Recording artist gnash has made mental health a central part of his music, delivering messages through music that might be difficult to talk about in conversation. As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month in May, it’s the perfect time to talk to gnash about his latest album, The Art of Letting Go, which is a journey through the tumultuous emotions brought on by the pandemic. In this episode, you’ll hear how making this album helped save his life during the pandemic and what he hopes we all take away from it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How The Art of Letting Go developed during the pandemic.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this episode’s guest has found a unique way to help clients process such difficult emotions and grief, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Sherry Walling is a clinical psychologist, best-selling author, and mental health advocate who began using movement — particularly the circus arts — to manage loss and grief in her own life. She soon discovered what an effective outlet it provided for releasing trapped emotions and began offering workshops to help others learn these same techniques.  

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How movement improves your mental health.

In just a few days we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day, which makes it the perfect time to talk to Dr. Shefali, a New York Times best-selling author and an expert in family dynamics. She has developed a highly acclaimed approach to parenting that she calls conscious parenting, and in this episode, she explains why much of what we think about parenting is wrong and how we all can become more conscious — not just as parents but in all our relationships. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s so important for parents to recognize their patterns.

Our digital lifestyles often don’t seem to support our well-being, and that’s a great reason to observe Digital Wellness Day on May 5. This week’s guest, best-selling author and speaker Amy Blankson, offers tips on how to become more present in an increasingly distracted world — whether we’re at work, home, or school. As CEO and Co-Founder of the Digital Wellness Institute, Amy has made it her mission to cultivate happiness and well-being in the digital era. She’s here to share tips about how to create boundaries and find balance in our digital lives.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What it means to practice digital wellness (and how to do it).

When the World Happiness Report was released on March 20, Finland was named the World’s Happiest Country for the sixth year in a row. This week, Heli Mende of Visit Finland joins host Paula Felps to talk about why the country has earned that designation so frequently and explain how it inspired the country to offer a Masterclass of Happiness that will be held in June. Heli talks about happiness, Finland-style, how they developed the masterclass, and shares some of the things we all can do to enjoy that same kind of well-being no matter what country we’re in.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How being named the World’s Happiest Country has affected Finland.

Death is inevitable, but as with many things in life, music can change how people experience the journey. That’s the idea behind Threshold Choirs — an international movement in which a trio sings healing and comforting songs for people who are nearing the end of life. In this episode, Jan Stanley, a long-time Threshold Choir member, explains how sharing songs at this uncertain time not only brings comfort to the dying and their family members, but can be transformational for the singers as well.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What a Threshold Choir is and how they began.

As children every new discovery filled us with wonder and awe. But somewhere along the way, most of us lost that — and this week’s guest is helping people rediscover it. Monica Parker is a renowned speaker and writer who has spent the past decade helping people discover their meaning and purpose at work. Her new book, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead, explains why we lose our sense of wonder and how we can reclaim it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The power of slow thought and how to develop it.

Every day we’re surrounded by sights, sounds, and smells — but we often take them for granted. This week, host Paula Felps is joined by New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin, to talk about how tuning into our five senses can make us happier and healthier. Her new book, Life in Five Senses: How exploring the senses got me out of my head and into the world, takes a deep dive into what each of our senses has to teach us and explains how we can explore them to improve our well-being. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How dialing into our senses can reduce anxiety, boost productivity, and spark creativity.

We know that getting out in nature is good for us, but this week’s guest understands it better than most. Mya-Rose Craig is a 20-year-old bird watcher, environmentalist and diversity activist who was raised in a home that revered nature. At the age of 14, she formed the Black2Nature organization to encourage other teenagers of color to engage with nature. Bristol University awarded her an honorary doctorate for her pioneering work in this area and now her memoir, Birdgirl: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future, looks at the power of nature and birds, and the important role they have played in dealing with her mother’s mental illness.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What nature has taught Mya-Rose about well-being and why she’s so passionate about it.

Every year on March 20 — the International Day of Happiness — the Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases its World Happiness Report. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Live Happy co-founder and CEO Deborah Heisz to talk about how we’re faring when it comes to happiness, what we learned from this year’s report and why it appears that our happiness is improving. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What kind of “happiness” the report is talking about and how we gauge it.