Live Happy Now

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: Embrace something you’re not good at. Practice more self-compassion. Get organized. Hone your resilience skills. Make a comeback. Be more playful. 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.

If you’re an introvert, you know just how terrifying it can be to do things like talk to strangers, throw a dinner party or—gulp—public speaking. For journalist Jessica Pan, overcoming life as a shy introvert meant going to extremes and living as an extrovert for an entire year. With the help of “extrovert mentors,” Jessica tackled a daunting to-do list and then chronicled it in the hilarious but heartfelt new book, Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes. In this episode, she joins Live Happy Now host Paula Felps to talk about what made her want to overcome her introverted ways and how it has changed her life. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why saying ‘yes’ can change your life. Why living outside of your comfort zone is good for you. That it is never too late to create positive habits.

You’ve heard the phrase, “You’re not getting older, you’re getting better”—but how often do you believe that? After hearing Louise Aronson, M.D., you might realize that the old adage is true. As a geriatrician, writer and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Louise gives us a completely new perspective on aging with her new book, Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life. In it, she describes how we can not only change our attitudes toward aging in others, but begin to anticipate and reframe the final decades of our lives.    In this episode, you’ll learn: The importance of knowing what you want next in life. How to start planning for happier elderhood—at any stage in life. Why elderhood is the perfect time to discover new passions.

We all have people in our lives that we love and appreciate, but have you ever thought about how good it is for you to show appreciation for others? A new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies shows that learning how to show appreciation for others can help you feel less stressed and can even reduce symptoms of depression. Live Happy editor Chris Libby joins us for this podcast to talk about why appreciation is so beneficial—and how you can get more of it in your life. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why appreciation can help improve our home and work life. How to show more appreciation for others. Developing appreciation as a character strength.

Most of us focus on pursuing things we’re good at, but what if you like doing something … and discover you’re really bad at it? Karen Rinaldi, publisher at Harper Wave—a book imprint she founded in 2012—finds happiness in being able to surf, even though she does it poorly. Learning to accept her “suckitude” on the surfboard, she says, has helped her be more forgiving of herself in other areas of her life. In her new book, (It’s Great to) Suck at Something, she looks at the gifts she’s gained from embracing imperfection and letting go of the need to succeed at everything. She talks to us about how this has helped her find joy in the pursuit of something rather than in reaching an end goal—and how you can, too.   In this episode, you learn: Why it’s beneficial to try something you might not be good at. How not being good at something can invite kindness from those around you. How sucking at something can help build resilience.