The Art of Living Happy Podcast with Gina Haines

Ep. 26 - Out of Place: What Happens When You Finally Move the Thing That's Been Stuck

This week I moved my orange tree. It had been in the wrong spot for too long. Surviving. Not thriving. And on one ordinary Tuesday, with ten months of quiet work behind me, I finally had the strength to move it. Episode 26 of The Art of Living Happy Podcast is about what happens when you finally move the thing that's been stuck. Is there something in your life that's been surviving — but not really thriving, because it's been in the wrong place? This could be 7 minutes you need to listen to...

Ep. 25 Out of Order: And How to Find Your Way Back

When did you last feel like yourself? Really, truly yourself? In this episode, Gina asks the question that many women are carrying quietly - and explores what she's discovered after ten months of living it herself. This isn't about doing more. It isn't about a mindset shift. It's about something quieter and more fundamental - the order in which we place the things that matter most. Honest, personal, and grounded in lived experience - for anyone who has been giving everything they've got and still find themselves running on empty. If any of that sounds familiar, this one's for you. Come home to yourself.

Ep. 24 The Pivot

The pivot isn't always dramatic. Sometimes it's just the quiet, unmistakable feeling of something in you turning toward something new. And learning to recognise that feeling - and trust it - is one of the most important skills of an authentic life. In this episode, Gina Haines explores the pivot — not the calculated, strategic kind, but the organic, internal moment when your energy starts moving in a new direction and something in you knows it's time. Coming out of a season of grief, Gina reflects on what it feels like when life begins to pull you forward again — toward creative work, new commitments, the projects that are genuinely yours to do. She explores how to tell the difference between being pushed away from something and being pulled toward something, the chains that can block the pivot even when we feel it clearly, and what it means to redirect grief energy into creative fuel.   In this episode: →  What a real pivot feels like from the inside — and why it's quieter than we expect →  The snug vs tight compass — how your body knows before your mind does →  Providence and the committed path — what opens when you say yes →  The chains that block the pivot: fear, perfection, and the past →  How grief energy transforms into creative fuel →  A simple invitation: what is pulling at you right now?

Ep.23: To love is to eventually lose. And to lose is to grieve.

In this deeply personal episode, Gina Haines reflects on grief — not as an abstract concept, but as the real, lived, circular experience of loss that doesn't follow a straight line or a tidy checklist. This episode was inspired by the passing of a very dear friend, who faced motor neuron disease with extraordinary grace and courage, and who lived as fully as she could right until the end. She is woven through every word. Gina explores the idea that grief isn't something we get over — it's love with nowhere to go. She talks honestly about the way old losses resurface alongside new ones, the way grief layers and cycles and circles back when you least expect it, and what it might look like to grieve well: not by moving on, but by carrying love forward. In this episode: →  Why grief is not linear — and why that's OK →  The way loss opens up other losses we thought we'd already moved through →  A fresh look at the Kübler-Ross's stages — as experiences, not a checklist →  What her friend taught her about choosing how to show up, even when you can't choose what's happening →  What it means to grieve well — to honour the love, not just survive the loss →  Coming home to yourself, even in — especially in — the hard seasons If you are grieving something — a person, a relationship, a chapter of your life — this episode is for you. You're not doing it wrong. You're just grieving. And that's enough.

Ep. 22: Where Is Your Value? (And the Moment Everything Changed)

Quick question: When was the last time you let yourself be proud of yourself - without the resume, without the proof, without needing someone else to tell you, you did a good job? I have achievements and awards coming out of my ears. And I'm proud of them. But you know what I still catch myself doing? Listing them. Like I'm building a case. Like I need to prove I'm enough. Until recently, something shifted. In this episode, I explore: * Where we learn our value (as children - valued for WHAT we do, not WHO we are) * The adult pattern this creates (proving yourself constantly, listing achievements, needing external validation) * How this connects to the chains - the things that hold you back (Perfection, Should, People-Pleasing - all rooted in "I have to DO to have value") * Gabor Maté's insight: "I'm not living in myself. I'm living in other people's minds!" * The moment everything changed for me (water-blasting the driveway at my parents' house) * The breakthrough: "Nice job. I'm proud of that." - and catching myself before calling for validation * What true self-satisfaction feels like (from the inside, not needing external approval) * Where your value ACTUALLY is (not in achievements, but inherent - you beat 400 trillion to 1 odds just to exist) * How to shift from external validation to internal satisfaction * The practice: writing yourself a love letter (I share excerpts from mine) The truth: Your value is from the inside. You don't have to prove it. You just have to come home to it. Duration: ~10 minutes The invitation: Write yourself a love letter. Tell yourself what you need to hear. Then LIVE from that place - BE true to who you are, DO work that works for you, LOVE living your life. Resources: You-phoria: The Art of Authenticity by Gina Haines