154: Michelle Gielan – Broadcasting Happiness • Seeing Stress As A Challenge • Social Support = Happier You

Michelle Gielan is a national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher and the bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness. She is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle is an Executive Producer of “The Happiness Advantage” Special on PBS and a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course. Her research and advice have received attention from The New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, CNN, Fox, and Harvard Business Review.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Michelle saw another light and left her job as a news anchor at CBS
• Her biggest takeaway from working at CBS
• Why are people so drawn to negative news?
• Negative news in the morning can lead to you having a bad day
• Our brains are threat focused
• Staying informed but not being prey to negative news
• The 21 day positive email challenge
• Michelle’s morning routine
• The upsides of positive news
• We are all broadcasters
• Overcoming our negativity bias
• Fact checking our story
• Don’t ignore reality… it’s about being rationally optimistic
• See stress as a challenge instead of a threat
• Stress: see it, own it, use it
• Social support… the greatest predictor of happiness that exists
• It might be time for a strategic retreat
• Positive sources of information and being around positive people leads to better health
• Power leads: start conversations with something positive and meaningful
• Using power leads in emails, too
• What is transformative journalism?
• Michelle’s last broadcast at CBS

Show sponsors:

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Related links:

Michelle Gielan – Broadcasting Happiness (book)
Michelle Gielan’s website
Follow Michelle Gielan on Facebook and Twitter
Inspire Happiness – Michelle’s PBS Program
The Success Scale – Broadcasting Happiness
Shawn Achor (books)
Listen to Arianna Huffington previously on TUHP (episode #107)
Solutions Journalism Network
Thich Nhat Hanh books
Jon Kabat-Zinn books

Related episodes:

276: Chris Wark – Chris Beat Cancer • Toxic Emotions Suppress Immunity • Gratitude Is The Secret To Happiness
252: Srinivas Rao – Creating For An Audience Of One • Creativity Leads To Happiness • Cognitive Bandwidth
242: Sarah Knight – You Do You • Happiness In Imperfection • Managing Anxiety
211: Meik Wiking – What Is Happiness (Lykke)? • The Lost Wallet Experiment • Helper’s High
168: Dr. Sachin Patel – Create Better Eating Habits • Heart Rate Variability • Pursue Happiness

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