The Happier Life Project

Loving Me on Valentine’s Day with Gina Swire

Self-love means to have a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. It means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your own mental, physical, or emotional health to please others. But why do so many of us not see ourselves as a priority? And feel guilty, ashamed, or undeserving to treat ourselves nicely? Why do we consider self-love to be a dirty word?
To mark this year’s Valentine's Day, The Happier Life Project is looking at an all too often overlooked area of love and our love lives - and that’s self-love - with self-love expert, no. 1 bestselling author, podcaster, and manifesting guru Gina Swire.
The world-renowned self-love mentor shares her own fascinating story going from an unhappy, insecure model, to finding her purpose as a self-love goddess. Talking to host Gabby, Gina offers some simple strategies for self-love and self-care, whilst offering tips on how to detach from negative thoughts and critical self-talk. Gina also describes some of the most common signs and symptoms that you might not be treating yourself with enough love and kindness, plus explains why she is on a global mission to help a billion women fall madly in love with themselves.
 
For more on Gina Swire: https://www.ginaswire.com/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 
 

Free Yourself from Emotional Baggage with Natalie Lue

Clinically speaking, emotional baggage is unprocessed trauma which often has a negative effect on a person’s behaviour and attitude. Emotional baggage can also be viewed as a metaphor; referring to negative, unprocessed emotions and unresolved issues from past experiences, that impact and influence how you show up and behave to others.
Natalie Lue is a writer, speaker, podcaster, artist, and founder of one of the longest running self-help blogs in the world, 'Baggage Reclaim'. Helping thousands of clients release their excess emotional baggage, Natalie is making it her mission to wake up and guide people-pleasers, perfectionists, over-thinkers, low self esteemers and relationship strugglers out of the 'age of obedience'.
In the episode, Natalie shares some of the symptoms that manifest physically as well as mentally and emotionally serving as warning signs that you are holding on to too much pain from the past. Natalie also advises how to identify if your needs are being met by loved ones, plus discusses why we need to recognize our values and self-worth in order to stop people pleasing and constantly putting others first, to the detriment of our own health.
Also in the episode, Natalie chats to host Gabby about her latest book ‘The Joy of Saying No’, and gives tips on how to uncover and unpick the cluttered crap from our past that no longer serves us. Natalie also talks about the importance of preference over programming and highlights why emotionally unavailable people should be avoided at all costs to enter into a relationship with.
For more on Natalie Lue: https://www.baggagereclaim.co.uk/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 
To purchase ‘The Joy of Saying No’: The Joy of Saying No: A Simple Plan to Stop People-Pleasing, Reclaim Your Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want: A Simple Plan to Stop People ... Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want: Amazon.co.uk: Lue, Natalie: 9780785290445: Books
 
 

Cultivating Confidence with Minaa B

When we are feeling confident, we have a more positive outlook on life, increasing our mental and emotional wellbeing. But when our confidence is low, it undermines our faith in our abilities to be successful and competent. When we are confident, we're more likely to move forward with people and opportunities. Whereas to experience a lack of confidence, holds us back from living our life to the fullest and happiest.
Minaa B. is a therapist, mental health educator, social media influencer and writer with over ten years of clinical experience. Minaa helps her clients cultivate confidence, self-care, and self-advocacy through the lens of boundaries and community-care.
Talking to host Gabby, Minaa explains how confidence is built and why it needs to be worked at. She also discusses why in order to grow, we need to take risks and work through the fear, whilst sharing her tips for healthier boundaries in relationships. Minaa offers advice on what to do when our confidence is knocked and how we can work on our mental resilience and heal from the experience. Plus, Minaa breaks-down how we end up creating our own anxiety when we compare ourselves to others.
For more on Minna B: https://www.minaab.com/To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast

Healing Childhood Wounds with Josh Connolly

Problems experienced in childhood can impact our quality of life as adults. Growing up in an unhealthy or toxic family can contribute to a number of emotional, interpersonal, and mental health challenges. A toxic childhood could include any of the following experiences; your emotional needs weren't met by caretakers, your parents were controlling, neglectful, or overprotective, you experienced abuse (e.g. physical, verbal, emotional, sexual) or you experienced or witnessed traumatic situations.
A toxic parent, in the most simplest of breakdowns, is a parent that puts their needs before their child. Being emotionally let down by our parents or caregivers can cause a conflict of uncomfortable and very painful feelings, we might battle with for the rest of our lives.
Resilience coach, keynote speaker, mental health ambassador and influencer Josh Connolly helps his clients become unstuck from the past due to the way they were raised. Talking to host Gabby, Josh explains the different ways dysfunctional or toxic parents can cause such painful wounds. Josh discusses how helping his clients release stored trauma and repressed upsetting emotions is fundamental to healing the hurt from the past. Josh also reassures Gabby why it’s normal to feel strange and uncomfortable when beginning the work to heal your inner child... but also how important the process is to bring you to a place of freedom and peace.
For more on Josh Connolly: https://www.joshconnolly.co.uk/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 

Financial Health and Wellbeing with Thrifty Londoner

When it comes to money and mental health, we might not immediately join the dots, but it’s an important aspect of our wellness. Financial health, the current state of our monetary situation, is something we may not need a doctor for, but it affects our everyday life and future in many ways.
Laura Turner is the the founder of Thrifty Londoner, a personal finance website who helps people to feel financially confident, change their money mindset, and create new money habits.
Talking to host Gabby, Laura offers some invaluable tips and advice on how to better our financial wellbeing and help heal our relationship with money.
Laura and Gabby look at some of the causes of emotional spending and financial anxiety, and discuss why it’s important to break the stigma attached to not having a lot of money. Laura also advises on how to deal with intimidating big bill companies and where to get professional free help to help get your finances in order.
For more on Laura Turner and Thrifty Londoner: https://thriftylondoner.com/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 
 

Foundations For Wellness with Alex Crockford

"Wellness is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” – The World Health Organization. After indulging during the festive period, January can often be a month of restriction and grueling fitness plans... but can we tip the scale too far in the wrong direction and end up less healthy and more miserable? And are we paying enough attention to all the dimensions of wellness in order to really feel our best?
Fitness model, personal trainer, creator of the crockfit app and health and fitness influencer Alex Crockford has a refreshing perspective on how we can improve our overall wellness and take care of our mind, body and soul in a sustainable, enjoyable and simple way.
Talking to host Gabby live in a studio in London, Alex breaks down the most important takeaways from the wellness model, coined in 1997 by Dr Margaret Swarbrick, whilst emphasizing the importance of Nutrition, Exercise, Relaxation, Sleep and how they all work together to keep our mind and body healthy. 
 
Alex also talks about the importance of community and connection with others as being vital to our wellbeing, why everyone has their bad days and we shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it, and how we can motivate ourselves to get back on track if we fall off the wellness wagon.
For more on Alex and to download the crockfit app: https://www.crockfitapp.com/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 

Tidy House, Tidy Mind with Vicky Silverthorn

Many studies have found that having a clean and tidy house can help you feel relaxed, accomplished, and much less stressed. Whereas when everything is on top of each other, it’s like a metaphor for life. If your space is messy and cluttered, this could trigger feelings of anxiety, low mood, agitation, depression and tension. How we construct our environment is therefore, imperative to not only how we function, but also to our health and mental wellbeing.
 
Vicky Silverthorn is a professional organiser and house declutter that has been clearing spaces & minds for over ten years. Her thriving business ‘You Need a Vicky’ has seen her work with all types of clients, including famous faces such as Jonathon Ross, Lily Allen, Jamie Dornan and Suki Waterhouse. Vicky is also author of the amazon best seller 'Start With Your Sock Drawer'.
Vicky joins host Gabby to talk about the psychological benefits of decluttering your home whilst offering invaluable tips and ideas on how to improve different spaces in your home, to allow your mind to feel freed up too. Vicky also shares how good people feel after their space has been tackled and explains why it doesn’t need to feel like such a daunting and overwhelming task, if you start small and work through gradually.
For more on Vicky: https://www.youneedavicky.com/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 

Christmas Anxiety and the Holiday Dread with Joshua Fletcher

The holiday season (the period between Thanksgiving until the New Year) is supposed to be a joyous time, full of celebrations with family and friends. But for many people, "the most wonderful time of year"... tis’ the season to feel stressed and anxious.
It's normal to feel stressed or lower than usual at Christmas, especially if it's a time of year that brings back difficult memories or heightens or worsens any ongoing problems you may be going through. But there are things we can do to ease the stress and take the pressure off ourselves and there is no better guest than anxiety expert Joshua Fletcher to help us do this.
Joshua Fletcher is a psychotherapist and best-selling anxiety author, based in Manchester, specialising in the field of anxiety disorders and stress management. Chatting to host Gabby, Josh explains why we need to stop trying to create ‘the perfect Christmas’ and pleasing people when it compromises our own happiness. Josh also advises how we can deal with difficult relatives at family get-togethers and shares some tips on how to overcome anxiety at Christmas parties. He also stresses why it’s just as important to carve time out for ourselves, as it is to carve out the Christmas turkey.
For more on Joshua Fletcher: https://schoolofanxiety.com/ 
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 

Toolbox For Love with Alexandra Schelling

Building and maintaining a happy, healthy, long lasting relationship takes work. And sometimes we can close ourselves off from something that could blossom into a beautiful, satisfying union, by giving up too early when faced with challenges with our partner. To conclude the Happier Life Project’s relationship episodes, now we have looked at the areas that we struggle with the most when it comes to love, and what we can do about it. In this episode, we explore the key components to building a happy, secure and rewarding romantic partnership.
Alexandra Schelling, known online as Toolbox for Love, is a certified relationship coach who teaches others how to create a healthy, thriving relationship that’s built to last. Alexandra talks to host Gabby about the challenges she personally faced, including over four years of long distance with her now husband Denis, and how with work and effort she overcame these challenges, inspiring the birth of Toolbox For Love.
Alexandra shares some of her top strategies for good communication when it comes to navigating tricky conversations to break the cycle of repetitive problems. She also explains the importance of listening to understand your partner's needs, and facilitating regular ‘relationship checkin’s’. Alexandra breaks down what a healthy relationship should look like and cautions why seeking advice from external influences, like loved ones of self help blogs, can not always be helpful. Gabby and Alexandra also look at the main reasons why people end relationships too soon and go on to regret it, and how to avoid making the same mistakes.
For more on Alexandra and Toolbox For Love: https://www.toolboxforlove.com/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast
 

Heartache, Breakups and Coping with Separation with Adrienne Everheart

When it comes to our mental health, the ending of a relationship and loss of a loved one can hugely impact our wellbeing.
Going through a breakup and experiencing strong emotional pain, and sometimes physical pain too, can leave us feeling vulnerable, deflated, stressed and lacking in motivation and energy. Especially when we can't seem to control our thoughts and feelings about that person, and keep replaying over and over again, all the memories and possible different case scenarios, as we try to come to terms with that person no longer being part of our life.
Experiencing feelings of sadness, low self-esteem, anxiety and loneliness is normal, and often comes with the territory when experiencing heartbreak. But it is important that we don’t slip into a space for too long where we isolate ourselves and become consumed by anxiety and depression, as the danger is this could trigger a mental health illness.
Adrienne Everheart is a certified dating and relationship coach, feminine energy therapist and author of the best-selling book, “500 Ways to Talk to a Man,” and the “ABCs to Get Him back” program. Adrienne has helped countless clients (mainly women), rebuild themselves after a break up and come to a place of acceptance and understanding that the relationship couldn't continue the way it was going.
Talking to host Gabby, Adrienne shares her thoughts on why after a breakup we often obsess over what could have been, rather than what actually was. Why the 'length of time' it takes someone to recover from their heartache is a personal journey, and how to communicate with well intentioned mutual friends, if the separation has affected your friendship circle.
Adrienne and Gabby discuss the science and correlation between depression, grief and breakups. Adrienne also explains why we need to embrace and learn from our past love/s and offers invaluable advice on how we can rebuild our life and self worth, so we can call forth the person we are meant to be with.
For more on Adrienne Everheart: https://everheartcoaching.com/
To Adrienne's love academy: https://iheartloveacademy.mn.co/
To download the free My Possible Self App: https://mypossibleself.app.link/podcast