We’ve all seen service dogs in action, but most of us don’t know just what heroes they are. Today’s guest is here to tell us all about the secret lives of service dogs. Shannon Walker is the CEO & Founder of Northwest Battle Buddies, a nonprofit providing service dogs to combat veterans with PTSD. Inspired by her father, who was a veteran, she also founded Man’s Best Friend Dog Training and has worked tirelessly to not only train service dogs but to educate the public about what they do and how they provide a vital lifeline for veterans. In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Shannon became involved in training service dogs and what she’s learned along the way.
• The difference between therapy dogs, emotional support dogs and service dogs.
• What kinds of disabilities service dogs assist veterans with.

From childhood, we’re taught that helping others is the right thing to do. But what happens when it goes too far? This week, host Paula Felps sits down with author and podcast host Amy Wilson to talk about her entertaining new book, Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser, to learn more about what turns us into people pleasers, when to know it’s a problem, and what to do about it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why women are more likely to become “helpers” throughout their lives.
• What demand sensitivity is and how it contributes to people-pleasing behavior.
• How breaking the people pleasing habit changes relationships — for the better!

This is a time of year when we celebrate love, but we sometimes take for granted the special love that our friendships offer. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with professor and research psychologist Dr. Kimberly Horn to learn more about just how important friendships are for our health and happiness — and what we can do to make them stronger and more fulfilling.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What’s driving the loneliness epidemic and what effect that has on us.
• The concept of “dynamic friendships” and the 8 tenets of friendships — and how they can support your relationships.
• Why it’s harder to make friends in adulthood and what to do about it.

The cold, gray days of winter can have a direct effect on our mental health, so this week, host Paula Felps sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Michele Leno to learn more about how we can make the next few weeks a little brighter — regardless of what’s going on outside our window. Michele offers insight into how seasonal changes affect our brains and what we can do for ourselves and those around us.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What causes physiological changes during winter months and how that affects our brain’s neurotransmitters.
• How these changes may affect children and older adults – and what to look for.
• What changes to look for in yourself and those around you — and when to get help.

It's a common belief that achieving our goals and reaching success equates to peace and happiness. But what happens when it doesn’t? This week, host Paula Felps is joined by Tom Rosshirt, a former Capitol Hill press secretary and White House speechwriter who reached the pinnacle of his career only to find himself battling anxiety, depression, and illness. In his new book, Chasing Peace: A Story of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and the Spiritual Power of Neuroscience, Tom reveals how his relentless pursuit of success led to a physical and emotional breakdown. He shares how he used neuroplasticity to address ailments rooted in the brain's neural circuits, ultimately reversing the patterns that kept him unwell and opening the door to the life he was seeking.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why so much illness and chronic pain begins in the neural circuits of the brain – and why mainstream medicine can’t cure it.
• How reducing fear can help us heal from chronic conditions.
• How retraining your brain will change every area of your life.

As we grapple with the challenges of living in a polarized society, psychologist Kurt Gray returns to talk about how we can find common ground. In the second part of this two-part episode, Kurt, author of the new book, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground, guides us through the steps to foster more civil dialogue. He also delves into the role that empathy plays in overcoming our outrage and explains why we need people who don’t think like we do.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The three-part framework you can use to bridge divides (and where to start).
• How storytelling can foster greater understanding of each other's perspective — and how that leads to respect.
• Steps we all can take to start coming together.

We have entered a time of unprecedented polarization that’s creating division among friends, family members, and co-workers. Understanding what’s driving our outrage is the first step in discovering what we can do about it, and in this first of two episodes, host Paula Felps sits down with Kurt Gray, author of the new book, Outrage: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground. This week Kurt – a professor in psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of its Center for the Science of Moral Understanding – unpacks how our perceptions of harm shape our outrage and then explains how our concerns and differences can foster hope for the future.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How our perceptions of harm drive our outrage and create moral divides.
• Why facts aren’t effective in bridging our divides.
• How we can use political and moral disagreements to strengthen our relationships.

This is the perfect time to think about what we’d like to accomplish in the new year, and starting a creativity practice is one way to discover new strengths and reach new goals. This week, host Paula Felps sits down with Rochelle Seltzer, a leadership coach, speaker, and author of Live Big: A Manifesto for a Creative Life. She explains why creativity is a natural boost for our mental health and tells us how we can use it to navigate uncertain times and how it can give us direction for the new year.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What “creative power” means – and how to connect to it.
• How the “Discovery Dozen” can help us discover our intuition.
• How to start a daily creativity practice – and why it matters.