Live Happy Now

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.