Live Happy Now

The right song lyrics can express exactly what you’re feeling, and they can even help kids open up about what’s happening in their lives. With the Sound It Out campaign, parents and caregivers can support emotional wellness in young people by using songs and lyrics to help kids express their feelings. In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Regina Miranda, a professor of psychology at Hunter College and one of the advisors for the program, to learn more about it.    In this episode, you’ll learn: What the campaign offers and how it came about. How music supports emotional wellness. How to use the Conversation Starter Pack to talk with kids about their feelings.

As we all settle into our post-summer routine, certain family members can sometimes get overlooked. This week, therapist Brittany Derrenbacher is back to talk about how a change in routine can affect our pets. Brittany is a certified grief and pet loss specialist, founder of the special needs animal rescue Luna Bell’s Moonbows and owner of Sunshine Healing & Empowerment in Louisville, Kentucky, and she explains why our furry family members are so affected by the end-of-summer change in routine and tells us what we can do about it. In this episode, you’ll learn: How pets are affected when we go back to school and back to work. How small changes in your morning routine can make a big difference. What we can do to make being alone less stressful for pets.

We’ve hit the end of summer and for many people, that means dealing with end of summer anxiety. And it’s not just for kids! This week’s guest, Eli Weinstein, is a social work therapist and host of The Dude Therapist podcast, and he’s here to talk about how we all can handle that end of summer anxiety and head into fall with a new game plan for the whole family. In this episode, you’ll learn: What causes end-of-summer anxiety. Why creating a routine helps manage stress. How to find a strategy that works for your family.

As we go back to school, it means kids are spending even more time on their screens. So what’s a parent to do? This week’s guest will tell you! Childcare advocate and author Florence Ann Romano joins us this week to talk about the importance of balancing time on devices. Florence Ann is a big fan of ditching the devices and discovering off-screen play, and she’s here today to talk about how parents can get a handle on their children’s screen time — and maybe even improve their own screen habits. In this episode, you’ll learn: What too much screen time does to developing brains. How to develop learning opportunities without screens. How parents’ screen usage affects their relationship with their children.

Whether we admit it or not, most of us spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to others. But what if our true superpower is learning just to be ourselves? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Dr. Ronald Siegel, a psychotherapist, Harvard psychology professor and mindfulness expert whose latest research looks at what a climate of self-comparison is doing to undermine our happiness. His new book, The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are, looks at the trap of constant self-evaluation and explains how we can learn to let go of our comparison culture and live a more satisfying, happy life. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why it’s natural for us to compare ourselves to others. How social media has amplified the climate of self-comparison. How practices like gratitude and mindfulness help minimize the effects of constant self-evaluation.

Music has such a powerful healing ability that some researchers are even looking at “sonic pharmacology” — using music as a tool to improve patients’ health. Steve Keller is one of the world’s leading experts on sonic strategy. As a researcher, he has explored how music and sound affect everything from our physical wellbeing to our emotional state to our relationships and overall perception of happiness. In this episode, he looks at the many surprising ways music can be used as a healing tool — and explains why, one day, your doctor might give you a musical prescription. In this episode, you’ll learn: How the medical community is using sound to enhance healing. Some of the surprising ways noise affects our health — and how music can help. The unexpected ways music can change your eating habits and promote a healthier lifestyle.

As kids (and teachers) head back to school, what if they started focusing on subjects like gratitude, kindness and empathy? This week’s guest, Ash Manuel, left his teaching career after discovering positive psychology and set out on a mission to change how children learn. Now, his Growing with Gratitude program is a global positive education program that helps build and protect children’s mental wellbeing.   In this episode, you’ll learn: How Ash became interested in positive psychology. How he has applied his teaching skills to develop the Growing with Gratitude program. What he hopes to accomplish by taking gratitude into classrooms.

This is a special week at Live Happy Now because we’ve reached an important milestone — and we truly could not have done it without you. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy CEO and Co-founder Deborah Heisz for an important announcement and to talk about the future of the podcast. In this episode, you’ll learn: What led to the launch of Live Happy Now. How our podcast has changed over the past seven years. What we hope listeners gain from listening each week.

Bullying is a huge issue for kids today, and as we go back to school, many children are dreading having to face that challenge every day. This week’s guest, Jennifer Fraser, PhD, is author of the powerful new book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health. Jennifer is an award-winning educator whose online courses and workshops teach the impact of neuroscience on personal development and culture change. In her latest book, she breaks down how bullying affects our brains and, more importantly, she tells us how to help our brains heal from that trauma. In this episode, you’ll learn: What happens to our brains when they are being bullied. How society has normalized bullying from adults — and why it’s so important to stop that cycle. Steps to take to address bullying in schools and the workplace.

As the world opens up to traveling again, can you make your travel experiences more meaningful? This week’s guest will show you how! Jessica Blotter is a speaker and journalist who specializes in sustainable and regenerative tourism. After witnessing extreme poverty on a vacation to Belize, Jessica launched a movement in 2016 called Kind Traveler, which allows travelers to positively impact the communities they visit — and enjoy incredible experiences as well. In this episode, she explains why it’s so important to travel kindly, and every trip you take can make a difference. In this episode, you’ll learn: What sustainable and regenerative tourism is and why it matters. The role that giving back plays in creating a more positive travel experience. How you can embrace sustainable tourism in your own travels.