therapist who specializes in mindfulness-based therapies and focuses heavily on grief counseling and trauma studies. She talks about why it’s important to honor your grief and how to manage it – in yourself or others – through this holiday season and beyond.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why grief feels so much more consuming during the holidays and special occasions.
- How grief may trigger other emotions — and how to identify and manage them.
- What you can do this holiday season to honor your losses.
This week we’re celebrating Thanksgiving, and of course, that makes it a fantastic time to talk about one of our favorite subjects here at Live Happy Now: Gratitude. In this episode, Dr. Greg Hammer, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, pediatric intensive care physician and author talks about how practicing gratitude can help improve your physical and mental well-being. Then Live Happy’s own Casey Johnson joins us to talk about our ongoing Gratitude Challenge and what’s new in the Live Happy Store!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the GAIN approach is and how it improves wellbeing.
- Examples of gratitude practices you can do in less than 5 minutes.
- How to be part of Live Happy’s ongoing Gratitude Challenge.
The holiday season is upon us, and we want to help you have a healthier, happier season! This week, Tonya Harris — a board-certified holistic nutritionist and author of The Slightly Greener Method — is back to talk about some of the surprising dangers and toxins that are hidden in our favorite holiday decorations and traditions. Then, she’ll tell us how to trade them in for healthier choices.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why your holiday decorations might not be as safe as you thought.
- How to make your home healthier this season (and still have fun!).
- How to apply the 80/20 Rule to your holiday traditions.
How well do you know yourself — and do you want to know more? In this episode, we talk with Erin Claire Jones, a leadership coach who uses the principles of human design to help people understand their individual behavior.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The spiritual principles behind human design.
- How to discover your personal “type”.
- How understanding your type could change the way you make decisions.
November is National Gratitude Month and of course, there’s no way we’d let it pass without a celebration! This week, Live Happy’s own Casey Johnson sits down with Paula Felps to talk about a new gratitude challenge we’re launching and to announce some exciting new things happening with Live Happy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s so important to practice gratitude
- How to be part of the Live Happy Gratitude Challenge
- What’s new on the Live Happy site
What if you could change your entire day—every day—with a high five? This week’s guest is going to tell you how! Mel Robbins is an international bestselling author who specializes in personal transformation. Her latest book, The High 5 Habit, introduces a fascinating, scientifically proven new way to become your own biggest cheerleader. She’s here today to tell you how a simple high five is about to change your life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What happens to your brain when you give yourself a high five.
- Why this simple practice can reset your outlook on life.
- How to join the High 5 Challenge.
Most of us think of yoga as a physical practice, but today’s guest shows us how it can help us develop our intuition and encourage us to follow our dreams. Kori Hahn is a yogi who promotes soul growth through practices like yoga and meditation. Her new book, Rituals of the Soul: Using the 8 Ancient Principles of Yoga to Create a Modern & Meaningful Life, explores yoga through the ancient text called the Yoga Sutras. Kori has translated and simplified that ancient text to create a modern, actionable way to use meditation, breathwork and other practices to develop intuition and cultivate greater focus and joy in our daily lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of learning to listen to our intuition.
- Why mindfulness is an important part of a daily practice.
- How to create your own rituals to inspire change in your life.
We all know that love is important, but why is it sometimes so hard to love ourselves? This week, host Paula Felps talks Dr. Shainna Ali, a mental health clinician and author who promotes a strengths-based approach to the journey of self-love. Her new children’s book, Luna Finds Love Everywhere: A Self-Love Book for Kids, is designed to help children explore the principles of self-love in their own lives. She explains why this book is so valuable for families and why this was the right time to write it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why self-love is critical in mental well-being.
- Why it’s so important to teach self-love to children.
- Simple ways to practice self-love — at any age.
This week, we’re celebrating the 8th anniversary of Live Happy, which published its first magazine issue in October 2013. For this episode, Science Editor and Live Happy Now Host Paula Felps strolls down memory lane with Live Happy Editor Chris Libby to talk about 8 important principles we’ve learned over these 8 years.
Music can help heal our emotional wounds, but it heals us physically, too. This week’s guest, recording artist Paul Cardall, was born with a congenital heart defect that doctors believed he could not survive. But he proved them wrong, and as part of his healing journey, he discovered the power of music. Today, he is a classical pianist who not only creates healing music but shares with others how it can soothe the heart — literally and figuratively.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What made Paul turn to music for healing.
- Why it is beneficial to both the mind and the body.
- How he uses what he’s learned about music to help others heal.
A Grumble-Free Life with Amy Parker & Tricia Goyer
As moms, Amy Parker and Tricia Goyer were no strangers to “the grumbles.” As writers, that led them to team up on the children’s book, The Grumbles: A Story About Gratitude. Find out what inspired this book, how it changed their families and how it can help your family learn to live in gratitude.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How (and why) to identify your “grumble style”.
- What you can do to adopt a more grateful mindset.
- Why it’s important to teach children a gratitude practice.
Anxiety is at an all-time high these days, but this week’s guest says that might not be such a bad thing! Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Her new book, GOOD ANXIETY: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion looks at anxiety in a whole new way and explains how we can use the gift of anxiety to improve our focus, productivity, communication skills and so much more.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why anxiety can become our best ally.
- What languishing is and what we can do about it.
- How anxiety can help us build empathy.
Stanford professor and psychologist William Damon didn’t learn the truth about his missing father until he became an adult. That surprising discovery led him on a journey to make peace with his past, and he talks about that journey in his fascinating new book, A Round of Golf with My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace with Your Present.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The importance of finding your purpose.
- What a life review is — and how it can change your future.
- Why it’s never too late to reevaluate your past.
These days, most of us are taking a more hands-on approach to our health. And this week’s guest is going to explain why both physical and mental health are all in the gut. Dr. Sabine Hazan is a leading researcher and practitioner in the field of the gut microbiome. She’s here to talk about what a gut microbiome is, how it affects our overall well-being, and how to improve your own gut microbiome.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a gut microbiome is.
- How your gut microbiome affects your mental health.
- Why your gut microbiome is key to a healthy immune system.
Pets bring us a tremendous amount of joy, but their loss creates a deep sense of grief. This week, as we honor National Dog Day on August 26 and Grief Awareness Day on August 30, we’re looking at the complicated journey of pet loss. This week’s guest, Brittany Derrenbacher, has focused her mental health studies on the complicated journey of pet loss and is here to tell us more about how to navigate this journey.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The “3 G’s” of pet loss.
- Why it’s so important to acknowledge the loss of our pets.
- The role of gratitude in grief.
Singer songwriter Mary Gauthier has been changing the world one song at a time for the past 20 years. This week, Mary joins host Paula Felps to talk about her new book, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, which is a fascinating look at the healing power of music both for those who create it and those who listen to it. She also talks with us about her work with SongwritingWith:Soldiers and Frontline Songs, and how those organizations are using music to help individuals heal from the trauma they’ve experienced.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Mary found her calling as a songwriter.
- Why music is so important to our mental health.
- How music is helpful in healing from trauma.
The International Positive Psychology Association holds its World Congress to bring together the leading researchers and practitioners every other year. This week, host Paula Felps and Live Happy editor Chris Libby talk about some of the programs we enjoyed during this year’s virtual IPPA World Congress and discuss what research most intrigued and surprised us — and what we’re excited to learn more about. Here’s how that conversation went.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The latest research in positive psychology.
- How the pandemic affected our mental health.
- The importance of resilience and post-traumatic growth.
Health and happiness go hand in hand, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start creating a healthier home. This week’s guest has been there, and she brought along a roadmap! Tonya Harris, a board-certified holistic nutritionist and author of The Slightly Greener Method, shows us how little adjustments can have a big impact on your family’s health. She shares how to create a cleaner, greener and healthier home.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The danger of being “aggressively green.”
- What the READ method is and how it can guide you on your detox journey.
- How to spot the toxins in the products you use.
Last year, poet Maggie Smith gave us the book we needed with the bestseller Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity and Change. This year, she’s back with a new book that helps us rediscover the magic of living in the moment. In this episode, Maggie talks about her new book, Goldenrod, which explores such common themes as parenthood, gratitude, solitude, love and loss. Then she explains how she has learned to live in the moment.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of slowing down and paying attention to the world around you.
- How being less busy can make you more productive.
- The importance of taking time to see things from a new perspective.
As the song says, ya gotta have friends. But do you know just how good they are for you? This week’s guest, Hal Urban, is a lifelong teacher and author whose positive outlook has earned him the nickname, “The Good News Guy.” With his new book, The Power of Good News: Feeding Your Mind With What’s Good for Your Heart, he looks at the importance of positivity in our lives. In this episode, he explains what friendships do for us and how we can better understand and tap into their benefits.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to seek out friendship.
- The health benefits we receive from our friendships.
- How friendships help build more positivity.
Summertime is a great time to catch up on your reading, and this week, we’re going to give you some tips on great positive psychology reads for the rest of your summer. Andrea Goeglein is an author, business consultant and co-founder of the Hey, Boss Lady! podcast. She also has advanced training in positive psychology and incorporates its elements into her work as a success coach for business leaders. This week, she talks about five groundbreaking positive psychology books that can make your summer happier and improve your well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What we can learn from the early positive psychology research.
- Why it’s important to know the roots of current research.
- How to start building your own reading list.
Stress and anxiety are something we’re all familiar with, but this week’s guest uses the science of epigenetics to discover how stress and trauma from previous generations are affecting us today. Dr. Valerie Rein’s book, Patriarchy Stress Disorder: The invisible Inner Barrier to Women’s Happiness and Fulfillment, looks at the research behind this reality and provides tools for identifying and managing intergenerational stress. Today, she’s here to talk about how this works in our lives and how we can identify and overcome it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How toxic stress from trauma is passed on through generations.
- What Patriarchy Stress Disorder is and why it is the cause of so much underlying stress.
- Why the pandemic was particularly challenging for women — and what to do about it now.
Our world has become increasingly divided, but this week’s guest tells us how we can begin to close that divide. Peter Montoya is a thought leader, speaker and author who promotes civility and self-leadership as tools for change. His new book, The Second Civil War: A citizen’s guide to healing our fractured nation, looks at the challenges we’re facing as a society, how technology and media consumption increases our anxiety, and what each of us can do to help stop the conflict.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What excessive news consumption and social media do to our brains.
- How to reduce your anxiety and create a new way to consume media.
- Actionable steps to begin healing damaged relationships.
Today’s technology-driven world allows us to connect with others and stay informed like never before. But it’s no secret that living in the information age is also keeping us distracted and drained. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Charles Chaffin, a researcher, educator and the author of Numb: How the Information Age Dulls Our Senses and How We Can Get Them Back. His research looks at how our attention is being affected by everything from social media and cable news to dating apps and pornography.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the information overload is doing to our mental health.
- How 24/7 news feeds are affecting our compassion.
- How we can better manage our attention in such a noisy world.
For almost 20 years, Dr. Kristin Neff has been teaching us about how to improve our well-being through self-compassion. Now, she’s teaching us how to get fierce. Kristin is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion and her newest book, Fierce Self-Compassion, looks at an often-overlooked aspect of self-compassion. But fierce self-compassion is just as important to our well-being as tender self-compassion, and she’s here to tell us why.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between tender self-compassion and fierce self-compassion.
- Why it’s particularly important for women to learn how to practice fierce self-compassion.
- Simple ways to begin implementing fierce self-compassion.
Creativity is something that often gets put on the back burner in our busy lives filled with obligations and deadlines. But Jill Allison Bryan believes that saying “yes” to your creative dreams can help make you a happier, healthier and more fulfilled human being—while making the world a better place. Jill is the founder of Creative Oasis Coaching and she has devoted her life to helping people identify their creative desires and helps them lose their creative blocks to discover freedom, purpose and joy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why using creativity affects your happiness.
- How to prioritize creativity — even if you think you’re too busy.
- How to create your own creativity summer camp.
When the pandemic struck, many people wondered how it was possible to be happy with all the stress and tragedy going on around us. But this week’s guest saw this as a perfect opportunity to understand happiness even better. With his new book, Happier No Matter What, New York Times bestselling author Tal Ben-Shahar looks at how we can cultivate hope, resilience and purpose during the most difficult times of our lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why happiness matters during challenging times.
- What the SPIRE method is and how it can help us.
- The difference between being happy and being happier.
Many of us go through times when we wonder what it would take to make us happier, but Jackson Kerchis took that question to a whole different level. Jackson created and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in happiness, integrating insights from neuroscience, positive psychology, religion, philosophy, and direct experience to provide a comprehensive study of what makes us happy. He designed and instructs the University of Alabama’s first ever Happiness 101 course, which is built around his Happiness Habits Project.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why he created his own happiness studies.
- The role of habits in promoting happiness.
- How the brain changes with mind training.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and while there are more resources for mental health than ever before, it’s still a topic that’s often overlooked when it comes to men. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with motivational speaker and wellness expert Quentin Vennie about overcoming the stigma men face when it comes to caring for their mental health. His bestselling memoir, Strong in the Broken Places, detailed his journey from anxiety, depression and addiction to his discovery of wellness practices that he now teaches to others.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why men need to put more focus on their mental health.
- How women can help on their mental health journey.
- What the Trinity of Wellness is and how to practice it.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and since we also just celebrated Mother’s Day, it’s a great time to look at where those two things intersect. This week, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor about “Mom Rage.” This condition has become prevalent as mothers deal with the added stress of parenting during a pandemic and Dr. Jill, author of Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life, is here to talk about the four characters we all have that manage our emotional reactions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why the pandemic has been harder on mothers.
- What the four characters in your brain do for you.
- How to use these four characters to create better outcomes.
In just a few days, we’re going to celebrate Mother’s Day, so there’s no better time to take with Abigail Tucker, an award-winning science journalist, New York Times bestselling author and mother of four. She’s also author of the brand new book, Mom Genes: Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct. In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Abigail about what moms are made of and the many ways motherhood changes a woman. Her fascinating findings just might change everything you thought you knew about moms!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What factors shape a mother’s behavior.
- How motherhood reconfigures a woman’s brain.
- How external events influence maternity.
A recent study showed that many Americans are feeling anxious about returning to their workplaces. To wrap up National Stress Awareness Month, host Paula Felps is talking with Darlene Marshall, who combines her master’s in applied positive psychology with fitness and personal training to create a well-rounded approach to well-being. She also hosts the Better Than Fine podcast, and she’s here to talk about how why going back to work is stressing us out … and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What could be making you feel stressed out about returning to work — and how to manage it.
- How employers can help ease workers’ stress.
- A simple practice that helps relieve stress.
April is National Stress Awareness Month, and as you might be aware … we’re a little more stressed out than we used to be! In this episode, host Paula Felps talks with Dr. Dravon James — an author, host of Everyday Peace on Unity Radio and an inspirational speaker who has made it her life purpose to help others to tap into their natural ability to transform their lives. She tells us how we can change our lives for the better by changing our approach to stress.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The surprising hidden benefits of stress.
- Why some stress-relieving practices may actually lead to more stress.
- How gratitude helps relieve stress.
Whether we realize it or not, all of us have certain rituals that help us feel grounded and connected. But did you know you can use those rituals to improve your well-being? This week’s guest, Jan Stanley, specializes in helping others live happier lives through the creation of habits, practices and rituals. She’s here to talk about how adopting an intentional ritual can help reduce anxiety and can even help manage the grief and disruption created by the pandemic.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why rituals are so important.
- How to create an effective personal ritual.
- Using rituals to manage grief, anxiety and other negative emotions.
We spend a lot of time in today’s world celebrating youthfulness and anti-aging, but what if instead we learned how to celebrate the gift of growing older? In this episode, we talk with Stephanie Raffelock, author of A Delightful Little Book on Aging and the forthcoming book, Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women. She shares how midlife provides a new opportunity to explore our creativity and reimagine our future.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why we’re afraid of getting older.
- How to rethink the aging process.
- How grief and loss inform the way we age.
With your help, we’ve been celebrating happiness throughout the month of March. Now, as it comes to an end, we’re looking at how you helped make the world a happier place and what you can do to keep it going. Live Happy founder and CEO Deborah Heisz joins us to talk about the ongoing Gratitude Challenge and we talk about some of the findings from the 2021 World Happiness Report.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to continue the Live Happy 10-Day Gratitude Challenge.
- Why it’s important to celebrate the International Day of Happiness.
- How COVID-19 affected happiness around the world.
We talk a lot about the importance of social connection for maintaining our well-being, but how do you find happiness when you’re socially distanced? This week’s guest is Dr. Jennifer Wegmann, a professor in the Department of Health and Wellness Studies at Binghamton University. She teaches classes on stress management and contemporary health Issues, and her audiobook Resilience: How to Master Stress, Reduce Anxiety, and Live Well,provides listeners with a new, informed mindset about stress. She’s here to talk about how we can improve our happiness and our connections while staying safe and healthy.
In this episode, you'll learn: * The difference between social distancing and isolation. * How this current time can help us re-evaluate what we need for our personal happiness. * How finding purpose during a pandemic can help us help others.
It’s no secret that doing good for others is also good for us. But have you ever thought about exactly why doing good is so powerful? This week, Megan McDonough, CEO and founder of the Wholebeing Institute and the author of four books on mindfulness, joins host Paula Felps to find out what’s so great about doing good. Megan is an expert in the science of human flourishing, and she’s here to tell us what doing good does for us and how we can find what she calls the “spark of yes.”
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why doing good is so crucial for yourself and for others.
- How the pressure of affects our desire to do good — and what to do about it.
- How to notice and say “yes” to the spark that wants to serve.
Strong relationships are proven to create more joy in our lives, so this week, we’re looking at how to celebrate our friendships and build stronger connections. Molly Galbraith, founder of the Girls Gone Strong fitness philosophy and author of the new book, Strong Women Lift Each Other Up, joins host Paula Felps to look at how supporting one another creates a ripple effect that generates new opportunities and deepens relationships, then offers tips on how all of us can become more supportive and improve our own friendships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How social media and comparison could be damaging your relationships.
- Small, simple ways to lift up those around you.
- Why it’s important to stay connected — especially now.
On March 8, we’ll celebrate International Women’s Day, and this episode’s guest is throwing a celebration like no other. Carin Rockind, also known as The Purpose Girl, tells us about an amazing event designed to inspire women around the world. Carin has put together a lineup of powerful, motivating women who will help you make 2021 your best year yet. Whether you’re looking to jumpstart your fitness program, find your purpose, improve your relationships or launch your entrepreneurial dreams, The Women’s Day Event can help you find the mojo and motivation you’re missing.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to experience The Women’s Day Event.
- What to expect from this event.
- Why it’s so important for women to celebrate this day.
This week, we’re kicking off an entire month of happiness to celebrate the International Day of Happiness on March 20. As part of that celebration, we’re launching the Live Happy 10-Day Gratitude Challenge, which is a great way to share your gratitude for friends, family and co-workers. This week’s guest, Kira Newman, is managing editor at the Greater Good Science Center and co-editor of the book, The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good. She tells us what gratitude does for us, how we can make it part of our lives and why it’s even more important during difficult times.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How gratitude brings people together.
- Simple ways to start rewiring your brain for gratitude.
- How gratitude and giving go hand in hand.
What if the way you eat could change the way food affects your health? This week's guest explains how you can enjoy better health by changing your approach to food. Dr. Michael Fenster, better known as Chef Dr. Mike, is the only cardiologist in the world who also has an academic degree in culinary medicine. He also teaches a course in culinary medicine and encourages people to take control of their health, wellness and happiness through their relationship with food. In this episode, he talks about mindful eating, how it affects us and how you can start your own mindful eating practice.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The health benefits of mindful eating.
- What culinary medicine is and why it matters.
- How to find greater happiness through healthy, mindful eating.
March is a special month at Live Happy Now, because the International Day of Happiness is on March 20. But we celebrate happiness all month long with something we call #HappyActs. This week, Live Happy cofounder and CEO Deborah K. Heisz talks about how to celebrate the International Day of Happiness in a socially distanced world and how to be a part of our brand new Live Happy gratitude challenge.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to participate in the Live Happy Gratitude Challenge.
- What the International Day of Happiness is all about.
- How to celebrate happiness all month long.
Having hope is crucial not just to our happiness, but to our survival. But what happens when you start to lose hope? This week’s guest is Margaret Dulaney, founder of the popular spiritual spoken word site, Listen Well. In her latest book, Parables of Sunlight, she tells her own story of finding hope during difficult times. She’s here today to talk about her story and what we can all learn about hope, perseverance, and resilience.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why practicing hope is a necessity, not a luxury.
- How to build your “hope muscle”.
- How being in nature helps nurture hope.
Anxiety affects millions of people and it’s no secret that the pandemic — and other events of the past year — haven’t helped make us feel more calm. In this episode, speaker, author and therapist Dr. Lauren Cook looks at how anxiety in itself has become an epidemic, how it’s affecting us and why it’s on the rise right now. Then she offers some solutions to begin making peace with your own anxiety.
Whether we recognize it or not, all of us have great creative resources within us, and they can help us discover greater happiness. This week’s guest is Doug Patton, an industrial designer who was featured on ABC’s American Inventor television series and has created more than 300 products in 20 international market categories. His new book, Conquering the Chaos of Creativity, provides a map to help you find your own creative process. He’s here to talk about the connection between creativity and happiness and help each of us learn to find our own creative superpowers.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why creativity is so beneficial for happiness.
- The six different creativity styles — and how to find yours.
- The connection between exercise, meditation and creativity.
Last year was stressful for everyone in one way or another, and the new year has brought more uncertainty and unrest in its early days. That is leaving many people feeling not just stressed, but traumatized. In this episode, Dr. Karol Darsa — a licensed psychologist and the founder and executive director of Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Center in Los Angeles — talks with host Paula Felps about how stress and trauma affect us and what strategies we can use to manage our feelings in a time of uncertainty.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between trauma and stress.
- Why journaling is so helpful in dealing with trauma and stress.
- Why we need to play more during stressful times.
Right now, many of us feel like we just want someone to swoop in and fix the world. That’s where Franklin Rock comes in. Franklin Rock is a fictional character created by this week’s guest, physician Mark E. Klein. After writing two books on purpose and happiness, Mark took a new approach to the message and created a character who goes on a mission to fix the world. Little did Mark know that he had created the exact hero we need for 2021. On this episode, he talks about how this story came about, what we can learn from it and how Franklin Rock can give all of us a new perspective.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why worrying about our choices is an exercise in futility
- What the real mission in life is all about
- Why death isn’t something to fear
As we begin 2021, many different emotions are at play. Whether it’s relief, anticipation, hope or even dealing with a sense of loss and grief, this is a time of reflection and a chance to look at what we want to create for the year ahead. This week’s guest is Carew Papritz, author of The Legacy Letters and a passionate advocate for civility and conscious living. He’s here to talk about how we can use this time as an opportunity to create personal change that will last a lifetime and define our personal legacy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why this time presents such a wonderful opportunity for all of us.
- What the Regret Test is and how it can change the way you live.
- Why it’s important to write down what you want to accomplish.
With a new year on the horizon, many of us are thinking about our new year’s resolutions. But this year, what if you made a plan instead? This week’s guest, Brent Franson, is founder of Most Days, a life improvement platform designed to let you create healthy routines while also getting a social support system. He’ll tell us how his own struggles led to creating this platform and how he’s using it to help others address challenges like depression, anxiety, loneliness, sleep disturbances and more.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The importance of having a routine to address your personal challenges.
- Why it’s important to learn which of your habits affect your mood.
- Why having someone to hold you accountable can help improve your outcomes.
As Christmas arrives this week, most of us are experiencing the holidays in a very different way than we’re used to. In fact, for many, it doesn’t feel much like Christmas at all. This week, we’re joined by Dr. Jennifer Wegmann, a professor at Binghamton University and author of Resilience: How to Master Stress, Reduce Anxiety and Live Well. She’s here to give us some tips on how to redefine the holidays and make this time one of gratitude and renewal.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it's important to change mindsets and expectations for the holidays.
- How the 2020 holiday season is allowing us to slow down and discover what is most meaningful in our lives.
- Why thinking outside the box gives us the opportunity to reimagine, recreate, and redefine the holidays.
It’s the holiday season, which means it’s time for Christmas music and holiday cheer. This week’s guest is Aneesa Sheik, a rising singer/songwriter who uses her music to deliver an inspirational message. Not only does she do that with her new single, Happy Little Holiday, but she strives to make all of her music uplifting and empowering. She’s here to tell us more about her music, what shapes the positive messaging in her songs and why she started a non-profit organization to reach patients in nursing homes and hospitals during the pandemic.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How music is such a powerful healing tool
- How we can use music to connect with others
- Where to learn more about Music4M.I.R.A.C.L.E.
It’s no secret that, here at Live Happy, we are fans of positivity. But why are people now talking about toxic positivity?
In this episode, author and therapist Dr. Lauren Cook joins us to talk about how this usually well-meaning approach to positivity can create a backlash. Toxic positivity is a form of happiness that can actually damage personal and professional relationships, so this episode looks at what it is, why it is harmful to us and our loved ones, and what we can do to overcome it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to tell if you’re practicing toxic positivity.
- Why it can be harmful to relationships.
- How to create a balanced perspective that integrates optimism and reality.
Many of us would do just about anything for our pets. But have you thought about how much your pet is doing for you?
This week’s guest is here to tell us! Dr. Margit Gabriele Muller is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and executive director at Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital. But she’s also a speaker, life coach and author of multiple books on animals, including her latest — Your Pet, Your Pill: 101 Inspirational Stories About How Pets Lead You to a Happy, Healthy and Successful Life. She’s here to explain what our furry, feathered and finned friends are doing for our health and overall well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How pets are beneficial for our daily lives and our health.
- How pets have been so important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- How to learn to “listen” to your pet.
This has been the most unusual and, for many, the most difficult year in recent memory. So what’s gratitude got to do with it? As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it’s the perfect time to talk about how important gratitude is – not only at Thanksgiving, but as a daily practice. Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah K. Heisz joins us to talk about gratitude and other practices to make this unusual Thanksgiving more meaningful.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why gratitude is more important than ever right now.
- Simple ways to increase gratitude in your own life.
- How to share your gratitude with others.
As we get older, it’s common to start thinking about what kind of legacy we’re leaving behind. But what if we started thinking about living our legacy instead of leaving it?
This week’s guest is Codi Shewan, author of Everyday Legacy: Living Your Life with Purpose, Right Now. Codi’s career in the funeral industry gave him unique insight into death and the realization that every day matters. Now, he explains how each of us can discover our own legacy and live it to the fullest.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to live a legacy.
- How to use the time of COVID as a chance to re-evaluate your life and legacy.
- How to help others discover their legacy.
Intuition is something we’re all born with, but somewhere along the way, the noise of the outside world can drown out our inner voice. Or we forget to stop “listening to our gut.” But learning to listen to our intuition can improve virtually every aspect of our lives and help take mindfulness to the next level. This week’s guest, Kim Chestney, is an expert on intuition and author of the new book, Radical Intuition: A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power. She explains how tapping into our intuition can change our lives — and what we can do to start.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to learn to listen to your intuition.
- How to tune into and develop your intuition.
- Why insightfulness is the next step beyond mindfulness.
Grief is a difficult subject, and it can be even more difficult when trying to manage it with children. After the sudden death of her husband, Ashley Bugge found herself not only raising two children and planning for the birth of her third child, but also trying to help them live in a world suddenly consumed by grief. Unable to find books that spoke to children about grief in real terms, together she and her children wrote a remarkable book titled, A Hui Hou: Until We Meet Again.
This week, Ashley discusses how to talk to children about grief and loss to help them understand their feelings and live a happier life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to have honest conversations about grief with children.
- How to make new memories as a family while grieving loss.
- Signs a child may be struggling with grief.
If you’ve been feeling a bit more stressed or anxious lately, you aren’t alone. A new study by the American Psychological Association finds that this election is a “significant source of stress” for some 70% of Americans.
The term Election Stress Disorder was coined in 2016 by psychologist and author Steven Stosny to describe the anxiety and distress people were feeling. Now, the intensity of the current election has led to even greater levels of stress, which are amplified by social media and concerns about the pandemic.
This week’s guest is Erin Wiley, a clinical psychotherapist and executive director of The Willow Center in Toledo, Ohio. Erin’s here to explain how Election Stress Disorder affects us and how we can avoid it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why regulating exposure to the news and social media is so important.
- How mindfulness can help during this time.
- Tips for preparing your mind for Election Day — and the days that follow.
In today’s busy world, it is often easy to overlook the value of those friendships. After a cancer diagnosis, lawyer-turned-life coach Shari Leid realized that she wanted her friends to know how much they meant to her. So she made a list of 50 women and sat down with each one, face to face, to tell them what they had done for her. Not only did it change her life and the lives of her friends, but it led to the book The 50/50 Friendship Flow: Life Lessons From and For My Girlfriends.
This week, Shari joins us to talk about how this mission changed her life and how you can use the same process to deepen your own friendships and discover greater gratitude in your life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why everyone in your life is either a student or a teacher.
- How deepening your friendships improves your happiness.
- Why creating your own Friendship Challenge is even more important during a time of COVID-19.
We make decisions every day, but how often do you really think about the process that goes into making those choices? This episode’s guest has built her life on making the right decisions: As a former professional poker player, Annie Duke who won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring in 2012. But she also studied cognitive psychology, is a bestselling author and a consultant on decision-making. Her new book, How to Decide, picks up where her last book, Thinking in Bets, left off.
This week, Annie’s here to talk about how to find better outcomes by changing the way we make our decisions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the Happiness Test is and how it can change the way you make decisions.
- How embracing uncertainty can make us more decisive.
- When to decide fast, when to decide slow and when to decide in advance.
We’ve all told little white lies, but have you thought about how honest you really are in your day to day life? When Judi Ketteler started thinking about it, she realized that maybe she wasn’t as honest as she thought. So she delved into the research on honesty and began looking at her own habits. The result of that work is her new book, Would I Lie to You? The Amazing Power of Being Honest in a World That Lies. This week, Judi’s here to talk about why we lie, how it affects our happiness and how we can all live our lives with more honesty.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why honesty affects our happiness.
- How consciously becoming more honest changes our lives.
- The importance of being honest in a dishonest world.
There’s no question that our world needs more kindness right now, which is why this week, we are talking to Houston Kraft, author of the new book Deep Kindness: A Revolutionary Guide for the Way We Think, Talk, and Act in Kindness. He’s here to talk about the gap between our belief in kindness and our ability to practice it. He’ll also tell us what new skills we need to acquire to better practice kindness and what we can do to turn our intentions into actions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to practice “deep kindness”.
- 3 things that prevent us from practicing kindness.
- How to implement kindness as a daily practice.
Whether you’re an educator or a parent, the concept of positive education is something that can change your life … as well as the life of your student or child. In these times, it’s more important than ever to understand the role that well-being plays in the lives of students, teachers, administrators and parents. This week, Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah K. Heisz joins us to talk about the upcoming International Positive Education Network’s 2020 Well-being in Education Virtual Conference. This event is being offered entirely online for the first time and it’s also free for anyone who wants to attend. Tune in to learn more!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What positive education is and why it matters.
- How to attend this free virtual event.
- What you can expect to learn.
Mindfulness is something that pretty much all of us have heard of and many of us want to practice it. But sometimes just the idea of learning how to be more mindful seems daunting.
This episode’s guests are experts in mindfulness and they’re also good friends. That friendship and shared passion for mindfulness has resulted in the book, A Mindful Year: 365 Ways to Find Connection and the Sacred in Everyday Life. Join us as Dr. Aria Campbell-Danesh and Dr. Seth Gillihan tell how this book came about – and how you can use it daily to start or reinforce your mindfulness practice.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What practicing mindfulness can do for you.
- How to implement mindfulness every day.
- Why mindfulness is more important right now than ever.
All of us feel guilty from time to time, but if you’re having trouble letting go of guilt – well, you’re not alone. Guilt is a difficult emotion which is why Valorie Burton, founder of the Coaching and Positive Psychology Institute, is tackling it in her latest book, Let Go of the Guilt. This week, she talks about why it’s so tough to manage and gives us new tools for getting rid of that pesky thing called guilt.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to identify real guilt vs. false guilt.
- How to let go of guilt and live a more fulfilling life.
- Why guilt seemingly affects more women than men and what to do about it.
A lot of us would like to learn how to calm the chaos around us right now, and it just so happens that this week’s guest literally wrote the book on that. Nicola Ries Taggart is a life strategist, author and speaker who helps people discover a more centered, conscious approach to everyday life. Two years ago, she wrote the book Calm the Chaos, a journal designed to help users align their outer presence with inner peace. She talks about how you can learn to calm the chaos … even in these rather chaotic times.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What practices you can use to calm the chaos.
- How she discovered these practices and why they have been so important in the past year.
- Why journaling every day — even for just a few minutes — can change your life.
Are you living in your heart, or living in your head? If you’re spending more time in your head than in your heart, this week’s episode is perfect for you.
Sarah Blondin is an author and podcast host whose work has been translated into several languages and is in use in prison, recovery, and wellness programs. Her new book, HEART MINDED: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love, tells us how we can get out of our heads and into our hearts to find our true selves and learn how to discover – and attain — what we truly need.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to become heart-minded.
- How practicing “soul-itude” can help you find your heart center.
- Why solitude can be challenging and how to practice it anyway.
Accepting the difficult events in our lives is a key part of our well-being. Acceptance allows us to cultivate a sense of calm that allows us to better deal with stress. As we deal with an increasingly uncertain world, how can learning more about acceptance help increase our happiness? This week, psychologist Scott Hass, author of Why Be Happy? The Japanese Way of Acceptance talks about how ukeireru, the Japanese principle of acceptance, can help each of us during troubled times.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How learning acceptance changes your response to situations.
- Ways to increase your practice of acceptance.
- How to practice acceptance as a family.
In recent years, we’ve learned a lot about the profound transformative effect that empathy can have on us. For more than a decade, this week’s guest has been on a mission to help bring those powerful lessons to children. Lysa Heslov is founder of Children Mending Hearts, an organization that combats bullying and intolerance by inspiring empathy in children using art and other programs. Her Los Angeles based program has now grown into a national movement, and tell us how it works, why it matters and what all of us can do to get more empathy in our lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why empathy is so important during these uncertain times.
- How empathy can help reduce bullying.
- The long-term effects of teaching children about empathy.
It’s a brand new month and it’s also a brand new season of Live Happy Now. As we start this new season Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz and Paula Felps talk about how things changed for all of us last season, and what we can expect to see in the coming weeks and months.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What we’ll be talking about this season
- Where you can get the Live Happy Daily Happiness
- How to tell us what you'd like to hear on the show.
Anxiety is something that many of us are familiar with—particularly now. But have you considered embracing it? This week’s guest, Karla McLaren, makes the case for delving into this emotion and using it as a force of energy. Her book, Embracing Anxiety: How to Access the Genius of This Vital Emotion, takes a completely new look at how anxiety can benefit us. This week, she talks about how important it is to recognize what anxiety can do for us and learn how to use it for positive effect.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How anxiety can help us prepare for the future.
- Why procrastination is actually considered a form of anxiety.
- The difference between panic and anxiety.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Lise Van Susteren was noticing a new phenomenon: patients were often plagued by worry, disturbing and intrusive thoughts, sleep disruptions, grief and more. She identified this trend as a condition she calls emotional inflammation, and along with health writer Stacey Colino wrote a book by the same name. As it turns out, Emotional Inflammation: Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium During Anxious Times is exactly the book we need for our current situation. This week, she talks about how the pandemic has only heightened our emotional inflammation — and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What is emotional inflammation and what does it do to us?
- How does controlling the flow of information in your life help cool emotional inflammation — and how do you do that?
- What is the difference between being a bystander and an upstander?
If you’ve ever had a sudden feeling of distress that triggers your fight or flight response, then you know what it’s like to have your emotions hijacked. And if that’s something you’ve experienced recently, you’re not alone. This week, clinical psychologist and mindfulness expert Dr. Shauna Shapiro returns to talk about how current times might be affecting your emotions and what practices you can use — both individually and as a family — to regulate them.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What an “amygdala hijack” is and how to manage it.
- Why identifying your emotions can help bring calm to your life.
- Simple practices to help regulate your emotions.
All of us have lost something this year, and that’s affecting us whether we realize it or not. This week, we’re joined by Erin Wiley, a clinical psychotherapist and executive of The Willow Center, a counseling practice in Toledo, Ohio. She’s here to talk about the many ways our losses could be affecting us and our loved ones, and to give us tips on processing grief and coping with the changes brought by the pandemic.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to feel your grief as it arises
- Tips for coping with grief and loss
- How to discuss and manage loss as a family
If there was ever a year that needed a soothing soundtrack, it would be the year that we’re in now. Music has powerful healing properties, and nobody knows that better than this week’s guest. Dr. Sandi Curtis is an internationally trained music therapist who specializes in working with women and children survivors of violence. She helps survivors navigate their way through recovery with help from music, and this week she’s here to talk about how all of us can use music to help us through this challenging year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why music is such a powerful healing tool.
- What brain entrainment is and why it’s good for your mental health.
- How the music you listen to can change your state.
As an Emmy-winning reporter for ABC News, Adrienne Bankert has covered some of life's most tragic moments, but it has never made her lose sight of her desire to find the best in people. Her experience interviewing inspiring people, from wounded warriors to high-profile celebrities, helped her want to understand more about one of her life’s guiding principles: kindness. This week, she talks about her new book, Your Hidden Superpower: The Kindness That Makes You Unbeatable at Work and Connects You with Anyone, and explains why practicing kindness is so good for us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How kindness makes anyone unbeatable.
- The difference between being nice and being kind.
- Simple things you can do every day to practice kindness.
Since the release of his first hit single, The Remedy (I Won’t Worry), in 2002, Jason Mraz has based his musical career on sharing positive, uplifting music. On June 19, the two-time Grammy winner is releasing Look for the Good, an album that encourages us to find hope, optimism and gratitude despite the turmoil we’re experiencing this year. In this episode, Jason explains how this collection of songs came about, what he learned in the process of writing and recording this album and what he hopes every one of us takes away from it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why he believes it’s so important to look for the good in every situation.
- How music can help soothe and heal us.
- The power of remaining positive.
At any given time, everyone is going through something in their lives. But rarely do we have a situation where so many people are collectively going through such trying times. The good news is, we’re going to get through this, and we can use this time to build new habits and be stronger than before.
This week, we talk with Aneesh Chaudhry, founder of the brain health clinic SoulPhysio Lifestyle, where he works with a team of doctors, psychologists and other healthcare professionals to take a whole body approach to mental and physical wellness. He’s here to talk about how to manage our energy and deal with such negative emotions as grief, loss and anxiety.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of learning and practicing acceptance.
- What energy management is and why it matters.
- How to work through negative feelings during difficult times.
Imagine living in a world that has been plagued by great tragedy. The world as you knew it is gone, all the stores are closed, and you can’t see your friends. Sound familiar? Interestingly enough, we’re not talking about real life right now; we’re talking about Shadow’s Edge, a mobile game and lifestyle platform that was created to help teens and young adults build resilience.
This week, we’re talking with Rosemary Lokhorst, one of the creative minds behind this innovative platform. Let’s listen as she explains how this game has helped teens and young adults deal with chronic illness, anxiety and now, a pandemic.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What narrative therapy is and why it’s so effective.
- How we can all stay a little more connected and mentally strong through these tough times.
- How families can use Shadow’s Edge together.
Today’s world has become increasingly challenging, so it’s fitting that this week, we’re talking about simplicity. How do you find more simplicity in a complex world? Well, it’s complicated.
This week, author and social commentator Julia Hobsbawm looks at how we can live a simpler, more creative and productive life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the infobesity epidemic is and how to overcome it.
- How to use Hexagon Action to simplify your tasks.
- How to become one of the “focused few.”
By now, most of us are aware of how important it is to be able to use tools like mindfulness and meditation to help create inner calm. But as tough as it can be for adults, imagine what it’s like for a child to master it.
This week’s guest has found a way to teach children things like meditation, mindfulness, yoga and more with the help of some very cute ninja bunnies. Kamala Alcantara is co-founder and chief content officer of Ninja Focus, an app that helps young children learn breathing techniques, mindfulness and emotional regulation. Her goal is to help strengthen families and motivate children to be kinder, more compassionate and happier. Let’s hear how Ninja Focus can help them do that.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why learning breathing techniques is so valuable.
- How teaching mindfulness to children benefits them later in life.
- How to use Ninja Focus as a family.
Tapping into your creativity is a proven way to increase your personal well-being. It can put you in a positive mood, give you a sense of purpose, promote problem solving and reduce stress and anxiety. But sometimes, we get so busy with our lives that we lose touch with our creative side.
This week’s guest is an expert in tapping into creativity. Martha Alderson is an author who also works with bestselling authors, Hollywood directors, artists and performers all over the world to tap into their creativity. Now, you can try this at home! Martha’s new book, Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps and Other Creative Blocks, can walk you through the steps back to discovering your creative self.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the Universal Story is and how it relates to you.
- The spiritual value of connecting with your creativity.
- How working on creativity as a family can help build communication and solve problems.
For many of us, right now it seems a little bit harder than usual to find the good in the world, and finding things to be optimistic about can seem like even more of a chore. If you’re having struggling with that, you’re in the right place.
This week, Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heisz talks about how we can look for what's good in these trying times to find positivity and optimism—and make the most of this most unusual time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to use the gift of extra time that we’ve been giving.
- Ways to interact with others in a time of social distancing.
- How to spend time evaluating what’s important to make the right decisions for your future.
If ever there was a time to take a deep breath, it’s right now. And this week’s guest is uniquely qualified to walk us through how to do that.
Victoria Albina is a functional nurse practitioner, certified breathwork meditation facilitator, life coach and host of the Feminist Wellness podcast. She not only understands the mind/body connection, but she has great tips for helping us use our breath to calm our stress response, boost our immune system and enjoy each moment just a little bit more.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How your automatic nervous system and vagus nerve are affecting your reactions.
- How to restore and replenish yourself after experiencing substantial stress.
- How breathwork can calm your body and also improve your immune system.
With so much going on in the world today, you might have hit the point of asking “why bother?” A lot of situations feel pretty grim right now and some days it’s hard to find the energy and enthusiasm you need.
Today’s guest knows exactly what you’re feeling, and, even better, she has incredible insight to share on how to navigate these crazy times. Jennifer Louden is a personal growth expert and author of the new book, Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What’s Next, and she has a lot to say about why we should bother, how to discover our next steps and even how to enjoy the journey.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- Why asking the important question, “Why bother?” is a good thing.
- Why your desires matter.
- The importance of self-care and self-forgiveness.
We are spending most of our time at home right now, and no matter how much you love the space you live in, or the people you share it with, some days it might seem like it’s the last place you want to be.
This week’s guest is an expert at turning our homes into our happy places. Interior designer Rebecca West, author of Happy Starts at Home and owner of Seriously.Happy.Homes, believes in putting the “om” back in home. To do that, she takes a holistic approach to discovering what you need from your home and how to make the most of the space you have. Listen in as she tells us how to make our surroundings support what we need—both physically and emotionally—during this time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to create space for everyone—and everything—in your home.
- How tidiness makes a big difference in how you view your space.
- Simple improvements you can do both inside and outside of your home.
This is a time when all of us are thinking about healing and recovery. We have a lot of questions about wellness, and this episode’s guest offers unique insight into healing and well-being.
Dr. Jeffrey Rediger is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and medical director of McLean Hospital Southeast adult psychiatric programs. He’s a board-certified psychiatrist with a master’s in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and his new book, CURED: The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing, provides a fascinating look into well-being and how changing our beliefs about ourselves can change our outcomes.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the four pillars of healing are and why they’re so critical.
- How to improve your immune system.
- The importance of reducing inflammation in your body.
Now that most Americans find themselves self-quarantined, we’re learning to negotiate a completely different daily routine. Whether that includes a roommate, spouse, children or other family members, being in close quarters can create challenges for every relationship.
That’s why we talked with CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke, who are therapists and co-authors of the book, The Beauty of Conflict for Couples. They offer some helpful tips for managing relationships and learning how each person can create space for themselves.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s important to identify what you need from others in the home.
- How to create time and space for yourself.
- The importance of taking a dance break … and other secrets to a happier, healthier self-quarantine.
There’s no question that we are experiencing a chaotic time right now, and many people are feeling overwhelmed by situations that are out of their control. We’ve heard so many concerns from people who are worried about COVID-19, about the financial toll it is already taking and what this means for the future. We’re all learning how to manage this new normal that, frankly, doesn’t feel normal at all.
This week’s guest, Erin Pickney, is a Nashville-based therapist specializing in recovery from anxiety and depression. She offers a few suggestions on how we can decrease our anxiety and increase our sense of well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to manage some of our current anxiety.
- How to connect with others while practicing social distancing.
- How to make the most of time spent in self-quarantine.
This week’s episode looks at something we all know about, we all know we should do … but we often have trouble finding time for in our busy lives. Meditation has incredible healing value for both our mind and body, and this week’s guest is on a mission to get the whole world meditating.
Neuroscientist Ariel Garten is a psychotherapist, mom, former fashion designer and the founder of the tech company Muse, which is designed to make meditation easier. She has spoken about the benefits of meditation on stages around the world, ranging from TED talks to MIT to SXSW. This week, she talks about the benefits of meditation, how we can master the art of meditating and how to find ways to fit it into our hectic lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why meditation is so important.
- How to make meditation part of your daily routine.
- Ways to make meditation easier.
All of us want to discover our purpose in life, but we don’t always know how to do that. For Sebastian Terry, that path began with making a list of 100 things he wanted to do before he died. But what began as a personal list sparked a bestselling book, documentaries, a reality TV show and a movement to spread kindness to others. Sebastian joins us this week to explain how he inadvertently launched a global movement, how each of us can be part of that movement and how we can create a culture of kindness wherever we work, live and play.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How this list changed the lives of others.
- How to begin making your own list.
- How to cultivate a culture of kindness.
March 20 is the International Day of Happiness, but at Live Happy Now, we celebrate it all month long. One way we do that is with a little movement we call #HappyActs. This week, Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz talks about what happy acts are, how you can make them part of your daily routine and how to celebrate the International Day of Happiness with us.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- How performing #HappyActs can improve your day
- Where to get ideas for #HappyActs
- How to be part of the International Day of Happiness
There’s a lot of discussion today about how social media is harming our mental health, and many experts advise taking a break from it or even unplugging entirely. But what do you do if that’s just not possible? This week’s guest is here to tell us. Erin Pickney is a Nashville-based therapist specializing in recovery from anxiety, depression and religious trauma. She recognizes that while disconnecting entirely from social media isn’t always possible, there are steps you can take to detox your social media to improve your mental and emotional health.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What it means to detox your social media.
- Simple ways to identify toxic elements in your social media feeds.
- How parents can help their children decrease toxic interactions.
There’s so much talk today about mindfulness that it sometimes seems the word has lost its meaning. This week, Dr. Shauna Shapiro, a clinical psychologist and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness and self-compassion, explains what is missing from many mindfulness practices. Her new book, Good Morning, I Love You, combines brain science with easy-to-implement practices that will help you get more calm, clarity and joy in your life. Listen now to find out how you can change your brain with these simple practices.
In this episode, you'll learn: * Why self-compassion is the “secret sauce” of mindfulness practices. * The one simple practice you can do every morning to increase self-compassion. * How your self-compassion and mindfulness can help heal those around you.
This is the week when you’ll hear a lot of talk about Valentine’s Day and showing those around you how much you love them. But have you thought about being your own valentine this year? Whether you’re single or in a committed relationship, there are things you can do to feel more fulfilled in every area of your life. Leadership expert and bestselling author Karen McGregor joins us this week to talk about how we can change our approach to love and relationships to find greater joy.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How the stories we tell ourselves can influence our relationships—for better and for worse.
- The importance of learning your own “love power.”
- How to feel more fulfilled every day — regardless of whether or not you’re in a relationship.
With the rise of social media, FOMO, or the fear of missing out, has become a problem that can result in anxiety, depression and other conditions. Now, as an antidote to FOMO, many people are discovering JOMO, or the Joy of Missing Out. This week’s guest, Jessica Misener, literally wrote the guidebook on how to embrace JOMO. Her book, JOMO: Celebrate the Joy of Missing Out, offers more than 350 ways to exchange your FOMO for JOMO.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why FOMO is so harmful.
- What you can learn from practicing JOMO.
- Tips on how to implement JOMO at home.
For most of us, “joy” is not the first word that jumps to mind when we think about work. But this week’s guest has made it his mission to find out how we can all change that.
Alex Liu is the managing partner and chairman of the global management consulting company Kearney as well as being a huge proponent of finding joy in the workplace. He hosts the Joy at Work podcast and recently spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on topics related to creating more joy in the workplace.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What business leaders can do to create a more joyful work environment.
- How to bring a joy-filled attitude to work.
- How finding joy at work can transform your life.
January is National Organization Month, which makes it a great time to get your home in order. But how do you do that when it seems you have more “stuff” than you have places to put it? This episode’s guest is Marla Stone, a psychotherapist turned professional organizer and author of The Clutter Remedy: A Guide to Getting Organized for Those Who Love Their Stuff. She explains how to create a de-cluttering strategy built around less stuff and more satisfaction.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How our outside clutter reflects our inner state.
- Where to start clearing the clutter.
- How to live a perpetually organized life.
If someone told you there was a simple practice that could lower your stress, improve your health and boost your overall well-being, you might be skeptical. But this week’s guest has a science-based solution that can do all those things … and so much more.
Jessica Ortner is a New York Times bestselling author and producer of The Tapping Solution, the breakthrough documentary film on EFT tapping. She’s here today to explain what EFT tapping is, how it works and how you can start using it today to change your life for the better.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What tapping is and how to do it.
- Why tapping is so effective.
- Different ways tapping can be used to solve challenges.
As we begin a new year and a new decade, many of us have set ambitious resolutions for change. Or maybe we’re still trying to decide what it is that we want and need from the next 12 months. Today’s guest, Dr. Andrea Goeglein, can help. Known as Dr. Success because she helps business leaders learn how to define and reach their goals, Andrea shares those same practices to help you create goals for the coming year, learn how to think differently and how to keep going even when it seems like you’ve gotten off track.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Understanding the important difference between a resolution and a goal.
- How to prepare your mind to reach your goals.
- Steps to set yourself up for success.
Many of us will start the New Year with a renewed commitment to change or to following a new purpose in life. This week’s guest, Joanne Fink, literally wrote the guidebook to lead us on that journey. As an award-winning designer and author of books on creativity, grief, faith and spirituality, she has created journals that help readers explore their own path in their own time. Her latest book, My Spiritual Journey, is a guided journal that asks the hard questions needed to help you ground yourself in gratitude, find deeper connections and determine your personal purpose.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How and why your purpose can change throughout your life.
- Why it’s important to define your purpose.
- What happens when you begin to live life more intentionally.
With the New Year just around the corner, you might already be thinking about that New Year’s resolution or what you hope to accomplish in 2020. We have some ideas!
In this episode, we hear from Deborah Heisz, who is CEO and Co-Founder of Live Happy. But she’s also the driving force behind the global #HappyActs movement and, this week, she tells us how committing to happy acts can help us create a happy New Year—for ourselves and for others.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How #HappyActs began and what they are.
- What you can do to start your own #HappyActs initiatives.
- Where to find more ideas for performing #HappyActs.
Technology has changed our lives in many ways, but when holiday celebrations are spent with guests on their phones or tablets, it takes away much of the magic of the moment. This episode’s guest is Joe McCormack, who literally wrote the book on how to find focus and human interaction in the midst of technology’s interference. His book, Noise: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus, provides tips on surviving in today’s business world, but he sat down to talk with us about how to keep the holidays happier by preventing technology from intruding on our quality time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to create a technology-free holiday gathering.
- The benefits of setting aside the noise of our technology for a few hours.
- Tips to get everyone to (gladly) participate in a tech-free celebration.
After leaving a successful career in the finance industry, Peter Montoya was concerned by the growing anxiety, depression and loneliness that we’re experiencing as a society. To help turn the tide on all of the negativity, he started Thrive Union, an organization whose mission is to help people go from loneliness and isolation to purposeful belonging. His free online videos provide a life school to teach us the things we need to know to have a thriving, happier life. Peter sat down to talk about why we need a life school and how it can help trigger global change.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why community is so important.
- How sharing your purpose with others can improve your life.
- What you can learn at “Life School.”
When she wrote the book Simple Abundance 25 years ago, author Sarah Ban Breathnach had no idea that she was about to launch a global movement. Long before gratitude journals were a “thing,” her organic approach to gratitude and a simpler, happier life resonated with readers around the world. Simple Abundance sparked a movement that sold millions of books and changed not just her life, but the lives of countless readers. Now, she has refreshed her book for modern times and sat down to talk to us about her updated edition of Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life.
We’ve heard a lot about the power of saying thank you, but what happens when a simple thank you turns into a heartfelt letter? Nancy Davis Kho was at a reflective point in her life when she decided to write one thank-you letter every week for a whole year. In her new book, The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time, she explains why she wanted to embark on this project and what kind of effect it had on her—and those she wrote to.
We knew we had to talk about it on the show. And what better time to talk about it than right before Thanksgiving?
Nancy is a freelance writer, podcast host and author of The Thank You Project. She talked to me about how the project started, what it taught her, and why each of us can benefit from writing thank you letters.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How you can benefit from your own letter-writing project.
- Why it’s so life-changing to write thank-you letters—even if you never mail them.
- Some of the surprising letters you’ll want to write—including your exes!
We’ve all heard about the principles of visualization and manifestation, but to many of us, it might sound a little too good to be true. Today, we’re talking to a neuroscientist who guides us through the science of visualization and tells us how it can help us reach our goals and live happier lives.
Dr. Tara Swart is a neuroscientist, psychiatrist and senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She works with top executives all over the world to help them achieve mental resilience and peak brain performance. Her new book, The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain, shows how you can actively change the way your mind works to train it for happiness.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why it’s critical to take control over what we’re thinking about.
- How we can make dramatic, positive changes by changing how we think.
- The science behind vision boards — and how to put it into practice.
This week, you can enjoy a whirlwind trip of happiness around the globe! When journalist Helen Russell moved to Denmark in 2012, she wanted to learn more about why the country ranked so high on the happiness scale. That search led her to write the book, The Year of Living Danishly, and opened the door to studying happiness. With her second book, The Atlas of Happiness: The Global Secrets of How to Be Happy, she looks at happiness practices around the world and makes some interesting discoveries about how we’re different from other countries in our pursuit of happiness—and how we’re the same. She’s here to talk about how happiness differs from one country to the next, what we can learn from other countries and in what ways we’re all the same in our pursuit of happiness.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why happiness practices are so different from one country to the next.
- Why different perceptions of happiness affect the way we practice well-being.
- How learning about happiness practices from other countries can improve our lives.
If you’ve ever watched elite athletes and wondered what makes them so different, we’ve got great news for you: Today’s guest can answer that question. What’s even better is that she can tell you how you can apply some of the same winning techniques to your own life.
Annie Vernon is a two-time World Champion, Olympic silver medalist with the Great Britain Rowing Team and a two-time Olympian who has learned that the secret to winning doesn’t just lie in physical prowess, but is just as dependent upon the right mindset. In her book, Mind Games: Determination, Doubt and Lucky Socks: An Insider’s Guide to the Psychology of Elite Athletes, she explores how the way we think changes our outcomes. So, whether your playing field is a boardroom, a classroom or your kid’s playroom, she’s here to tell you how changing your mindset can improve your game.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why training your mind is just as important as physical training.
- Why self-awareness is so important to your mindset.
- How small changes in your mindset can yield huge results.
If you feel like the world is moving a whole lot faster these days, you’re not alone. We’re consuming information at an unprecedented rate and living in an “always on” world. It’s no secret that this high-tech world is taking a toll on our health, our relationships and our overall well-being.
Today’s guest, Pete Dunlap, is leading the charge for what he calls “humane technology use.” His book, Digital Detangler: A Guide to Mindful Technology Use won the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Independent Press Award in 2019 for its thoughtful examination of technology and his insight on how we can better use it. He also created Digital Detangler Family Services, which helps families address the crisis of tech addiction together.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How technology affects our mental health.
- What causes technology addictions.
- How families can address technology overuse.
If you feel like the world is moving a whole lot faster these days, you’re not alone. We’re consuming information at an unprecedented rate and living in an “always on” world. It’s no secret that this high-tech world is taking a toll on our health, our relationships and our overall well-being.
Today’s guest, Jeff Bethke, looks at how this fast pace is zapping our sense of purpose and meaning. His new book, To Hell With the Hustle: Reclaiming Your Life in an Overworked, Overspent and Overconnected World, looks at how we can shift our focus from our online world to our inward life and find greater purpose and meaning.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- How too much time online affects your sense of purpose.
- Why saying “no” is so powerful.
- How a Tech Manifesto can help you control your time online.
Bullying has become such an issue in today’s world that October has been named National Bullying Prevention Month. And while we normally associate bullying with school children, the fact is that many adults are being bullied at work every day. This week’s guest, Dr. Britt Andreatta, is an expert on the science of teams and author of the book, Wired to Connect. She’s developed safety tips to make sure all employees are working together to eliminate bullying in the workplace She also shares information on how and why bullying happens at work—and what to do about it.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- Where workplace bullies come from.
- How to make sure others aren’t being bullied.
- The high cost of unresolved workplace bullying.
If you’ve ever struggled with forgiving someone, or forgiving yourself, you don’t want to miss what this week’s guest has to say abut it. Stacy Kaiser, a licensed psychotherapist, relationship expert, author and frequent Live Happy Now guest, has great insight on how forgiveness and self-forgiveness affect our overall well-being. But she doesn’t just tell us how much we need it in our lives; she gives us actionable advice for forgiving others, forgiving ourselves and discovering greater happiness.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- Why forgiveness is essential to your overall well-being.
- What forgiveness really means.
- Steps you can take to forgive others as well as yourself.
Giving our kids positive messages is important, but sometimes it’s difficult to do in a tumultuous world. The guests on this episode are not only giving kids a new way to look at the world, but putting it to a great beat that parents love, too.
After becoming parents themselves, long-time friends Anne Montone and Jennifer Cook used music as a way to teach and explain things to their children. The two musically inclined friends then created the singing duo Again Again, and their debut full-length album, “Listen. Love. Repeat.” is filled with positive, family-friendly messages for our time.
In this episode, you'll learn: * Why music is so effective as a way to learn. * How music can be used to let kids know they matter. * How they created music that parents and kids can enjoy together.
Habits: We’ve all got ‘em … and we all wonder why we aren’t better at changing them. This week’s guest has the answer to that question. Wendy Wood has spent 30 years researching human behavior and is the leading expert on habits and change. Her new book, Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, helps explain how we form habits, what habits really are and why so much of what we’ve believed about changing habits is wrong.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What is a habit?
- How long it really takes to change a habit
- Why creating the right environment is critical to successfully changing habits
If you think that conflict is always bad for your relationship, think again. This episode’s guests are CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke, authors of the book, “The Beauty of Conflict for Couples.” As therapists, they’ve helped hundreds of couples reconcile their differences and get their relationships back on track—but they say it’s not about romance. They teach couples that the things we argue about often have the potential to pave the way to greater intimacy…if we learn how to use it properly.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- Why conflict can be the secret ingredient to reaching relationship goals.
- How to use the 5/5/5 Rule of Fighting.
- Why the small conflicts, not the big blowups, are relationship-killers.
Tiffany Shlain founded Character Day in 2013 as a way to recognize and celebrate the importance of character strengths. This year, she’s combining the celebration of Character Day on September 27-28 with the release of her new book, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week. For Character Day, she is encouraging everyone to take the day off from their screens, following the Jewish tradition of Shabbat and using it to find more time, connection and well-being.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to get your family to participate in a weekly Tech Shabbat.
- Why taking a break from technology improves your well-being.
- How to implement your Tech Shabbat as part of Character Day.
We all have something we’d like to improve about ourselves, and this is the month to do it! September is Self-Improvement Month and that inspired Live Happy Now host Paula Felps and Live Happy editor Chris Libby to dig into the Live Happy Now archives and find their seven favorite podcasts for improving your life. Their seven tips are:
- Embrace something you’re not good at.
- Practice more self-compassion.
- Get organized.
- Hone your resilience skills.
- Make a comeback.
- Be more playful.
- Practice kindness.
We’ve all heard that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But today’s guest actually wrote the book on how to make that lemonade.
Zack Friedman is the CEO and founder of Make Lemonade, a personal finance company that empowers individuals to live a better financial life. His new book, The Lemonade Life: How to Fuel Success, Create Happiness and Conquer Anything, looks at the five internal switches that we can learn to flip to find our purpose, maximize our potential, and—you got it—be happier.
He talks with us about those switches, how we can flip them and what it will do for us.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The difference between The Lemon Life and the Lemonade Life.
- What the 5 switches are, and what they can do for you.
- Why true success depends on finding purpose and meaning.
You’ve heard the old saying, “Kill them with kindness” – but what if the opposite was true? Kelli Harding, MD, MPH, is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and author of the new book, The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness. Her book provides fascinating evidence of how kindness, compassion and human connection affect the body in profound ways—and how they can improve both our physical and mental health.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Our day-to-day social environment is key to our health and extends far beyond the doctor’s visits.
- Health is about creating positive connections to those around you and learning to navigate challenges and stress.
- To do what you can to create kindness for others.
While we don’t think much about them, our brainwaves are always busy—and they play a huge role in our well-being. When brainwaves get out of balance, it affects our sleep, our health and our relationships. Dr. Patrick Porter joins us this week to talk about how brainwaves influence our happiness and tells us some of the ways we can help keep them balanced.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How connecting with nature (grounding) can help you find balance.
- What lack of sleep does to our brainwaves.
- What biohacking is and how you can use it for your own well-being.
It’s a brand-new season of Live Happy Now, and what better way to kick it off than to sit down with Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz and talk about what’s new in the world of positive psychology? Deborah recently returned from the International Positive Psychology Association’s Sixth World Congress in Australia. In this episode, she talks with host Paula Felps about how positive psychology is changing – and how the way the world embraces it is changing, too.
If you’re a regular listener of Live Happy Now, you already know that we’re big fans of nature. While we talk a lot about the value of getting out in nature, this week’s guest is all about bringing nature inside.
Summer Rayne Oakes is an environmental scientist and sustainability expert who focuses on health and wellness. Her YouTube channel and website are is designed to help people who live in the city become more attuned to nature, and her new book, How to Make Your Plant Love You, looks at how to bring nature inside for greater happiness and well-being. This week, Summer talks about what houseplants do for our well-being and how we can live in nature…even when we’re indoors.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The physical, emotional and mental benefits of taking care of plants indoors.
- The best plants for beginners and the do’s and don'ts of watering your plants.
- How to become more attuned to nature in the city.
If you’re an introvert, you know just how terrifying it can be to do things like talk to strangers, throw a dinner party or—gulp—public speaking. For journalist Jessica Pan, overcoming life as a shy introvert meant going to extremes and living as an extrovert for an entire year.
With the help of “extrovert mentors,” Jessica tackled a daunting to-do list and then chronicled it in the hilarious but heartfelt new book, Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes. In this episode, she joins Live Happy Now host Paula Felps to talk about what made her want to overcome her introverted ways and how it has changed her life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why saying ‘yes’ can change your life.
- Why living outside of your comfort zone is good for you.
- That it is never too late to create positive habits.
You’ve heard the phrase, “You’re not getting older, you’re getting better”—but how often do you believe that? After hearing Louise Aronson, M.D., you might realize that the old adage is true.
As a geriatrician, writer and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Louise gives us a completely new perspective on aging with her new book, Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life. In it, she describes how we can not only change our attitudes toward aging in others, but begin to anticipate and reframe the final decades of our lives.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of knowing what you want next in life.
- How to start planning for happier elderhood—at any stage in life.
- Why elderhood is the perfect time to discover new passions.
We all have people in our lives that we love and appreciate, but have you ever thought about how good it is for you to show appreciation for others?
A new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies shows that learning how to show appreciation for others can help you feel less stressed and can even reduce symptoms of depression. Live Happy editor Chris Libby joins us for this podcast to talk about why appreciation is so beneficial—and how you can get more of it in your life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why appreciation can help improve our home and work life.
- How to show more appreciation for others.
- Developing appreciation as a character strength.
Most of us focus on pursuing things we’re good at, but what if you like doing something … and discover you’re really bad at it?
Karen Rinaldi, publisher at Harper Wave—a book imprint she founded in 2012—finds happiness in being able to surf, even though she does it poorly. Learning to accept her “suckitude” on the surfboard, she says, has helped her be more forgiving of herself in other areas of her life. In her new book, (It’s Great to) Suck at Something, she looks at the gifts she’s gained from embracing imperfection and letting go of the need to succeed at everything. She talks to us about how this has helped her find joy in the pursuit of something rather than in reaching an end goal—and how you can, too.
In this episode, you learn:
- Why it’s beneficial to try something you might not be good at.
- How not being good at something can invite kindness from those around you.
- How sucking at something can help build resilience.
All of us go through difficult times in life, but what do you do when you find yourself in a funk that you can’t get out of? That’s what Janeane Bernstein, Ed.D., wanted to find out after the death of her best friend from childhood. That tragic event launched a mission to discover how others have overcome their grief and led to creating her radio show, “Get the Funk Out.” She now has a book by the same name and explains why grief can be a springboard to happiness.
In this episode, you learn:
Why the worst thing that happens in your life can become the best thing in your life.
How to use grief to reconnect with your own feelings.
Why it’s important to use your creativity to overcome grief.
Every other year, the International Positive Psychology Association hosts a global gathering of leading researchers and practitioners to share the latest research and best practices in positive psychology. The 6th World Congress of IPPA will be in Melbourne, Australia, July 18-21, 2019, and it offers a tremendous selection of topics on areas including: work and organizations, positive health and wellness, positive clinical psychology and more.
For this episode, current IPPA president and chair of the 6th World Congress Lea Waters, Ph.D., talks about what to expect from this exciting global event.
Three things you’ll learn in this podcast: * What to expect at the 6th World Congress * Key objectives of the conference * How to reserve your spot now
What do you do if you’ve spent your life building the career of your dreams…but realize one day that you’ve forgotten to build the life of your dreams? If you’re Sheri Salata, you leave your high-profile position as co-president of Harpo Studios and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and, along with your BFF, and you start reinventing every area of your personal life.
In her book, The Beautiful No and Other Tales of Trial, Transcendence and Transformation, Sheri explains how she found the courage to leave behind the career she had carefully built and began creating the life of her dreams.
Three things you’ll learn in this podcast:
- Why failing at something can be fulfilling.
- The Eight Pillars to a balanced life.
- Why it’s never to late to start over.
Did you realize that women face different challenges than men when it comes to their happiness? With that in mind, Carin Rockind—creator of the PurposeGirl movement and founder of the Women’s Global Happiness Day, created the Women’s Happiness Summit. She’s bringing together experts in flourishing from around the globe with a uniquely feminine viewpoint, and she wants you to be a part of it. She’ll tell you what to expect and how you can be a part of it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why women are more depressed than men (and what you can do about it).
- Why getting support from other women is so important.
- How to participate in the free online Women’s Happiness Summit.
As founder and board chair of the Skees Family Foundation, Suzanne Skees has worked in developing countries to support innovative education and job creation programs. She has compiled the stories of the fascinating people she has met around the world into a book series called My Job: People at Work Around the World, and she says that along the way, she’s learned the way our jobs affect us—and what we can learn from them.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The five things you need to be happy at work.
- The importance of mindfulness at work.
- Why we need to work.
Character strengths hold the key to help you begin to know yourself better, and the more you know yourself, the more you can flourish. With their new book, The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality, Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D. and Robert E. McGrath, Ph.D., have written a powerful guide to understanding and using your character strengths. This week, Ryan joins Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz to talk about his new book and how we’re using our character strengths … whether we realize it or not.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What are character strengths and why do they matter?
- How we can spot and use character strengths.
- Actionable steps you can take to start using your strengths.
Each year, Gallup releases its Global Emotions Report, which measures life’s intangibles: feelings and emotions. Using its Positive Experience Index, Gallup measures our enjoyment of life and looks at who’s doing well … and who’s not. This year’s report showed that, even as our economy improved, Americans found themselves being more stressed, worried and angry in 2018. Live Happy editor Chris Libby and Live Happy Now host Paula Felps sat down to talk about what’s driving our negative emotions and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why self-care is so important in combating negative emotions
- How to turn off negativity (and the evening news)
- Practices for building positive emotion
Do you have something you’d like to change about yourself? If so, are you giving yourself the tools you need to make those changes? In this episode, Susan Hyatt—author of the book BARE and host of the Bare Podcast, looks at how the way we approach making changes has a lot to do with how successful those changes are. Whether it’s losing weight, changing jobs or committing to healthier relationships, she’ll give you a new way of thinking about creating your best life.
In this episode, you learn:
- Why finding pleasure might be better for you than willpower
- How discovering what gives you pleasure affects your physical and mental health
- Three things you can say “yes” to today
In today’s busy world, sometimes traditions get pushed aside. But blogger and author Jessica Smartt believes that making memories are the missing piece in today’s families. Her book Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home looks at how even the busiest family can rethink their day-to-day activities and create memory-making traditions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How traditions help bring us together
- Ways to choose (and start) new family traditions
- How to join fellow moms on this journey
Even as our world becomes more connected, most of us are feeling less connected and more alone than ever before. Spiritual teacher, poet and author Mark Nepo’s latest book, More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and In Our World, looks at why we’re feeling so disconnected and how we can reconnect with others and learn to better accept one another’s differences.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What is making us less connected in today’s world
- How our addiction to noise and fear is changing the way we see the world
- What we can learn by listening without judgment
If you’re having trouble turning off your job and can’t seem to unplug from work, Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D., has just the solution for you. A recovering workaholic himself, he understands how hard it is to step away from work addiction and make time for life. His book, #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life, is a month-by-month guide to working less and living more.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What happens to us at a cellular level when we’re always busy
- How meditation can change the way you work
- Simple ways to make unplugging easier
Each year, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases a comprehensive World Happiness Report to look at happiness from a global perspective. This year, the news isn’t exactly great for the U.S., so Live Happy Editor Chris Libby and Live Happy Now Host Paula Felps sat down to talk about what’s causing us to be less happy than we should be…and what we can do about it.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How social media has contributed to our declining levels of happiness
- The benefits of being out in nature
- The surprising addictions that are undermining happiness
If you’ve ever felt that your fears are holding you back from creating the life you love, you’re not alone! This week, New York Times best-selling author Ruth Soukup and host of the Do It Scared podcast, joins us to talk about her new book, Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Overcome Adversity, Face Your Fears and Create a Life You Love. She explains how all fear is not created equal and identifies the seven different Fear Archetypes that determine how we respond to fearful situations—and how to use our fear as a stepping stone to courage.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why each of us respond to fear in different ways
- How understanding your Fear Archetype can help you overcome your fears
- The quickest way to overcome your fear
If you have a child, teach a child or have been a child, then you’ll want to hear what Renee Jain has to say on this week’s episode of Live Happy Now. Renee, the founder of GoZen!, developed her company to help children deal with anxiety as well as building life skills to find meaning, purpose and engagement in their lives. On April 8–11, in conjunction with Live Happy, GoZen! Will present the Happy Child Summit, a free online experience designed to help adults and children better understand how to use the tools that lead to happiness in childhood (and beyond).
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What inspired Renee to start GoZen!
- The importance of equipping children with resilience skills
- How you can sign up to attend the Happy Child Summit
This week, it’s all about time as best-selling author and Google Venture design partner Jake Knapp joins us. Jake spent 10 years at Google, where he helped build products like Gmail and Google Hangouts, but perhaps his greatest accomplishment is figuring out how we can design our days to get more out of them. In this episode, he’s talking with Live Happy Now about his new book, Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day, and he teaches us how we can rearrange our days to match the priorities we want.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to identify the things in our lives worth making time for
- How to enjoy technology without letting it swallow all our time
- The joy of giving more focused time to people
Here at Live Happy Now, it’s not just another week; it’s time to celebrate our 200th episode! Live Happy’s Deborah Heisz and Paula Felps talk about how the podcast came to be and what listeners can look forward to in the future.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Live Happy Now began—and how it’s evolved
- What we’ve learned during our first 199 episodes
- What to expect from Live Happy Now going forward
Author and advocate for positivity Shola Richards joins us to talk about how we can live in harmony when we work together. His latest book Go Together, covers the concept of the African philosophy of Unbuntu, which uses the power of human connectedness, compassion, kindness and togetherness to live happier, more productive lives. Shola is on a quest to show how to protect professionalism of our company cultures, the preciousness of our time, the strength of our talents, the dignity of ourselves and the mutual respect of one another.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The word “Ubuntu” and how it can positively change how you live, work and lead.
- How to identify the importance of civility, and why is it the key to healing our workplaces, our nation and the world.
- How to define workplace bullying, and know what to do if/when you are targeted.
Bestselling New York Times author Gretchen Rubin has spent more than a decade exploring what makes us happy. And, she’s found, one of the simplest ways to improve our well-being is to clear the clutter around us. Her latest book, Outer Order, Inner Calm offers more than 150 different ways to get rid of the clutter around us and create more order. In this episode, she explains the relationship between decluttering and happiness, and gives tips on how to make lasting changes.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What achieving outer order does for our happiness
- How to stop hanging on to what you no longer need
- Quick tips for clearing your space
Laird Hamilton plays a lot of roles in his life: surfing legend, fitness and nutrition expert, entrepreneur, TV host, model, stuntman, husband and father, just to name a few. No matter what he's doing, Laird uses five key pillars to guide his actions and improve his life. His new book, Liferider: Heart, Body, Soul and Life Beyond the Ocean, explains those five pillars and how each of us can use them. Laird joins us on the Live Happy Now podcast to explain how he developed his inward-looking viewpoint and why he values his connection to nature.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why death and fear can be our greatest teachers
- The importance of connecting with nature
- Why we need to understand that everything is connected
Her groundbreaking book, Reviving Ophelia, psychologist Mary Pipher changed the way we looked at girls and adolescence. Now, with her 10th book, she is doing for aging what she did for adolescence, providing a wise and heartfelt guide to happiness in later life. Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age provides an engaging and uplifting examination of how to thrive in life’s later stages and how the struggles we face can help us become the people we’ve always wanted to be.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How the end years of life can be the happiest time
- The role of humor and gratitude in later life
- Why mercy is a valuable quality to develop
For many people, Valentine’s Day can be fraught with danger. If you’re in a relationship, you might be worried that it won’t meet your expectations; if you’re single, it might make you feel lonely. This week, relationship expert Stacy Kaiser, author of the popular Ask Stacy column for Live Happy, takes on some of the questions that are common around this time of year and offers her gives insight on how to get what you need from this Valentine’s Day – and how to make that last all year long.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- Why we put so much emphasis on this day – and how to put it into perspective
- How to communicate your expectations before Valentine’s Day arrives
- Great ways for singles to celebrate Valentine’s Day
Have you ever wondered what happened to your playful side? If so, you’re not alone! Anthony DeBenedet, M.D., is author of the book, Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World. As a medical doctor and behavioral science enthusiast, Anthony explains how playfulness help us counteract some of the seriousness of our everyday life.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The link between humor and resilience.
- How playfulness can help us be nicer to one another.
- The power of wonder in our daily lives.
Most of us ask ourselves the same question every day: What do we need to do, and how will we get it done? But New York Times bestselling author Daniel Pink says that we need to be asking a different question: When should we do it? His latest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, looks at how the way we time our decisions can change our days, our jobs and our relationships. In this episode, he explains why the right timing is so crucial and how you can use it to make more of each day.
Three things you’ll learn in this episode:
- Why we should take the question of “when” as seriously as “who,” “what” and “how”
- What times of the day are most productive
- Why you should take more breaks
We’re all looking for a little more happiness in our lives, and author Alli Worthington’s new book is designed to give us the map to find it. In this episode, Alli—a business coach, podcaster, speaker and mother of five—tells us how to find greater happiness through simple practices.
Three things you’ll learn from Alli:
- How to create your own happiness trigger
- Why busyness is such a threat to our happiness
- The importance or relationships in happiness
March is just around the corner, and here at Live Happy that means its time to get ready for the International Day of Happiness on March 20. In this episode, Live Happy marketing manager Britney Chan and editor Chris Libby talk about what the International Day of Happiness is all about, what our #HappyActs are all about and how you can get involved.
In this episode you'll learn:
- How you can be part of this year’s celebrations
- How to make your own happiness wall
- Ways to get your community involved in the celebration
If you’re looking for books that will get your new year off to a great start, this week’s podcast will hit the spot. Live Happy Books Editor Sandra Bilbray tells us about five fantastic books worth picking up and tells us what you can expect to learn from each one.
Have you ever felt like the stress and busyness in your life is never-ending? Being overwhelmed can make you feel like your life is out of control and that isn’t good for your mental or physical health. Samantha Brody, ND, author of Overcoming Overwhelm: Dismantle Your Stress From the Inside Out, shares her insight on how we can restore more balance in our lives by preventing stress from turning into overwhelm.
If you want to get the new year off to a great start, then this is the podcast for you! This week, Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz joins us to talk about 5 practices that can bring you greater joy in 2019—and beyond.
What does it mean to live as a wholebeing? At the Wholebeing Institute, they not only answer that question, but offer the tools to make it happen. On this episode, Wholebeing Institute co-founder Megan McDonough explains the science of whole-person well-being and engagement—and how it can elevate us as we enter the new year.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and for many people, that’s accompanied by a lot of holiday headaches and seasonal stress. Nancy Jane Smith, author of The Happier Approach: Be Kind to Yourself, Feel Happier and Still Accomplish Your Goals, has some helpful (and often humorous) tips on how to survive the holidays with your happiness intact.
Finding more happiness in your life doesn’t have to be hard. In this episode, journalist, New York Times–bestselling author and excavator of fascinating facts Alex Palmer joins us to talk about his latest book Happiness Hacks and how we can use simple science-based shortcuts to increase our daily happiness and well-being.
It’s Thanksgiving week, which means there’s a lot of talk about being grateful and giving thanks. Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz joins us this week to talk about the amazing power of gratitude and why it’s so important not just at Thanksgiving, but as a daily practice.
Sasha Heinz, Ph.D., MAPP, Developmental Psychologist and life coach, is an expert in Positive Psychology, lasting behavioral change and the science of getting unstuck. Through her private practice, she helps women feel as good as their life looks. A graduate of Harvard University and a working mom, she’s lived life on the frontline of the battle with perfectionism. So she can help you with that, too.
With his breakthrough book, “The Genie in Your Genes,” Dawson Church, Ph.D., showed the scientific connection between emotion and genetics. Now, with his fascinating follow up, “Mind to Matter,” he looks at the science of achieving our peak mental states, how the energy around us affects our hearts and minds … and how we can change our state to build a happier, healthier life.
Andrea Goeglein, Ph.D., also known as Dr. Success, is an author, speaker and executive coach who uses the practices of positive psychology to manifest success in the business world. Having worked as an entrepreneur as well as the executive level, Andrea uses her experience to teach business leaders how to implement the principles of positive psychology to find both personal fulfillment and greater career success with her Las Vegas-based company, Serving Success. Andrea joins Science Editor Paula Felps to discuss how positivity and character strengths can lead to personal success, as well as other top secrets that lead to a flourishing life.
Dr. Robert Zembroski specializes in functional medicine and clinical nutrition. As a board-certified chiropractic neurologist, he has spent much of his career helping people rebuild their lives after illness and injury. And when he was diagnosed with cancer, he used those same techniques to rebuild his own life.
Dr. “Z”—as his patients call him—is the author of Rebuild and on today’s podcast, he’ll tell you how you can start rebuilding your health, regardless of where you are and what you’re facing.
Have you ever felt like your barber knew everything about life? Well, leading expert happiness and Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shar did, and he even wrote a book about it. Tal joins us on the Live Happy Now podcast to talk about his latest book, Short Cuts to Happiness: Life Changing Lessons From My Barber, which chronicles his visits with his neighborhood barber, Avi. Throughout the years, Avi’s barber shop has been the neighborhood hub of social connectivity as he hands out priceless wisdom on how to live a happy life—all for the small fee of a haircut.
When Colten Moore and his older brother, Caleb, competed for the first time in the 2010 X Games, they made a lasting impression. Specializing in freestyle and trick snowmobiling, the Texas brothers showed they were fearless, fierce and incredibly close to each other. They quickly became top athletes in the sport and were counting on taking home the gold and silver in 2013—although they argued over which brother would take the top spot. But their careers took a tragic turn during that competition: Both brothers crashed during their runs, and Caleb passed away a few days later as a result of his injuries.
Colten has continued to compete and is using his experiences to encourage and inspire others. In 2016, he released his autobiography, Chasing the Sky, which tells his story of loss, resilience and the importance of family bonds.
Lea Waters, Ph.D., is more than just the current president of the International Positive Psychology Association; she’s also a researcher and expert on character strengths—and the mother of two. Her latest book, The Strength Switch: How the New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish showed parents how focusing on children’s strengths instead of trying to correct their weaknesses can yield extraordinary results.
Now, Lea has created an online course based on The Strength Switch to give families the tools they need to put her findings into practice. In this episode of Live Happy Now, Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz talks to Lea about how (and why) strengths-based parenting can benefit every family.
If your internal critic and busy schedule keep you from the creative pursuits you enjoy, this interview—and a new book by actress Keiko Agena—are for you. Keiko, best known as Lane Kim on the TV show Gilmore Girls, wrote and illustrated No Mistakes: A Perfect Workbook for Imperfect Artists, for anyone looking to nuture their “wild, wacky” and more spirited side. In No Mistakes, interspersed with coloring pages and her original artwork, Keiko guides you through simple exercises based on one of the founding ideas of improv: Any misstep is an opportunity for growth and creativity.
Rick Hanson is one of the foremost experts on neural networks and a New York Times best-selling author. With his latest book, Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness, Rick gives us the tools to develop our inner strengths and stay strong—no matter what life throws at you.
Have you ever wondered if you are having a midlife crisis or can’t figure out why you’re more worried or down than you were just a few years ago? Journalist Jonathan Rauch explains why that disheartened feeling in your 40s and 50s is not a crisis but instead a normal part of the aging process. His book, The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, delivers hope for plenty of happiness in midlife and beyond. While we can’t always skip over the low points, Jonathan provides great tips and guidance to help fend off and triumph over those negative feelings.
What does it take to be happy at home? Interior designer Rebecca West has a few ideas that might surprise you. The author of the book, Happy Starts at Home: Getting the Life You Want By Changing the Space You’ve Got and founder of the company Seriously.Happy.Homes joins us this week to talk about how you can make any space your happy place.
It’s hard to imagine our little ones dealing with stress and anxiety, but they do suffer more than we think. Nick Ortner, New York Times best-selling author of The Tapping Solution, joins the Live Happy Now podcast to discuss his latest book about mindful breathing for young children. My Magic Breath: Finding Calm Through Mindful Breathing is a colorful and interactive story designed to teach the basic principles of calming breathing techniques. The book is also a great conversation starter for teachers and parent to encourage children to talk about their feelings.
Scott Crabtree, founder of the company Happy Brain Science, has spent years studying positive psychology and what makes us happy. But when Scott combined his love of game design with his passion for positive psychology, he blazed an entirely new trail by creating the game, Choose Happiness @ Work.
Today, Scott tells us how the very things that make us happy when playing games are the same things that make us happy at work — and then he explains how we can all gamify our lives to create greater happiness at work.
Dr. Joe Bates wants to make your brain hum. The award-winning double board-certified psychiatrist and pediatrician is spending his “retirement” working with veterans at the Tyler VA Clinic in Tyler, Texas. He has been recognized by Mensa for his work with cognitive remediation training, and now he’s created a way for people of all ages to make their brains work smarter, not harder.
His new book, Making Your Brain Hum: 12 Weeks to A Smarter You, uses a technique he developed called braincardio™, which is designed to use “brain workouts” to build confidence, hope, well-being and energy.
Also in this episode, we talk with dog trainer John Miller, who tells us how to make back-to-school time easier on everyone in the house—including our canine family members.
Kristin Neff, PhD., is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion as well as associate professor of human development and culture at the University of Texas at Austin. Her groundbreaking insights on how to nurture self-compassion, along with research into the role self-compassion plays in our overall well-being, has led to academic courses on the topic as well as online courses, audio programs and books.
Her latest project, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, walks readers through a step-by-step process to help build a greater sense of self-compassion.
Performing under the stage name Stealing Oceans, Nashville-based artist Brian Thompson uses his hip-hop fusion music to inspire and encourage others. After overcoming battles with addiction and depression, he decided to use his own life challenges to help those who are experiencing similar struggles.
That led to creating the #ThisIsMySelfCare mental health awareness campaign, which he launched to promote positive self-care and build awareness about mental health organizations that can provide help and hope.
Dan Tomasulo, Ph.D., is a sought-after speaker and author on topics including positive psychology, positive education and positive psychotherapy. His new book, American Snake Pit: Hope, Grit and Resilience in the Wake of Willowbrook, tells the story of the fallout after the closing of New York state’s most controversial state hospital for the mentally disabled. After a groundbreaking expose from Geraldo Rivera about the horrendous living conditions at Willowbrook State School, including overcrowding, patient abuse and questionable treatment methods, plans were made to close its doors. Dan, then a young post-graduate student, was hired to relocate and treat its most seriously disabled residents.
Emily Larson is a researcher, instructor and practitioner in the fields of education and public policy. As director for the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), which was formed by Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth and Sir Anthony Seldon, Emily is part of a movement that is turning the academic research surrounding positive psychology into practical lesson plans and interventions for educators and students. In this episode, Emily talks with Live Happy CEO and IPEN Advisory Board member Deborah K. Heisz about how positive education is changing the way students learn and tells listeners about the upcoming World Positive Education Accelerator.
If someone’s ever told you to “take a hike,” chances are you never took it as seriously as Jennifer Pharr Davis. Named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Jennifer has hiked more than 13,000 miles on six continents. She was the first woman to set a Fastest Known Time on the Appalachian Trail, and during her time on the trails she has learned some incredible things about setting goals, bouncing back and pushing through.
Inspired by an unfortunate toxic work environment in her first job out of college, Christine Porath took on the topic of workplace incivility and its cost to both companies and employees. She’s been running with it ever since. Christine Porath, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and the author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace and co-author of The Cost of Bad Behavior. She works with leading organizations to help them create thriving workplaces.
Music has the power to change lives, and nowhere is that more evident than in the powerful SongwritingWith:Soldiers program. This unique program pairs members of the military with professional songwriters to craft songs about their experiences. Through their songs, they learn to release pain, tell their stories and build a strong bond with one another. Program co-founder Mary Judd and singer/songwriter Jay Clementi talk about the power of the program—and what it’s taught them.
How do you encourage children to thrive when their lives are filled with stress and trauma? As executive director of the Momentous Institute in Dallas, Michelle Kinder carries on a century-old mission to help children overcome trauma and toxic stress to learn how to live happy, healthy lives. She talks with us to show how their practices are changing the lives of entire generations of family — and tells us what we all can learn from them.
Becky Blades is author and illustrator of the award-winning book Do Your Laundry or You’ll Die Alone: Advice Your Mom Would Give if She Thought You Were Listening. You can also find her writing on blogs including Oprah.com, The Huffington Post and Grown and Flown, or follow her on Twitter and Facebook at LaundryorDie.
When Pat Graves was going through a difficult time in his life, he flipped out. But not in the way you might think: He committed to doing a backflip every day and videotaped his flips for an audience that quickly grew. Doing flips reconnected him with something he had loved doing since he was a child and also gave him a mission. Find out how his simple idea launched the #InspireHappiness movement, and how he is using it to spread joy while maintaining his own balance.
World-renowned developmental psychologist Thomas Lickona, Ph.D., joins the Live Happy Now podcast to discuss his latest book, How to Raise Kind Kids: And Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain.
Wouldn’t it be great if kids came with a handbook? Well they don’t, so How to Raise Kind Kids may be the next best thing. Join us for this episode of Live Happy Now as we talk to Thomas and tackle issues such as reducing screen time, developing positive attitudes and what to do in challenging situations.
As director of the Resilience and Positive Psychology Training program at the Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Karen Reivich specializes in what makes us bounce back from adversity. Join us as she shares the attributes that help us create more resilience in our lives—and how we can teach our children to become more resilient, too.
Tipper Gore stepped into the spotlight as wife of Al Gore, who would go on to become vice president and then a presidential candidate. During her time at the White House, Tipper focused much of her energy on bringing awareness to mental health issues. Today, she continues to work on initiatives to help give a voice to those who are affected by anxiety and depression and to help create more understanding about those conditions.
Most of us wish we had just a little more free time in the day. Now, Live Happy host Jeff Sanders tells us how we all can discover free time that we didn’t even know we had! Jeff, who is host of the top-ranking weekly podcast on productivity, The 5 AM Miracle Podcast, shares some of the secrets from his new book, The Free-Time Formula. He tells us how we can get more out of each day—and how productivity and happiness go hand in hand.
Senior editor of New York magazine and health journalist Melissa Dahl has released her first book, Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, about the science behind those less than comfortable moments in our lives. Melissa joins the podcast to discuss why we have awkwardness and how embracing the cringeworthy moments in life can help us grow into emotionally stronger people.
John Miller has built a career out of training the dogs that others have given up on. From shelters and rescue groups to working with families, John has saved many dogs from being destroyed through his unique approach that uses practices that turn out to be good for humans, too. Whether you have a troubled pet or just want to be a better leader for the dog in your home, John provides insight into how we all can have a happier relationship with our four-legged friends.
Psychiatrist, author and farmer Drew Ramsey, M.D., is one of psychiatry’s leading voices when it comes to using nutrition as a form of mental health interventions. An assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Communications, Drew also is founder of the Brain Food Clinic in New York City, which offers treatment for depression, anxiety and emotional wellness concerns by relying upon the latest in brain science, nutrition and mental health research.
In this episode, Live Happy’s own Chris Libby, Donna Stokes and Paula Felps give you a preview of what to expect in the latest issue of Live Happy magazine. Then we talk with developer Jeremy Fischbach, who combined his background in psychology with his personal experiences to create an app that pairs users with a compassionate listener. Despite our increasingly connected world, sometimes it’s hard to find someone you can really talk to. Research shows that loneliness is a growing—and dangerous—problem, but now there’s an app for that!
Acclaimed artist Stefan Sagmeister’s work has been enjoyed around the world; in addition to gracing the album covers of such artists as the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Jay-Z, Stefan has mounted art exhibitions in cities including Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Seoul and New York. In 2016, he released The Happy Film, a seven-year project he created to chronicle his journey to find greater happiness.
As founder and Chief Operating Officer of WOHASU LLC, which produces the World Happiness Summit and H-20 government meeting, Karen Guggenheim is committed to helping others choose happiness and then spread it to others. While her mission is one of building a more joyous, enlightened world, her journey to happiness actually was born from a very tragic event: the sudden death of her husband. Find out how this life-changing tragedy led to creating an event designed to change the lives of others for the better.
Ken Page is a well-known psychotherapist and blogger for both Psychology Today and The Huffington Post who specializes in topics related to intimacy and spirituality. In his best-selling book, Deeper Dating: How to Drop the Games of Seduction and Discover the Power of Intimacy, he teaches readers how to find lasting, more fulfilling relationships.
New Zealand native Brent Williams was a successful human rights attorney when a debilitating illness halted his career. The depression that overtook him not only ended his career, but also destroyed relationships with friends and family. In his new graphic novel, Out of the Woods, he chronicles his personal journey through depression while also sharing self-help strategies and some of the latest research on depression.
Dr. Andrea Brandt is a psychotherapist, speaker and author with nearly four decades of experience. Although she is a pioneer in the treatment of anger issues, she recently began going in a new direction to look at how we can age better. Her latest book, Mindful Aging: Embracing Your Life After 50 to Find Fulfillment, Purpose, and Joy,” looks at how we all bring more joy to the way we age—no matter what age we are.
In the movies, happily ever after comes pretty easily. In real life? Not so much. But the husband and wife team of Suzann Pileggi Pawelski, a writer with a Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and James Pawelski, Ph.D., professor of Practice and Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, have learned a few things about what it takes to be “Happy Together.” That’s the name of their new book, Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love that Lasts, and in this podcast they share the secrets of what it takes to create deep, lasting love.
Dr. Jenny Taitz is is a board-certified cognitive behavioral clinical psychologist who offers people proven tools to enhance their life. She has presented her novel clinical application on mindfulness and managing emotions at national and international conferences. Her new book, How to be Single and Happy, applies those principles to life in the dating world.
Merlin Thomas is a physician, scientist and program leader in the newly created Department of Diabetes at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Merlin is widely recognized as an opinion leader, researcher and medical storyteller, and he specializes in how to live longer…and better. He’s author of several best-selling books including The Longevity List and Fast Living Slow Aging as well as his podcast The Chopping List.
MJ Ryan is one of the creators of the Random Acts of Kindness book series and the author of several books, including The Happiness Makeover, The Power of Patience and Attitudes of Gratitude. MJ has mastered the art of living in gratitude, and says that anyone can find more joy by applying this simple practice. She’ll teach us how we can improve our workplace, our relationships and our personal lives with a little more gratitude.
Thomas Moore is the New York Times bestselling author of Care of the Soul, as well as many other books on deepening soul and cultivating a mature spiritual life, three of which have received the Books for a Better Life Award. At turns he has been a monk, a musician, a university professor, and a psychotherapist. Today he lectures widely on creating a more soulful world and spirituality.
Courtney Carver is one of the world’s top bloggers on the topic of minimalism and author of the new book, Soulful Simplicity. Courtney’s simple experiment to live with less stuff grew into a complete overhaul of her mind, body and spirit. She found that clearing her physical space improved her psychological space, too—and has learned firsthand how ridding ourselves of excess can actually lead to enjoying more of what life has to offer.
Andrea Petersen is a science and health reporter who hasn’t just studied anxiety from a reporter’s standpoint; she has lived with it. Her new book, On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety gives an honest and heartfelt account of living with anxiety and how she learned to come to terms with it. Andrea looks at how anxiety affected her, how she overcame it, and shows us some of the groundbreaking research that’s being done on anxiety.
Singer BJ Thomas has enjoyed nearly half a century in the music business, selling more than 70 million records and winning multiple Dove and Grammy awards. When Hurricane Harvey devastated his hometown of Houston, he knew he wanted to help, and that his music was the best way to do that. Here’s how he turned a song into a cause, and what it means to him to be able to give back.
Stephen Cope is a Senior Scholar-in-Residence and a Kripalu Ambassador. He is a Western-trained psychotherapist who writes and teaches about the relationship between Western psychological paradigms and the Eastern contemplative traditions. In its 25th anniversary edition, Yoga Journal named him one of the most important innovators in the developing field of American yoga.
Niki Brantmark is the founder and creator of the award-winning daily interior design blog My Scandinavian Home, which was inspired by her move to Sweden from London. Niki has an MA in psychology from the University of Edinburgh and she talks about Lagom (Law-gom) the swedish art of living a balanced, happy life.
Ken Druck, Ph.D., is an award-winning mental health expert specializing in parenting, aging, and resilience training. After some of the nation's worst tragedies. Dr. Druck's many books, including The Real Rules of Life and The Secrets Men Keep, have been featured on Oprah, The New York Times, NPR, CNN, and in countless other media.
Dive into these fun facts on this week's episode of #HappyFacts.
- Smiling baseball players tend to live longer
- Exercise makes you happy, especially if you are old
- Your age helps determine what makes you happy at work
Take a peek into the newest issue of Live Happy magazine and learn more about these fun facts:
- Research shows that spirituality is the leading character strength associated with a meaningful life.
- Practicing gratitude may help you live longer.
- Having purpose in your life every day may result in better sleep.
- When in dire situations, simply expressing gratitude can brighten your outlook!
- When it comes to happiness, your location matters
- Research shows that when children have knowledge of their family history, it can have positive effects on their psychological well-being
Dan Buettner is a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author. He is an explorer, educator, author, producer, storyteller and public speaker.
Patty Van Cappellen is the director of the Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research center at Duke University. She studies the affective and motivational determinants and consequences of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.
This week's facts include:
- Being in a good mood while getting a flu shot can boost its effectiveness. A study from the University of Notthingham found that of all the factors researchers looked at, a positive mood is the only factor that was associated with a higher level of antibody with an 8 to 14% variance.
- Boredom can be good for you! So, maybe you're one of those people who would rather staple their tongue to a piece of paper than be bored, but it turns out that boredom has many benefits (beyond not leading you to poke holes in your body).
- Smiles can be used to convey twice as many indifferent to unhappy emotions as they can happy ones.
Sometimes it's not about bad things happening...it's about the good things that are not happening. Like finding a soul-mate, being able to afford a nice vacation, or finally moving into that dream home.
Louisa Jewell holds a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and is the Founder and President of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association. After learning how to permanently overcome depression, she's now focused on what she loves most: helping other people take control of their own happiness and lead a positive, fulfilling life.
Megan Alexander is one of the youngest rising stars in the television news industry. For the past decade she has carved a solid carer as a TV Host, Producer, Speaker and Actress. She can be seen every evening as a correspondent on the longest-running, top rated syndicated national news magazine television show INSIDE EDITION.
Ken Baker, the Los Angeles–based senior correspondent for E! News, has worked in entertainment news for more than twenty years. In between interviews with A-list celebrities amidst the land of fairy tales and double-dealing, Ken came to realize his spiritual cup was evaporating and it was up to him to fill it back up again. His new book The Ken Commandments: My Search for God in Hollywood reveals a world that is deeper and more God-centered than many of us might ever imagine.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The most important question that prompted Ken's question in faith
- Advice on creating your own spiritual journey
- A glimpse into the world of spirituality in Hollywood
In this episode Live Happy shares Happy Facts:
- Your friends can pick up your good mood…but they can pick up your bad one too.
- Your nose knows how to make you happy.
- If you want to live a longer life, dedicate some of it to making the lives of others better.
It’s not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will help make them successful human beings. This week learn how to raise positive and gritty teens with Dr. Caren Feldman and Molly Dahl.
About Molly Dahl
Molly Dahl is author of Youth Positive, Exploring the Unique Genius of Every 21st Century Adolescent and The YOUTH Positive Teacher’s Guide. She conducts teacher trainings and workshops, and presents YOUTH Positive and Positive Education at conferences around the country. She holds a Certificate in Positive Psychology from The Wholebeing Institute.
About Caren Feldman
Dr. Caren Baruch-Feldman is a clinical psychologist and a certified school psychologist. Providing in-services, interactive workshops, and now writing her first book, titled, The Grit Guide for Teens are the highlight of Dr. Feldman’s professional life.
Each week Live Happy radio presents #HappyFacts. This week's facts include:
Managing like a coach can lead to greater company loyalty.
Thinking about death is good for you.
The secret to happiness depends on how well you thrive.
Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the New York Time best-sellers Better Than Before, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. Her newest book, The Four Tendencies, is about a personality framework she devised that divides people into four personality profiles.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- How to understand yourself better
- How to understand other people better
- How to create change more effectively
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. This week we look at the following facts:
- The secret to well-balanced happiness may include embracing emotions that aren’t very pleasant, such as anger, sadness and contempt.
- People who engage with one another through live music or dance have higher levels of well-being.
- You can spice up your marriage...by showing a little more gratitude.
GripTape is an initiative committed to putting young people in the driver's seat of their learning. They create opportunities for youth to follow their passions — as inventors, designers, and producers, actively constructing their path for success and supporting other young people to do the same. The GripTape Learning Challenge is a call to action to youth to design, create, and execute their own learning journeys.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- Why the way formal schooling traditionally functions can be an impediment to the development of agency
- The "supports" that adults often put in place in service of helping youth to develop and learn run counter to the development of independence
- The 3 things young people request to better own and drive their own learning
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. This week we look at the following facts:
- People who traded cash for time were found to be less anxious at the end of the day and reported less stress as well.
- People who go to concerts are more satisfied with their lives.
- Encouraging your employees to practice meditation can increase happiness and productivity.
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. This week, in honor of Character Day on Sept. 13, we’re talking about character strengths.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith is a mother of four children, founder of the parenting website GentleParentingInternational.com and author of eight parenting books, including the upcoming release Gentle Discipline.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- How to effectively discipline your children for a peaceful, harmonious family life
- How to raise kids who will be emotionally intelligent, confident and independent
- How to control your temper and reduce yelling in the household
Mithu Storoni is an author, physician, and researcher. She qualified in Medicine from the University of Cambridge and trained in Ophthalmology before undertaking research at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, London where she was a Clinical Research Fellow before relocating to Hong Kong.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- One behavior that can dramatically reduce the impact of a stressful moment
- Why you need a pleasure ‘piggy-bank’
- Why chronic stress is the price we pay for having a plastic brain
Dr. Partha Nandi is the creator and host of the medical lifestyle television show, Ask Dr. Nandi. Dr. Nandi is also the Chief Health Editor at WXYZ (ABC) Detroit, a practicing physician and a renowned international speaker. His new book Ask Dr. Nandi shares the 5 steps to becoming your own #HealthHero for longevity, well-being and a joyful life.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- What it means to be a health hero
- An introduction to his book Ask Dr. Nandi
- The 5 pillars to being a health hero
Elliot Berkman is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon and Director of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab. He studies the motivational and cognitive factors that contribute to success and failure at health goals such as cigarette smoking cessation and dieting. His work uses knowledge of brain function, structure, and connectivity to design and improve interventions on health behavior and wellbeing.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- Achieving goals is not as important to well-being as striving for them
- Why habits are hard to break and how you can create better habits
- How to overcome temptations to create lasting change
Each week, Live Happy presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- People who get paid by the hour are happier by the minute.
- Most of the world is in a good mood.
- Next time you're not feeling well, maybe you need a playlist, not a prescription.
Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, researcher, and New York Times bestselling author (Bankable Leadership). With a PhD in organizational psychology, she is also the founder of The Eurich Group, where she’s helped thousands of leaders and teams improve their effectiveness through greater self-awareness.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- How to make better career and life choices through a better understanding of your values, aspirations, strengths and weaknesses, and impact on others
- The anatomy of a self-aware leader
- How to deal with a boss, friend, in-law or sibling who completely lacks any self-awareness
Explore some of the fun facts that are shared in the October 2017 issue of Live Happy magazine.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- Lifelong learning makes you more optimistic and satisfied with life.
- It’s never too late to find purpose, even if you’ve retired.
- Your boss’ competence is the biggest predictor of your happiness on the job.
Lea Waters is an Australian positive psychology expert and educator who specializes in positive education, parenting and organizations. Her first book The Strength Switch: How the New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish shows how focusing on our children’s strengths rather than trying to correct their weaknesses may be the key in raising a resilient, optimistic and successful child.
What you’ll learn in this podcast:
- What is strength-based parenting and what are its benefits
- How to address your child’s weaknesses
- Two easy tips to implement strength-based parenting
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. This week we discuss:
- Pet dogs can help kids feel less stressed during anxious moments.
- If you want to put some romance back in your marriage, watch internet videos of puppies.
- Pets can provide the same psychological benefits as a close friend.
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- Maybe its the sunrise, maybe its the coffee, maybe it's the Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries, but people are at their most positive in the mornings.
- Biking to work may save your life, or at the very least, make your day great.
- Do smart phones create stupid people?
After producing and hosting over 1500 segments of ESPN Sport Science, 6 times Emmy Award-winning host and The New York Times best-selling author, John Brenkus, recognized that “high achievers” tend to share a similar story of attaining success. Through The Brink of Midnight podcast, John explores the moments that guests credit with changing their lives forever. Those moments that pushed them in an unexpected direction, shaping the experiences that followed and molding them into the people who they are today.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The inspiration behind The Brink of Midnight podcast
- What goes into creating life-changing moments
- Inspirational stories from sports figures, celebrities and more
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- Paying your bills makes you happy
- Swinging can teach kids to be more collaborative
- Remembering the good old days can help you appreciate the good new days
Jaime Kurtz is Associate Professor of Psychology at James Madison University. Her research on happiness and savoring has been published widely in scientific journals, receiving national attention from NPR and The Today Show, as well as in print and online magazines. In her book, The Happy Traveler: Unpacking the Secrets of Better Vacations, Jaime looks at how travel can boost happiness and how we can get more of its benefits.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How experiences are more influential to your happiness than material things
- How to get more out of your vacations
- Tips for a happy homecoming
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- Friends over family?
- Deep thoughts for happy people.
- Craving coffee? Take the stairs!
Garry McDaniel is an award-winning professor teaching courses in leadership, organizational behavior and management. He has written books on leadership strategy, conflict management, and most recently, The Dog’s Guide to Your Happiness: Seven secrets for a better life from man’s best friend. Garry is a frequent on topics such as developing leadership skills, how to create an inspirational workplace, life balance, and what humans and businesses can learn from dogs to improve their lives.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Seven attributes of dogs from which humans can learn and build their own happiness
- What is keeping you from being happy now
- Steps you can take to improve your feeling of happiness and fulfillment
Each week, Live Happy Radio presents #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- Music is medicine
- Joy is contagious
- Could this be your happy place?
Caroline Miller is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts in the areas of goal setting and accomplishment, grit, happiness and success and how to apply it to one’s life for maximum transformation and growth. In her book Getting Grit she provides an evidence-based approach to cultivating passion, perseverance and purpose.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The different types of bad grit
- Why goal setting is so important to your overall well-being
- Steps to take to reach your full potential
Each week explore our favorite #HappyFacts designed to enlighten, educate and entertain you. Here’s a look at what we’re talking about this week:
- Eat Your Veggies!
- Catch Some Zzzzzzzs
- Big Bloom Theory
Lani Shiota completed her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology at University of California, Berkeley, in 2003, and then received post-doctoral training in the Berkeley Psychophysiology Lab. She established the Shiota Psychophysiology Laboratory for Affective Testing (a.k.a. SPLAT Lab), which studies human emotions, relationships, and awe. Awe has been defined as the positive emotion one may experience when confronting a vast stimulus that is not accounted for by one's current understanding, and/or challenges one’s day-to-day scope of experience.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to tap into awe
- Why experiencing awe is so important
- The research being conducted on the benefits of awe
Explore some of the fun facts that are shared in the July 2017 issue of Live Happy magazine.
- You can slow time down by doing things that leave you awe-struck.
- Cities with more public grass are happier and healthier.
- There are five characteristics that the most long-lived cultures seem to share, and one of them is that they don’t exercise.
Jack Kornfield is one of the best known, most respected meditation teachers in the world. A psychologist and founder of two of the largest Buddhist Centers and communities in America, he is one of the key teachers who introduced mindfulness to the West. Jack has taught at major universities and medical schools including Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, and Berkeley, teaches weekly classes to 400 at Spirit Rock, and to large crowds nationwide at retreats and conferences.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to be more mindful in the present
- The benefits of meditation to your overall well-being
- How to reset and find your center
Mike Massimino served with NASA from 1996 to 2014, and is the veteran of two space flights to the Hubble Space Telescope. Spaceman is the tale of his unlikely journey to becoming an astronaut, from his small town in Long Island, to Columbia and MIT, to NASA, and finally to the cosmos. It’s a testament to the importance of following your dreams, no matter how out of this world they may seem, and to the power of teamwork to achieve impossible goals.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The journey of becoming an astronaut
- The freedom you can achieve when you follow your dreams
- What it's like to look down at Earth from space
Ora Nadrich is a Certified Life Coach and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever. In Says Who, Ora Nadrich has created an incredibly easy to follow method to get rid of negative thoughts, taking away all their power over us. It will work for anyone. It starts by realizing that we are in control over our own thoughts, and we get to decide who stays.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- 7 questions to ask yourself to help banish negative thinking
- Why most of our negative thoughts don't even belong to us
- Why we find negative thoughts so comforting
Steve Kamb is the author of Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story. He’s also the creator of nerdfitness.com, a worldwide community of regular people looking to live better lives. He hopes to one day become Captain America.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Why motivation is a horrible thing to rely on
- How important nutrition is to a healthy lifestyle
- How turning life into a gam can help you start reaching any goal you want
Barbara Oakley is a Professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and her work focuses on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behavior. Her newest book Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential is available now and it reveals how we can overcome stereotypes and preconceived ideas about what is possible for us to learn and become.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Why the imposter syndrome is actually a good thing
- How to change your worst traits to your best traits
- Tips on developing a learning lifestyle
Leigh Stringer is Senior Workplace Expert for EYP Architecture & Engineering and is researching employee health and productivity in conjunction with the Harvard School of Public Health, the Center for Active Design, and other leading organizations.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Healthy habits to adopt at work
- How to avoid making unhealthy choices at work
- The connection between the built environment and well-being
Amy Blankson has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between positive psychology and technology and is the only person to be named a Point of Light by two presidents (President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton) for creating a movement to activate positive culture change. Her new book The Future of Happiness looks at technology’s role in our happiness.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Why technology is so influential to our happiness
- The three burning questions of the digital era
- Strategies for balancing productivity with well-being
Laurie Berkner is a best-selling, award-winning children’s recording artists and widely recognized as the uncrowned queen of children’s music. Laurie’s albums have been best-sellers on a chart typically dominated by movie soundtracks and major label compilations. Laurie has written the music and lyrics for two Off-Broadway children's musicals produced by New York City Children’s Theater: Wanda's Monster (2013) and The Amazing Adventures of Harvey and the Princess (2014).
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- What children can teach us about music
- How music can help children learn and grow
- How to get rid of self-criticism and let go
Erik Wahl is an artist, author, and entrepreneur. He is internationally recognized as a thought provoking graffiti artist and one of the most sought-after speakers on the corporate lecture circuit to audiences as diverse as companies like Disney, Microsoft, Toyota, government institutions, and university students.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to harness creativity and discipline
- The relationship between structure and freedom
- How to activate creativity amidst uncertainty and frustration
In 2012 the United Nations established March 20 as the International Day of Happiness. Each year Live Happy leads the way with a campaign to spread happiness around the globe. On March 20 giant orange Happiness Walls are erected across North America as a central point for people to pledge how they will share happiness with others. Schools, offices and local community organizations also can join in the celebration by hosting their own happiness walls.
Learn more at happyacts.org
Isaac Lidsky is a CEO, corporate speaker, author and entrepreneur, now leading Florida’s largest residential shell contractor ODC Construction. A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, Isaac is the only blind person to serve as a Law Clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court. His debut book Eyes Wide Open was cited by The Washington Post among 10 key leadership books in 2017. As a child actor, he played “Weasel” on NBC’s Saved By The Bell: The New Class and appeared in 100+ commercials.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to think differently about true vision and ways to approach life goals
- Why entrepreneurship is the answer for many of us to “Live Happy” but not everyone
- What you need to know to shatter misconceptions that may exist about you
The World Happiness Summit is coming! Find out what this meeting of the minds is all about on this episode of Live Happy Now.
Karen Guggenheim is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of WOHASU and a Co-Founder of the World Happiness Summit. Stepping into this role is an evolution of her extensive career arc, which includes editorial board work with The Miami Herald, strategic communications and integrated marketing expertise with C-Level executives as well as worldwide brands.
In this episode of the Live Happy Now podcast we explore the new issue of Live Happy magazine with Live Happy Science Editor Paula Felps. Listen in as we preview a few of the articles in this issue.
What you'll hear in this podcast:
- Queen Latifah shares her secrets to success and lasting joy
- Sam Worthington explores his own evolution both on and off the screen
- How to use humor to build confidence and charisma
- 33 ideas to make your home a place of positivity
Yakov Smirnoff is a Soviet-born American comedian, actor and writer. After emigrating to the United States in 1977, Yakov began performing as a stand-up comic. He reached his biggest success in the mid-to-late 1980s, appearing in several films and the television sitcom vehicle What a Country!. He has received a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology at UPenn and is currently pursuing a doctorate at Pepperdine University in Psychology.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Why laughter really is the best medicine
- Warning signs your relationship may be in trouble
- Why laughter is essential to the well-being of a relationship
Amy Blankson has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between positive psychology and technology and is the only person to be named a Point of Light by two presidents (President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton) for creating a movement to activate positive culture change. In this episode of Live Happy Now she expands on her article Get a Grip on Your Gadgets in the February 2017 issue of Live Happy magazine.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Tips on a healthy and happy digital cleanse
- The steps to de-clutter your tech devices
- How organization contributes to your overall happiness
The World Happiness Summit is coming! Find out what this meeting of the minds is all about on this episode of Live Happy Now.
Suzanne Jewell is the Chief Mindfulness Officer for the World Happiness. Suzanne believes her life path has led to participate and support this history making movement of sharing the science and practice of happiness. Having struggled through her own paralyzing anxiety after the loss of her best friend, which was her Mom, she dedicated herself to learning tools & techniques to “grow through”, not just “go through” the challenge and build her own personal resilience.
Bruce Cameron began his writing career as a humor columnist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Sadly, the Rocky went out of business, but he says that was not his fault. He is a Benchley award winner for humor and was the 2011 NSNC Newspaper Columnist of the Year. His novel A Dog’s Purpose spent 52 weeks on the NY Times best-seller list and DreamWorks has developed it into a film currently playing at theaters across the country.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The amazing story of how A Dog's Purpose became such a huge hit
- The true message of the book and of our dogs
- What prompted the writing of A Dog's Purpose
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic (in 1979), and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (in 1995).
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to live life with intent
- The minimum amount you should spend being mindful or meditating
- How to create a love affair with your own life
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic (in 1979), and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (in 1995).
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to live life with intent
- The minimum amount you should spend being mindful or meditating
- How to create a love affair with your own life
Giacomo Bono, Ph.D., is Associate Editor for The Journal of Positive Psychology, and director of the Youth Gratitude Project. The aims of the Youth Gratitude Project are to create youth measures of gratitude and to develop and test a gratitude curriculum targeting pre-K and grades 4 through 12 throughout the United States with the broad goal of providing schools with resources to support students' well-being, socio-emotional skills and character.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The science behind developing gratitude
- The effects of gratitude on mental health
- Strategies for motivating and better relating to children and teens
Carin Rockind is a leading happiness expert, media personality, and the creator of PurposeGirl, a movement to empower purpose-driven living. She has taught thousands of people real-life strategies to reclaim their happiness, and live to their fullest potential of success and well-being.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to find your purpose
- Why it is important to take action towards your goals now
- How to use midlife for a catalyst instead of a crisis
In this episode of the Live Happy Now podcast we explore the new issue of Live Happy magazine with Live Happy CEO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz. Listen in as we preview four of the articles in this issue and explore the topic of how to supercharge your life.
What you'll hear in this podcast:
- How Ming-Na Wen of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stays positive
- Why Luke Cage and Sons of Anarchy star Theo Rossi gives back
- The latest theory in creative goal setting, called “design thinking”
- Four traits to develop in your children to help them become high achievers
Actress Ming-Na Wen, star of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has become a role model at age 53, with a new book in the works and a burgeoning brand, #Wenever. Learn how this age-defying, butt-kicking superhero manages it all in this episode of Live Happy Now.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The importance of taking care of yourself
- How to create your own happiness through positivity
- Tips on combating negativity
The right playlist can help keep you motivated, focused and determined to finish a great workout. We sit down with Live Happy science editor Paula Felps on what it takes to create the perfect exercise playlist and we create a playlist for you to use during your workouts.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to create a playlist to motivate you during exercise
- Characteristics to look for in great workout songs
- How to arrange your playlist for peak performance
Jan Stanley is an executive coach, consultant, speaker and facilitator who helps individuals and organizations thrive. Jan is well versed in the practical side of change, and is adept at finding just the right tool, system or method to enhance performance or to find joy and meaning in all that we do. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program, where she is seen as an expert on using ceremony and ritual to enhance daily well-being.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How goals contribute to fulfilling life
- Why goals and resolutions fail and what to do to increase rates of success
- How to commit to your goals once you've established them
Genella Macintyre is an author and international trainer and consultant with a focus on improving the quality of personal and professional living. Topics of her workshops include dealing with difficult clients and customers, working with colleagues, managing conflict through conversations, and leading remote teams.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to determine your stress reducing style
- The critical role of a positive state of mind
- How to trigger a relaxation response
Tana Amen, RN, BSN is the executive vice president of Amen Clinics, a NY Times best-selling author of The Omni Diet and highly respected health and fitness expert. Tana helps people to become warriors for their brains and bodies by arming them with the tools and knowledge to win the fight of their lives.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- What a brain warrior is
- Why we're in a war for our health
- Tips on making healthier choices during the holidays
Jessica Rovello is the CEO and co-founder of Arkadium, which provides an audience attention platform for the world’s most well-known brands and publishers, including CNN, Comcast, Microsoft, The Washington Post and USA Today. In this episode Jessica shares what Arkadium has done for their company culture in order to be named a Best Workplace by Inc. magazine.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- What kinds of work environments foster fulfilling lifestyles
- The importance of prioritizing happy living in a company culture
- Things to implement in your office to help boost happiness
TIME magazine named him one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in the World.” Men’s Fitness hailed him as one of the fittest men on the planet. An acclaimed endurance athlete and NY Times best-selling author, Dean Karnazes has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. We learn more about Dean's journey along the road to Sparta in this episode of Live Happy Now.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The origin and evolution of the marathon
- How to fail beautifully
- Why there's magic in misery
At the young age of 15, Jennifer Rothschild was diagnosed with a rare, degenerative eye disease that would eventually steal her sight. It was more than a turning point for the Miami, Florida, native. Her dreams of becoming a commercial artist and cartoonist faded. Words and music have replaced her canvas and palette for more than 25 years. She shares how she has been able to remain optimistic and positive through her life despite the adversities.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How changing the way you look at the world can change your attitude
- The power of gratitude
- The importance of knowing your authentic self
Tis the season for giving thanks! We say it time and again that gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to share happiness and feel authentic happiness. We sit down with Live Happy science editor Paula Felps to talk about how to create the perfect gratitude playlist.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How the arrangement of a playlist affects you
- The power of music to become more mindful
- How to appreciate the little things
Janell Burley Hofmann is an international speaker, consultant & the author of the book iRules: What Every Tech Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming & Growing Up. Janell is the founder of The Slow Tech Movement & iRules Academy.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to use technology with mindfulness and intention
- The personal and professional iRules to help build a life of digital well-being
- How to engage in conversation to build connection and strengthen relationships
Most adults today spend more time on the job than anywhere else and receive from it not just monetary rewards but also the feelings of accomplishment and purpose necessary to good mental health. Live Happy magazine section editor Chris Libby joins the podcast to share how mindfulness, gratitude, compassion and more can help boost your happiness at work.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to manage stress levels at work
- What you can do to combat negativity in the office
- The impact gratitude and compassion can have on your coworkers
Susan Verde, a proud mother of a daughter and twin boys, writes children’s books and teaches kid’s yoga and mindfulness. She is the author of the picture books The Museum, You and Me, I am Yoga and the forthcoming The Water Princess.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The relationship between yoga and happiness
- How kids yoga can help to cultivate patience, resilience, creativity and confidence
- Ways to introduce yoga to your child
Adam Shell is an award-winning documentary film director, editor and musician. In his latest film, Pursuing Happiness, Adam and producer Nicholas Kraft, embark upon a journey to find what makes Americans happy.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How the creative process works in compiling a film of this magnitude
- The impact the film has had on Adam's personal well-being
- A glimpse of some of the stories shared in Pursuing Happiness
Athletics, theater, music lessons, honors classes…these are all great things for your child to be involved with but is it stressing them out? In this episode we learn what parents can do to help their child experience less stress from their busy schedules and help them to be more successful through the practice of mindfulness.
Susie Wolbe holds a Doctor of Education in educational supervision with a concentration in curriculum and instruction and has spent 30+ years as an educator in public and private schools. By making use of mindfulness strategies Susie has learned how to manage life’s (sometimes) overwhelming demands, and she is now committed to helping others do the same, especially as it applies to students, educators and parents.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to have a school year that is less stressful for students and families
- How to create a family mission statement
- How to ensure that your family is making conscious decisions that are aligned with what's most important
In this episode of the Live Happy Now podcast we geek out over the new issue of Live Happy magazine with Live Happy CEO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz. Listen in as we preview four of the articles in this issue and explore the topic of happiness in the brain.
What you'll hear in this podcast:
- How Mayim Bialik stays balanced with a busy schedule
- The importance of your vagus nerve to your happiness
- The value of friendship and healthy relationships
- How a community in Detroit has brought joy to the Eastern Market
Dr. Srikumar Rao joins the Live Happy Now podcast again to help us learn how to stop the negative mental chatter that we all experience from time to time. Dr. Rao has helped thousands of executives and entrepreneurs all over the world discover deep meaning. His methods have enabled them to achieve quantum leaps in effectiveness. Graduates of his workshops have become more creative and more inspiring leaders. He conceived the innovative course Creativity and Personal Mastery course that he teaches in London and New York. Students found it so overwhelmingly powerful that it remains the only business school course in the world to have its own alumni association.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How to overcome negative self talk
- How to have deeper connections with others
- How to combat toxic personalities
Dr. Daniel Amen is a psychiatrist, a brain disorder specialist and director of the Amen Clinics which offer medical services to people who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders. He is author of the best-sellers Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Magnificent Mind at Any Age and The Amen Solution.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- What can help improve your brain health
- The connection between exercise and your brain
- How some people are turning into dinosaurs
Steve Keller, CEO of ivAudio Branding, is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of audio branding. Combining his degree in Psychology with over 25 years of experience in the music industry as a producer, composer, independent label executive, music publisher and manager, he looks at how sounds and music affect us.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How your senses affect your perception of things
- What sweet and spicy sound like
- More about the emerging field of neurogastronomy
Wendy Suzuki is a Professor of Neural Science and psychology at New York University. Her research has focused on understanding the patterns of brain activity underlying long-term memory and more recently understanding how aerobic exercise might improve our learning memory and cognitive ability. In this episode Wendy shares her expertise of brain plasticity and how she figured out how to get a happy brain and a happy life.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- The long-term effects of exercise on the brain
- How meditation affects the brain
- How love and altruism affects the brain
The ultimate creative challenge is to take complicated scientific ideas and make it super accessible. In this episode of Live Happy Now we talk with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tiffany Shlain about the power of film and an event called Character Day which is a free global initiative where groups around the world screen films on the science of character development and dive into free discussion materials.
After a melt down on live television, ABC News’ Nightline anchor Dan Harris knew he needed to make a change in how he approached his career and his overall happiness. Dan joins this episode of Live Happy Now to share how he has learned to become just 10% happier at a time, how he reduced stress without losing his edge and found self-help that actually works.
Rosalind Wiseman has had only one job since graduating from college—to help communities shift the way we think about children and teens’ emotional and physical well-being. Rosalind is the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World—the groundbreaking, best-selling book that was the basis for the movie Mean Girls. We sat down with Rosalind to dive into the life of teenagers on this episode of Live Happy Now.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- Concrete strategies to help you empower your daughter to be socially competent and treat herself with dignity
- How Girl World has fundamentally changed in recent years
- The roles of technology in your teen's life
- How to prevent the influence of cliques on your child's decision making
We all have “that song,” the one that instantly makes us feel invincible, like Rocky Balboa running up the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bid did you know that you can use that song to actually reset your brain? We sit down with Live Happy science editor Paula Felps to talk about how to create the perfect playlist
What you'll learn in this podcast:
- How the arrangement of a playlist affects you
- The power of a playlist to change your mood
- The 5 key components of creating the perfect playlist
- Different ways you can use playlists to improve your mood
In this episode we look back on past interviews from the Live Happy Now podcast with Live Happy CEO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz. Did your favorite episode make the list?
What you'll learn in this podcast:
How to unplug from work with Christine Carter
The secret to a better night's sleep with Michael Breus, Ph.D.
The importance of connection with Barbara Fredrickson
How practicing gratitude impacts your hapiness with Sonja Lyubomirsky
The act of mindfulness with Matt Tenney
Happiness lessons that adults can learn from children with Dr. Edward Hallowell
How to never be too busy again with Neil Pasricha
Dr. Srikumar Rao has helped thousands of executives and entrepreneurs all over the world discover deep meaning. His methods have enabled them to achieve quantum leaps in effectiveness. Graduates of his workshops have become more creative and more inspiring leaders. He conceived the innovative Creativity and Personal Mastery course that he teaches in London and New York. Students found it so overwhelmingly powerful that it remains the only business school course in the world to have its own alumni association.
This week we sat down with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders live at The Festival of Positive Education in Dallas, TX. We asked them why positive education was so important, what children can gain from it and how focusing on developing character strengths in students can begin to help society as a whole.
This week we sat down with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders live at The Festival of Positive Education in Dallas, TX. We asked them why positive education was so important, what children can gain from it and how focusing on developing character strengths in students can begin to help society as a whole.
Heather Shumaker is a national speaker on parenting and early childhood topics and is the author of two renegade parenting books: It’s OK Not to Share...and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids and It’s OK to Go Up the Slide. An advocate for free, unstructured play in homes and schools, she lives in northern Michigan with her family.
With 15 years experience of living and working in over 50 countries, Natalia Cohen has chosen to follow an unusual and fascinating path. Natalia is no stranger to being outside of her comfort zone and has made an art of embracing and adapting to change. Her understanding of team dynamics, the importance of a positive mindset and the ability to live in the moment led her to become part of the first all-female team to row unsupported across the Pacific Ocean. Natalia shares her amazing story in this episode of Live Happy Now.
Pop star, author, style maven, philanthropist and mom Lisa Loeb has recently released her fourth children’s album exclusively with Amazon, Nursery Rhyme Parade. In this episode we talk about the importance of creativity to overall happiness, the song writing process and the Camp Lisa Foundation.
Raj Raghunathan is professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He is interested in exploring the impact that people’s judgments and decisions have on their own happiness and fulfillment. Raj also has an online course on happiness with over 120,000 students from literally every country in the world.
Joseph Cardillo, Ph.D. joins Live Happy science editor Paula Felps this week to look at body intelligence and harnessing your body’s energies for your best life. Joseph is the best-selling author of several books in the fields of health, mind-body-spirit, and psychology and appears as the energy management expert in Michael Strahan’s new book Wake Up Happy.
Zelana Montminy, Ph.D., is a leading figure in positive psychology, bringing a unique and varied skill set to the well-being realm. Zelana is the author of 21 Days to Resilience, which is ranked No. 1 on Amazon’s Mental Health Hot New Releases, and she speaks around the world on the topic of resilience.
Live Happy CEO Deborah K. Heisz joins Dr. Michelle Robin to talk about the impact of small changes on your overall well-being. Michelle is an international speaker, best-selling author and founder of Your Wellness Connection, one of the nation’s most successful integrative healing centers.
In this episode we touch on the difficult subject of finding joy after the loss of a loved one. And although everyone must deal with grief in his or her own way, it is possible to be able to get back to living a life full of joy and find your authentic happiness once again.
Kristin Meekhof who is a licensed master’s level social worker and author of the book A Widow’s Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice For the First Five Years and was a contributor to Live Happy: Ten Practices for Choosing Joy for the piece titled “The Healing Power of Gratitude”.
Neil Pasricha is The New York Times best-selling author of The Book of Awesome series. Neil is a Harvard MBA, one of the most popular TED speakers of all time and the Director of the Institute for Global Happiness. He has dedicated the past 15 years of his life to developing leaders—creating global programs inside the world’s largest companies and speaking to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. In this episode, he shares more about his new book The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything.
Ross Mathews has won the hearts of millions of Americans since his television debut as a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ross is author of the national best-seller Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence and can currently be seen as the newest host of FOX's Hollywood Today Live, on the red carpet with E! for the biggest awards shows of the season, and returning as a judge on the smash hit, LOGO series RuPaul’s Drag Race.
In this episode we learn more about Ross’s journey toward happiness and what his keys are to living happy.
Linda Swain is a creator, producer and television host. Her most recent nationally televised show, Tapping IN: The Happiest People & Places on the Planet received a Daytime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Travel Program in 2015. Tapping IN combines Linda’s passion to share the stories of others through television and nearly 30 years of spanning the globe, searching for the happiest people and places on the planet for her travel company Swain Destinations.
Joshua Smyth, Ph.D., is a professor of Biobehavioral Health andMedicine at Penn State and co-author of the upcoming bookOpening Up by Writing It Down–How Expressive Writing ImprovesHealth and Eases Emotional Pain. Joshua was interviewed for anarticle in our latest issue of Live Happy magazine abouthow a 20 minute practice of creative writing can help make youhappier, healthier and more resilient. In this episode of LiveHappy Now, we talk with him about how expressive writing canhelp manage stress and improve well-being.
We talk with child and adult psychiatrist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Edward Hallowell on the steps parents can take to help their children become happier as adults.
Dr. Hallowell graduated from Harvard College and Tulane School of Medicine and was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School from 1983 to 2004. He has authored twenty books on various psychological topics including the power of the human connection, methods of forgiving others, dealing with worry, managing excessive busyness and the childhood roots of happiness.
Learn more about the importance of our oceans to our global well-being with Peter Neill, founder and director of World Ocean Observatory.
World Ocean Observatory is a web-based place of exchange for information and education about the health of the ocean. Peter is also host of World Ocean Radio, a weekly series of 5-minute audio essays on a wide range of ocean topics, and editor of World Ocean Journal, a bi-annual e-magazine of the WOO focused on ocean culture and solutions to today’s ocean issues.
In this episode of Live Happy Now, we discover why mindfulness can be considered the ultimate success habit. Matt Tenney is author of The Mindfulness Edge: How to Rewire Your Brain for Leadership and Personal Excellence Without Adding to Your Schedule. Through keynote speeches and training programs, Matt works to develop highly effective leaders who achieve extraordinary, long-term business outcomes and live more fulfilling lives.
In this episode of Live Happy Now we talk with Stacy Kaiser, Live Happy editor at large, about the idea of "super parents" and why striving to be a good parent by allowing room for error and accepting imperfections really helps model to children that trying your best is what is really important.
Stacy is a licensed psychotherapist, relationship expert, media personality and author of How to Be a Grown Up: The Ten Secret Skills Everyone Needs to Know.
In this episode, Live Happy Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Dr. Drew Ramsey about one of 10 practices for choosing joy: health.
Dr. Drew is The New York Times best-selling author of Fifty Shades of Kale and The Happiness Diet. He is one of psychiatry’s leading proponents of using dietary change to help balance moods, sharpen brain function and improve mental health.
In this episode Live Happy Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Kenneth Pargament, Ph.D., about one of 10 practices for choosing joy: resilience.
Kenneth has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is professor emeritus of psychology at Bowling Green State University. He is also author of The Psychology of Religion and Coping and Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred.
In this episode Live Happy magazine science editor Paula Felps talks with Steve Leventhal, executive director of CorStone, about one of 10 practices for choosing joy: resilience.
CorStone is an international nongovernmental organization that develops and provides personal resilience programs to improve well-being for youth worldwide, focusing on adolescent girls in developing countries as critical change-agents in their communities. CorStone believes that cultivating personal resilience is a foundational step in helping youth to thrive—one which is often missing in development programs worldwide. Its evidence-based programs impact three interdependent factors in well-being: emotional health, physical health and education.
In this episode we are joined by Live Happy Director of Digital Marketing and Products Laura Coppedge to share more about the International Day of Happiness and what Live Happy is doing to celebrate this special day.
In this episode Live Happy Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Ali Smith, co-founder of the Holistic Life Foundation, on one of 10 practices for choosing joy: mindfulness.
Ali has more than 15 years of experience teaching yoga and mindfulness to diverse populations. Through his work at the Holistic Life Foundation, he has developed and piloted yoga and mindfulness programs with at-risk youth at drug treatment centers, juvenile detention centers, alternative high schools, mental crisis facilities and in many other underserved communities.
In this episode Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Birju Pandya, a senior advisor for RSF Social Financial, on one of ten practices for choosing joy: giving back.
Birju is also involved with ServiceSpace, an organization run entirely by volunteers that leverages technology to encourage everyday people around the world to do small acts of service. Some of the projects by ServiceSpace include a daily positive news service, an acts-of-kindness portal, and a gift-economy restaurant.
In this episode Live Happy Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Sonja Lyubomirsky about gratitude. Sonja is author of The How of Happiness, the first book by a highly-credentialed positive psychologist to present the latest research in a “how-to” format.
Sonja’s work has been awarded a Templeton Psychology Prize, a Science of Generosity grant, a John Templeton Foundation grant, and a million-dollar grant (with Ken Sheldon) from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness.
Holly Raynes was inspired by a family member who was a Titanic survivor and another who escaped from Poland in World War II. Her book, Nation of Enemies, combines lessons from the past with a healthy fear of the modern landscape. A longtime member of Boston’s writing community, Holly has a history of trying anything once (acting, diving out of a plane and white water rafting). Out of all the things she has tried, writing and raising children seem to have stuck.
In this episode, Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Holly on one of 10 practices for choosing joy—creativity.
Paula Felps is the science editor for Live Happy magazine and has worked as a freelance writer and editor since 1998, covering topics from health and fitness to luxury cars and travel to business and technology. She has written for publications and websites such as Executive Travel, American Driver, Self and Reserve.
In this episode, Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Paula about the science of savoring and shares a glimpse into the new April 2016 issue of Live Happy magazine.
Alastair Moock is a 2013 Grammy Awards nominee and a two-time winner of the Parents’ Choice Gold Awards. His works have twice been included in The Fids and Kamily Industry Critics’ Top 3 Albums of the Year. Long one of Boston’s premier folk artists, Alastair turned his attention to family music after the birth of his twin daughters in 2006. The New York Times calls him “a Tom Waits for kids” and The Boston Globe declares, “in the footsteps of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Alastair Moock makes real kids music that parents can actually enjoy.”
In this episode, Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Alastair on one of ten practices for choosing joy—meaning.
Mary Miller is the CEO and owner of JANCOA Janitorial Service, Inc., an award-winning commercial cleaning service located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mary is known for her positive outlook and desire to help others realize their uniqueness and personal power. Through her renowned employee benefits program, the Dream Manager, she has created an exceptional work environment and a truly successful organization. The Dream Manager, popularized by the bestselling book under the same name, grew from an employee retention program into an inspiring example of what a business can be.
In this episode, Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Mary on one of ten practices for choosing joy—a positive attitude.
Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., serves as the president of the International Positive Psychology Association and is considered one of the most highly cited scholars in the field of psychology today. Her research reveals how micro-moments of love and other forms of positivity nourish your health, wisdom and longevity.
In this episode, Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with Barbara on one of ten practices for choosing joy—relationships and love.
Suzie Pileggi Pawelski is a contributing editor for Live Happy magazine as well as wellness counselor specializing in the science of happiness and its effects on health and relationships. Her 2010 Scientific American Mind cover story "The Happy Couple" was selected by the magazine as one of its most intriguing articles of recent years.
James Pawelski, Ph.D., is Director of Education and Senior Scholar in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. For the last ten years, he has served as the founding director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program, the world's first degree program in positive psychology. He is also the founding director of the International Positive Psychology Association.
Live Happy co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah K. Heisz talks with James and Suzie about achieving harmonious passion in your personal relationships.
In this episode we talk to the Live Happy team members who recently took part in the “90 Days to a Happier You” challenge. Find out how Susan, Kim, Donna, Shelley and Chris learned to make better choices and build habits that have helped them become happier people. Through this series we'll tackle topics like improving communication with others, managing negative thinking, overcoming chronic insomnia, setting life goals and learning to unplug from work.
Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the blockbuster New York Times best-sellers Better Than Before, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. On her popular weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin she discusses good habits and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft.
In this episode Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks about the power of habits in creating a happier and more successful life.
Valorie Burton is a best-selling author and speaker who helps people "get unstuck" and "be unstoppable" in every area of their lives. As a certified personal and executive coach, Valorie has served hundreds of clients in more than 40 states and nine countries, and is the founder of The Coaching and Positive Psychology Institute.
In this episode Live Happy Co-Founder, COO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Valorie about identifying your personal happiness triggers, how to bounce back from stress and adversity, and how to savor each moment every day.
In this special podcast series, we have partnered with top well-being experts to help coach five members of our Live Happy team on how to make better choices and build habits that lead to more fulfilling lives. Through this series we'll tackle life-changing topics such as improving communication with others, managing negative thinking, overcoming chronic insomnia, setting life goals and learning to unplug from work.
In this episode, Live Happy science editor Paula Felps talks with Christine Carter who is a sociologist and senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and author of The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Work and Home.
Emma Seppälä is Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education as well as the author of The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success. Her areas of research include positive organizational psychology, health psychology, cultural psychology, well-being and resilience.
In this episode Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Emma about what the science of happiness is according to science and the ability to bounce back from difficulties in life.
In this special podcast series we have partnered with top well-being experts to help coach five members of our Live Happy team on how to make better choices and build habits that lead to more fulfilling lives. Through this series we'll tackle life-changing topics such as improving communication with others, managing negative thinking, overcoming chronic insomnia, setting life goals and learning to unplug from work.
In this episode Live Happy magazine Science Editor Paula Felps talks with Caroline Miller who has been a pioneer with her ground-breaking work in the areas of goal setting/accomplishment, grit, happiness and success. She is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts on this research and how it can be applied to one’s life for maximum transformation and growth.
In this special podcast series we have partnered with top well-being experts to help coach five members of our Live Happy team on how to make better choices and build habits that lead to more fulfilling lives. Through this series we'll tackle topics like improving communication with others, managing negative thinking, overcoming chronic insomnia, setting life goals and learning to unplug from work.
In this episode Live Happy magazine Science Editor Paula Felps talks with Michael Breus, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
As the subject of sleep continues to gain momentum in our sleep-deprived society, Michael has become a widely recognized leader in this ever-evolving field and serves on the clinical advisory board of The Dr. Oz Show. Dedicated to raising awareness of both medically diagnosed sleep disorders and the importance of quality sleep for all, Michael is on a mission to develop innovative education and communication programs.
Karen Cassiday is the president-elect of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America as well as owner of the Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago-the first private clinic in the Chicago area to offer exposure-based treatment for anxiety disorders. Karen has multiple published articles in the area of anxiety disorders, and is an internationally recognized expert on the treatment of anxiety and related disorders in children through adults.
In this episode Live Happy magazine Science Editor Paula Felps talks with Karen about the causes and difficulties with worry and how to overcome it.
In this special podcast series we have partnered with top well-being experts to help coach five members of our Live Happy team on how to make better choices and build habits that lead more fulfilling lives. Through this series we tackle topics like improving communication with others, managing negative thinking, overcoming chronic insomnia, setting life goals and learning to unplug from work.
Michele Gravelle is a consultant with Triad Consulting where she works with the authors of the bestselling books: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, and Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well. Michele also facilitates executive education programs at the Harvard Negotiation Institute and Duke Corporate Education.
In this episode Live Happy magazine Science Editor Paula Felps talks with Michele about the obstacles to effective communication and how to improve your communication with others.
Tal Ben Shahar, Ph.D., is an author and lecturer who taught Harvard University’s most popular course on positive psychology and its third most popular course on the psychology of leadership. Tal is also a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of the Wholebeing Institute, Happier.TV, Potentialife and the Maytiv Center for Research and Practice in Positive Psychology.
In this episode Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Tal about the three steps to lasting change and what you can do to help make your resolutions succeed. We also listen in on a conversation from our recent cover shoot with Jillian Michaels about her keys to living a happier life and share what's inside the February 2016 issue of Live Happy magazine.
Michelle Segar, Ph.D., is a motivation scientist and author of the critically acclaimed No Sweat! How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness. She is also the Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center (SHARP) at the University of Michigan, chair of the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan’s Communications Committee and a leading authority on what motivates people to choose and maintain healthy behaviors.
With the new year upon us, we explore what really motivates us to make and keep resolutions as well as what we can do to successfully reach our health and fitness goals.
In this episode we look back on past interviews from the Live Happy Now podcast with Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz. Did your favorite episode make the list?
Over the past 20 years, Grammy Award-nominated Jim Brickman has amassed a huge following as a contemporary pianist. Fans trust his music to deal with a crisis, rekindle romance, or simply relax. In his latest book, Soothe: How to find Calm Amid Everyday Chaos—he compiles a collection of both spiritual and practical advice that mirrors the way it feels when listening to his music.
In this episode we learn more about Jim's experience and his tips to soothe your stress to find a more relaxed state of mind.
Margaret H. Greenberg is a certified executive coach, international speaker, “Positive Work” columnist for Live Happy magazine, and the coauthor of the business book Profit from the Positive: Proven Leadership Strategies to Boost Productivity and Transform Your Business. Margaret is a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s very first Master of Applied Positive Psychology program.
In this episode, Margaret and Live Happy Co-Founder, COO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talk about the emerging field of positive psychology, explore numerous tools to help you profit from the positive and offer advice to help you find your authentic happiness.
Jenny Santi is a trusted philanthropy advisor to some of the world's most generous givers and celebrity activists. In this episode Jenny shares the science behind giving, how it makes you feel good and ways to overcome compassion fatigue.
Deepak Chopra is a pioneer of integrative medicine and the author of more than 80 books published in 43 languages. Many have been New York Times best-sellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories.
Rudolph E. Tanzi is an internationally acclaimed expert on Alzheimer's disease and was included in TIME magazine's "TIME 100 Most Influential people in the World."
In this episode, Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz talks with Deepak and Rudolph on their latest book Super Genes: Unlock the Astonishing Power of Your DNA for Optimum Health and Well-Being.
Sara Oliveri is a Washington, D.C-based life coach and speaker who helps people, as well as organizations, create happier lives. She is one of less than 300 graduates of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania.
In this episode we talk about effective tools to create a more meaningful and fulfilling life and how to identify your personal core values to help you achieve authentic happiness.
Dr. Drew Ramsey, New York Times best-selling author of Fifty Shades of Kale and The Happiness Diet, is one of psychiatry’s leading proponents of using dietary change to help balance moods, sharpen brain function and improve mental health.
In this episode Live Happy Science Editor Paula Felps talks with Drew about the best foods for a healthy and growing brain as well as great tips for wholesome eating on a budget.
Anne K. Fishel, Ph.D., is director of the Family and Couples Therapy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and an associate clinical professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School. She is a co-founder of The Family Dinner Project, a non-profit group that works online and in person to help families have healthy and enjoyable dinners, as well as meaningful conversation at the table.
In this episode we explore why family dinners are great for the body, mind and mental health of all family members involved as well as some tips for making the conversation around the dinner table interesting, lively and meaningful.
Rhonda Cornum was a 36-year-old flight surgeon in 1991 when her Black Hawk helicopter was sent to rescue a downed F-16 pilot. Through this “one week of misadventure” she remained positive. Learn where that resilience came from, the major challenges to teaching and learning resilience, and a few tips to help you become more resilient.
Tom Rath is a best-selling author and researcher who studies the role of human behavior in business, health and well-being. Live Happy Editorial Director, COO and Co-Founder Deborah Heisz talks with Tom about his most recent work, a feature-length documentary film, Fully Charged, which explores the key elements of energizing one's work and life through personal stories and interviews with the world's leading social scientists.
Louis Alloro is a change-agent working with individuals and organizations to enable positive evolution, even through the most difficult challenges. He is one of the first 100 people in the world to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a second master's degree in the Foundations of Education.
In this episode we look at the power of gratitude as well as recommendations for positivity and peace during the holiday season.
Dr. Michael Finkelstein, also known as The Slow Medicine Doctor, is the author of Slow Medicine: Hope and Healing for Chronic Illness. Dr. Finkelstein has been featured in The New York Times and on CNN for his work on both a micro and macro point of view on today’s health care needs and challenges.
Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz joins Dr. Finkelstein to discuss the definition of forgiveness and some tools for releasing stress from traumatic experiences or toxic personalities.
Find out the family dynamics of New York Times best-selling author Deepak Chopra and his daughter Mallika and gain valuable insight into the importance of creating a relationship with yourself, the positive impact of meditation, and inspiring advice for parents. Deepak, a board-certified physician and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Well-being, is at the forefront of integrative medicine and personal transformation. His daughter Mallika Chopra is a busy mom of two, a successful entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Intent.com, a successful social platform for people sharing their intents to lead a happier, healthier and more meaningful life.
We also talk with Live Happy Web Editor Emily Miller about the gift that changed her life, and get a preview of the December issue of Live Happy magazine available on newsstands now.
Adam Shell is an award-winning documentary film director, editor and musician. In his latest film, Pursuing Happiness, Adam and producer Nicholas Kraft, embark upon a journey to find what makes Americans happy. Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director, Deborah Heisz talks with Adam about his documentary and what insights he has discovered along the way.
This week we look at the power of forgiveness with an emotional story from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker/TV producer Gayle Kirschenbaum and her mother Mildred. You can learn more about their path to forgiveness in the feature documentary, Look At Us Now, Mother!
Dr. Eric Pearl is the founder of The Reconnection and a pioneer in energy healthcare. In this episode, we'll learn more about what energy healing can do for you, and how you can begin to restore your body to its optimal balance.
Shane Lopez, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researcher on hope. Find out the importance of creating a relationship with your future self, coming up with multiple pathways to reach your goals and a few activities you can try to become more helpful.
James Pawelski-founding director of the UPenn Masters in Applied Positive Psychology program-and his wife, journalist and contributing editor to Live Happy Suzann Pileggi Pawelski, discuss how research from positive psychology can lead to meaningful and long-lasting relationships.
Shawn Achor is a New York Times best-selling author of Before Happiness and The Happiness Advantage. He is the winner of more than a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the school's most popular class. Shawn has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success.
In this episode, Shawn talks with Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz about how happiness fuels success and how you can capitalize on the Happiness Advantage as well as his two-part O-Course Experience on Oprah.com.
David Shadrack Smith serves as executive producer and director on the highly anticipated landmark series with Oprah Winfrey, Belief. Throughout his career, David has earned nine Emmy nominations and worked with broadcasters around the world, including National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, History, Showtime, BBC, and many more.
In this episode, David shares more about the upcoming series Belief, a groundbreaking television event exploring humankind’s ongoing search to connect with something greater than ourselves.
Live Happy Section Editor Chris Libby joins us to discuss the topic of bullying, how it starts and what you can do to help stop bullying. In this episode we are joined by a panel of people that were interviewed for an article published in the October issue of Live Happy magazine.
You will hear from Jaylen Arnold, a 15-year old with a mission to stop bullying, Deborah Temkin, Ph.D., who has worked closely with the US government to bring an intersection between education and healthy social and emotional development, and Alejandro Adler, a PhD candidate in Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on well-being, education and public policy.
Darlene Mininni, Ph.D., is the author of The Emotional Toolkit and creator of the UCLA undergraduate well-being course Life Skills. Her work focuses on teaching research-based strategies that answer the question: “How can I thrive in my life?” In this episode, Live Happy editor at large Stacy Kaiser talks with Darlene about using mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress and how to fit it into your busy schedule.
Richard Sears, Ph.D., is a board-certified clinical psychologist, the Director of the Center for Clinical Mindfulness & Meditation and is a clinical and research faculty member of the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Integrative Health and Wellness. Richard shares the definition of mindfulness, activities you can do with your kids to teach them mindfulness and how to unplug from the technological world in this episode of Live Happy Now.
Caroline Miller is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts in the areas of goal setting, grit, happiness, success and how to apply it to one’s life. Caroline was one of the first graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program and is author of Creating Your Best Life and Positively Caroline. In this episode Caroline discusses goal setting, how to become grittier, and her new book Authentic Grit with Live Happy COO, Co-founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz.
Michelle McQuaid, best-selling author, workplace well-being teacher and playful change activator, joins Live Happy Now to talk about how to discover your strengths at work and how to use these strengths to bring you a more enjoyable and engaging workplace.
Tory Johnson is seen every Thursday on ABC's Good Morning America where she presents the popular Deals & Steals segment. Her last book, The Shift, was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and now she has a brand new book Shift for Good: Simple Changes for Lasting Joy Inside and Out. Tory joins Live Happy COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz to discuss more about her happiness journey.
Dr. Christine Carter combines scientific research and practical application to offer audiences not just a way to cope with modern pressures, but a way to truly thrive. Dr. Carter looks at living life from our “sweet spot”—that place of both power and ease.
Robert Holden, Ph.D., is a best-selling author, speaker and expert on happiness, forgiveness and well-being. In this episode Robert discusses his 8 week happiness program and finding the happiness within yourself.
Jonathan Haidt recently spoke at the 2015 IPPA (International Positive Psychology Association) conference. COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director of Live Happy LLC, Deborah K. Heisz joins Haidt to further discuss the 10 great truths, ideas to creating lasting happiness and how to deal with opposite beliefs in a heated discussion.
Paula Felps, the science editor for Live Happy magazine has recently looked into current research about the “backlash” on positive psychology. This episode delves into how the pursuit of happiness is stressing us out, what the experts say about that – and how to take some of the pressure off yourself. Live Happy Co-Founder, COO and Editorial Director Deborah Heisz also gives a preview of the October issue of Live Happy magazine on newsstands now.
Founder of Live Happy, Jeff Olson, shares insights to small actions you can take every day to achieve happiness. Over the past 30 years Jeff has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals achieve better levels of financial freedom and personal excellence.
Michelle Gielan, founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and an expert on the science of positive communication shares the steps you can take to broadcast happiness to create a positive impact on your community.
Tom Rath, author of Are You Fully Charged? The Three Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life, studies the role of human behavior in business, health and well-being. In this episode Tom discusses the importance of positive interaction and how to handle negative emotions.
Deborah Heisz, COO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director of Live Happy introduces what you can look forward to with the Live Happy Now podcast and a preview of the upcoming guests like Michelle Gielan, Tom Rath, Christine Carter, and Deepak Chopra. Deborah also shares more about the Live Happy mission to help make the world a happier place.