Happiness Hacks Podcast

Can you really laugh your way to happiness? Cathy Nesbitt says yes, and she should know. Every morning her laughter buddy calls, and instead of saying hello, they just start laughing. She’s done it every day for over four years.

Jim sat down to chat with Cathy, the Laughing Bean Queen, a certified Laughter Yoga teacher, worm composting pioneer, and someone who hasn’t gone a single day without sprouts since 2002.

In this episode of the Happiness Hacks Podcast they talk about all things laughter and joy, from why your body can’t tell a fake laugh from a real one, to how one laughter session helped a woman sleep through the night for the first time in eight weeks. They even discuss why the heavier the world feels, the more we need to laugh.

As Cathy states, joy isn’t something you save for weekends and vacations. It’s your birthright. Time to let it in.

Cathy discovered Laughter Yoga in 2012, trained as a leader in 2015, and became a teacher in 2016. Today she trains new laughter leaders and brings the practice to seniors, people with special needs, adult day programs, and cancer support communities. Since June 2020, she has hosted the Global Giggle Gang, a free online laughter club every Tuesday morning, which she now co-leads with her husband, Rick. She also starts every day with a laughter buddy, a practice she’s kept up since December 2021.

Laughter isn’t Cathy’s only passion. In 2002, after watching her region begin shipping its garbage across the border, she founded Cathy’s Crawly Composters to help families turn food waste into rich soil with red wiggler worms. That same year, she began eating sprouts every day, and she now teaches others to grow their own as “nature’s original fast food.” With a goal of living vibrantly to 111, Cathy is living proof that joy, curiosity, and a good belly laugh are some of the best medicine there is.

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What happens when the life you’ve built starts working against you?

Kristen Renee Appleby spent years caught in the hustle, trying to keep everything together while living for other people’s expectations. Then an autoimmune diagnosis, panic attacks, and years of physical symptoms forced her to look more deeply at the connection between her body, emotions, mindset, and the way she was living.

Kristen shares how she eventually decided to blow up her life, leave her career, move to a new place, slow down, and begin rebuilding from the inside out. We cover everything from childhood patterns, people-pleasing, self-acceptance, emotional trauma, therapy, meditation, gratitude, authenticity, purpose, and the beliefs we carry around money.

Kristen also explains why she believes healing requires looking at the whole picture, from your mindset and environment to your daily habits, relationships, your body, and what you’re putting into it. And we talk about why you don’t have to quit your job and move into the wilderness to start making meaningful changes.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple message: wherever you are right now is okay, and change is possible. Because sometimes finding your way forward starts with accepting exactly where you are.

She is the author of Healing the Money Wound, The Elements of Healing, and The Purpose Workbook. She also writes The Rebuild Collective on Substack, sharing insights on rebuilding foundations for your body, business, and bank account.

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Play isn’t a break from a happy life, rather, it’s one of the best ways to build one.

In this episode of the Podcast, Jim talks with Zander Phelps, the zPlayCoach, about footbags, juggling, origami, and why play is one of the simplest ways to raise your Baseline of Happiness.

Zander shares how burning out at a 100-hour-a-week job led him to sell everything and travel the world with a backpack and a footbag in his pocket. A three-hour game in an airport terminal became the start of a lifelong mission to spread play around the world, one hand-sewn HackiDo at a time.

Throughout the conversation, Zander explains why he calls juggling the ultimate brain exercise, how play lowers stress and shifts the brain into what he calls the Play Flow State, and how simple tools like the HackiDo and Craniogami can keep the mind and body active at any age. He and Jim also talk about the four play archetypes (the Warrior, the Wizard, the Bard, and the Druid) and why putting down the phone to connect with the people around us matters now more than ever.

You don’t have to be a juggler or a footbag player to benefit from Zander’s wisdom. Happiness can come from just remembering that we were born to play.

Based in Ventura, California, Zander blends evidence-based behavior change with playful movement to help people overcome burnout, reconnect with their inner child, and rediscover the power of play. His new book is The Path of Play.

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What happens when we stop consuming and start creating?

In this episode of the Happiness Hacks Podcast, Jim talks with twin sisters Jordan Truster and Jillian Reece, the founders of Loveleigh Loops, about calligraphy, creativity, and the surprising ways making something with your hands can bring more Happiness into your life.

Jordan and Jillian share how a childhood interest in calligraphy eventually led them to leave their careers in engineering and business analytics and build a business teaching calligraphy to more than 65,000 students around the world.

Throughout the conversation they explore the connection between creativity and being in the ‘flow’. The sisters discuss why slowing down can be so rewarding, and why the process of creating can matter more than the finished product.

They also talk about teaching as a way to deepen your own learning, the value of creative hobbies, and the growing challenge of spending our free time scrolling and consuming rather than making something ourselves.

You don’t have to be an artist or learn calligraphy to benefit from the wisdom of these talented sisters. Sometimes Happiness comes from simply putting down the phone, picking up a pen, and just creating.

Today, they share their passion for calligraphy through online courses, workshops, and a growing creative community, helping people discover the joy of making beautiful things by hand.

Take the free quiz to discover where you are today and get a personalized plan for where to go next.

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Can you fake being happy?

You can smile. You can perform. You can tell everyone, “I’m fine.” But when the noise fades and you’re alone with yourself, you know the truth.

In Episode 3 of the Happiness Hacks Podcast, Jim and Janrace sit down with Malaysian jazz and R&B singer, performer, yoga teacher, and wellness advocate Atilia Haron for a deeply personal and joy-filled conversation about what it really means to be happy.

From growing up surrounded by music, with a singer mother and a wildly creative grandmother, to building a life that includes singing, performing, teaching yoga, connecting with others, and embracing every creative impulse she can, Atilia has learned that happiness isn’t something you can put on like a costume.

Together, they explore creativity, yoga, family, connection, menopause, following your many passions, and the sometimes uncomfortable question at the heart of it all: Are you truly happy, or are you just really good at pretending?

If you love Atilia, music, yoga, creativity, wellness, or simply want to become a little more honest about what happiness looks like in your own life, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Because at the end of the day—you can’t fake happiness.

Alongside music, Atilia has built a second calling as a yoga teacher and wellness advocate. She began practicing yoga in her 30s after struggling with breathing during performances, eventually discovering how deeply the practice could transform not only her physical strength and breath, but also her mental balance and sense of self. She went on to become a certified yoga teacher and founded yoga communities and studios in Malaysia.

Today, Atilia brings the worlds of music, movement, breath and mindfulness together. For her, yoga isn’t just exercise; it is a practice of awareness, balance and connection; principles that continue to shape both the way she performs and the way she lives.

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What if the happiness we’ve been searching for isn’t something we find, but something we stop chasing?

In this conversation, Amitha Khema shares the Buddhist perspective on happiness, mindfulness, and the causes of suffering. We discuss why external achievements can never provide lasting fulfillment, how meditation and mindfulness help us respond rather than react, and what it means to develop a deeper sense of peace regardless of life’s ups and downs. If you’re looking for practical ways to live with more awareness, this conversation offers timeless insights that anyone can apply.

Take the free quiz to discover where you are today and get a personalized plan for where to go next.

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This first episode introduces the heart of Happiness Hacks. Janrace Prudent and Jim Wills come together to share the story behind the project and the idea that drives it forward: Happiness isn’t something we chase, it’s something we practice. Through small, intentional daily choices, we can shift our baseline experience of life.

This opening conversation lays the foundation for the journey ahead, simple, honest, and rooted in lived experience.

Take the free quiz to discover where you are today and get a personalized plan for where to go next.

Take the FREE Happiness Quiz