We have really exciting news to share with you all! The Joy Lab podcast and program will be transitioning into a new nonprofit organization called Pathways North, starting January 2025. Despite the move away from the National Mental Health Organization, you won't need to do anything differently. You can still find the pod wherever you've been listening, you can still head to JoyLab.coach to join us in the program, and most of all, you can be sure that this change is fully-focused on keeping this work going and serving you better. We're so excited for this next adventure with you!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Listen to the Joy Lab Podcast over at JoyLab.coach.
• Join the Natural Mental Health Newsletter

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we explore how gratitude can be a powerful tool in managing fear and worrying. We'll touch on the evolutionary roots of fear, its impact on our lives, and how nurturing gratitude can lead to a more purposeful and fulfilling life. Most importantly, we'll illustrate how identifying and addressing fear with gratitude can bring about positive emotional shifts and meaningful actions.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Envy: Why it surges & what to do when it does (ep. 182)
• Otto, A., et. al. (2016). Effects of a randomized gratitude intervention on death-related fear of recurrence in breast cancer survivors. Health psychology: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 35(12). Access here.

See transcript here

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we explore the complex emotions of envy and gratitude. We'll discuss how practicing gratitude can serve as a powerful antidote to the corrosive effects of envy, and delve into the evolutionary purpose and varieties of envy, including benign and malicious forms. We also take a quick (and hopefully helpful!) detour into the concept of counterfactual thinking and its role in both fueling and easing envy, with a focus on the use of mindfulness and gratitude to transform negative emotions into positive action. Best of all, we'll end with a really helpful way to reframe envy as a signal for self-care and gratitude.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• More episodes on uncertainty:
• • Getting Comfy with Not Knowing (ep. 162)
  • Mental Health & The Male Hubris, Female Humility Effect (ep. 157)
  • Seeing the Goodness in Others, Yourself, & The World (ep. 66)
  • You Are That Vast Thing You See with Great Telescopes (ep. 18)
  • The Surprising Benefits of Not Knowing (ep. 16)
• Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2008). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking. Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 12(2). Access here
• Hill, S. E., & Buss, D. M. (2008). The evolutionary psychology of envy. In R. H. Smith (Ed.), Envy: Theory and research (pp. 60–70). Oxford University Press. Access here.
• Mujcic, R. & Oswald, A. (2018). Is envy harmful to a society's psychological health and wellbeing? A longitudinal study of 18,000 adults. Social Science & Medicine, 198. Access here.
• Smith, R. & Kim, S. (2007). Comprehending Envy. Psychological Bulletin, 133. Access here.
• van de Ven, N. (2016). Envy and Its Consequences: Why It Is Useful to Distinguish between Benign and Malicious Envy. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(6). Access here.
• Xiang, Y., Chao, X., & Ye, Y. (2018). Effect of Gratitude on Benign and Malicious Envy: The Mediating Role of Social Support. Frontiers in Psychiatry. Access here.
• Xiang, Y., Dong, X., & Zhao, J. (2020). Effects of Envy on Depression: The Mediating Roles of Psychological Resilience and Social Support. Psychiatry investigation, 17(6). Access here.

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we explore Dr. Gabor Maté's fifth and final level of compassion: the compassion of possibility. We'll dig into how we can see beyond suffering and dysfunction to recognize the good within ourselves and others. This is a skill we can all practice and get better at. And importantly, this isn't some toxic positivity exercise. This is a skill that helps us see the whole picture, the full truth of whatever we're looking at. Seeing that full picture allows us to step into our wisdom and power so that we can make decisions that are more nourishing.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Previous episodes for this series:
• • Part 1: Your ordinary human compassion (and what happens when you say something you wish you hadn't said) [Joy Lab ep. 177]
  • Part 2: The compassion of understanding & how to practice deep listening. [Joy Lab ep. 178]
  • Part 3: We're all just like the rest of us, aren't we? (the compassion of recognition) [Joy Lab ep. 179]
  • Part 4: See, Accept, & Move Beyond Past Pains (the compassion of truth) [Joy Lab ep. 180]
• Gabor Mate's website.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

The poet Rumi shared this wisdom: "Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, Your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom." The poetry of Rumi makes that process sound like a smooth and blissful journey. But, the reality is that the work of being open amidst tough stuff, seeing our suffering, accepting our pain, and moving on can be messy and difficult. AND, no matter how many times we try and fall short, it's still healing work. We'll dig into this journey throughout the episode, how we can be open to and see the truth of our pain, and how to apply compassion and practical steps to move beyond what might be holding us back.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Previous episodes for this series:
• • Part 1: Your ordinary human compassion (and what happens when you say something you wish you hadn't said) [Joy Lab ep. 177]
  • Part 2: The compassion of understanding & how to practice deep listening. [Joy Lab ep. 178]
  • Part 3: We're all just like the rest of us, aren't we? (the compassion of recognition) (Joy Lab ep. 179]
• Gabor Mate's website.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

We're focusing on the third level of compassion, as conceptualized by Dr. Gabor Maté—compassion of recognition. This level emphasizes realizing the shared nature of suffering, highlighting that we are not alone. We'll highlight the 'illusion of separation' and how breaking through it can deepen our connections and ease our struggles. The episode introduces the 'Judge, Mirror, Bridge' exercise to help listeners practice compassion by identifying judgments, finding similarities within oneself, and bridging connections with others.

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Previous episodes for this series:
• • Part 1: Your ordinary human compassion (and what happens when you say something you wish you hadn't said) [Joy Lab ep. 177]
  • Part 2: The compassion of understanding & how to practice deep listening. [Joy Lab ep. 178]
• Gabor Mate's website.
• How can I love myself more... and love others more too? [Joy Lab ep. 174]

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program. Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we'll explore the 'compassion of understanding'—the second level in Dr. Gabor Maté's five levels of compassion. We'll first highlight the power of moving beyond judgment and into curiosity and understanding, using depression as an example. We'll then get into the practice of deep listening, inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh and Parker Palmer’s work, to help cultivate compassion both for ourselves and others

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life. Your Joy Lab membership also includes our NMH Community!
• Gabor Mate's website.
• Sometimes I Just Sits... (the power of solitude) [Joy Lab ep. 74]

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program. Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In this episode of the Joy Lab podcast, we're not just defining compassion, but we're really getting into how it shows up in our daily life. We'll start by highlighting the important difference between pain and suffering and then get into how compassion, especially self-compassion, serves as a powerful antidote to ease stress responses. This episode also sets the stage for a 5-part series examining Dr. Gabor Maté's five levels of compassion, starting with ordinary human compassion. We'll dive into lots of practical examples (e.g., when you say something you wish you hadn't) and how to apply compassion.

Sources & Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life. Your Joy Lab membership also includes our NMH Community!
• Gabor Mate's website.
• Dr. Krisitin Neff's website (self-compassion.org).

Full transcript

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program. Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at helpline@nami.org. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.