Happiness from A to Z
Download Elizabeth’s Interview Now!
A diagnosis of low self-esteem, lack of purpose, or being stressed out can leave you feeling lost and anxious. If your glass feels half empty and you’re searching for the miracle pill, look no further. There’s a new prescription for regaining happiness in your life—no medication or negative side effects required!
Through using positive psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy, Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo has written the ultimate guide to creating true satisfaction, joy, and contentment in life. If you’re searching for a traditional self-help guide, search elsewhere. Elizabeth’s latest book, A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness, offers innovative solutions from A to Z for every diagnosis of stress, sadness, and negativity in day-to-day life.
In my recent conversation with Elizabeth, she discusses how you can pinpoint and identify issues that prevent you from being happy. Once you’ve uncovered the root of your unhappiness, she offers effective solutions in the form of prescriptions, personalized to meet your needs. Whether you’re lacking vitamin A, appreciation, or are in need of vitamin Z, ZZZ sleep, Elizabeth has the right prescription for you.
Discover why NBA Champ Shaquille O’Neal calls Dr. Lombardo his “Head Coach for Happiness.” Read an excerpt from our conversation below, then listen to the full interview to learn how you can improve your relationships, job performance, and health through increasing your happiness.
Robert: One diagnosis that I really appreciate from the book is being stressed out. The fact is that so many of us are stressed out, we have a lot going on, there’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of things we’re worried about, and we’re running around constantly. Your prescription for being stressed out is to prioritize daily relaxation. And so, does that mean a cocktail at night?
Elizabeth: Well, you know what? Every once a while that’s not a bad thing, but this is what I often say to that:
Let’s say you wanted to build a brand new house and you have a big toolbox. And in this toolbox you have a shiny, beautiful, big hammer. You couldn’t build a house with just that, could you? You could use it to hammer things, but you couldn’t build an entire house with it. The same thing applies when we’re talking about reducing our stress or having more happiness. We need more things in our toolbox. So, if the only thing that’s in your toolbox for relaxation is a drink, that’s probably not helpful. Now, if you have a drink every once in a while, there’s nothing wrong with that, but there are other ways that are more healthy and helpful for us to relax.
Robert: And so, what are few of those?
Elizabeth: Well, you know, you can always do something like a relaxation CD and go through a full induction, but one of the easiest ways to relax is simply to change your breathing. Now, if I’m working with an individual, I can have them change their breathing on the other end of the spectrum and literally cause a panic attack. You can cause a panic attack by changing your breathing. Luckily, we can go to the other end of the spectrum and change your breathing to reduce panic and stress and have us feel more relaxed. The way that we do that is called belly breathing, and people out there have may have heard of it also called diaphragmatic breathing. What you do is you identify where your belly button is and you simply put your hand right above it. Every time you inhale, every time you bring in air, the hand should go up. That’s using your diaphragm to help you breath. And just by taking, you know, 8, 9, 10 deep belly breaths, you will reduce your anxiety significantly. And the beauty is that you can do this anywhere and anytime. So, you can do it when you’re in a meeting and you’re feeling stressed, you can do it if you’re on stage and you’re about to give a presentation, you can do this belly breathing anywhere and it surely does help reduce your stress and help you feel better.
Robert: It’s true. I actually use that one all the time, whether it’s on stage or maybe at night going to bed. Also, in the book “The Other 8 Hours,” I talk about when I’m at a stoplight. I pair stoplights to five really deep breathes.
Elizabeth: That’s great. Love that.
Robert: It takes no time of course. because I’m just sitting there at a stop light, yet it gives me a sense of relaxation. You can do this, you know, throughout the day. And so, that’s such a key prescription for stress, I really, really, like that one.
Download Elizabeth’s Interview Now!