How can we be more satisfied in life?
Stephen Lew and Jade Seah return for more insights on HAPPINESS!
Social norms may have taught us to believe that a nice house, car, and spending power are necessary for a ‘good’ life.
But according to the science of wellbeing, the things we own will not give us the deeper lasting satisfaction that we may be looking for.
Instead, we are more likely to be happier when we have a strong sense of meaning. Learn how we can do so in this episode!
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
“Its very easy for us to buy into the idea that we are what we think. But recognise that we have the power to change our thoughts. And then we can change our mindsets and paradigms and change our lives.”
Jamie Nonis is an accomplished journalist based in Singapore, and is no stranger to the winding path to wellbeing.
Catch her rich insights on how to stay sane while watching the news, and how one simple mindset shift can bring us much happier lives.
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
We need positive emotions. Not just to feel good, but also because of the range of benefits on our wellbeing and health. Join host Stephen Lew, and Media Personality Jade Seah in this live chat on why happiness is so important, how we can measure our happiness, and what intentional steps we can take to be happier.
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Why are we overly demanding/controlling/needy in relationships?
As a child, you may have had unmet emotional and physical needs that become inner wounds during adulthood. These wounds often surface in romantic relationships.
For Sheila Sim, the shadows of her childhood losses continued to shape her adult life until she realised that healing work had to be done.
Sheila is a Singaporean model and actress, and co-founder of Wonder and Wellness.
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Skip the intro to 01:03
"Most change managers attempt to persuade people to change their minds. I'm suggesting just a small step of making it easy for people to change their hearts."
In order to change an environment, a leader will need to change mindsets.
Roslina offers an overview on building a firm foundation in compassionate leadership, through willingness, clear goal-setting, forgiveness, and self-awareness.
This series of episodes with Organisational Inclusivity Expert, Roslina Chai, is all about clear steps to positive change in companies.
We highly recommend starting with the main episode on Planting your seeds of INCLUSION, and then delving deeper into these topics on organisational change:
- Finding creativity within hierarchy
- How to truly respect our subordinates
- The importance of compassion in the workplace
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Skip the intro to 01:02
When problems arise at work, honesty and openness from employees are crucial for leadership response to be effective.
Roslina goes through a four-step process for compassionate conversations at work, to empower employees with safety and ownership.
This series of episodes with Organisational Inclusivity Expert, Roslina Chai, is all about clear steps to positive change in companies.
We highly recommend starting with the main episode on Planting your seeds of INCLUSION, and then delving deeper into these topics on organisational change:
- Finding creativity within hierarchy
- How to truly respect our subordinates
- Leading organisational transformation
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Skip the intro to 01:11
As leaders in an organisation, does caring for our employees and wanting optimal performance from them feel like competing goals?
Employees work closely with stakeholders, and it is essential for them to have the space to be innovative and engaged. For Roslina, having trust and generosity towards our subordinates is therefore vital for company success.
This series of episodes with Organisational Inclusivity Expert, Roslina Chai, is all about clear steps to positive change in companies.
We highly recommend starting with the main episode on Planting your seeds of INCLUSION, and then delving deeper into these topics on organisational change:
- Finding creativity within hierarchy
- The importance of compassion in the workplace
- Leading organisational transformation
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Often, companies implement a top-down directive to improve creativity and engagement among employees. But employees may find themselves struggling against organisational culture to bring this to effect.
How then can we navigate this situation, when the bosses say yes but the culture says no?
This series of episodes with Organisational Inclusivity Expert, Roslina Chai, is all about clear steps to positive change in companies.
We highly recommend starting with the main episode on Planting your seeds of INCLUSION, and then delving deeper into these topics on organisational change:
- How to truly respect our subordinates
- The importance of compassion in the workplace
- Leading organisational transformation
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
When it comes to workplace marginalisation, Roslina Chai has plenty of novel approaches to improving how we work together.
What we can do to foster inclusivity, and why is it so important anyway?
Because if employees are afraid to take risks or speak out at work; if they feel excluded and unappreciated, then this sets the scene for unhealthy organisational habits that accumulate and can eventually cause disasters within a company. Think silo mentality, in groups and out groups, and poor workplace engagement.
Organisational Inclusivity Expert Roslina Chai thinks of fostering inclusiveness as “planting seeds”.
Find out how you can plant your own seeds in this episode!
This is part ONE of our five part series with Roslina. Do check out our other installments on:
- Finding creativity within hierarchy
- How to truly respect our subordinates
- The importance of compassion in the workplace
- Leading organisational transformation
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
"If happiness is a goal you want to attain, then what happens when you reach it? Is there nothing left in your life aside from that?"
Sha-En Yeo is a TEDx speaker, best-selling author and is the first Singaporean to attain the prestigious Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. She has since used her knowledge and experience to promote wellbeing in individuals and workplaces, through her organisation 'Happiness Scientists'.
We are so excited that she can share her wisdom with us today, on
- The myths of happiness
- A stronger mindset to overcome challenges
- Wellbeing vs Mental illness
- The importance of celebrating the smallest victories
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
*TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of extreme violence, and may be triggering to some people. If you feel an intense physical or emotional reaction while listening, please press pause. Reach out to someone you trust, or a trained counsellor, to process your feelings and thoughts. If you need crisis support, please do not lose hope. Reach out to your local crisis support hotline. If you are experiencing physical, emotional, or mental abuse, please reach out to https://www.pave.org.sg/contact-us.php for support.
"So this is how I’m going to die - at the hands of my boyfriend.”
In this special episode with host Stephen Lew and co-host Jade Seah, we speak with Rachel Lim, survivor of extreme dating violence in Singapore.
The bones in Rachel's face and hands were broken when her boyfriend at the time, a medical doctor, locked her in his room and punched her repeatedly, strangling her till she thought she was going to die.
Rachel shares vital insights for those who might face a similar situation, or those who know someone who might.
“I think what could have helped me was to know my situation is not unique.”
“In the past, when I read stories of people getting abused, I always didn’t understand why they would stay in a relationship with someone who hits them. I couldn’t envision myself being with a guy who beats the hell out of me. And then it happened to me. … and it could really happen to anyone.”
We asked:
- Why did she stay in the relationship?
- Thoughts after the abuse
- Did talking to friends help?
- How did you heal emotionally?
- What NOT to say to a friend/loved one in an abusive relationship
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Chris Brennan is the founder of a successful luxury-end design and build company based in the UK. He also co-authored multiple vegan cookbooks, and has proudly converted his entire organisation's team to a vegan diet.
What does being ethically conscious have to do with his personal and business success? And why is it so important to our wellbeing, to care about what we consume?
In this episode:
- How Chris convinced all his employees to go vegan
- On being sustainably vegan
- How to face our inner darkness
- Daily habits for success
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Are there good or bad habits you've developed during lockdown, which you want to keep or break?
One crystal clear insight we've gained from our podcast guests so far is that habits are CRUCIAL in helping us create better versions of ourselves.
How do we harness the power of habits?
In this episode:
- Why are habits so important? (we check out the book 'The Power of Habit' by Charles Duhigg')
- Creating a habit and making it stick
- Breaking bad habits
More psychological tools await you, with Psychotherapist and Founder of The School of Positive Psychology, Stephen Lew, and Media Personality Jade Seah!
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
In our last live session, we discussed how to spot emotional abuse. This time, we take a look at toxic relationships, where usually, both parties play a part in fuelling the damage to each other.
Psychotherapist and Founder of The School of Positive Psychology, Stephen Lew, and Media Personality Jade Seah return to shed further light on this topic.
As they get vulnerable with their unhealthier side of relationship behaviours, learn what causes us to stay in relationships that are evidently bad for us.
In this episode:
- What is a toxic relationship?
- What behaviours feed toxicity?
- Can we save a toxic relationship?
- What can we do to move on?
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Lisa Edwards was emotionally abused and manipulated during a 6 year relationship.
The man she loved had even created fake Facebook accounts of non-existent ‘colleagues’, using one of these accounts to verbally abuse her.
She was ready to marry him when she found out that the entire relationship was a lie.
Our next episode is about love. While the story starts with deep hurt, it transforms into one of great healing and growth.
Learn from Lisa’s journey of healing, about why we end up in bad relationships, and what we can do to transform ourselves to be happier, and more loving towards ourselves.
Lisa also explains two methods to change our inner narrative:
- Repetition
- Simple self-hypnosis
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Jade Seah and Stephen Lew look at how relationships can be emotionally abusive, even if we feel love from and for the person.
Relationships play a big part in our happiness, but they could also be causing a lot of our unhappiness.
How can we identify unhealthy relationship behaviours, and what can we do once we spot them?
In this episode:
- Signs of an abusive relationship.
- What counts as abuse?
- What steps can we take to help ourselves?
Often, we unknowingly set thinking traps for ourselves, which trip us into a cycle of negative thoughts. These thinking traps, otherwise known as COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS, are like our inner bullies, convincing us that we are not good enough, and not worthy of happiness or love.
In this episode, we explain 3 forms of Cognitive Distortions: Polarised thinking, Filtering, and Emotional Reasoning, and see how they contribute to depressive states.
You will also learn the 4 Ds to overcome these negative thought patterns, and also a very simple Positive Psychology Intervention exercise to shift you into a more positive state!
Learn the tools to support yourself and others towards healthier mental states, right now!
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
1 in 7 people in Singapore have or will experience a mental disorder in their life. This also means there is a high chance that either ourselves or someone we know will at some point need support through the struggle of a mental disorder.
In this episode, we take a look at DEPRESSION. How can we understand this condition better, so that we are able to provide better support to ourselves or others? How can we recognise it, and what can we do to cope?
Jade Seah and Stephen Lew offer us a clear way to identify depression, and 5 actions we can take to alleviate our depressive state.
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
"Within us is a person who can endure so much more than we currently can. By endlessly striving for comfort, all we’re doing is turning ourselves into a most feeble version of a human being. And then of course people are struggling. They start becoming scared of everything."
Our next episode with Chris Brennan is all about STRENGTH.
Chris started "from the bottom of the UK rat race" in his 30s, and a few years later ended up in tangled in stress, debt, and marital problems. Today he is the founder of his own successful low-carbon footprint building company, and a passionate wellbeing advocate.
How did he go from crisis to purpose? "I had to work a lot", he explained. But what were his psychological ingredients and daily habits to keep himself strong and focused? And why does he plunge himself into freezing water every day?
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology
Introduction music by Nordgroove from Fugue
Why do we feel bored?
Two possible explanations: your skills are not being challenged, or you feel a lack of meaning in an aspect (or aspects) of your life.
Our solution? PLAY!
Playing - engaging in an activity for fun rather than for a serious or practical purpose - increases endorphin (happy hormone) production, increases our mental toughness, promotes problem-solving skills, connects us with people, and creates new situations for us to discover our strengths.
Join Stephen Lew and Jade Seah once again as they delve into a deeper understanding of why games are so important to our wellbeing, and learn how knowing our strengths can keep us MOTIVATED!
Brought to you by The School of Positive Psychology