Welcome to Episode 188 of Live Happy Now.

This is your host, Paula Phelps, thanking you for joining us today for the very last episode of 2018.

We're taking a break next week and we'll be back in the new year, but we wanted to leave you with some thoughts on some practices you can use to make 2019 your best year yet. To do that, we're talking

with Live Happy CEO Deborah Heise, author of the book, Live Happy, 10 practices for choosing joy.

Let's hear what she says are five ways you can add more joy to your new year. Well, Deborah, thank you

so much for coming by again today. It's our last podcast of 2018, so we wanted to make sure we go out with a bang. And of course, what better way than to have you on as a guest? Well, you know, it's hard to believe that 2018's already over. I mean, there's so much that went on this year. It was really exciting year in general. You know, here and live happy. And just just a ton of stuff going on. I can't believe it's already the end of the year. And, you know, all the stuff that goes with that that's coming up, including, you know, shopping for the holidays and getting ready to plan next year. It's just crazy that we're already here. Yeah. And, you know, when we started this year, I think a lot of people weren't sure we were going to survive it.

There was a lot going on this year in the world.

And I think a lot of people have that kind of a fatigue, and they're really looking forward to 2019 and how they can make it a fantastic year.

Yeah, I think that people tend to forget that there's a lot of stuff going on every year.

It's just, you know, the focus shifts from one end to another. And, you know, I used to,

growing up, you know, I graduated in an even-numbered near. I'm not going to share which one.

But for whatever reason, I've always had the belief that even-numbered years are better years, which is just, you know, downright silly. But, whatever reason, I've always had the belief that even numbered years are better years,

which is just, you know, downright silly. But, you know, people go into a year thinking, you know,

a year is overwhelming. And the reality is it's just a step in time, right? I mean, this month,

next month, January 1st is kind of an arbitrary change. But somehow we attach this huge meaning to it.

You know, yeah, it's a time to turn over a new leaf. And I guess that that moment of renewal is upon us.

But if those of you who are listening to this in the middle of 2019, because you just got around to it,

there's never a bad time to have that renewal moment. So they don't have to wait till the end of

2019 and start for 2020? No, no. And 11.59 p.m. on December 31st is probably not the right time to

start planning out the next year. Well, I know that you're big on making the most of whether it's

a day or the year. and I thought it'd be wonderful

to talk about some of the ways that we can go about making 2019 a really fantastic year make it our

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