Live Happy Now

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.