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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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. 

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

• 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:

1. Embrace something you’re not good at.
2. Practice more self-compassion.
3. Get organized.
4. Hone your resilience skills.
5. Make a comeback.
6. Be more playful.
7. 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.