JOY Unfiltered: Choose Joy on Purpose

Rachel sits down with her joy bestie Sheryl Raphael Whitaker, leadership transformation expert and author of It Starts with Joy. After 35+ years in corporate learning and development, Sheryl now helps leaders trade fear and burnout for clarity and joy.

We talk about:

• Why joy is the sky and happiness is the weather
• “All roads lead to fear,” and how to change direction
• The Joy Shift Method: Aware, Embrace, Committed, In Motion
• Why joy is Sheryl’s COO
• Meet Beatrice, her inner critic (an elephant in a pink tutu)

Connect with Sheryl:

• It Starts with Joy: Amazon and itstartswithjoy.com
• It Starts with Joy Live: Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. ET on YouTube and LinkedIn
• LinkedIn and Instagram: Sheryl Raphael Whitaker

Sponsor: Salt and Light Therapy Solutions, saltandlightmn.com

Follow, review, and share with someone who needs a little more joy today!

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Welcome to Joy Words, a brand new Thursday segment where Rachel nerds out on the words that shape how we live. First up: two words that look like twins but aren't, and what their surprising story teaches us about joy.

In this episode:

• Where "authentic" really comes from (and its slightly dark Greek past)
• How "author" connects to augment, auction, and authority
• The spelling mix-up that made these two words look alike
• Why joy performed for others is counterfeit, and joy you author is the real thing
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This weekend's challenge: Finish the sentence "Joy that is truly mine looks like..." and share it with Rachel.

"You are the author of your joy."

Season 2 is sponsored by Salt and Light Therapy Solutions: saltandlightmn.com

Connect with Rachel on Instagram@rachel_bents, where a copy of Be With is given away every night for 39 nights.

Loved it? Follow, share with the friend who's always correcting your grammar, and tell us in a review what word Rachel should dig into next.

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Stuck, stressed, or deep in the afternoon slump? In this Joy Rewire, Rachel guides you through a 90-second dance break designed to shift your brain chemistry fast. No rhythm required.

In this episode:

• Why 90 seconds is a magic number for your brain
• How movement helps a surge of stress move through you instead of getting stuck
• A guided shake, bounce, and freestyle you can do anywhere (seated counts!)
• Why throwing your arms up feels like victory

This week's challenge: Do the 90-Second Dopamine Dance at least three times this week.

"You're not ignoring the feeling. You're giving it somewhere to go."

Season 2 is sponsored by Salt and Light Therapy Solutions: saltandlightmn.com

Connect with Rachel on Instagram @rachel_bents, where a copy of Be With is given away live every night for 39 nights!

Loved it? Follow, share with the coworker who needs an afternoon dance break, and leave a review.

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When was the last time you danced, just because? Season 2 kicks off with Body and Presence, ten weeks through Rachel's book Be With, and we're starting by getting your body moving. Rachel dives into the science of why humans are born to dance and how to get your groove back.

In this episode:

• Why babies dance before anyone teaches them
• Snowball, the cockatoo who invented his own dance moves
• How your brain releases dopamine before the beat even drops
• What dancing does for your memory, balance, mood, and relationships
• The spotlight effect, and why nobody is watching as closely as you think

This week's challenge: Dance to one full song every day this week.

"You don't have to wait to feel good to start dancing. Dancing is how you start to feel good."

Season 2 is sponsored by Salt and Light Therapy Solutions: saltandlightmn.com

Connect with Rachel on Instagram, where a copy of Be With is given every day for 39 days.

Loved it? Follow, share with the friend who used to own the dance floor, and leave a review. Every five-star review gets a happy dance.

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Season 2 is here! For the next 10 weeks, Rachel walks through chapters 1 to 10 of her new book, Be With: 39 Habits for a Joy-Filled Life, with one goal: coming home to your body, this moment, and the people in front of you.

The new weekly rhythm: Monday deep dives, Wednesday Joy Rewire, Thursday Joy Words (new!), and Friday guest conversations.

Season 2 guests: Sheryl Raphael Whitaker (season opener), Jaques the Party Scientist, Sandy Nichols, Sass Schafer of Team Positive, Ryan Kuehn, Nancy Ward, and a few surprises.

Episode 1 drops Monday, October 5.

Win a copy of Be With: Follow @rachel_bents. Winners drawn live nightly at 7:39pm Central.

Season 2 sponsor: Salt and Light Therapy Solutions. Salt therapy, red light therapy, sauna, and cold plunge. saltandlightmn.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The final Joy Rewire of the mini-season turns Monday's science into a practice you can start today. Rachel walks you through the Joy Stack, a three-layer habit (Anchor, Tiny Joy, Celebrate) that hooks joy onto something you already do every day. You'll build your own Joy Stack in real time, practice your first rep together, and leave with a simple seven-day challenge.

In this episode:

The "After I…, I will…" formula (BJ Fogg, Tiny Habits)
Why tiny beats motivated
Taking in the good for 10 to 20 seconds (Rick Hanson)
Why celebration helps wire a habit in
What to do when you miss a day

This week's challenge: Do your Joy Stack for seven days. Share your Joy Stack sentence on Instagram and tag @rachel_bents.

Giveaway: One copy of Be With every day. Follow @rachel_bents to enter. Live drawing daily at 7:39pm CT.

Sponsor: RK Design. rkdesignmn.com | @RKDesignMN

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this final long-form episode of the mini-season, Rachel answers the question she hears more than any other: "How do I make joy stick?" The answer is habit. She explains how your brain rewires itself through repetition (think sled tracks on a Minnesota hill), why your brain holds onto the bad more than the good, what the research really says about how long habits take to form, and why missing a day doesn't erase your progress. Plus an awe walk study you'll want to try this week, a shoutout to Gabby Bernstein, and the reason Be With is built on 39 habits.

In this episode:

Neuroplasticity and why "neurons that fire together, wire together"
The negativity bias: Velcro for bad, Teflon for good (Rick Hanson)
Why about 43% of your day runs on habit (Wendy Wood)
The 21-day myth vs. the 66-day average (University College London)
Broaden-and-build and upward spirals (Barbara Fredrickson)
The UCSF awe walk study
Five ways to build a joy habit, including why celebration matters (BJ Fogg)

Mentioned: Be With: 39 Habits for a Joy-Filled Life | Gabby Bernstein (The Universe Has Your Back, Super Attractor) | The Joy Macros™ | The ENJOY Method™

Giveaway: One copy of Be With every day. Follow @rachel_bents on Instagram to enter. Live drawing daily at 7:39pm CT.

Sponsor: RK Design, heirloom-quality custom furniture from Eagan, MN. rkdesignmn.com | @RKDesignMN

Season 2 sponsorships: [email protected]

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Rachel sits down with Sandy Gerber, communication coach, emotional intelligence trainer, and best-selling author of Emotional Magnetism, winner of 24 international book awards. Years ago, Sandy looked like a success from nine to five while her personal life was falling apart, and that turning point sent her on a decade-long search for communication tools that actually work in real life. She shares her EQ Switch for calming your nervous system in the moment, the Honest Sandwich for having hard conversations without anyone getting defensive, and the four emotional magnets that explain why the people you love and lead make the choices they do. Along the way, Rachel and Sandy discover they are speaking the same language: Sandy's Aware, Express, Engage lines up beautifully with Rachel's Joy Macros™ of Notice, Allow, Share.

In This Episode
Why most of us learn to communicate by failing at it, and the personal failure that set Sandy on her path
Sandy's three stages of connected communication: Aware, Express, Engage (and how they mirror Notice, Allow, Share)
The boardroom moment when a CFO cut Sandy off mid-presentation, and what she wishes she had known then
The EQ Switch: Locate the feeling in your body, Name the emotion, and Breathe with the 7-second EQ breath (3 seconds in through the nose, 4 seconds out through the mouth)
The research behind naming your emotions (affect labeling, from Dr. Matthew Lieberman at UCLA)
How to build your feelings vocabulary by simply asking, "What am I feeling right now?"
Rachel's perimenopause morning, and why "I can't put a word on it yet, let's take a break" is a win
The four words to never say again ("We need to talk") and what to say instead
The Honest Sandwich: Feel, Need, Forward
Why relationships don't just stop, they drift
The 1960s book that changed Sandy's life, and the first-date question that led to a 12-year marriage
The SAVE emotional magnets: Safety, Achievement, Value, Experience
What brings Sandy joy: curiosity, her husband, her twin sister, and shifting from working to sell to working to serve
Guest

Sandy Gerber is a communication coach, emotional intelligence trainer, and best-selling author of Emotional Magnetism, which has won 24 international book awards. She was ranked #6 in the 2026 World Top 30 Communication Professionals by Global Gurus and named a 2025 Women of Influence Creative Innovator. Her mission is to help people have connected conversations by sharing simple, memorable emotional intelligence tools they can use right away at work and at home. She is also the host of the award-winning micro podcast Magnetic Communication, a TEDx speaker, and (by her own account) the proud winner of a limbo contest at age 14. Born in Montreal, Sandy now lives in Vancouver, where she spends her free time in a sea kayak.

Website (free resources): sandygerber.com
Podcast: Magnetic Communication, winner of 2026 Best Mindset and Mental Health Podcast
Book: Emotional Magnetism
New book, available for pre-order: Connected Conversations at connectedconversationsbook.com
Memorable Quote

"That seven seconds is the gap where real leadership and connection happen." (Sandy Gerber)

Tools to Try This Week

The EQ Switch: Locate. Name. Breathe.

The Honest Sandwich: Feel. Need. Forward. Example: "I felt frustrated when I was cut off in the meeting. I need to know my voice is valued. Going forward, can you ask for my input before we wrap up?"

The SAVE Magnets: Safety, Achievement, Value, Experience. Which one drives you? Which one drives the people you love?

Connect with Rachel

Rachel Bents is the host of Joy Unfiltered, founder of The Joy Collective, and author of Be With: 39 Habits for a Joy-Filled Life, out now. Follow the show and share this episode with someone who could use a little more joy, or a little more connection, today.

Instagram: @rachel_bents
Website: joycollectivehq.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by RK Designs MN.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The practice piece to go with Episode 7's deep dive into the dopamine prediction accuracy framework. In under 15 minutes, Rachel walks through the Joy Macros, Notice, Allow, Share, live, using a real prediction listeners are already carrying into their week. No theory, just the rewire in action.

In This Episode
A 60 second recap of the dopamine prediction accuracy framework for anyone jumping in here first
A live walkthrough: pick one specific thing you're already predicting about this week, and notice what your body does
The three moves, Notice, Allow, Share, applied to a real, current prediction
Why pre-deciding an honest alternative outcome before the thing happens helps rewire the pattern
Why even a neutral outcome is a meaningful update if your old prediction was catastrophe
This week's Joy Boost: turn "here we go again" into your cue to run the rewire
Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by RK Design. Ryan Kuehn and his team create one of a kind, heirloom quality custom furniture, live edge dining tables, epoxy river tables, desks, conference tables, and statement pieces, out of their studio in Eagan, Minnesota, shipping nationwide. Built to be used. Built to be beautiful. Built to last.

Website: rkdesignmn.com
Instagram: @RKDesignMN
Memorable Quote

"Your brain doesn't care how big the change is. It only cares whether it's accurate." — Rachel Bents

Connect with Rachel

Rachel Bents is the host of Joy Unfiltered and founder of The Joy Collective. Follow the show wherever you listen, and share it with someone who could use a little more joy today.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel goes deeper into the science behind "Why Joy," picking back up on the dopamine prediction accuracy framework from earlier in the mini-season. This episode unpacks the actual neuroscience: Wolfram Schultz's landmark dopamine research, the anterior cingulate cortex as your brain's built in mismatch alarm, the negativity bias that makes bad experiences stick and good ones slide right off, the basal ganglia and how automatic prediction loops get built, and the neuroplasticity that makes rewiring them possible. Rachel walks the ENJOY Method's Joy Macros (Notice, Allow, Share) back through this deeper science and shares a personal story of catching a prediction loop in real time, in her car, on the way to a keynote.

In This Episode
The real discovery behind "dopamine is a prediction signal, not a pleasure signal," from Wolfram Schultz's research on reward prediction error
Why the anterior cingulate cortex reacts the same way to unexpected good news as it does to bad news, and why good things can feel destabilizing
The negativity bias, "bad is stronger than good," and Rick Hanson's Velcro and Teflon metaphor for how the brain holds onto negative experiences
How the basal ganglia compresses old predictions into automatic loops, and why willpower alone can't override them
Neuroplasticity, long term potentiation, and why repetition, not a single insight, is what actually rewires a pattern
The Joy Macros, Notice, Allow, Share, walked back through with the deeper science underneath each one
Rachel's own story of catching a prediction loop in real time in the car on the way to a keynote
A shoutout to neuroscientist Emily McDonald (Emonthebrain), host of the Planet Em podcast, whose practical take on neuroscience helped inspire this episode
This week's practice: pick one recurring "here we go again" prediction and run Notice, Allow, Share on it all week
Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by RK Design. Ryan Kuehn and his team create one of a kind, heirloom quality custom furniture, live edge dining tables, epoxy river tables, desks, conference tables, and statement pieces, out of their studio in Eagan, Minnesota, shipping nationwide. Built to be used. Built to be beautiful. Built to last.

Website: rkdesignmn.com
Instagram: @RKDesignMN
Mentioned in This Episode

Emily McDonald (Emonthebrain), neuroscientist and host of the Planet Em podcast. Rachel is a big fan of how she makes real neuroscience practical and usable.

Memorable Quote

"The unfamiliar good can feel less safe, neurologically, than the familiar bad." — Rachel Bents

Connect with Rachel

Rachel Bents is the host of Joy Unfiltered and founder of The Joy Collective. Follow the show wherever you listen, and share it with someone who could use a little more joy today.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.