How to Flourish: Positive Psychology with Michelle McQuaid

I’m so thrilled to have Michelle McQuaid on the show this week! She talks about how to flourish, and we take a look at positive psychology and the impact of mindfully choosing joy on our lives. Michelle is an author, workplace well-being teacher and playful change activator. She and I had an amazing discussion; she shares SO much in this episode that I took three pages of notes while we were talking.

I really loved what she had to say about accepting that our lives will be full of highs and lows; and that it’s up to each of us to accept each moment for what it is.

“The reasons we have highs and lows is it’s all a learning process. How do I lean in to every part of life and really show up for the experience this IS, and how do I more consistently flourish?”

Michelle has so much to say about how to flourish, and about the science behind positive psychology, that I created a downloadable version of my show notes for you to keep. There’s honestly so much goodness in this discussion that I found myself wanting to capture it for myself, and you can get my notes right here.

In this episode, Michelle and I talk about:

– the stages of mastery in a career
– what happens at the 7-10 year mark in your career and why you start to feel restless
– what to do when you start to feel restless, and how to find your way back to something more interesting
– how life is a series of “pulses” and nothing is ever truly static
– the problem with the oversimplification of the terms positive psychology and manifesting
– the crossroads of “Grit” and Joy
– how to celebrate failures (and why you should)
– how to give praise that sticks
– how to flourish in your life (there are five areas that you should focus on)
– what balance looks like in Michelle’s life
– her thoughts on jumpstarting joy in your life