Happiness, the New Way – Joe Hudson with Stephanie Harrison
May 17, 2024
auto_awesome
Stephanie Harrison, an expert in the science of happiness and creator of the New Happy philosophy, shares her transformative journey from a breakdown to discovering true happiness. She discusses the impact of self-awareness in overcoming toxic narratives and the importance of genuine connections in alleviating loneliness. Harrison emphasizes reframing self-criticism to foster personal growth and advocates for embracing one's emotions, including anger, as part of healing. Her insights challenge conventional views on achievement and well-being in a refreshing way.
Shifting from self-criticism to self-acceptance separates self-worth from outcomes, improving relationships with oneself.
The journey of processing repressed anger involves physical expression followed by cognitive exploration and eventual acceptance.
Deep dives
Reframing Mistakes and Difficult Emotions
Instead of shaming oneself for mistakes or difficult emotions, the practice involves catching oneself before spiraling into self-destructive thoughts. By shifting the narrative from self-criticism to self-acceptance, individuals can separate their self-worth from outcomes, paving the way for improved relationships with oneself.
Physical Practice for Anger Processing
The journey of confronting and processing deeply repressed anger started with a physical approach, such as punching a pillow or engaging in intense workouts to express and release the emotion. Over time, incorporating journaling and expressive writing allowed for a cognitive exploration and eventual acceptance and understanding of anger.
Connection and Helping Others
The understanding of happiness lies in the interconnectedness and relationships with others. Genuine giving is emphasized over forced obligations, encouraging individuals to offer their unique gifts and talents authentically. Learning to receive help from others plays a vital role in fostering genuine connections and reciprocal relationships.
Gender Dynamics and Emotional Processing
Exploring gender dynamics in processing emotional experiences highlights men's and women's unique relationships with anger and sadness. Acknowledging and processing anger, often overlooked due to societal expectations, reveals a deeper level of emotional understanding and communication potential between genders.
When Stephanie Harrison’s perfect-on-paper life resulted in physical and emotional breakdown, she got curious and went in search of answers to what was causing it and what needed to change. It led her straight to the heart of happiness and flipped the achievement script on its head—much like happened with Joe. In this episode, Joe sits down with Stephanie to talk about her new book, The New Happy, the life experiences that brought them to the work of self-inquiry, and what it means to be happy.
Stephanie Harrison is an expert in the science of happiness and the creator of the New Happy philosophy. She has a master’s degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was later an instructor, and was previously the Director of Learning at Thrive Global, leading the development of science-based programs that improve well-being.
Send us your questions on Twitter, through our website, or in our Circle community!