You searched for well-being | Page 22 of 60

Rediscover Your Joy with Live Happy’s Latest Issue

Who doesn’t want to stay forever young? Live Happy’s new issue cover story “Happy for Life” explains how building positive habits like eating right, staying active, sleeping well and training your brain to be mindful and calm are the keys to a long and joyful life. Yet even more important? Having close, meaningful relationships. “People who live a long time have a lot of positive emotion,” says George Vaillant of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. “And that means being part of a community. It’s hard to have positive emotion on a deserted island; you need other people.” Well-being researcher and Blue Zones author Dan Buettner backs that up. “Making sure you have happy friends affects how long you live, because that’s contagious. And focusing on your immediate social network is more important than either diet or exercise programs when it comes to living a long, happy, healthy life. Happiness adds about eight years to your life expectancy; it’s almost as good for you as quitting smoking.” Live Happy’s issue No. 26 is on newsstands this week. A larger format “bookazine”—it’s both a book and a magazine!—includes five chapters of well-being tips and resources, plus pullout posters and postcards. In this issue, we share scientifically proven methods to boost your happiness so you can increase your health. Readers will learn to practice: Gratitude to refocus the brain to start looking for what’s good in life. Compassion to counter the habit of dwelling on personal needs and challenges. Savoring to increase appreciation for what’s right in the moment. Optimism to lower stress response, which leads to better overall health and happiness. Mindfulness to stay present and limit anxiety from worrying about the future. Giving Back to boost well-being for all involved and to strengthen community bonds. “This issue is unlike any we’ve ever done before,” says Deborah K. Heisz, Live Happy’s CEO, co-founder and editorial director. “It shares the key lessons of positive psychology research—as well as the latest tips, ‘how-tos’ and emerging science—in our largest, most comprehensive issue yet. The ‘bookazine’ format includes chapters relevant to every part of your life including happiness, health, resilience and happiness at work, school and at home.” Also in this issue: Stronger Every Day: Maria Shriver’s four guideposts to positivity from her new book, I’ve Been Thinking…Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life. Plus can’t-miss interviews with TV celebs Annie Potts, Mario Lopez and Denise Austin. Finding Joy Again: Three powerful stories of how to recover from loss and live happier now. With five steps from Rick Hanson, Ph.D., to start the healing process. Putting the ‘Om’ in Home: Author Rebecca West shares how rethinking home design can deliver joy and comfort. Plus seven keys to healthy family relationships from licensed psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser. The issue is available at store.livehappy.com or at major retailers throughout North America including Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Chapters Bookstores (Canada), Indigo Books, Safeway, Raley’s Supermarkets, SavOn Foods, Walmart and Hy-Vee Foods.

Well-Being

Find the Good: Keep the Recharge Button at the Ready

As we ride the final wave of summer into early fall, join me in appreciating the grit and joie de vivre of San Diego’s Jojo, a surfing corgi who recovered from a brutal, nearly fatal dog attack through water therapy and taking up surfing with his person, Josephine Zosa. Jojo has his own Instagram account @supercorgi_jojo with more than 82,000 followers and growing. He’s entered—and even won—surf competitions and gives back by volunteering as a therapy dog for the military and in hospitals and nursing homes. Jojo is one more example of how trauma can bring out our greatest strengths. It’s Time to Put You on the To-Do List So what do you do when the day’s challenges start to get you down? (Other than watching corgi videos, that is?) At my house, we’re all coming off simpler summer schedules, sending the kids back to school and trying to get everyone charged up for the action-packed fall routine. It’s the ideal time for a reminder to take care of ourselves as the calendar fills up with meetings; holiday planning; soccer and basketball practice or Scouts meetings for the kids. In the morning rush it may seem easier to skip that 3-mile run to get everything done on time, but don’t forget, taking care of yourself not only brings good things to you but also to the rest of your family. I’m not perfect at taking care of myself, either. Yet there is a certain element of prioritizing—building into your schedule—the things that make your life worthwhile, like exercising regularly, not always eating on the go and savoring moments of quiet where you can find them. Getting the kids to bed on time can help with that last one. But there are bigger things you can plan for, too. We just got back from a huge vacation; we went on a cruise to Alaska for a week. It was important to do that because for me, if I don’t check out enough, it’s really hard to maintain that intensity that’s required to do my regular job the rest of the year. To work, to be involved in my community, to get my kids from place to place, I need that recharge button. And I find so much more good in recognizing that! For one, my kids saw me in a more relaxed mode that opened up more opportunities to connect and just have fun. We were still active, running, biking and sightseeing, but it was important that I was engaged with them and not on my phone or computer. I think most people overlook the good in taking a break. The benefit is in hitting the reset button so I can give work my all when I get back. It helps me look at the “must do’s” in a much more positive light, because I took the time to take care of myself. Because I’m never going to get to the bottom of my to-do list…I promise. How many times have you heard “work hard, play hard?” But who really does?…I don’t see that many people actually incorporate it. You have to make play as much of a priority as the work. The Boss Says…Take Your Vacation! There are so many people who leave their vacation days unused. In my own company as CEO, I stand up and say, “Schedule your vacation; I’ve already scheduled mine,” and I mean it. People kind of look at me like, “What’s the catch?” This Travel+Leisure article cites an Allianz Travel Insurance study that reports 51 percent of the population—or about 129 million people—say they’ve gone a full year without taking a vacation. And the number of people who said they were confident they would take a vacation within the year—48 percent—is at the lowest rate it’s been since 2010. So take the time, take a vacation. More importantly, those weeks you’re not on vacation? Take time to take care of yourself because if you don’t, you’re no good for anybody. The good that you’ll bring to the world is worth it. Be a Happy Activist Our September #HappyAct is setting a positive goal for yourself. Try running for 30 minutes straight, cooking more meals at home, taking a mental health day or anything that builds you up to better handle life’s challenges. A sense of accomplishment will boost your joy, connection with others and overall well-being. On the #HappyAct front, this was one of my favorite recent kindhearted acts: A Louisiana grocery store clerk, Jordan Taylor, let autistic teen Jack Ryan help him stock a cooler with orange juice for more than half an hour after Jack showed an interest in helping. The story gets even better with a GoFundMe campaign to help Jordan raise money for college. Keep looking for the good, and you’ll find it!

Podcast

Becoming Resilient With Rick Hanson

Rick Hanson is one of the foremost experts on neural networks and a New York Times best-selling author. With his latest book, Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness, Rick gives us the tools to develop our inner strengths and stay strong—no matter what life throws at you. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to use your positive experiences to grow your inner strengths The meaning of “positive neuroplasticity” and how it can rewire your brain to be more resilient The role of resilience in our overall happiness and well-being Also in this episode, Chris Libby tells us what we need to know about Finding Happiness at Work. Links and Resources: Facebook - facebook.com/rickhansonphd YouTube - youtube.com/drrhanson Website - rickhanson.net Download “A Free Guide to Taking in the Good.” Learn about Rick’s yearlong Foundations of Well-Being Program. Subscribe to Rick’s free Just One Thing.

Podcast

Get Mentally Fit With Grit

Welcome, Happy Activists! A Happy Activist is someone who, through kind words and intentional positive actions, strives to make the world a better place. Live Happy invites you to join our #HappyActs movement! On the 20th of each month, we encourage everyone to incorporate kindness into your daily lives by participating in each month’s planned activity. The more who join the #HappyActs movement, the more positive impact we'll all have on our homes, workplaces and communities. What you think and do matters! September’s theme is resilience. The ability to bounce back after a setback through grit and determination can help us achieve our goals. This sense of accomplishment can increase joy, connection and well-being. It’s important to understand the “why” of goal setting for it to be successful, says strategist Jan Stanley. “The thing that encourages us to set goals is that we see some gap in our lives,” Jan says. The first key is making sure your goals and values align and then to make step-by-step implementation of that goal part of your daily routine. Following that advice, our September 20 Happy Act is to set a positive goal for yourself, whether it’s preparing for a 5K race or half-marathon, taking on a new challenge at work or finishing that house project that’s been dragging on for months. Meet our Happy Activist of the month, Chris Libby, Live Happy’s magazine and digital editor. “Realizing that the power to achieve is within my control is empowering, something I hope you will realize as well as you set out on your own goal-setting journey,” Chris says. 3 Habits to Boost Resilience According to authors Michaela Haas (Bouncing Forward: Transforming Bad Breaks into Breakthroughs) and Jim Rendon (Upside: The New Science of Post-Traumatic Growth), these three daily habits can help you cultivate courage and resilience in the face of adversity. Meditate Spend 12 minutes every morning and every eveningmeditating. Meditation, Michaela says, trains us in regulating stress and calming fear, the very skills we need to confront and recover from adversity. Appreciate Cultivate apractice of gratitudeand appreciation. Every day, write down three things you are grateful for; jot down the first three things that come to mind. If your default position is to focus on the gifts in your life, you’ll find it easier to keep your spirits uplifted and move on to what needs to be done. Connect Research shows thatconnection with other peopleis a key predictor of growth after a traumatic event, Jim says. Even online communities help trauma survivors of all kinds feel more optimistic, confident and empowered. Additional Resources: Angela Duckworth GoodThink Tom Rath Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP Greater Good Science Center Plasticity Labs

Workplace

Dare to Be Different This Labor Day

When I was a kid, Labor Day meant the end of the summer. My father was a foreman in a ball-bearing factory. He was never home on a Monday, except for this one. We’d visit our grandparents, have a family picnic and then get home early to lay out our first-day-of-school outfits. The meaning of Labor Day was lost on me. When I became a working adult, Labor Day simply meant a much-needed day off. Back then you had to work a full year before you earned any vacation days. Yet, Labor Day was founded more than 120 years ago with a specific purpose. According to the Department of Labor, the holiday on the first Monday of September was “a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.” Unfortunately, Labor Day has transformed into just another shopping holiday. How could something that was so hard-fought turn into something so meaningless? What if this Labor Day you truly unplugged? Why We Don’t Unplug and Why We Need To For many workers around the globe, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. has been replaced with 24/7. From coaching hundreds of business leaders, my co-author, Senia Maymin, Ph.D., and I have found four common reasons why people don’t unplug, even when they have a day off: Feeling anxious about stepping away from work Believing working more will make them more productive Unrealistic workplace expectations Striving to be a perfectionist But, like a muscle, our brains need rest to perform optimally. Don’t Recuperate—Instead Rejuvenate and Reprioritize My coaching clients often tell me that when they do take a day off they need to recuperate, as though work is like an illness or surgery. When we lose interest in people and the things that once brought us joy and happiness, it is our wake-up call that we need to reprioritize, not recuperate. This Labor Day, I challenge you to stay out of the stores and totally unplug. Take a mental health day to honor the American worker instead and reflect upon what’s important to you. What does Labor Day mean to you and how will you spend it? Five Simple Ways to Unplug Cultivate one or more of these healthy mobile phone habits and notice what happens to your overall happiness: Put away your phone for at least one hour every day. Put your phone on sleep mode to trick yourself into thinking your phone is dead. Turn off all social media, text and email alerts. Never, ever put your phone on a table or desktop when having a conversation. Never open an email on your phone (even though you may be tempted to do so) if you know you can’t possibly respond to it in the moment. Curiosity killed the cat.

Famous Nyhavn pier with colorful buildings and boats in Copenhagen, Denmark

Workplace

Follow a Dane’s Path to Happiness

Traveling around the world can bring a host of positive benefits to your well-being. Experiencing different cultures and seeing how other people live offers a better understanding of this vast world we live in. This stokes our curiosity and allows us to be more empathetic to others. I just returned from a trip Denmark, my homeland and one of the happiest countries in the world. As Live Happy’s senior manager of digital marketing, I wanted to share with you the best things to do and see in Copenhagen. Food and Drink Copenhagen offers an abundance of wonderful restaurants, and it is almost impossible to not overindulge. My favorite local area is Frederiksberg. Start off on Vaernedamsvej, a small street where you can’t really go wrong in any of many stores and restaurants. You can grab an amazing French sandwich and a glass of wine at Le Gourmand or a glass of wine and a charcuterie board from neighborhood hop spot Falernum. If you are looking to splurge, Restaurant Geist with celebrity chef Bo Beck is the place to be. Don’t cheat yourself out of a glass of the house champagne, Billecart-Salmon, my absolute favorite. If you want something more traditional, you can go local with open-face sandwiches at one of Copenhagen’s oldest “smorrebrod” restaurants, Schonnemann. Shopping When I’m back home, I never miss a trip to my favorite shopping street Gammel Kongevej. This is a street where the locals shop and has an abundance of wonderful Danish brands as well as more upscale store emporiums. Zornig offers everything your heart desires from all over the world. If you are looking for Danish designs to fill your home, you can never go wrong at Illums Bolighus. Rest and Relaxation When in Denmark, walking is the best way to get around. The Metro and bus systems are easy to use, but we Danes like to walk or bike everywhere. You will get tired, so what better way to relax than to get a massage or even squeeze in a morning yoga class at my favorite spa, Hotspot Copenhagen. This newly opened spa has already been nominated for spa of the year in 2018. Entertainment Copenhagen is filled with little gems, parks and architectural wonders, so walking is the best way to take them all in. The little mermaid statue is a given, however, make sure to walk through Kastellet to see the Gefion Fountain. Enjoy the beautiful St. Alban’s Church and continue down the harbor front where you can see the queen’s residence, Amalienborg Palace. You may even catch a glimpse of Her Royal Highness or the Crown Prince. Local tip: Don’t miss the changing of the guard daily at noon. If the weather is decent, you will find all the locals enjoying the sunshine along the harbor in front of The Royal Danish Playhouse. Just over the bridge to Christianshavn is one of the most treasured areas of Copenhagen that also houses The Royal Danish Opera. A must see for sure is the Tivoli Gardens; it’s truly a special treat depending on the time of year. If you are visiting around Christmas, there’s an amazing Christmas market, and if you are visiting in the spring, aim for Friday nights when the garden has concerts with a lot of Danish bands. Summer is also a special time to take part in a longstanding tradition of enjoying lunch or dinner inside the park. A few restaurants will grant free access to the park if you join them for a meal. Here at Live Happy, we have a team tradition of bringing back a gift whenever you are abroad. What better gift than the Hoptimist!

Lifestyle

10 Best Books for Good Mood Food

Folate in spinach can boost those mood-controlling neurotransmitters in your brain. Yet if Popeye’s fix doesn’t appeal to you, try eating an orange or grapefruit to get the same mood-regulating vitamin B benefits. For a moment of calm, eat a banana for its potassium and serotonin. Grumpy? Shift that mood with some berries. Eating the rainbow is sage advice for a happier you, and no, we don’t mean that bowl of sugary Froot Loops. Healthy, colorful fruits and veggies can make for a healthier brain and a happier you. We rounded up 10 books to help you rock your good mood—with food. Flat Belly 365: The Gut-Friendly Superfood Plan to Shed Pounds, Fight Inflammation, and Feel Great All Year Long by Manuel Villacorta If you’ve ever consumed too many doughnuts in one sitting, you know sugar can make you feel sluggish and tired. Superfoods do the opposite, helping you feel super! Flat Belly 365 offers enticing recipes even if your goal isn’t to have washboard abs. National dietitian Manuel Villacorta shares recipes made with superfoods, anti-inflammatory fats, and prebiotic and probiotic foods to balance your appetite, reduce cravings, regulate blood sugar, fight inflammation and fuel your body for optimal health. Each chapter is organized by the seasons of the year, making shopping and meal planning easy. Seven-day menu plans are included. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter Willett, MD and P.J. Skerrett If you want to eat healthy but your head spins from all the food trends, conflicting information and celebrity diets, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy cuts through all the noise. Walter Willett, MD, chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, draws on cutting-edge research to explain what the USDA guidelines have gotten wrong—and how you can eat right. Learn simple principles and meal plans to live better and longer. Discover the research behind the best types of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and the importance of supplements. After not smoking, controlling your weight is the single most important factor for a long, healthy life, the authors contend. The Simple Guide to Natural Health: From Apple Cider Vinegar Tonics to Coconut Oil Body Balm, 150+ Home Remedies for Health and Healing by Melanie St. Ours Use medicinal plants, healing foods and everyday ingredients like coconut oil and apple cider vinegar to help you heal from ailments and thrive. Clinical herbalist Melanie St. Ours offers recipes that promote emotional balance and health. Try her mood-lifting trail mix, happiness syrup or pick-me-up peppermint latte. Make a cup of lavender or chamomile tea to relieve anxiety or depression. The food in your pantry and fridge can support your health and improve your outlook. Rise and Shine: Better Breakfasts for Busy Mornings by Katie Sullivan Morford How you start your day matters. You already know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what if you could make breakfast so appealing it brings your family together around the table each day? Nutritionist and mother of three Katie Sullivan Morford offers tips, recipes and inspiration for making delicious and nutritious breakfasts.Rise and Shineis for parents who don’t want to sacrifice quality time and quality meals on busy mornings. The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body by Drew Ramsey, MD and Tyler G. Graham What if the foods responsible for the obesity epidemic are also causing increased levels of depression and anxiety? That’s the premise behind The Happiness Diet. If you want simple solutions to make and eat feel-good foods for your brain and your body, this is the book for you. Learn how to move away from the modern American diet (which the authors call MAD) and get nutrition back in your meals. The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions—Today by Julia Ross Julia Ross’s plan provides a natural cure for your mood based on deficiencies in our neurotransmitters. She believes we can use food to overcome depression, anxiety, irritability, stress and other negative emotional states that take a toll on the quality of our lives. Julia’s plan is based on the use of four mood-building amino acids and nutritional supplements. Enjoy meals that include protein, healthy fat and certain key vegetables. Take her mood-type questionnaire to start feeling better and brighter. Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power by Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D. Lisa Mosconi is a neuroscientist and a certified integrative nutritionist who focuses on the dietary needs of the brain. Lisa provides recommendations for a complete food plan while calling out some popular notions, including: why a paleo diet may not be ideal, why avoiding gluten may be a mistake, and how getting enough water improves alertness.Review lists of what to eat and what to avoid and take a quiz that will tell you where you are on the brain health spectrum. Use your food choices to improve memory, prevent cognitive decline, eliminate brain fog, lift depression or improve mental alertness. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin and Johnny Miller When your food, kitchen and meals are bright, you will be, too. Delight in the joy of food again in this colorful book full of recipes, menus and whole food tips. “Cook simple meals with organic ingredients. Find a daily practice that helps keep you connected, inspired and grounded. Practice gratitude and do what you love,” writes chef, food stylist and lover of food, Amy Chaplin. Vegans, vegetarians and carnivores will all find recipes to add to their collection and ideas to inspire a beautiful kitchen. The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig The popular The Whole30offers a 30-day meal plan designed to reset your health, habits and relationship with food so you can overcome cravings and addictions. The science behindWhole30is covered in the authors’ first book,It Starts With Food.The plan focuses on the quality of real food and omits processed foods and sugar as well as grains and legumes. You will have to say goodbye to cheese and even hummus (made from legumes), but you can keep your morning coffee if you drink it black or with almond milk. Eat foods for a healthy psychological response, transform your relationship with food, quash cravings and boost your immune system. Keto Comfort Foods: Family Favorite Recipes Made Low-Carb and Healthy by Maria Emmerich Comfort foods…just hearing those two words can make you feel good. We all crave them and they are designed to give us a big helping of comfort and foster well-being. The problem is, most comfort foods aren’t really good for your body—until now. In Keto Comfort Foods, enjoy a healthy spin on some of your favorite comfort foods with a variety of recipes presented with beautiful photography. Each recipe contains nutritional information and rated low, medium or high ketogenic (putting the body into a state of ketosis to burn stored fat). Whip up some beef stew, BBQ chicken lasagna, clam chowder, maple bacon ice cream or Sunday pot roast.

Illustration of a brain running on a treadmill

Podcast

Making Your Brain Hum with Joe Bates

Dr. Joe Bates wants to make your brain hum. The award-winning double board-certified psychiatrist and pediatrician is spending his “retirement” working with veterans at the Tyler VA Clinic in Tyler, Texas. He has been recognized by Mensa for his work with cognitive remediation training, and now he’s created a way for people of all ages to make their brains work smarter, not harder. His new book, Making Your Brain Hum: 12 Weeks to A Smarter You, uses a technique he developed called braincardio™, which is designed to use “brain workouts” to build confidence, hope, well-being and energy. What you'll learn in this episode: How the things we do every day can make a difference in how we think How brain exercises can help us live with less regret and more joy Why it’s important to exercise our brains every day Also in this episode, we talk with dog trainer John Miller, who tells us how to make back-to-school time easier on everyone in the house—including our canine family members. Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Follow Dr. Joe Bates on Facebook. Learn more about braincardio™ on his website. Live Happy listeners have the exclusive opportunity for a 50% discount to the best-selling book Making Your Brain Hum: 12 Weeks to a Smarter You, along with the e-book Tips for a Brain- Healthy Lifestyle that includes sample puzzles. Follow this link for your special offer, just for being a Live Happy Now listener: www.braincardio.org/livehappy

Podcast

Finding Self-Compassion With Kristin Neff

Kristin Neff, Ph.D., is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion as well as associate professor of human development and culture at the University of Texas at Austin. Her groundbreaking insights on how to nurture self-compassion, along with research into the role self-compassion plays in our overall well-being, has led to academic courses on the topic as well as online courses, audio programs and books. Her latest project, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, walks readers through a step-by-step process to help build a greater sense of self-compassion. What you'll learn in this episode: Why you need to stop beating yourself up (and how to do it) The role of self-compassion in happiness Why self-compassion is a better motivator than self-criticism Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Follow Kristin on Facebook. Purchase her book The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. Download Kristin's self-compassion exercises for free here.

Podcast

Kindness Sticks

Welcome, Happy Activists! A Happy Activist is someone who, through kind words and intentional actions, strives to make the world a better place. Live Happy invites you to join our #HappyActs movement! On the 20th of each month, we encourage everyone to incorporate kindness into your daily lives by participating in each month’s planned activity. The more who join the #HappyActs movement, the more positive impact we'll all have on our homes, workplaces and communities. What you think and do matters! August’s theme—just in time for the back-to-school season—is education. For students of all levels, learning character strengths and mental and physical well-being alongside the academic basics ensures both greater achievement and long-term happiness. And for adults, scientists confirm that lifelong learning is associated with greater life satisfaction and a sense of optimism and engagement. Our August 20 Happy Act is to post encouraging and positive notes at school; try our school-themed sticky notes to get things started! Meet our Happy Activist of the month, Kathleen Desloges, a music, drama and dance teacher in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. “I get to work with hundreds of students in a week, and every day we start our classes with a conversation about gratitude, happiness or kindness,” she says. “It’s fun to show up with a purpose!” 3 Steps on How to Prepare for a Happy Act: Researchwhat charitable opportunities are near you. Contactthe organization and discuss how you can help. Plana time to go volunteer and/or determine what you can donate. Learn more: Lifelong Education Delivers Confidence, Joy and Hope. If we’re not learning, we’re not growing. According to the VIA Institute on Character, adults who are learning something new—by taking a class, pursuing a hobby or reading every day—report less stress and greater feelings of hope and purpose. Never Stop Learning. Try these three strategies from Ryan Niemiec, Psy.D., of the Via Institute on Character, to boost your learning mindset and start to see challenges as opportunities. Character and Well-Being. British schoolmaster Sir Anthony Seldon says positive education “isn’t a case of either teaching for tests or teaching for personal growth and happiness; if you teach for happiness and growth and character, you’ll get better exam results because you’ll be developing their intrinsic motivations rather than extrinsic motivations.” 4 Ideas Shaping the Future of Education. Learning to develop grit and character; considering the role of parents; emphasizing what’s going well and focusing on problem-solving over negative characterizations are driving conversations about positive education. The Strength Switch With Lea Waters. Listen to our Live Happy Now podcast with Lea Waters, Ph.D., to learn about the benefits of strength-based parenting and two easy ways to start implementing it. Learning How to Learn Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., the Ramón y Cajal Distinguished Scholar of Global Digital Learning at McMaster University, professor of engineering at Oakland University and author of several books, including A Mind for Numbers and Mindshift, teaches an online course called “Learning How to Learn.” Ready to grow? Start with these guidelines: Think of learning as a lifestyle. Create your own process for acquiring knowledge and skills and ask questions. Work with your brain, not against it. When learning new things, give your brain time so new neural connections can be made. Rethink failure. Encountering difficulty and failure encourages brain plasticity. Be prepared to feel like an impostor, then get over it. Mastery is not a static end state, but a high level of ability to find ways to refine one’s knowledge and skills. Challenge yourself to ask, “What are you learning that keeps you inspired and hungry for more?” Additional Resources: International Positive Education Network Donors Choose Plasticity’s Hero Generation The Strength Switch Via Institute on Character Champlain College Tecmilenio University

Rediscover Your Joy with Live Happy’s Latest Issue

Find the Good: Keep the Recharge Button at the Ready

Becoming Resilient With Rick Hanson

Get Mentally Fit With Grit

Dare to Be Different This Labor Day

Follow a Dane’s Path to Happiness

10 Best Books for Good Mood Food

Making Your Brain Hum with Joe Bates

Finding Self-Compassion With Kristin Neff

Kindness Sticks

Store

Articles

Quick Links