1 hr 44 min
Episode 40: Happy Happy Joy Joy with Dr. Ellen Wong, ND The Good Mood Podcast
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- Health & Fitness
Why do I focus on mood and mental health? Well, at the core of it, when I was working with patients who were suffering from various physical ailments, I often found mood, mental and hormonal health at the bottom of it.
After all, what do we want to be if not happy? I mean the reason your IBS or your PCOS or your CFS or your MS bothers you is that, ultimately, it makes you unhappy. And so, for me and for most of us, health is happiness.
I also saw SO MANY solutions in my naturopathic toolkit to solve depression, anxiety and hormonal issues--new, science-based ways of looking at how our bodies and minds function--that weren't anywhere to be found in the conventional system. I was excited to share these tools and resources and strategies with my patients.
But good health isn't the only route to happiness. Dr. Ellen Wong, my supervisor and teacher when I was at CCNM, and a fellow ND, knows this. Ellen decided to focus on happiness when she, like me, realized that it was the key component to helping her patients live an amazing life.
Ellen had her own struggles with perfectionism and depression and so, to heal herself (I mean so many of us are in this game to first heal ourselves and then lead others on the paths we've blazed through, scratches on our faces from the underbrush, machetes still in hand... good visual, I digress) and heal her patients, she began to study happiness.
Her studies took her to the happiest place on Earth... nope not Disneyland... is Disneyland that happy? There's no real food there and Mickey is quite elitist... but to Bhutan, a country that has a Happiness Index.
We talk Bhutan, snow days, we talk about mindset, we talk happiness. It's a terrific episode. Dr. Ellen is a real gem and I miss her Saturday clinic shifts. This was a fun catch up. We also talk technology and how it doesn't necessarily have to alienate us.
Also: the little relationships are just as important (or at least they're important) as the deep soul connections. We need both. And, of course during this time we're missing out on the those day-to-day casual interactions with the local barista.
Dr. Ellen describes herself as a recovering high-functioning overthinker (if this is you, you HAVE to listen to this episode, we talk so much overthinking... it's great). After two hospitalizations she reached a tipping point--she burnt out. How many of us have been there? Or are there? Or are getting there?
Although she appeared like she "had it all together" - she secretly lived with never ending mental chatter that left her feeling overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted and unhappy. Realizing this was not how she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she set out to learn how to stop overthinking and reframe her negative thought patterns.
As the Founder of The Joy Avenue, a Confidence Coach and a Creatrix® Transformologist®, Ellen works with women who are tired of feeling overwhelmed, self-doubt and anxious and guides them towards feeling calm, confident and free. But what she's most passionate about is helping women prioritize their happiness as much as their success.
You can find Dr. Ellen Wong at:
Her website:
https://thejoyavenue.com/about/
Instagram: @Thejoyavenue
And of course, don't forget to check out my online program for mental health and hormones: The Good Mood Membership Program.
Why do I focus on mood and mental health? Well, at the core of it, when I was working with patients who were suffering from various physical ailments, I often found mood, mental and hormonal health at the bottom of it.
After all, what do we want to be if not happy? I mean the reason your IBS or your PCOS or your CFS or your MS bothers you is that, ultimately, it makes you unhappy. And so, for me and for most of us, health is happiness.
I also saw SO MANY solutions in my naturopathic toolkit to solve depression, anxiety and hormonal issues--new, science-based ways of looking at how our bodies and minds function--that weren't anywhere to be found in the conventional system. I was excited to share these tools and resources and strategies with my patients.
But good health isn't the only route to happiness. Dr. Ellen Wong, my supervisor and teacher when I was at CCNM, and a fellow ND, knows this. Ellen decided to focus on happiness when she, like me, realized that it was the key component to helping her patients live an amazing life.
Ellen had her own struggles with perfectionism and depression and so, to heal herself (I mean so many of us are in this game to first heal ourselves and then lead others on the paths we've blazed through, scratches on our faces from the underbrush, machetes still in hand... good visual, I digress) and heal her patients, she began to study happiness.
Her studies took her to the happiest place on Earth... nope not Disneyland... is Disneyland that happy? There's no real food there and Mickey is quite elitist... but to Bhutan, a country that has a Happiness Index.
We talk Bhutan, snow days, we talk about mindset, we talk happiness. It's a terrific episode. Dr. Ellen is a real gem and I miss her Saturday clinic shifts. This was a fun catch up. We also talk technology and how it doesn't necessarily have to alienate us.
Also: the little relationships are just as important (or at least they're important) as the deep soul connections. We need both. And, of course during this time we're missing out on the those day-to-day casual interactions with the local barista.
Dr. Ellen describes herself as a recovering high-functioning overthinker (if this is you, you HAVE to listen to this episode, we talk so much overthinking... it's great). After two hospitalizations she reached a tipping point--she burnt out. How many of us have been there? Or are there? Or are getting there?
Although she appeared like she "had it all together" - she secretly lived with never ending mental chatter that left her feeling overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted and unhappy. Realizing this was not how she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she set out to learn how to stop overthinking and reframe her negative thought patterns.
As the Founder of The Joy Avenue, a Confidence Coach and a Creatrix® Transformologist®, Ellen works with women who are tired of feeling overwhelmed, self-doubt and anxious and guides them towards feeling calm, confident and free. But what she's most passionate about is helping women prioritize their happiness as much as their success.
You can find Dr. Ellen Wong at:
Her website:
https://thejoyavenue.com/about/
Instagram: @Thejoyavenue
And of course, don't forget to check out my online program for mental health and hormones: The Good Mood Membership Program.
1 hr 44 min
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