The HappiNest Podcast

Dr. Randy Schroeder is a pastor, couples' counselor and family therapist. He is also author of a new book Simple Habits for Marital Happiness: Practical Skills and Tools that Build a Strong, Satisfying Relationship. Why do 50 percent of marriages end in divorce and 70 percent of married couples say they are unhappy? Tune in to hear tips from Dr. Randy!

Richard Slatcher is a psychologist at the University of Georgia who focuses on understanding the effects of close relationships on health and well-being. He researches self-disclosure and partner responsiveness when it comes to intimacy and explores the links between close relationships, biology and physical health. His lab also looks at smartphone and social media use and its impact on relationships. And he has just launched an international study examining the impact of the pandemic on close relationships.

Dr. Terri Orbuch, aka "The Love Doctor," is an expert on love relationships. She is also an author, speaker, therapist, professor at Oakland University, and researcher at the University of Michigan. She has authored six books, including, "5 Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great" and "Finding Love Again: 6 Simple Steps to a New and Happy Relationship." Terri is also the director of a landmark study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she has been following the same 373 couples for almost three decades. She's appeared on tons of national media and her relationship segments are aired on Fox-TV Detroit. Her PBS TV program is titled, "Secrets from The Love Doctor."  Now she's here on the HappiNest podcast to share her love secrets with us!

Margie Warrell is an author and speaker extraordinaire! She's spent much of her career telling people how to be brave. She had to find her own courage while her husband Andrew was hospitalized for 30 days in Singapore with Coronavirus, but now he has returned! The rest of her family life these days is mostly virtual as three of her four kids are scattered around the globe. In this podcast, we speak about how to get a better psychological grip on Life in the Time of Covid. We also discuss gifts you can glean from this crisis if you practice gratitude, serve others and tell yourself positive narratives!

Rob Angel was a 26-year-old waiter from Seattle, when he picked up a No. 2 pencil, yellow legal pad and Webster's paperback dictionary to create the bestselling board game Pictionary, which has sold more than 38 million copies worldwide. Putting together the first 1,000 games in his apartment, he parlayed an idea into a global powerhouse: Pictionary is now distributed in 60 countries in 45 languages. Rob tells  his story in a new book— Game Changer: The Story of Pictionary and How I Turned a Simple Idea into the Bestselling Board Game in the World. Rob is also involved in philanthropy and encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to "find their aardvark," a reference to the first Pictionary word he jotted down after beating back self-doubt and mustering the confidence to begin. Rob shows others how to be fun-loving, boundary-busting and creative. Check out Robangel.com.

Laura Gassner Otting is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropic activist and former White House political appointee. She has interviewed thousands of leaders at crisis points in their lives and careers. She is a speaker, consultant and executive coach. Laura is also the author of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life. She says when we don't find success in our own terms, "finding our purpose and carving our own path becomes impossible." Laura tells us how to get out of our own way!

Keisha Blair is an economist who lost her husband when she was 31. She later wrote an article with the 40 life lessons she learned from this tragedy. That article went viral and led her down a new path. She is now the bestselling author of Holistic Wealth: 32 Life Lessons to Help You Find Purpose, Prosperity and Happiness. Those lessons can help us all get a better grip on these uncertain times. In her book, Keisha writes about the financial effects of people living much longer today. The average person can expect to live almost to age 80 or more, nearly 30 years longer than someone born in 1900. Keisha, who lives in Ottawa, Canada, advises people how to handle their hard-won nest egg so it covers their lifespan. She also has lots of life experience and soul to share!

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett is a world expert on "emerging adults," or, young people from 18 to 29.  Jeffrey is a psychology professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass, who has defined this "emerging adult' phase of life, which is quite distinct from the teen and adult phases. He has also researched and written two books that have altered my parenting tremendously. He co-authored: Getting to 30: A Parent's Guide to the 20-Something Years and wrote Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens Through the Twenties. Jeffrey has researched how and why young people are reaching the milestones of adulthood later than their parents. Here he shares how to help our "emerging adults" thrive now that many of them have "boomeranged" back home during this global pandemic. That's a lot of get a grip on, no matter how old you are.

Jelena Kecmanovic, aka Dr. K, is founder and director of the Arlington/DC Behavior Therapy Institute and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She has published articles and chapters on depression, anxiety, CBT, and relationships. Jelena is sharing advice based on psychological science regarding how to cope with Coronavirus uncertainty.

Today our guest is Xiaomeng Xu, who allow others to call her Mona, and also goes by Professor X for her students as her name is tricky to pronounce. Mona was born in Fuling, China and immigrated to the United States at age 5. Raised in New York City, she graduated in psychology from NYU and got her PhD from Stony Brook University.  Now she's an associate professor of psychology at Idaho State University, researching behavioral health, close relationships—especially romantic relationships—and teaching. She also has been involved in fascinating research with brain scans and how human beings respond to novel experiences. I tracked her down when I was writing my book HappiNest because I wanted to tap her knowledge regarding the impact of novelty on  novelty on the quality of close relationships.