We all have people in our lives that we love and appreciate, but have you ever thought about how good it is for you to show appreciation for others?

A new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies shows that learning how to show appreciation for others can help you feel less stressed and can even reduce symptoms of depression. Live Happy editor Chris Libby joins us for this podcast to talk about why appreciation is so beneficial—and how you can get more of it in your life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why appreciation can help improve our home and work life.

Most of us focus on pursuing things we’re good at, but what if you like doing something … and discover you’re really bad at it?

Karen Rinaldi, publisher at Harper Wave—a book imprint she founded in 2012—finds happiness in being able to surf, even though she does it poorly. Learning to accept her “suckitude” on the surfboard, she says, has helped her be more forgiving of herself in other areas of her life. In her new book, (It’s Great to) Suck at Something, she looks at the gifts she’s gained from embracing imperfection and letting go of the need to succeed at everything. She talks to us about how this has helped her find joy in the pursuit of something rather than in reaching an end goal—and how you can, too.  

In this episode, you learn:

• Why it’s beneficial to try something you might not be good at.

All of us go through difficult times in life, but what do you do when you find yourself in a funk that you can’t get out of? That’s what Janeane Bernstein, Ed.D., wanted to find out after the death of her best friend from childhood. That tragic event launched a mission to discover how others have overcome their grief and led to creating her radio show, “Get the Funk Out.” She now has a book by the same name and explains why grief can be a springboard to happiness.

In this episode, you learn:

Why the worst thing that happens in your life can become the best thing in your life.

How to use grief to reconnect with your own feelings.

Why it’s important to use your creativity to overcome grief.

Every other year, the International Positive Psychology Association hosts a global gathering of leading researchers and practitioners to share the latest research and best practices in positive psychology. The 6th World Congress of IPPA will be in Melbourne, Australia, July 18-21, 2019, and it offers a tremendous selection of topics on areas including: work and organizations, positive health and wellness, positive clinical psychology and more.

For this episode, current IPPA president and chair of the 6th World Congress Lea Waters, Ph.D., talks about what to expect from this exciting global event.

• What to expect at the 6th World Congress

What do you do if you’ve spent your life building the career of your dreams…but realize one day that you’ve forgotten to build the life of your dreams? If you’re Sheri Salata, you leave your high-profile position as co-president of Harpo Studios and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and, along with your BFF, and you start reinventing every area of your personal life.

In her book, The Beautiful No and Other Tales of Trial, Transcendence and Transformation, Sheri explains how she found the courage to leave behind the career she had carefully built and began creating the life of her dreams.

Three things you’ll learn in this podcast:

• Why failing at something can be fulfilling.

Did you realize that women face different challenges than men when it comes to their happiness? With that in mind, Carin Rockind—creator of the PurposeGirl movement and founder of the Women’s Global Happiness Day, created the Women’s Happiness Summit. She’s bringing together experts in flourishing from around the globe with a uniquely feminine viewpoint, and she wants you to be a part of it. She’ll tell you what to expect and how you can be a part of it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why women are more depressed than men (and what you can do about it).

As founder and board chair of the Skees Family Foundation, Suzanne Skees has worked in developing countries to support innovative education and job creation programs. She has compiled the stories of the fascinating people she has met around the world into a book series called My Job: People at Work Around the World, and she says that along the way, she’s learned the way our jobs affect us—and what we can learn from them.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The five things you need to be happy at work.

Character strengths hold the key to help you begin to know yourself better, and the more you know yourself, the more you can flourish. With their new book, The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality, Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D. and Robert E. McGrath, Ph.D., have written a powerful guide to understanding and using your character strengths. This week, Ryan joins Live Happy CEO Deborah Heisz to talk about his new book and how we’re using our character strengths … whether we realize it or not.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What are character strengths and why do they matter?

Each year, Gallup releases its Global Emotions Report, which measures life’s intangibles: feelings and emotions. Using its Positive Experience Index, Gallup measures our enjoyment of life and looks at who’s doing well … and who’s not. This year’s report showed that, even as our economy improved, Americans found themselves being more stressed, worried and angry in 2018. Live Happy editor Chris Libby and Live Happy Now host Paula Felps sat down to talk about what’s driving our negative emotions and what we can do about it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why self-care is so important in combating negative emotions

Do you have something you’d like to change about yourself? If so, are you giving yourself the tools you need to make those changes? In this episode, Susan Hyatt—author of the book BARE and host of the Bare Podcast, looks at how the way we approach making changes has a lot to do with how successful those changes are. Whether it’s losing weight, changing jobs or committing to healthier relationships, she’ll give you a new way of thinking about creating your best life.

In this episode, you learn:

• Why finding pleasure might be better for you than willpower