Harvesting Happiness

From early childhood, our experiences shape a personal narrative that helps us make sense of the world; far from being an escape, story is how we navigate reality. Because our primal wiring compels us to defend this worldview as the only valid perspective, challenging our beliefs triggers us into action. Overcoming this defensiveness requires recognizing that vulnerability isn't a liability, but the ultimate strength in expanding our understanding — and in building real human connection. To discover the art of changing someone's mind through brain science, Positive Psychology Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with author Lisa Cron. Lisa shares key insights from her book, Wired for Story, exploring the neuroscience of human connection and communication. Through raw storytelling, she shows how narrative can bridge the gap between conflicting worldviews, and reminds us that while changing minds is notoriously difficult, especially when deep-seated beliefs are at stake, narrative gives us a way in. For listeners navigating their own difficult experiences, she also points to the role mental health resources can play alongside this kind of self-understanding. . Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

Navigating the changing needs of an aging parent can feel like a sobering wake-up call, especially as you balance respecting their role in their own care decisions with the growing weight of caregiving responsibilities. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but you don't have to carry the load alone. Palliative care, including hospice, offers essential support to guide families through this journey. For sound advice on mindful aging-parent care, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen welcomes Dr. Suragh Grumet, MD, MPH, the Chief Medical Officer for North Carolina at Eventus WholeHealth, and the founder of Mindful Aging LLC. In this caregiver support podcast, Dr. Grumet blends compassionate suggestions on relationships and spiritual connections with aging-parent care for the sandwich generation and beyond. She gently touches on end-of-life planning guidance and other caregiver tips taken from her book, Mindful Aging: A Compassionate Guide for Navigating the Journey. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

The interplay between money stress and mental health shapes how we perceive security, frequently trapping families in silent, inherited cycles of fiscal anxiety. Breaking these deeply entrenched patterns requires shifting our cultural discourse from financial judgment to financial empathy, allowing individuals to address their economic realities without shame. To discover the secret to embracing the abundance-vs-scarcity mindset, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen welcomes Tari Vickery, author, Stanford-trained sociologist, financial well-being expert, and founder of Life Matters Financial Group. As a financial well-being expert, Tari brings a nuanced perspective to the often-fraught discourse surrounding personal finance, offering strategies for initiating compassionate money conversations. Taken from her book, The Emotional Side of Money: A Roadmap to Financial Wellness, she details the foundational financial conversations often absent from most American households due to inherited cycles of economic stress and offers positive psychology interventions that transform avoidant financial behaviors. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

Chronic fear and anxiety are destabilizing to the human nervous system. Healing stories can help calm and balance us, serving as vital mental health wellness strategies. As we learn to re-craft our narrative and implement structured rituals as tools for building resilience through pain, we allow our trauma and the societal pressures dictating who we should be to dissipate. Rooted in resilience and positive psychology, this transformative process affirms that knowing we matter to someone else can guide us through the darkest moments, offering a profound sense of meaning, connection, and direction in our lives. To understand some small practices for building resilience through pain, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen welcomes Dr. Suzan Song, an internationally recognized humanitarian psychiatrist and anthropologist. Suzan offers insights about the effects of trauma on the human psyche and the healing practices from her book, Why We Suffer and How We Heal. She describes how to release the stress of living in an environment of ambient threat through re-crafting our narrative, performing rituals, and embracing purpose. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

Stigmas and a lack of hope afflict many who live through unimaginable traumas. PTSD is a common diagnosis, but it doesn’t quite fit the bill. By reframing the condition as Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI), the focus shifts from managing a lifelong psychological 'disorder' to treating a physical, healable sympathetic nervous system in need of a reset, transitioning people from trauma to healing. To better understand practices that migrate trauma to healing, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen welcomes Dr. Eugene Lipov, a board-certified anesthesiologist, pain specialist, and a champion for reframing PTSD as PTSI (Post-Traumatic Stress Injury). Eugene offers a compelling rationale for the need to reframe the language associated with Post-traumatic Stress and a summary of The God Shot Book, which illuminates how resetting the autonomic nervous system can catalyze immediate biological healing. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

Sustaining compassion during difficult times requires tapping into what compassion science reveals as pure, unlimited love. The science of altruism tells us that unlimited love is available to us as an unlimited resource. Channeling and sharing love nourishes us and activates the brain's reward and attachment systems, generating positive biological feedback. Love research shows that it provides a profound source of inner peace that stabilizes and sustains us through any crisis. To discover the infinite potential of pure love, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen continues her conversation with Stephen G. Post, the Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine. Stephen dissects the seven pathways to inner peace from his book, Pure Unlimited Love: Science and the Seven Paths to Inner Peace, translating these principles into daily practices that deepen our connection with others. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

What does it mean to practice pure unlimited love? Love research defines pure unlimited love as a state in which the security and well-being of another becomes as real and meaningful to you as your own. Embracing this mindset is a profound pathway to discovering lasting inner peace. At the heart of this approach is the activation of the ten distinct forms of love that allow us to engage with our modern, enraged culture. By applying the science of altruism, we can look past the anger and actively transform conflict into a deep, authentic connection.. To unpack the science of altruism, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen welcomes Stephen G. Post, the Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine. Stephen breaks down the ten core principles of love from his book, Pure Unlimited Love: Science and the Seven Paths to Inner Peace. He also explores the concepts of care-frontation, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and love as the ultimate reality. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.

The type of love we receive in childhood is imprinted in our brains. Early feelings and emotions color every single action we take in our adult lives unless we rewire our neural pathways. The way we communicate and the quality of our relationships can be improved. When we understand that we deserve love, we can be our fully vulnerable, beautiful selves with our partners to create long-lasting, happy, fulfilling relationships. To discover how to transform relationships through love and connection, Harvesting Happiness Podcast host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with a couple who have done the work toward creating better relationships for themselves and others, Doctors Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt. Harville and Helen met 42 years ago and have since created Imago Relationship Therapy and written the eternal book, Get the Love You Want. They serve as guides for those who want to heal and transform their relationships through love and communication. This episode is proudly sponsored by:Ouai — Offers beauty-boosting head-to-toe self-care rituals. Visit theouai.com and get 20% off sitewide from November 26 to December 2 when you enter promo codeHH.Like what you're hearing?WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on Substack and Medium.

With the elimination of civics courses in schools and the rise of fear-driven political campaigns, many U.S. citizens may be left in a constant state of anxiety about the nation's direction. This anxiety can lead to impulsive decision-making and focusing on short-term solutions, undermining the pursuit of meaningful, long-term change. Advocacy and civic engagement are crucial for overcoming these challenges. For tips on how to drive change through civic engagement, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with the founder of Street Civics, Dan Jasper. Dan explores the civic transformation of the U.S. in recent decades, highlighting how these shifts influence the political landscape, citizen advocacy, and the importance of self-care in civic engagement. This episode is a special edition of the Good Citizens Election Season Survival Guide designed to help restore common sense and sanity in a crazy world… This episode is proudly sponsored by:Ouai — Offers beauty-boosting head-to-toe self-care rituals. Visit theouai.com and use code HH to get 15% off any product.Like what you're hearing?WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on Substack and Medium.

During the 2000s, the number of people who say they are lonely has doubled and the number of suicides has gone up by 33% in the US. The recent COVID pandemic has only served to exacerbate these conditions. The one group that has fared better in terms of happiness and well-being is the elderly. To discover why maturity brings resilience and wisdom, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two authors about unearthing the innate goodness in all of us and why it should be shared with younger generations. Dr. Dilip Jeste describes the key tenets of his book, Wiser: The Scientific Roots of Wisdom, Compassion, and What Makes Us Good and describes the importance of multi-generational families. Lama Palden Drolma shares principles from her book and meditation, Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain Into Joy, and ways we can be compassionate even to those who challenge us.