Can inspiration really fuel motivation, connection, and a sense of purpose? The simple answer is yes. Inspiration may seem like a special, rare occurrence, but, it is something that we can prepare for and open up to in a variety of different ways. And that process of preparing for inspiration is surprisingly... well, inspirational. Listen in as we dig into some scientific insights and practical tips on how to invite more inspiration into your life and make it a reliable partner in your journey toward joy.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.

Full transcript.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program. Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

The 'Happiness Paradox' describes how the relentless pursuit of happiness can lead to poorer emotional and long-term health outcomes. That's an important paradox to know about when there's so much pressure to just "suck it up" or "put on a happy face." We'll talk about how to avoid this by contrasting happiness with joy (short story: happiness is fleeting and dependent on external factors, joy is a more enduring internal state that can coexist with negative emotions like grief and sadness). We'll also focus on how we can create positive growth in our lives that honors the coexistence of joy and hardship and how authentic emotional experiences can foster deeper joy. We work on the skills to do this through the Joy Lab Program-- so be sure to join us there for more skill-building, community, connection, and a more empowering and flexible approach to personal growth. 

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life. 

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program. Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

How have your New Year's resolutions worked out in the past? If you're the majority of us, then they haven't worked out too well. We've got an idea for you this year... it's a resolution that is empowering and nourishing... one that goes beyond self care and supports your mind and body in big ways. Here it is: Join us for the Joy Lab Program! It's open and ready to support you as you build more resilience and uncover more joy in 2025. Join us: https://www.joylab.coach/

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life. 

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

This episode is our holiday card to you... we're so grateful you're part of this community and have put in the effort to grow from your innate goodness. Helping you nurture your unique gifts, embrace your full self, and grow in an empowering way is why we're here at Joy Lab. We're excited to be with you in 2025!

Sources and Notes:

• More on these updates in episode #184: You're Gonna Love This News...
• Pathways North (the new home of Joy Lab)
• Join the Natural Mental health Newsletter 
• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.

Full transcripit here.

 Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

We've got more exciting updates for 2025! First, if you don't already know, Joy Lab is joining the nonprofit Pathways North. Second, we're launching a new podcast next year over at Natural Mental Health... the Natural Mental Health podcast. The new podcast will focus on mental health concerns and lifestyle medicine, covering topics like sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress management. We think listening to both podcasts will be a perfect combination of science, soul, body, mind, and heart. Looking forward to spending more meaningful and wellbeing-boosting time with you in 2025! 

Sources and Notes:

• Join the Natural Mental health Newsletter
• More on these updates in episode #184: You're Gonna Love This News...
• Pathways North (the new home of Joy Lab)
• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we're digging into the fallacy of scarcity and its impact on mental health and decision making. Scarcity mentality can make us believe we lack sufficient resources, leading to anxiety, poor cognitive function, and decisions that leave us worse off. We'll talk about how to shift toward practicing sympathetic joy, which fosters a deeper sense of joy and a sense of enoughness.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Fallacy of Fairness and Victim Mentality

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we're digging into a key obstacle of Sympathetic Joy (our element for December). This is important because Sympathetic Joy, or the practice of finding joy in someone else's good fortune or joy, is powerful. It's a quick mood boosting strategy, it can foster a deeper sense of connection and belonging, it can serve as an antidote to envy and jealousy, and can fuel our own motivation to get out of ruts that can keep us down. A key obstacle to sympathetic joy is the fallacy of fairness, a thought distortion that can cloud our perception and keep us trapped in negative thought patterns. This fallacy is related to another more commonly known concept called "victim mentality." We'll talk about how this fallacy and mentality shows up, some insights on overcoming these roadblocks, and how to align your heart and mind to navigate life's challenges with a more joyful perspective.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Episode on envy: Envy: Why it surges & what to do when it does

Full transcript.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode, we'll highlight some exciting updates before we share an encore episode. In the encore episode, we'll dive into the profound power of gratitude and its impact on mental health. We'll mainly focus on the first part of our three-part mindfulness process: see what is, accept what is, and choose wisely. We'll use that process to help explore emotional resilience, the role of gratitude in building connections, and how to persist through life's challenges.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Listen to the Joy Lab Podcast over at JoyLab.coach.
• Join the Natural Mental Health Newsletter
• Joy Lab podcast episode 31 (Gratitude in the Wild: Accept What Is)
• Joy Lab podcast episode 32 (Gratitude in the Wild: Choose Wisely) 
• Zadie Smith (personal website)
• Richard Rohr (Center for Action and Contemplation- founded by Richard Rohr)
• Sabrina Benaim (personal website)

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

We have really exciting news to share with you all! The Joy Lab podcast and program will be transitioning into a new nonprofit organization called Pathways North, starting January 2025. Despite the move away from the National Mental Health Organization, you won't need to do anything differently. You can still find the pod wherever you've been listening, you can still head to JoyLab.coach to join us in the program, and most of all, you can be sure that this change is fully-focused on keeping this work going and serving you better. We're so excited for this next adventure with you!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Listen to the Joy Lab Podcast over at JoyLab.coach.
• Join the Natural Mental Health Newsletter 

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we explore how gratitude can be a powerful tool in managing fear and worrying. We'll touch on the evolutionary roots of fear, its impact on our lives, and how nurturing gratitude can lead to a more purposeful and fulfilling life. Most importantly, we'll illustrate how identifying and addressing fear with gratitude can bring about positive emotional shifts and meaningful actions. 

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Envy: Why it surges & what to do when it does (ep. 182) 
• Otto, A., et. al. (2016). Effects of a randomized gratitude intervention on death-related fear of recurrence in breast cancer survivors. Health psychology: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 35(12). Access here. 

See transcript here

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.