The Happiness Project

Welcome back to the 92nd episode on THP podcast. I am in an absolutely amazing state of mind this week and am pretty excited for LIFE! There have been so many developments in my life and all of them make me want to look forward to the future. Well, I really hope you guys are hopeful as I am for the last few months of 2021!

Today’s episode is the ‘ever-popular’ topic around ‘Social media’ and how it has impacted our lives, mostly in negative ways!

The only time you should look in your neighbour’s bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don’t look in your neighbour’s bowl to see if you have as much as them. Or the classic, Comparison is the thief of joy.

We are social beings and need company, affirmation, and friendship. Traditionally we sought that in face-to-face interactions, the most remote form of it was the penfriend. Someone we had never met but who we wrote letters to. We protected our identity and personal information and guarded it jealously and would go ballistic if even our parents, closest relatives or friends opened any letter of ours or read our diary without our permission. Then came social media in 2004 and opened the doors for us to seek affiliation and affirmation without any boundaries or rules and without the tools to even assess its reality or effect. The first social media site to reach a million monthly active users was MySpace and was the beginning of social media as we know it. Yes, it is, as recent as that. Facebook which owns Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp has over a billion active users who volunteer their information for it to harvest and use for anything at all, is even more recent. Only in February 2012 did Facebook become a public company. Its first IPO in May raised $16 billion, giving it a market value of $102.4 billion. Today it is worth over $300 billion. Ask how your wealth increased from 2012 to 2021.

With social media, suddenly from a few real friends who we knew, we ended up with tens and hundreds of virtual ‘friends’ and ‘followers’. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and everything else in between encouraged us to share the most mundane information about ourselves and suddenly made it the means to become ‘popular’. They gave us ‘role models’ like the Kardashians and others who post what they post to induce us to do the same. Like faithful sheep, we followed.

I am putting words like ‘friends’, ‘followers’, ‘popular’ in quotes to underline the fact that none of that is real. However, human nature is such that it does not analyze or deny pleasant experiences. And so, if we have 2000 virtual friends on FB or 3000 followers on Twitter, we do not question the reality or check it against real evidence. We are happy to stay with the fantasy and give in to the drive to increase our ‘following’. This also means that we will do whatever we need to, to ensure that we don’t lose any friends or followers. Remember that all this happens very unobtrusively and quietly and our behavior changes without our being aware of it. Rapidly we get our own sense of identity hooked to this and start to look forward to seeing what our ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ think of us. We want them to like us and so we do what they like. We think we are independent. We are not. We are enslaved.

Tune into the entire episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6UDPnM2zsHVqXeWi55WARM?si=gKMu0WR0SMGpvXMM3LlQpQ&dl_branch=1

We are now very close to completing about a 100 episodes very soon. And I want to make the next few episodes very special for all of you. It’s been a journey with so many of you from over the globe – literally in different parts of the world. I want to celebrate your support, your love and the n number of emails and messages showering with love I receive on a consistent basis.

You guys inspire me to become – so much better! So wherever that you are – Israel, Argentina, Bermuda, India, Togo, Sudan, Fiji! Literally wherever that you’re listening this episode from – I am grateful to each one of you! I am sending in this healing energy to everyone listening to this episode! Sending you so much of love and light!

Well, from the beginning of this journey of starting a podcast – up until now: I have tried to simply make it personal as I could! And today’s episode is immensely personal to my life situation at this point of time. The past week has been extremely eventful and stressful for me.

In this episode, I want to share some learning lessons from the past 6 months that involves breakthrough discovery and cutting edge personal transformation which resulted in a new perspective and a paradigm in thinking, feeling and manifesting. My break throughs are very personal to me and I do not expect you’ll to experience the exact same thing! That’s humanly impossible but what I do hope is that you grab the learnings, the lessons and allow yourself to reflect on some past experiences and realize for yourself of those moments that shifted an entire perspective of certain things in your life.

“Well, I hope the next few months brings in a significant amount of courage to see things through, faith to manifest your desires, calmness so you could slow down in the chaos, acceptance so you could let go of anything that is holding you back, clarity so you can resolve your emotional baggage, strength so you could get out of any confined states, inspiration to de-clutter your life and create space for magical beginnings, gratitude in times of challenges, openness so you could allow people into your life and give love another chance, and connection to remind yourself of all the compassion you deserve in the world”

Find out more about my work:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raina-jain-73b615a5/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happinessprojectstudio/

Website: https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/thehappinessproject

Link to my work: https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/blog

Please find below the links for my recently published articles -

1. You don't need to have it all figured out (Nobody ever knows it all, neither did Madonna your age) -

https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/post/you-don-t-need-to-have-it-all-figured-out

2. Why is Change so Difficult and what can you do about it -

https://www.mentalmovement.co.uk/why-is-change-so-difficult/

3. Stop Apologizing for taking a break in Career -

https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/post/manage-your-blog-from-your-live-site

4. The Heroine's Journey of Raina Jain

https://theheroinejourney2016.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/the-heroines-journey-of-raina-jain/

I am in conversation with someone very unconventional, someone who defies the norms and shows us a different path to life. It’s none other than Charles Collins. Charles is an Amazon best-selling author of the “LifeCraft Book Series”, which are a collection of novels that present a framework to help make a masterpiece of your life through the application of craftsmanship.

Charles' work demonstrates how anyone can learn to practice 'Life-as-a-Craft' to achieve extraordinary results. It is a framework for managing life's many topics based on the way we practice our occupations and professions, vs. the 'hit-or-miss' results of living by trial and error.

One of the questions that is prevalent throughout Charles work is about crafting a life that you desire. He says, Craftsmanship is a universal principle that can be applied to any way of working and living. It is the foundation upon which Making a Masterpiece of Your Life is built. It is intended to teach ourselves and our children to value the ancient and time-tested quality of craftsmanship, and to cultivate the spirit of the craftsperson in everything we do; to empower ourselves and our children with the skills to Make A Masterpiece of Our Lives.

Today, Charles shares his Five Elements framework for practicing 'life-as-a-craft' via the Life Masterpiece Workshop.com, his LifeCraft book series on Amazon, more than 50 guest appearances on podcasts, and published articles appearing in Thrive Global, Personal Growth, Lifehack, A Parent Is Born, The Good Men Project, Change Becomes You, and his own Life Masterpiece Journal.com

The five elements that he talks about are:

Family & Personal Heritage - Where you come from, where you are now, and the legacy you will leave to future generations.

Family & Household Management - The home you grew up in, and the home you are making right now, and how well you manage it.

Family & Personal Finance - What you have learned about managing money, and how you manage it together with your partner.

The Human Being - What you know, and how you treat your inner self and your outer self including your diet, your career, and managing your emotions.

Tools for Living - What tools you use in your life, and how skillful you are at using them.

To know more about Charles Collins:

Life Masterpiece Journal: https://lifemasterpiecejournal.com/

Workshop: http://lifemasterpieceworkshop.com/

Podcast: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/charles-collins-107a4S3tyj

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpcollins/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Collins/e/B00AFBIDVC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrKnggcE_BmL187hSmMDhrg

When Nate Rifkin began his journey, he was suicidal and drank alcohol every morning to get through the day. He dropped out of college, went broke, bankrupt, and even worked on street corners waving around a sign. However, Nate learned a little-known spiritual discipline that helped him transform his thoughts, emotions, financial life, and find love. He’s described his journey and the transformative practice he learned in his book, The Standing Meditation. Nate lives in Golden, Colorado with his lovely wife. He recently published a book about his journey called The Standing Meditation and it's getting great reviews. He is currently training/studying to become a Daoist priest and get his Doctorate in Chinese Energetic Medicine.

In this episode, Nate and I talk about some practices he started that helped him recognise his full potential and how meditation was his best learning experience; he also spoke about his biggest resistance while practicing meditation. While there were so many practices that helped him, but getting out of your comfort zone, breaking out of unhealthy patterns, and taking small steps each day were small milestones that helped him get out on the other side. 

To know more about Nate Rifkin -

https://naterifkin.com/blog/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-woo-woo-best-friend/id1555589799?i=1000524911483

https://anchor.fm/elisabeth-axiak/episodes/Ep-38---Nate-Rifkin-and-The-Standing-Meditation-e126fqt

https://undergroundantics.podbean.com/e/ep-16-the-standing-meditation-w-nate-rifkin/

https://anchor.fm/thehappypsychic/episodes/Dipping-our-toes-into-Daoism-with-Nate-Rifkin-e137pe7

Ashley Holt is passionate and committed to bringing women’s voices and leadership into the world. Ashley is a mother of two daughters, best-selling author, nonprofit founder, motivational speaker, former Mrs. International finalist and international podcast host. After facing divorce and becoming a single parent, Ashley reinvented her life and turned her pain into power and purpose. Goddess, Wake Up! is Ashley’s sixth book. Her mission through all of her works is to empower others to claim their power, recognize their highest potential and live their best life. Her other works include I Am B.R.A.V.E Soul-Strong Living for Girls, Miko the Perfectly Imperfect Pug, Fearless with Finley, Make a Wish with Marley and Beyond the Woman. Ashley’s dynamic professional experience includes a successful career with a Fortune 500 company where she excelled in personal development, coaching and women’s leadership roles. She also previously was connecting women to their community through her impactful role with the South’s largest digital publication for women.

Ashley is a passionate student of #1 New York Times best-selling author and Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday expert, Gabrielle Bernstein’s Masterclass and she is also trained and certified in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and NLP (Neuro-Linguistics Programming) and other holistic practices. Ashley’s passion to inspire children, teens and women find their voice and to live life to their highest potential has led her to work as an author, speaker and empowerment coach. Through her numerous media appearances, books, public speaking and coaching, she is fulfilling her passion as a mentor with a mission to create a safe and compassionate space for women as an author, speaker and empowerment coach.

Ashley has a powerful voice and message for any generation. Her dynamic and energetic speaking platform is uniquely designed to provide tailored keynotes, seminars and workshops that are engaging and ensure a memorable experience every time. She creates her programs to fit your needs. Her workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions offer remarkable insight to help you develop and implement your personal dreams and goals. Her words and methods will inspire you to dream big, focus on what matters and to embrace a life filled with infinite love and possibilities.

Well, in this episode – Ashley and I talk about claiming your power, recognizing your inner potential and living your best life. She talks about the GODDESS mindset and how to embark on this transformation journey.

http://www.ashleyholtbooks.com/

Ashley Holt: Instagram: ashley_holt

Admit it. You know you have greater potential. A special gift that makes you different from anyone else, something that can make you impact the world in a unique way, and that can make the world a better place.

You have a vision for the lifestyle outcome you’ve wanted. And it’s not just you alone, I believe everyone does.

But maybe you’re shrouded in frustration, feeling blocked, unproductive and uninspired, or maybe you’re even feeling you’ve lost your way. Maybe you just don’t know how to connect to and unlock your hidden potential. Chances are that, secretly, you know you are capable of so much more. Maybe you know exactly what you want to do – you already have an idea of your ideal life. But is it possible to unlock your potential and create your ideal self? Perhaps you’re experiencing something like this – You know exactly what you need to do, and still, something is holding you back? If that’s the case, this episode will give you some ideas on how to think less and act more, so as to unlock your full potential. We will look at your potential in all areas of life – health, wealth, goals, relationships. Maybe you are already starting to unfold your talents in some of these? Or, maybe you are at the beginning of your journey and have only the strong inner voice telling you that you are capable of more. Either way, you’re on your way to creating your ideal self. But how do you unlock all your potential to do so? Sound familiar?

Your potential is limitless. It doesn’t have any upper ceiling. Although by buying into limiting beliefs, we believe that there is a ceiling. I’ve been working with people’s mental and energetic “prisons” for many years now. And I have learned that each of us has some upper limit of receiving. We decide how much we allow ourselves to be happy, healthy, and abundant. And we, too, have an upper ceiling of our potential. The prison we keep ourselves in doesn’t bring us fulfillment, yet it feels safe because it’s comfortable. However, your infinite being didn’t come here to be locked up in some artificial prison. The way to unlock your potential is to understand that your potential is limitless.

Your infinite being is here to express itself through your embodiment entirely. This is your life purpose. Please find below my details -

E: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raina-jain-73b615a5/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happinessprojectstudio/

Website: https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/thehappinessproject

Link to my work: https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/blog

Please find below the links for my recently published articles -

1. You don't need to have it all figured out (Nobody ever knows it all, neither did Madonna your age) -

https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/post/you-don-t-need-to-have-it-all-figured-out

2. Why is Change so Difficult and what can you do about it -

https://www.mentalmovement.co.uk/why-is-change-so-difficult/

3. Stop Apologizing for taking a break in Career - 

https://www.thehappinessprojectstudio.com/post/manage-your-blog-from-your-live-site

4. The Heroine's Journey of Raina Jain

https://theheroinejourney2016.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/the-heroines-journey-of-raina-jain/

I am awestruck with the relationship journey of my guest speakers today. It has been such a joy having these lovely ladies on my show sharing an incredible conversation with me.

Jennifer and Stephanie are Quantum Relationship Coaches who work with the LGBTQ+ community.  Their mission is to bring more love to the world, one relationship at a time.  They focus on creating holy relationships through teaching self-love, boundaries and communication.  They have been married for a year and have been through the wringer in their relationship: They met, disability occurred, they broke up, found their Authentic Self based on their Spiritual Path and then found their way back to a solid, healthy, loving relationship.   They have identified the major components that go wrong in relationships and have developed tools to help people learn the ways to have true intimacy and build rock-solid relationships.

Jennifer’s experience included 2 degrees in psychology and is currently working towards her PhD in Metaphysical Holistic Counseling.  Stephanie has a master’s degree in social work and has been working as a therapist for many years.  They both love to talk with people, hear their stories and help them find their Authentic Self and guide them to the Life of their Dreams!

They have an amazing fairytale story that they love to share and bring hope to all those struggling with their relationships in life.

In this episode, Jennifer and Stephanie takes us through their 12 year long journey of being in and out of relationship with each other. It’s wonderful how they connect with each other only because they are now so much more in touch with themselves. Their work revolves around quantum relationship coaching – where they ask people to work hard and dig deeply into their life and relationship patterns and begin to change these by teaching them the skills to be in their Authentic Self, understand their boundaries, and how to communicate what they need to in ways that foster joining and loving connection rather than conflict. We also discuss about the stigma surrounding the queer community and how it impact their lives, their struggles of coming out, and how they are in this process of changing the world. They also share their idea of happiness and how spirituality has been a major component of their lives. To find out more about Stephanie and Jennifer - https://enchantedawakenings.love/our-story/

There are so many titles associated to our guest speaker today! We have with us Howard Davis who aka HAUI, who is a diverse multidisciplinary entrepreneur of many artistic trades, including performing, directing, design & visual arts.

Howard J. Davis performs professionally in Film & Television and Theatre. A graduate Ryerson Theatre School of University in Toronto in 2014, he has acted with companies such as the Shaw Festival of Canada, Native Earth Performing Arts, Cahoots Theatre, Paper Canoe Projects, Factory Theatre, Neptune Theatre as well as in film and television. In the summer of 2020, he was slated to design the world premiere of Anne Marie MacDonald's play Hamlet 911 at the Stratford Festival of Canada. His work as a filmmaker emphasizes how the past can inform our current sociopolitical climate to build a practice in telling stories of his heritage, marginalized cultures, and original modern works that bridge classical, theatrical, and historical context to contemporary cinema and stage.

In this episode, HOWI takes us through his journey of being ‘Mixed’ and how it inspired him to create this incredible film called Mixed up. 2020 wasn’t an easy year – not for me, not for you but for some people wonderful things came out of it because they got into their creative potential and inner voice. 

His feature-length film debut entitled MIXEDUP explores the isolation of being BIPOC and LGBTQ+ and demands that we celebrate what is unique about each of us. The film was co-produced with trans producer/filmmaker Jack Fox and premiered November 2020 on OUTtv and OUTtvGO network television and at Image+Nation LGBTQueer Film Festival. Howard is part of Wildseed Black Arts Residency in association with Black Lives Matter Toronto - a 20-month paid residency and space for interdisciplinary collaboration through arts and activism. In 2019, He was the recipient of ByBlack's People's Choice Award for Best Director. In 2020 he was nominated for a Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre.

From being queer, to an artist – his life story has been pretty interesting. We discuss about his work that revolves around race, gender, orientation and how he beautifully brings it up in his movie MixedUp. He talks about his struggle of coming out and the support that he received from his family and friends. As an artist, his life journey has shaped his perspective as an Actor, Film maker, and Director. I am so delighted to have Howard on my show who takes us through the nuances of his queerness and mixed heritage. There’s so much that we discover and learn about Howi in this episode. Tune in to the entire episode to know more about creativity, queerness, happiness, black joy and his film MixedUp (ps - please check out his film - it's incredible)

To know more about Howard Davis

Social handles are @hauidavis / @mixed_upfilm

Website: www.haui.ca

I am so excited to have Mathias on THP. Mathias "Matty" Novakovic is a 32 year old psychologist, pharmacy technician and content creator engaged in LGBTQIA+ advocacy. He currently resides in Gothenburg, Sweden and is the host of the american/swedish podcast Queer As Pop where different guests and topics are discussed surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community.

Well, for those of you who don’t know - The Stonewall riots in the US was a very important event for the progress of the LGBTQ+ community and it gave a push to people to come out and accept their uniqueness. In this episode, Mathias and I talk about his journey of being a part of the community and being a Psychologist that gives him a broader perspective to look at concerns from a very empathetic touch. He discusses about his daily life struggles and psychological processes that the LGBTQ+ community has to go through. He also educates us on some basic concepts like sex and gender, and emphasizes on the abbreviation of LGBTQIA+ which many of us tend to get it wrong. He talks about how there’s a high level of violence against transgender individuals and the suicide rates have increased extensively in this community. One of the things that he also talks about is ‘how to approach individuals that operate outside of the binary spectrum’. And of course, how we as a society are depriving LGBT people of their human rights on grounds of religion, culture or tradition.

To know more about Mathias:

Twitter: mattynova_

Instagram: novakaze

Podcast/ Twitter/ Instagram: queeraspop

I am extremely grateful to cover a theme around LGBTQ+ this month. We use these terms very loosely - ‘You are so gay’ or ‘that’s so queer’ or she-male’ or ‘No homo’ or ‘Be a man’. These are some words that we use very loosely in our day to day life. And we use it in a very negative light ‘as if there’s something wrong with being gay’. These are micro aggression’s that we all use subtly, unintentionally, subconsciously - which makes it very unsafe for people to be themselves around us. It’s time we start acknowledging and celebrating the difference. It’s time we stop evaluating the world in categories. It’s important that we as a society become more inclusive and diverse and more importantly advocate acceptance and not ignorance. It gives me so much gratitude to be able to make the tiniest of difference through this podcast. I am so excited to have some incredible guest speakers from across the world from the LGBTQ+ community to share their life experiences and insights. And I am delighted to have Kabir McNeeley on The Happiness Project Podcast today, who takes us through his journey. Kabir is a young American actor. He has drawn international interest through his uniquely expressive and direct acting style. He grew up in San Francisco, California. He began his acting career in 2015 when he played a supporting role in Ruth, a student short film. Since, he has trained extensively with the American Conservatory Theater where he has also performed in their annual main stage production of A Christmas Carol in 2016 and in Urinetown: The Musical. In 2020, he wrote and directed award-winning short film Blue Girl, which he also appeared in. In this episode, we discuss about his experience of being in the LGBTQ+ community, how he identified himself to be one, the support that he received in coming out and how being a queer affected his personal life and his career. One of the things that he talks about is ‘Being Your Authentic Self’. He also shares the significance of the process of ‘Coming out’ and how it’s extremely important for one to feel comfortable being who they are. I would love for you’ll to tune in to the episode until the very end to know more about how identifying yourself as a part of this community can be extremely confusing and overwhelming but there’s so much support out there.