Live Happy Now

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.