In this episode, I talk about the reasons that I love winter. Even though I know this can be an unpopular opinion (especially if you live somewhere really cold during the winter), I think it is important for our mental health to really find reasons to enjoy each of the seasons that you have in the place where you live (whether that's 1 or 2 or all 4). I talk about hygge, the Danish word for basically comfort and coziness, that involves 1) appreciating simple things and 2) being at home. As an introverted mom of 2 (potential) extroverts, I can really get behind staying in, lighting a candle, reading a book or watching a movie on the couch under a blanket, and making hot chocolate. But for me, living in Colorado, winter is also about skiing, and going for long walks in my winter boots, enjoying the snow, sledding, and also museums and spending time with family during holidays. Winter is about rest, slowing down and maybe saying "no" to things sometimes to just enjoy your own home/couch! Action item: either make a list of things you love about winter, or just take a moment to appreciate the things when they happen-count them as a delight or express gratitude for what you love about the coldest, darkest months of the year. It will help your mental health- I promise!

In this episode, I talk about Blue Zones, or places in the world where people often live to age 100 or later but are also healthy during this time. The 3 main lessons (from Dan Buettner, who was recently on the Happiness Lab) are that people from Blue Zones 1) eat more fruits, whole grains, vegetables and tons of beans, and less meat 2) live in walkable places where exercise is just a part of their lives- they walk from 9,000-10,000 steps a day just as part of their regular lives, and 3) have strong social connections and a sense of community. I give examples of each of these from my own life and the action item for this week is to pick one of these areas and see if you can make a small change to look more like people in Blue Zones!

In this week's episode, I talk about how lately, when I finish a work project, I have been "treating myself" to things that mostly involve a little bit of extra time- leaving work early and going on a bit longer bike ride, taking a bath or reading a book for a bit during the middle of the work day. I have been thinking of it as giving myself a little "gift" and it has been making me feel a lot better and fighting burnout in my work/life. Action item: the next time you finish a project (work or home-related) or just even feel a little tired or burned out, just give yourself the "gift" of a little extra time to do something out of the ordinary that you enjoy. You won't regret it, I promise! "Treat yourself"!

In this episode, I talk about my adventures in Boulder, Colorado last week in the context of a book I read last spring called "Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life" by Professor Shigehiro Oishi. The premise of this book is that there are 3 main components to a "good" life, happiness, meaning and also psychological richness. I define all three terms, give a few examples of each from my own life, and talk about how it can actually be pretty easy to make ourlives a little (or a lot) more "psychologically rich". Whether by traveling more, exploring our own cities (like I mentioned in Week 161), or even just reading a new kind of book, listening to a different podcast, or taking a slightly different way to work in the morning, we can make our lives a little bit better by mixing things up a little bit!

In this episode, I talk about how, as we age, we tend to do more of the same thing over and over, which actually makes us perceive time as moving more quickly. This is in part why children perceive time as moving more slowly- they are constantly in new situations and learning new things. In order to slow down time, we need to (like kids) do/learn new things and go to new places. But since we can't just go on vacation all the time, I suggest exploring your own town to help time slow down. This summer, I explored my city with my son on bikes, and we found a splash pad, a farmer's market, a ton of random yard sales, a beautiful hidden coffee shop, among other things, and made some memories that I won't soon forget. Even if you don't like to explore on bikes, you can take public transportation, just drive around, or walk. You can even just walk one block out of your way or take a slightly different way to work to explore a tiny bit. I end with this quote from Ferris Bueller's Day off "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it." Action item: try to do one tiny thing slightly different this week than what you usually do to try to slow down time and to live a more rich/interesting life!

In this week's episode, I talk about 3 more characteristics of ADHD, what they look like, what they actually are, and some ways we've been working on these at my house. 1) ADHD can look like difficulty with transitions 2) ADHD can look like rudeness and 3) ADHD can look like carelessness. I give examples of each from my life, what these things actually are (hyperfocus/executive functioning/planning issues mainly) and finish with this quote from my son from when he was a little kid "It's OK to be different and I promise, it's OK to be different."

In this week's episode, I talk about "hustle culture" or the idea that our value as a person is directly tied to how much work we can get done in any given moment. That value does not carry over to tomorrow or next week (so as soon as we finish a big project or get a ton of work done, great, let's get started on the next big thing right away!). But this is not how our actual animal bodies work. If we do a ton of work one day, the next day we will need to slow down and take a break. Or, if we don't slow down, eventually we will burn out, get sick, etc., and our bodies will force us to take a break. So in this episode, I talk about trying to think in a new way, to say "I've done enough" and close your computer sometimes. Watch a movie, or a TV show, go for a walk, call a friend (or your mom), go for coffee with someone, whatever is a good break for you. We only get this one life, do we really want (or need) to spend every second of it hustling for approval from ourselves/society? Action item: next time you get a ton of work done, give yourself a break the next day and rest instead of immediately jumping to the next thing.

We often talk about "taking the edge off" as sort of numbing our feelings through alcohol, drugs, mindless social media scrolling, or online shopping (among other things). But this week, I wanted to talk about some of the healthy ways I've been "taking the edge off" this week- through exercise, creativity, hilarious TV shows, even fake wrestling with my 7-year old and of course, dancing in my kitchen before starting a long day of work. In these ways, I am not so much numbing but more giving my body time to process my emotions, giving myself time to rest, and some comfort. These were all examples of things I really did last week, and they helped a lot. I hope they help you all too!

In this episode, I talk about how gratitude can help us particularly in tough times, but how there are also ways that gratitude cannot help us during tough times. Gratitude always helps during all times, and keeping a gratitude journal or just thinking of things we are grateful for before bed can help a lot. And delights can help too, when you need something a little less serious- a peach straight from a tree or bright yellow sunflowers might be/feel too small to be things we are grateful for, but they make great delights! But during tough times, we want to be sure that we don't "shove" gratitude on others- when I tell someone I'm having a hard time at work, this looks like them telling me, "well at least you have a job" or when I'm having a tough time with my family, they'd say "at least you have a family." Instead, we can accept both things- we are going through a hard time and also we have things we are grateful for. If we do this, and also never "shove" gratefuls on others, we are taking some serious positive steps in the world. Finally, normalizing is OK though- what you are going through is/sounds tough, and it's also normal! I hope this helped and have a great week!

This week, I talk about how to make hard decisions a little easier. I discuss 4 steps, including 1) pause and give yourself some time before jumping in to make a decision too quickly, 2) vent (feel your feelings, complain, maybe even wallow a bit in your sadness etc. for just a little bit) to get those feelings out of you and don't worry about trying to find a solution yet while you are still so upset. You can also go for a run or exercise (or complete your stress cycle in other ways) during this step. 3) Start to process your emotions, with writing, a long walk, making a list of things you can do or information you need to obtain or people you need to ask who are relevant to your decision. During this step, DO NOT poll the audience (ask whoever you see on the street for their opinion), be sure to only ask people who are relevant to the decision or who have information you need. 4) Finally, make the decision Unofficially, write it down and put it away for a few hours or days (or weeks if you need more time) and then bring it out and see if you still think it is the right idea. During this step, you need to move on with your life and not think about the decision during this time. Then, when you come back to it with fresh eyes, that will help you decide if it is the right decision. OK I hope this helps and have a great week, everyone! Good luck making tough decisions a little easier (I hope).

This week, as promised, I am talking about how to get through tough transition times with 4 pieces of advice from my own experience. 1) Have a secure/solid "home base" to return to- whether it is a place in your house/apartment/dorm room where you feel safe, re-watching/reading old TV shows/books you love, looking at pictures of things/people you love, a daily/weekly FaceTime with someone you care about or someone (or a pet) at home you can hug, this helps a ton. 2) Remember that you've been through tough times before and you "survived" them (literally or figuratively). You can write down, talk about or just remember some previous tough times you've made it through. 3) Celebrate even tiny milestones- every week I made it through my first year in Denver in a new job, I looked forward to waffles with my husband! 4) Give yourself time to feel sad/angry/whatever you feel about this transition. Cry, laugh, dance, exercise, whatever works for you. And remember, you'll never have to do this exact hard thing in this exact way for the first time, ever again.

In this episode, I talk about the FUN I had at the pool (Playful, connected flow, by Catherine Price from her book The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again) swimming around the pool with my kids this summer! I talk about how, even if we don't have kids, we can remember what we used to like as kids and try it to see if we can't have a little more fun in our lives now. Bike riding, playing games, splashing in puddles, running through a random hopscotch on the sidewalk, whatever it was you loved as a kid, why not try it out now? Action item: think about what you loved as a kid, and consider trying it again. Or, is there something you always wanted to do but felt too self-conscious to do? Why not try it?!

This week's episode is NOT to listen to around children! The episode starts with a story about my children and Santa/the Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy etc., which led my child to say, "well I guess there is sort of still magic in the world?" To which I said, of course there is! In this episode, I give some of my own examples of magic in the world, a definition of magic and also of awe and wonder (from Brene Brown's book Atlas of the Heart), and talk about how we can find magic/awe/wonder or whatever we want to call it in our everyday lives, in nature, art, music, spiritual experiences or ideas (or for me, watching my kiddo make insane K'nex creations) :). Action item: note all the magic you can find in the world this week. Last week until fall, have a great summer everyone and thank you for listening!

In this week's episode, I give my 4 favorite pieces of advice from previous episodes on how to make it through a particularly busy/stressful/transitional period. If you are not a teacher or student, this advice can help for any busy or transitional period in your life, but for me, it's the end of the spring semester and summer break is almost here. 1) Quit what and where you can, from episode 76 on quitting, 2) Make time and space for transitions (and the emotions that come with them), from week 35, 3) Do your best and then call it good enough (no perfectionism here) from week 108, and 4) Go back to the beginning (week 20), and don't forget exercise/healthy food and sleep! I promise that if you do these things, you will get WAY more done in WAY less time, even and especially when you are busy/overwhelmed/stressed out. See you all next week for my last week before summer break, and thanks for listening!

This epsiode is a continuation of week 145, where I talked about 3 things that ADHD can look liks vs what is actually going on. In this episode, I do the same and talk about 3 more things: ADHD can look like 1) risky behavior/impulsivity, 2) hyperactivity/fidgeting, and 3) forgetfulness. In each of the 3 parts, I give examples from my own life of my experiences with my child and a few things that I do as a teacher to help neurodiverse students. I talk a lot in here about how sometimes we think we "need" to do things a certain way, but actually, we can let go of more than we think we can and just do things a different way that actually works, rather than the way we were brought up or just using what we've already seen in our lives. My action item is to start to see neurodiversity (and all differences, really) as something other than a deficit but something that can teach us about the world and at the same time, can help us to actually make the world a better place for everyone.

In this episode, I define both "numbing" and "real comfort" and give examples of each. I talk about the lessons we can learn from Anne of Green Gables, who felt all her feelings all the time and why that is important to do (at least most of the time). Action item: if you find yourself doing something that doesn't feel right, just pause and think about how you feel and why you are doing the thing. It may not help you to stop, but it might help you just to think about why you are doing the thing and whether it is really helping you or not.

In this episode, I tell a story about past me in graduate school during an interview, feeling bad for the middle aged man who was driving me around in his old minivan. But now, I am that man, and let me tell you, don't feel bad for me! I talk in this episode about how middle age is not the worst time, and for me, the time of middle parenting (parenting kids who are school-aged, not toddlers and not teens yet), has been kind of a sweet spot. The action item for this week is a bit open-ended but is to try to think about something you think you already know with beginners mind. It may turn out that you were wrong, need to rethink it, or could benefit from thinking about it from a new angle, whatever it is. Also, fun fact, I learned that women's happiness levels are reported highest in their 70s and 80s, so it's not all downhill from here either!

In this episode, I talk about 4 of my favorite ways to save money. Although this may seem like it's not related to wellness, I still think that spending more money than we plan to spend (or more money than we actually have) can really hurt our mental health, too. So, my 4 ways are 1) use the public library! For books, DVDs, etc. as much as possible 2) Use those memberships! From Costco to the YMCA to museum memberships to save money on "fun" activities for your family, memberships (and actually using them) is the way to go! 3) Buy used and fix things instead of buying new things! 4) Find alternative methods of transportation to work (or school) like bike riding, walking, the train, or even carpooling. Action item: Remember that you can save money by still doing things you enjoy, and also, whenever you save money, put that money directly into a savings (or other) account so that you can see your savings grow!

In this episode, I define "hope" using Brene Brown's definition from Atlas of the Heart: Hope is a way of thinking or a cognitive process, not an emotion, that's made up of three components: goals, pathways and agency. I give an example of my own: my goal is to keep promoting what I want to see more of in the world: kindness, compassion, understanding, and strength that is not about having power Over people but about using our power to help each other (also from Brene Brown: Power To/With and Within). My pathways (action items) are in my job, promoting our Spanish club, SALSA, planning events in my department, helping out my students, and at home, helping my kids to learn how to deal with their emotions, how to meditate, etc., by showing them how I do it and teaching them. And for me, agency (the fuel I need to do this work and not burn out) comes to me through all the things I talk about here all the time: dancing in my kitchen and writing in my journal and coffee with friends and meditation and hugging my family and Friday night movie night. Action item: think about where you can help to create more “hope” in the world, through goals/pathways and agency.

In this episode, I talk about how creativity can help us in troubled times, about what creativity is (loosely defined), how it can help us (flow, community/connection, etc.) and give a few examples of some creative things I did this past week! Even if you don't think of yourself as a "creative" person, there are a ton of different creative things you can do (that don't even have to involve "creating" anything permanent- think dancing in your kitchen!). I also talk about Flow, which I define and discuss in more detail in episode 104: How (and why) to "Flow" more in our lives. Action item: Even if you only have a few minutes this week, focus on some creative endeavors this week to help yourself (and the world).