In this episode of Wisdom & Wanderlust, Michael and Robyn chat with Dr. Maria Baltazzi, an Emmy-winning television show producer and a happiness and well-being mentor. Maria discusses how happiness is a state of mind that ultimately starts with a choice to be happy and how the key to happiness is mindfulness. She also explains how mindfulness is like a muscle that you have to keep working on and exercising if you want to get it stronger. Listen as she walks through her journey to happiness and shares her keys to living a more mindful and happier life. "When I say happiness is a choice and as a state of being, it’s that you have the emotional tools, that skillset, to weather your challenges in the world in a more constructive, more mindful way." - Maria Baltazzi [15:42]   What You Will Learn: [00:01] Intro [03:47] How Maria is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic [06:59] What Maria got from her traveling experiences [09:53] If these experiences are impacted with what’s going on in the world [11:38] How much is happiness related to having priorities in order [12:39] What is happiness and how does it difference from peace [14:14] What sparked her interest in studying happiness [19:49] How to build happiness and how mindfulness plays into it [27:21] How to make meditation a habit [30:56] How to create more positive thoughts [38:33] How Maria felt success externally but was missing something internally [41:15] How she coaches others with similar experiences [46:52] People that have influenced the direction Maria has gone [49:55] The role travel has played in her personal growth and development [51:01] Her most memorable/life-changing travel stories [57:24] One thing that people can do travel better [1:01:28] Mediate and be grateful every day [1:07:18] Rapid fire questions [1:11:29] Maria’s one piece of advice for the listeners [1:12:21] Where to contact Maria [1:16:58] Why Zorba the Greek is her favorite book [1:18:04] Outro Resources:  Stopping Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) by Dr. Daniel Amen The Abraham-Hicks Emotional Guidance Scale Brian Johnson Rick Hanson The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis The Sojourn Experience 8 Good Things Insight Timer Explorer X The Camino de Santiago