Happy Rebel Podcast

This one is for the ladies. Because we were taught to be ladies and to always be prim, proper and polite. And where has that gotten us exactly?  Exactly. And, look, I am a please-and-thank-you kind of gal. I like manners. Manners make the world go 'round. But I'm sort of done with being polite. Now, this isn't to say I condone being rude. I absolutely do not. We have enough rudeness...

Words are powerful things, in both good and bad ways. We can use them to build ourselves up or tear others down. And we should be mindful of how we use them. We are taught from a young age to use our magic words. Aside from "Pretty please" and "Thank you", there are also mantras, the most magical of words. But we aren't taught to use them like we should. You probably think...

I had some fun the other day in the dentist chair. She was replacing a crown and, my gawd, that drill is loud. So I turned up the audiobook I was listening to, but nothing was happening. I kept pressing the button and cursing my Airpods — you’re supposed to be noise-cancelling, FFS! Then my phone started vibrating. My audiobook went silent and the 911 recording started. What I thought was the Volu...

Dollars to doughnuts, if you are listening to this — especially if you are GenX — you have seen and/or read The Secret. If you haven’t, you really didn’t miss anything. In a nutshell, and what I found really irritating, was that it focused on a materialism mindset. Think really hard about the shit you want and you’ll get it! It really missed the mark on manifestation and it sent people — yes, incl...

I don’t know about yours, but my ego is a petty, petty bitch. I'm trying to help her grow the eff up. Mature. Evolve! And we are having this ongoing battle —- which I'm sure anyone who’s elevating, changing, and stepping into your next-self experiences as well.  TBH, I don't want to be bothered by people who are not worth my time. You know the ones. And I'm sure they know who t...

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Season 4, the last season of the first year of Happy Rebel, and we are greeting autumn with a Cheshire cat grin. Autumn and spring are my two favorite seasons. Not just because of the weather (I love sweater weather that allows for open-toes shoes), but because these seasons are intentional. We plant and then we harvest. We have to be thoughtful and thorough, presen...

You know what I’ve noticed a lot lately? People smoking. And where I live — in a West Los Angeles beach town, full of health-conscious, Lululemon-clad people coming and going from yoga and Pilates or their gym of choice, likely on their way to Erewhon to get a $20 smoothie — seeing a cigarette sticking out of a car window is weird. And that weird is happening. A lot. Now, I’m GenX. When I was in h...

Every day, society checks to see what we will tolerate. And every day, we lower our standards, cross our own boundaries, and accept things we find unacceptable. Usually, for our convenience. As a person in Los Angeles, I will say, we tolerate the gas prices. Because it's easier to tolerate them than to figure out public transportation. So we say, “Yes, we will accept this obnoxiously high gas...

Boundaries. I love them. And they can be super disrupty because some people don't know what the fuck to do when you assert them. Their assumption is, if you assert your boundaries, well, then you're not a nice person. And if you're not a nice person, well, then you're certainly not a happy person. And I am here to tell you all of that is crap.  Being happy doesn't mean bei...

Think about it for a moment. Give it a good Scooby-Doo. Who benefits by you being unhappy? Because someone does. And it isn’t you. And you know the impact being unhappy has in your life. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t get you anywhere. So, who benefits if you remain unhappy?  When we are unhappy, we are compliant. We are stuck. We stick with the devil we know. Our nervous system has acclimated t...

Chances are, if you’re listening to this, you are interested in self-improvement. And that’s a great thing. Evolving is important. Becoming the very true you is a joy-maker. And bettering ourselves is vital. Because if we want the world to change, we have to change. If we want the world to be better, we have to be better. And there’s a reason why this ep is titled “Bettering Ourselves” and not “Be...

I’m curious about why people refuse to do things that would get them better. I’m not talking about philosophical stuff, but the basics. Going to the doctor. Flossing teeth. Doing something about gnarly feet. Seriously, get an Amope.  I think we’re all guilty of it, believing we know better, thinking we’re taking a more noble route by grinning and bearing it. We aren’t. And that suffering — because...

Once upon a time, I kind of got into a little tiff with a friend who absolutely did not believe she needed to love herself in order to fully love another person. That was her hill. And I was like there are so many other hills. Why this one?  Because our relationships with ourselves are so fucking complicated. And with a little work, we can uncomplicate them. Do I love myself? Yes. Do I think I’m p...

I’ve said it before: When we start to get critical, we need to get curious. ( Season 1, Episode 005 .) Because there is a reason we have our backs up about something, whether it’s with ourselves or with others. It’s really easy to be judgmental. It’s human. It’s also petty. I usually leave it as, “Well, that’s a choice,” and move on. Because I grew up with judgmental people. I was often judged. An...

First, I lost my favorite body lotion. Next, it was my favorite xylitol chewing gum. Don’t even get me started on our rights, liberty and what’s left of our humanity. We see things we love, need and desire slip away from us on the daily. Or, at least, that’s how it feels. And we can’t get stuck in a scarcity mindset because of that. A slippery slope.  Instead of going down that slide, we have to n...

Hello. We are back for Season 3 of Happy Rebel, stepping into full summer, and I want to ask:  How are you doing right now?  Me? Well, I see the world. The hot garbage dumpster fire that it is. And I also see the light emerging at the end of this shitty tunnel. Do you see it, too? I talk to a lot of people who just feel so effing overwhelmed. And, because of that overwhelm,  they have a hard time...

It's the last episode of Season 2! Let's get into it... If you stop to think about it, as I did the other day, you might come to realize that a lot of our unhappiness comes from our need to control. And, sometimes, that need for control gets out of control. When we think about our overspending, overeating, over-indulging, micro-managing, even our anxiety, it all stems from trying to cont...

Believe it or not, I’m a pretty polite person. “Please” and “thank you” are said on the reg. I’m sure I’m not alone. Right, ladies?  Polite is one of the things that girls are encouraged to be, expected to be. Not sometimes, but always. Reprimanded if we’re not. Being polite becomes engrained to the point we are overly polite. Showing that kindness and respect when it isn’t necessary, earned or wa...

We were sort of raised to believe that anything worth having comes at a cost. It’s hard to achieve. You’ve got to sacrifice, work all hours of the day and suffer for what you want in life. For a long time, I believed that. And, sometimes, those very limiting beliefs still creep in. But a lot of that — most of that — is bullshit. Much of it is manufactured to keep people in their places. It’s a nas...

What are the reasons you aren’t happy right now, or happier if you do consider yourself to be a happy person? Is the list long or short? Does it involve things in your control or out of it? I’m sure there are very many truly valid reasons you aren’t your happiest self right now. And I want to tell you that not only can you be happy right now, you should be. Because that is what will make a signifi...

So, I spent my Thursday and Friday binge watching the second season of “Worst Ex Ever” on Netflix. Not hard to do; it’s only 4 episodes. The show is more than a little horrifying. And I have a deep appreciation for those who were brave enough to share their story. It’s going to help a lot of people. And here’s why. Because, if you watch it, you will never not listen to your intuition when a blazin...

This is probably going to sound weird AF, but I don’t care. It works. So, stick with me. A long time ago, I was told that otters won’t do anything that isn’t fun. I took that as gospel, after all, we were at a renowned aquarium, where ocean facts are spoken. And otters are delightful. Yes, there are certain things otters have to do, but they make it playful. They make it fun. From that point on, I...

I was going to title this episode “Care Less”, but I figured that would just piss off a bunch of people who didn’t need any more to be pissed off about. Because it’s not about not giving a shit, but understanding where our egos stir up distress when there really doesn’t need to be any. Caring less about things that don’t matter when we have so much going on that does. Raise your hand if you rumina...

Let me ask you a few questions. Do you use your turn signal? Do you return your shopping cart to the front of the store, not just near the doors, but where the shopping carts actually live? Do you participate in the “zipper merge”? Do you say “thank you” to people who are doing their job, even though “it’s their job”? Be honest. It’s just you and me here. Because, if you don’t — and you’re not alo...

If you are an American, if you live in a capitalistic society, I'm going to hold your hand while I tell you this gently, with all the love in my heart:  You are doing happiness wrong.  You are. I mean, I could be wrong about that, but seeing how many un- or underhappy people there are in the world, I’m going to hedge my bets in that direction.  In general, most people are doing happiness wron...