Live Happy Now

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.