126 ~ Laura Musikanski on Staying Happy During a Pandemic

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How are you all dealing with this? It’s kinda crazy to see how we’re all going through this health crisis and how it’s different depending on where you live, what your days are like (are you working overtime or are you sitting idle) and also what stage you are in in your lockdown (if you’re locked down at all!).

So, when they say we’re in this together, I don’t feel like that. It’s just all too different for each one of us. And I think most of us are feeling lonelier than ever, right?

But I think no matter what phase or stage you’re in, there are some things we can definitely agree with. We’re trying to find happiness, stability and some sort of normalcy each day.

And even then, I know there’s guilt with feeling happy right now. We have a small win of some kind and we may not way to celebrate publicly because we know most people aren’t feeling those wins right now. Most people are really struggling. It’s difficult to find happiness and when we feel it, we’re keeping it to ourselves.

And I’m not saying that that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it just is. But I think whether you choose to share your happiness or not, we know that happiness comes from within. And whether a crisis is big or small, we do have control over how we respond to it. The question is, how are YOU responding to this virus?

Today’s episode is all about happiness.

Laura Musikanski has been on the podcast previously on episode #79 which was early last year, early 2019. Laura is the Executive Director of the Happiness Alliance. Her data collecting around this topic was borne out of Bhutan’s philosophy of gross national happiness. She conducts surveys about people’s level of happiness and then dissects that information to better understand what’s happening in communities, universities and groups. And you can take that survey at happycounts.org.

So, in this episode, we do talk all about happiness and, specifically, how it relates to Covid-19. Laura shares some of the more recent data she’s collected and the trends that she’s seeing. But she also gets personal with how this health crisis has affected her and how this time has provided her with a chance to examine her own mortality and how she’s at peace with it.

At first glance, this may not seem like the most uplifting message but it’s all very Buddhist. This idea of focusing on death and accepting it so that one can live a more fulfilling and mindful life. So please keep that in mind, especially toward the end of this episode when she gets into that message a bit.

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Connect with Laura

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Mentioned in this episode
How to Be Happy
Sarah Tuttle (on She's Bold Podcast)
Color the Universe