Live Happy Now

November is National Gratitude Month and of course, there’s no way we’d let it pass without a celebration! This week, Live Happy’s own Casey Johnson sits down with Paula Felps to talk about a new gratitude challenge we’re launching and to announce some exciting new things happening with Live Happy.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s so important to practice gratitude

What if you could change your entire day—every day—with a high five? This week’s guest is going to tell you how! Mel Robbins is an international bestselling author who specializes in personal transformation. Her latest book, The High 5 Habit, introduces a fascinating, scientifically proven new way to become your own biggest cheerleader. She’s here today to tell you how a simple high five is about to change your life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What happens to your brain when you give yourself a high five.

Most of us think of yoga as a physical practice, but today’s guest shows us how it can help us develop our intuition and encourage us to follow our dreams. Kori Hahn is a yogi who promotes soul growth through practices like yoga and meditation. Her new book, Rituals of the Soul: Using the 8 Ancient Principles of Yoga to Create a Modern & Meaningful Life, explores yoga through the ancient text called the Yoga Sutras. Kori has translated and simplified that ancient text to create a modern, actionable way to use meditation, breathwork and other practices to develop intuition and cultivate greater focus and joy in our daily lives.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The importance of learning to listen to our intuition.

We all know that love is important, but why is it sometimes so hard to love ourselves? This week, host  Paula Felps talks Dr. Shainna Ali, a mental health clinician and author who promotes a strengths-based approach to the journey of self-love. Her new children’s book, Luna Finds Love Everywhere: A Self-Love Book for Kids, is designed to help children explore the principles of self-love in their own lives. She explains why this book is so valuable for families and why this was the right time to write it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why self-love is critical in mental well-being.

This week, we’re celebrating the 8th anniversary of Live Happy, which published its first magazine issue in October 2013. For this episode, Science Editor and Live Happy Now Host Paula Felps strolls down memory lane with Live Happy Editor Chris Libby to talk about 8 important principles we’ve learned over these 8 years.

Music can help heal our emotional wounds, but it heals us physically, too. This week’s guest, recording artist Paul Cardall, was born with a congenital heart defect that doctors believed he could not survive. But he proved them wrong, and as part of his healing journey, he discovered the power of music. Today, he is a classical pianist who not only creates healing music but shares with others how it can soothe the heart — literally and figuratively.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What made Paul turn to music for healing.

A Grumble-Free Life with Amy Parker & Tricia Goyer

As moms, Amy Parker and Tricia Goyer were no strangers to “the grumbles.” As writers, that led them to team up on the children’s book, The Grumbles: A Story About Gratitude. Find out what inspired this book, how it changed their families and how it can help your family learn to live in gratitude.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How (and why) to identify your “grumble style”.

Anxiety is at an all-time high these days, but this week’s guest says that might not be such a bad thing! Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Her new book, GOOD ANXIETY: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion looks at anxiety in a whole new way and explains how we can use the gift of anxiety to improve our focus, productivity, communication skills and so much more.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why anxiety can become our best ally.

Stanford professor and psychologist William Damon didn’t learn the truth about his missing father until he became an adult. That surprising discovery led him on a journey to make peace with his past, and he talks about that journey in his fascinating new book, A Round of Golf with My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace with Your Present.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The importance of finding your purpose.

These days, most of us are taking a more hands-on approach to our health. And this week’s guest is going to explain why both physical and mental health are all in the gut. Dr. Sabine Hazan is a leading researcher and practitioner in the field of the gut microbiome. She’s here to talk about what a gut microbiome is, how it affects our overall well-being, and how to improve your own gut microbiome.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What a gut microbiome is.