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Kids learning at school
relationships

5 Tips to Help Kids Become Happier Students

The dawn of a new school year canbe stressful for students and,inevitably, for parents as well! The charter school KIPP, which focuses on student achievement and empowerment, offers these tips for parents, as we help our kids navigate the social and academic difficulties of school. Giving kids the toolsthey need to be resilient when adversity strikes can ensure their success in theclassroom, as well as later in life. Dallas-Fort Worth’s KnowledgeIs Power Program (KIPP) shares fiveof the most common issues studentsface—and how you can prepare themfor the challenges that lie ahead: 1. Managing stress in a healthy way Everyone faces stress, andyour kids will, too. Establish schedulesand routines, and then stick to them.Consistency and predictability willhelp control the environment and easestress levels for the whole family. 2. Building and maintaining self-confidence Identify students’strengths to boost their confidence.Find out why they excel in one subject,and then apply that reason to areaswhere they may be struggling. 3. Handling rejection—and moving forward As much as wehate to think about our children beingrejected, at some point, it’s bound tohappen. Create leadership roles athome, giving them the opportunityto learn how to handle failure in asafe place. 4. Being respectful Be theexample for your children. Modelingpositive behavior shows them theproper way to treat and respect people. 5. Interacting with friends and adults, online and in person Set clear boundaries onwhom they should and should not be contacting, especially through socialmedia. Teach students to be responsiblefor their actions.
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Kym Yancey
relationships

Our Thanks to You

It’s been a year since we started publishing Live Happy magazine and LiveHappy.com, and I can tell you, it’s been quite a fantastic beginning—thanks to you, our readers!Your responses are all appreciated, and they’ve taught us three key things:• You’re hungry for positive news in your life, and that’s what you get (and expect) from Live Happy.• You want to know more about happiness and how it relates to your health, wellbeing, relationships and work.• You want to be part of the happiness movement.We understand the need for positive news, and we will continue to be your primary source for it. We enthusiastically embrace our role in translating both the latest and most relevant research from positive psychology and other sciences that relate to happiness and its impact on everyday life.And we will consistently connect you to the happiness movement through the content in every issue and on livehappy.com, at our events and via social media.Here’s to a remarkable first year of Live Happy. We look forward to many others to come!- Kym Yancey
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relationships

About the Wake Up Happy guest speakers

Don't miss the May Wake Up Happy series!Dani DiPirro is an author, blogger, and designer living in a suburb of Washington, DC. In 2009, she launched the websitePositivelyPresent.comwith the intention of sharing her insights about living a positive and present life (something that didn’t always come easy to her!).Anything and everything focused on positive personal development has a home on Positively Present including: tips for being more positive; advice for living in the moment; articles on how positivity can improve you; information on positive personal development; insights on how to share positivity with others; and resources and inspiration for being positively present.In 2012, Dani left her full-time job in Marketing to pursue a career with Positively Present. Since then, she has self-publishedStay Positive: Daily Reminders from Positively Present(learn more atStayPositive365.com) and publishedThe Positively Present Guide to Lifewith Watkins Publishing. Dani has also created e-books on specific topics such as self-love, holiday planning, and organization. She is currently working on her next book.Dani and her work have been featured in a variety of websites and print media, includingGlamour,The Washington Post Express,Forbes,The Huffington Post,The Globe and Mail, andThe Happiness Project. In 2015, Dani was featured byELLE Magazineas a Coach of the Month, writing weekly articles for the publication on mindfulness.While expanding her career as an author and blogger, Dani also began learning about graphic design and illustration. In 2012 she took her firstNicole’s Classescourse online and fell in love with creating illustrations, typography, and design. She has since launched a design studio,Twenty3,in which she creates downloadable content onEtsy, designs products forSociety 6, and works withindividuals and businessesto help create modern, uplifting illustrations and designs.When she’s not designing, blogging, or writing, Dani can be found with her head in a book (check out what she’s reading onGoodReads), creating images for Instagram (follow her on@positivelypresent), or pinning like a madwoman (take a peek at herPinterestboards).Arthur Woods is an entrepreneur, speaker and writer on the future of work. He is the co-founder and COO ofImperative, the first professional platform to help people manage a fulfilling career. Arthur's deep expertise engaging the millennial generation has enabled him to lead both the conversation and innovation around the next generation of work. His efforts have been featuredin Forbes,Fast Company, Huffington Post, Washington Post and ABC7’s Washington Business Tonight.Arthur previously led operations forYouTube EDUatGooglewhere he oversaw operations ofYouTube for Schools,managed the development of YouTube’s first guide for education and co-organized YouTube’s inaugural Education Summit.He previously co-founded theCompass Fellowship, the world's largest collegiatesocial enterprise training program, inover 18 universities worldwide. He also co-foundedOut in Tech, the largesttechnology meet-up for New York's LGBT community.Arthur studied Operations and information Management at Georgetown University and Project Management at Stanford University. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and sits on the Boards of the Sierra Institute, Georgetown TechnologyAlliance and Compass Partners.Mitchel Adler, Psy.D., CGP is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Group Psychotherapist and the creator of MindBody Intelligence™ (MBI). He has served on the faculty of the UC Davis School of Medicine andis co-author of the book,Promoting Emotional Intelligence in Organizations(ASTD press) and other research articles.As a professional speaker and consultant, Dr. Adler has worked with numerous organizations including the USDA Forest Service, the City of Sacramento, The UC Davis, Graduate School of Management, The Monitor Group, the Organizational Development Network of Sacramento, and Calgene, Inc. As a member of the steering committee of California’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award Program, Dr. Adler participated in reviewing and selecting organizations that supported their employees in outstanding ways. He also has a private psychotherapy practice in Davis, California where he works with individuals and facilitates psychotherapy groups.As a staff psychologist at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Adler co-developed the university’s mind-body wellness program and established the inter-departmental mind-body wellness task force. He also created and facilitated mind-body workshops, seminars, and groups, as well as trained psychologists, social workers, physicians, and nurses in mind-body theory and interventions.Dr. Adler has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology fromthe Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers Universitywhere he was the recipient of the GSAPP Scholar’s Award, the Graduate Scholar’s Award, and the GSAPP Alumni Scholarship. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he graduated with Distinction and was a James B. Angell Scholar.Thomas Bradbury is a Professor of Clinical Psychology. After earning his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1990 from the University of Illinois, he moved to Los Angeles to start the Marriage and Family Development Laboratory at UCLA. Since then, Bradbury and his team have conducted several longitudinal studies that help explain how marriages change and how couples can keep their relationship healthy and strong. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, Bradbury and his collaborators have published more than 100 research articles and three edited books, including The Psychology of Marriage.Recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the UCLA Psychology Department, Bradbury has also been honored with several awards for his research on marriage and intimate relationships, including the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Achievements from the American Psychological Association. Bradbury is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at eHarmony.com, and he is an affiliated professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He speaks regularly at universities and conferences in the US, and he has presented his research findings in London, Cambridge, Tel Aviv, Milan, Heidelberg, Zurich, Geneva, Wellington, Christchurch, Toronto, and Vancouver.
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Happy woman in red
Well-Being

10 Happy Tips to Boost Your Wellbeing Today

1.Choose hope. Hope isn’t the same thing as optimism. Hope is believing the future will be better than the present, and working to make it so. Pick a goal you are excited about, and write down two things you can do to make it happen.2. Look for your child’s spark. Connect with your children on a deep emotional level by looking for their essence. What are your kids’ positive qualities? What is your child really interested and invested in? Make a list.3. Take your sweat session outside. The great outdoors and exercise have something in common—both improve your mood and reduce stress. Now you can reap all the benefits to your mental and physical well-being by working out in nature.4. Write a To-Do list that boosts your productivity. Overwhelmed by your To-Do list? Break down bigger projects into steps that feel the opposite of overwhelming. Don’t stop until your list turns into a “gladly do” list.5. Name your mood to improve it. Just by saying “I’m worried” or “I’m anxious” to friends or family can dissipate those negative emotions according to researchers. Share away.6. Read happy. Surround yourself with the positive influences and associations and read a book from our Live Happy book list.7. Cultivate compassion. Acknowledge your mistakes and remind yourself that mistakes are something you share with every other human on the planet. When you are compassionate with yourself, you can be more compassionate toward others.8. Eat happiness-boosting foods.Eggs, seafood, nuts and leafy greens all contain happiness-boosting nutrients. Not sure what to do with these ingredients? Here are some easy, delicious recipes that will point you in the right direction.9. Find your flow. Positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term flow—being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. Finding yours can make you happier. When do you lose track of time or feel totally in the zone? That’s your flow activity. Make sure it’s on your calendar.10. Give back. Give a compliment. Tell a joke. Put an extra dollar in the tip jar. Need more ideas to get into giving mode? We’ve got 30!
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Woman with overloaded baggage
Well-Being

Do You Carry Emotional Baggage?

As a grown-up, it is your jobto take responsibility for your emotional wellbeing. You have complete, total control andpower over one person—yourself—soyou are responsible for every area of your life, including feelings you carrywith you on a daily basis that could be affecting more than you realize."You're gonna have to carry that weight ..."We all travel through life with baggage, whichevolves from painful, harmful or negativeexperiences and from interactions thatcaused a significant emotional reactionwithin you. These feelings continue toshape who you are, how you think, thechoices you make and the actions youtake now.Can it fit in the overhead compartment?There are two main types ofbaggage: what you see and are well aware of (excess), and what you don’tsee and aren’t aware of (hidden). Thebaggage you see but choose not toacknowledge or unload can become a problem. Your choice to ignore itmeans that for some reason you areallowing it to interfere with your life,your relationships and your future.The interesting thing about excess baggageis that it becomes almost comfortable tocarry. It’s as if you become so used tocarrying this extra weight that youdon’t realize how much more you couldsee and do if you were carrying alighter load.Hidden baggageHidden baggage, or the type youmay not even be aware of, is equallydangerous because it can sneak up onyou and ambush you out of nowhere.This kind of baggage can trick you intotolerating a job that works you countlesshours for low pay and no appreciation.It might lead you to stay close to aself-centered friend who talks your earoff because you’ve “always beenquiet anyway.”Emotional baggage is driven by negativefeelings such as anger, fear andsadness. You may be thinking,“How did I end up like this?” “It’s notmy fault," “My life isn’t fair," or "Things like this always happen to me."These underlyingfeelings can lead to a desire to act outor remain passive.The power to get rid of the baggagecomes from knowing where itstems from and askingyourself these important questions:“Assuming I can choose to behave anyway I want, do I like the way I ambehaving?”; “Should I or others have tosuffer because of my past?”; and “CanI manage painful or uncomfortableemotions by committing tobehaving differently?”Take a reality checkA good start toward addressing yourbaggage is to have a present-day realitycheck. When your immediate reactionto an experience is anger, fear orsadness, stop. Analyze the feeling. Areyou upset (or fearful, humiliated orshocked) by what just happened orwhat someone said because of its effecton your life now? Or have those wordsor actions triggered something fromyour past that will cause you to feel orreact out of proportion to what actuallyoccurred today?Get rid of that old baggageNow, I want you to turn your innerbaggage into outer baggage. To do this,make a list of the critical ways yourbaggage has impacted you. Write downthings like: “I was neglected as a child,so I have relationships where I amneglected”; “My parents escaped frompain by overindulging in food/alcohol/drugs, and I do the same”; or “I havealways feared failing, so I don’t put mybest foot forward with my family,friends or job.”Take this list and put itin your purse, backpack or briefcase.Carry it wherever you go—I mean, youdo anyway—only this time, carry it onpaper to remind you of where it allcame from.Once you do this, only then will youreally understand how the baggage you’vebeen carrying day in and day out has beenholding you back from maximizing yourpotential.Literally, let it goAfter 30 days of literally carrying your baggage around in your bag, it's time to make a symbolic gesture to let it all go. Take the list out of your purse, say out loud "I'm letting this emotional baggage go." Then you can either burn it in the fireplace or tear it into little pieces and throw it in the trash—thus symbolically gesturing that you are releasing the emotional baggage and moving forward, less weighted down by the past.
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Students at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas put everything into their art.
Self-Care

A Passion to Create

Step after step, note after note, scene afterscene, the students at Dallas’ Booker T.Washington High School for the Performingand Visual Arts​are working,practicing and playing. Why? To make it into a famed performing arts conservatory?To win a Grammy? To dance on the biggeststage or play in the grandest hall? Yes. Following their passions These students are driven, focused andfollowing their passions. With alumni whoinclude Grammy winners Norah Jones andErykah Badu, achieving lofty goals is thenorm at the arts magnet school. And the 2013–2014 school year was noexception, with an unprecedented fivestudents accepted into the prestigiousJuilliard School. Boasting a 100 percentgraduation rate and roughly a quarter of allthe scholarship money in the DallasIndependent School District going to theschool’s students, the curriculum,integrating art and academics, is working. Prepared to create “We are not just preparing students forcareers in the arts—although many of ourstudents do go down that path—we arepreparing them to be 21st-century learnersand contributors to society,” says PrincipalScott Rudes, Ph.D. “They have theopportunity to think creatively, think ingroups and project themselves to be articulateabout what they are passionate about. Theyare not only what colleges are looking for, butwhat employers are looking for, too.” A different kind of school environment Scott says you can feel the electricitywhen you walk through the front doors;students are singing, playing instrumentsand rehearsing scenes. It’s an environmentfostering creativity, freedom, passionand engagement. “For us as educators to see thesestudents propelled into the spotlight ina variety of ways,” he says, “it reallyreaffirms the fact that schools like Booker T.Washington need to exist.”
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Wealthy women out shopping
relationships

Money Can’t Buy You Love

In 2007, I was a multimillionaire. I traveled the world, I attended expensive galas, and (with my husband) donated vast sums of money to charities and political causes. I had friends in abundance; everyone returned my calls, invited me to their parties, and wanted to be “besties." I can’t lie, being in demand felt great—but I discovered the flip side of the coin in 2012, when my family and I lost everything.Shakespeare wrote, 'Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.' The meaning is pretty straightforward: if you have friends who have proven their loyalty, hold them tight and don’t let go.Suddenly weneededfriends. Badly.I’d thought that when bad things happen to rich people, their friends dissipate like fog burning off Long Island Sound. We did have friends abandon us when the chips were down, but we also had plenty who stuck by us, stayed in touch and genuinely cared about how we were doing.In the process of navigating the tricky waters of friendship after losing everything, I discovered a few keys to building lasting connections across any financial strata.1. Focus on what's realI’ve had the chance to meet plenty of exciting, interesting characters. But I’ve also had to endure a lot of inane conversations, where people are talking about things like the practicalities of bringing a private hairdresser on vacation or the joys of finding a non-chatty chauffeur. Those conversations don’t have much substance, and I've learned that relationships built on discussing unimportant worries aren’t very reliable.No matter what your income level, focus on friendships that are based in the true essentials of being human: love, kindness, family and the lifelong quest of cultivating empathy. Make sure the people you’re connecting with have some depth.2. Don't try to draw a straight line between wealth and kindnessIn theory, wealthy people have a lot more ability to be generous than people of lower income levels but in practice that doesn’t bear out. In fact, studyafter studyhave proven the exact opposite: Less financially secure people are more prone to acts of charity.When my family was hard up, many of the people who stuck by our side, brought meals and passed hand-me-downs our way were people we knew in a service capacity: waiters we’d made friends with, personal assistants we’d had to let go. I learned the key is to meet people on a human level, to listen, to empathize and to care without regard to how much anyone has in the bank.​3. Never, ever judgeWhat I’ve really learned about friendship through all of this is that true friends will surprise you. One day the mega-wealthy friend you thought had forsaken you will ask you out to dinner. The acquaintance who read something nasty about you in the paper will phone you and your relationship will grow. People are unpredictable and making blind assumptions about them is rarely productive.To assume that a rich person only wants to associate with rich people would be wrong. So would the suggestion that a less wealthy person is a hanger-on who “wants something.” People are filled with infinite complexity and…yes…fallibility. The heart, above all things, is difficult to predict. You’re better off withholding judgment, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and reevaluating as your understanding of them evolves.More than anything else, I’ve found that my best friendships are with people whoI’vebeen real with. The ultimate truth of building lasting friendships is simple: to have friends worth binding to your soul, you have tobethat sort of friend too.Kristina Dodgeis a mother of four, entrepreneur, writer, and public speaker. She can be found online atwww.KristinaDodge.com.
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Bethenny Frankel with her daughter
People

Mom’s the Word

Hand Bethenny Frankel a lime, and she’ll make a margarita that morphs into a multimillion-dollar business in the form of her Skinnygirl line of low-calorie drinks. Hand the former Real Housewives of New York star a lemon, and she’ll make lemonade, which is exactly what she’s done since learning earlier this year that her talk show, bethenny, isn’t being renewed after just one season. Rather than despair, she wrote in a loving open letter to her fans: “What I really want now is to be with my daughter, to do yoga, to focus on Skinnygirl and my writing, and to give myself a break.”Taking time for her daughterToday, you can find Bethenny doting on four-year-old daughter Bryn in the streets of New York, time she views as invaluable for keeping her spirits up. “Parenthood gives you direction and defines you; it makes you a part of a community that’s going through the same rundown of emotions—guilt, exhaustion,” she says. “I want to be the kind of parent who looks about for the things my child does naturally in life, to embrace who she is and nurture that, whether it’s sports or music or dress-up, because if you do what you love, you’ll be happy.”From cookbooks to children's booksFor Bethenny, what she loves to do is write books. And for her latest story, Cookie Meets Peanut, she was inspired by Bryn, who she’s described as the love of her life. The children’s book is loosely based on her own experience bringing Bryn home to meet Cookie, her beloved, albeit “very particular and sassy,” Lhasa Apso.Told with equal parts wit and wisdom, the story chronicles the evolving love between a child and a dog, and how “when you bring home a new baby, your dog becomes…a dog,” she says. And, sprinkled in with the illustrations and antics to entertain tykes—think cooking with glitter—moms and dads will find words offering reassurance and advice, a task Bethenny says she’s always up for.Using her new-found wisdom“I’ve been through many difficult things,” she says, “but the difficult times are not for naught, because I can help other people.”
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Woman eating popcorn and watching a movie
Lifestyle

6 Best Break-Up Movies of All Time

Breaking up is hard to do. Side effects may include heartache, Facebook stalking and large swaths of uninterrupted free time. Whether you want to laugh, cry or simply be distracted, movies are a great way to fill the void and—if well-chosen—lift your spirits.Below are films that can pick you up, dust you off and restore your faith in romance, and possibly the human race.Films of Friendship1.Thelma and LouiseInvite some friends over and remind yourself of the power of female bonding courtesy ofThelma and Louise. The men in your life may come and go, but best friends are forever. Thelma and Louise embark on a road trip in a classic convertible car—an often-told American tale, and yet this film was groundbreaking in that it marked the first time the open road was hit by women instead of men. It showed us that women also have the capacity to break free, make mistakes, and have adventures, where nothing is off limits (including a fling with a younger, gorgeous man—a practically juvenile Brad Pitt). Watching Gina Davis and Susan Sarandon, who have amazing chemistry together, will remind you that you don’t need to be with a romantic partner to have fun. Just don’t shoot anyone along the way, and everything might turn out OK.2.The HeatIn this hilarious twist on the buddy-cop film, Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy star as Ashburn and Mullins, respectively. Ashburn is an uptight, proper, by-the-book cop; Mullins is more of a crude, casual anything-goes kind of gal. These two characters at first seem like they have nothing in common, but it turns out that each makes the other better. It is hard not to giggle watching Ashburn try to explain the benefits of Spanx or keep a straight face when she encounters Mullins’ family of Boston-Irish lunatics and tries to explain that she’s not a “nahk” (narc).[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3iRdiplB0 width:525 height:394 align:center autoplay:0]Romantic Comedies3. The Princess BrideIf you want to lose yourself in a romantic comedy that contends true love does in fact exist, The Princess Bride will do just fine. Director Rob Reiner does a deft job of transferring William Goldman’s popular book to the screen, keeping both the comedy and the romance intact. The eponymous Princess is played by a dewy, gorgeous Robin Wright—and Cary Elwes is not bad either as her paramour, Westley. Mandy Patinkin turns in an epic performance as the heroic Inigo Montoya, and Billy Crystal and Carol Kane chip in for comic relief.4.Bridget Jones’s DiaryA romantic comedy for the modern girl (it’s hard to say woman when Bridget is such a flibbertigibbet), Bridget Jones’s Diary is a hilarious look at the dating life of the young, shallow and British. Also adapted from a book (the bestseller by Helen Fielding), Bridget Jones follows our plucky heroine on her adventures through dating and romance. Renee Zelwegger is at the top of her game as Bridget, and the casting of Colin Firth (the “real” Darcy from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice) as the earnest Mark Darcy is a brilliant touch. Bridget is not just a girl on the prowl, she’s also easily relatable as she gets blotto with her best friends, gives disastrous dinner parties and chronicles it all for the rest of us to watch and enjoy.[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQdy98B1nf0 width:525 height:394 align:center autoplay:0]His Take5.High FidelityBridget Jones gave the female perspective on dating. In High Fidelity, Rob Gordon (John Cusack) gives viewers the male take. Rob re-examines his past relationships and breakups in order to have a successful relationship in the present. The film, based on Nick Hornby’s book, is filled with phenomenal music and an all-star cast (this was Jack Black’s breakout role). John Cusack has made a career out of playing the everyday man that both men and women can root for. His explorations of past relationships help us realize that not all romances are meant to last forever—and that can be a good thing. 6.SwingersApparently Jon Favreau wrote this road trip/bromance in just two weeks, and yet its quotable lines are burned into our brains forever. Released in 1996, Swingers became a star-making vehicle for leads—Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. Manic, sexy Trent (Vince) wants to help his buddy Mike (Jon) get out of his funk, in which he forever obsesses about his ex-girlfriend. A jaunt to Las Vegas and much hilarity—and cool swing dancing—ensues, and by the end of the movie, Jon has come out of his depression/obsession and is ready to pursue other fish—maybe even Heather Graham, as a swing-dancing hottie. Possibly the funniest scene is when, instead of having relations with a sexy young woman in Vegas, Jon ends up crying on her shoulder as she plies him with tissues. (That was before he realized he was so money.)[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoNOlh_zCf8 width:525 height:394 align:center autoplay:0]
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Lifestyle

Event Details

The Live Happy Experience & Expo is a two-day event that brings to life everything Live Happy stands for: purpose, wellbeing, relationships, positive thinking—and fun. This is an event that will enlighten and surprise you as much as it entertains and stimulates your thinking.Choose your package: (All prices are in U.S. dollars)Premium Experience - $695A special thank-you bag filled with gifts from Live Happy and our sponsors.An exclusive lunch each day in our VIP Live Happy Lounge.Preferred seating close to the stage and near the action.Two days of speakers, entertainment and expo.Full Experience - $575Two day full-access to the complete program of speakers, entertainment and expo.One Day Experience - $325One day (Friday, Nov. 7) full-access to the complete program of speakers, entertainment and expo.One day (Saturday, Nov. 8) full-access to the complete program of speakers, entertainment and expo.All payments are Non-refundable but a transfer of a registration is permitted with an additional $75 fee, through September 30, 2014.
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