My guest this week is Dr. Jonah Paquette, author of Happily Even After (affiliate link), who is back for the fourth time on the podcast. Jonah is the happiness guru I turn to for exploring the science of well-being and flourishing. This time we focused on how to cultivate happiness more consistently in our lives—and why we tend to wait till we’re seriously unhappy before using the practices that build positive emotions. As always it was a great discussion.

Topics we discussed included:

• Why we often wait until things are going wrong to take positive action
• Daily practices that nurture our well-being
• Why aren’t we motivated to proactively pursue happiness
• Building well-being practices into life, vs. treating them as add-ons
• Simple practices to get started with creating more daily happiness
• The power of awareness to shift our experiences and foster gratitude
• Aspects of modern life we take for granted that lower happiness
• The risks of upward comparisons and seeing what others have that we don’t

Jonah Paquette, PsyD, is a psychologist, author, and speaker who specializes in the science of well-being and emotional fitness.

He is the author of four books including Happily Even After, Awestruck, The Happiness Toolbox, and Real Happiness (affiliate links).

Jonah’s writing aims to provide readers with practical, research-backed strategies to foster greater well-being and connection in our everyday lives.

In addition to his clinical work and writing, Jonah offers training and consultation to organizations on the promotion of well-being and conducts professional workshops for clinicians around the country and abroad.

He is a sought-after media contributor, having been featured regularly in print, online, radio, and podcast outlets. Check out his excellent new TEDx talk here.

To learn more about Jonah and his work, visit him online at his website and on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.