The Contagious Joy Podcast

Kim Anderson & Jenny Chate
  • 5.0 (2)
  • MENTAL HEALTH

The Contagious Joy Podcast helps you build a life that feels good from the inside out—no matter what’s going on around you. If you’re ready to carry joy into rooms that have forgotten it, this is your place. Tune in. Take a breath. Together, let’s spread Joy like it's Contagious!

Episodes

  1. 6H AGO

    Navigating the Heavy Room: Finding Joy in Hard Spaces

    This episode of the Contagious Joy podcast explores the concept of the "heavy room"—those difficult environments where news is bad, tension is high, or personal trauma looms—and how to navigate them while still finding a path back to joy. Episode SummaryIn this candid conversation, hosts Kim and Jenny discuss their professional backgrounds in education and the specific moments when the weight of their environments felt overwhelming. Kim shares a poignant story about balancing the joy of a long-awaited pregnancy with the sudden news of job loss and the death of a beloved pet. Jenny reflects on the challenges of returning to the classroom after a significant injury and the difficult decision to eventually walk away from a career she loved to protect her well-being. Together, they delve into the science of the brain's stress response, explaining how the "dinosaur brain" can hijack our ability to think clearly and why sometimes the best way to support someone in a heavy room is simply to sit with them in silence. Defining the "Heavy Room"The Educator's Perspective: Both hosts draw on their backgrounds as a school counselor and a former teacher to describe environments like staff meetings with bad news or classrooms following a student meltdown.Kim’s Trifecta of Grief: Kim details a single weekend in February where she faced losing her job and the death of her 20-year-old cat, Zazou, all while navigating a high-risk pregnancy.The Power of Community: How Kim leaned on the joy of others and the excitement of her "framily" to carry her through her darkest professional moments.Navigating Professional TraumaJenny’s Injury and Recovery: A look at the struggle of returning to a workplace that lacked support following a significant psychological and physical injury.Admitting Defeat vs. Choosing Strength: Jenny reframes her decision to leave teaching after 17 years as an act of strength and self-preservation rather than failure. Finding a New Mission: How Jenny transitioned from the classroom to speaking on a national stage about injury recovery and disability management.The Science of Joy and StressBrain Anatomy 101: A breakdown of the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus, and how they interact during a "fight or flight" response.Sitting in the Muck: The importance of "presence over prose"—understanding that when someone is overwhelmed, they often need your presence more than your words.

    36 min

  2. 6D AGO

    Joy, Loss, and the In-Between

    In this episode of Contagious Joy, co-hosts Kim and Jenny bridge the gap between an Oregon winter and a scorching Australian summer to explore why the most beautiful emotions can often feel the most frightening. Through personal stories—ranging from a hilarious "ice cream rescue" on a busy highway to the profound grief of losing siblings—Kim and Jenny discuss the "dress rehearsal of tragedy" and how we sometimes protect ourselves from pain by foreboding the very joy we seek. In this episode, you’ll hear about:Weather Extremes: A look at the life of a podcast recorded between a 45°C ( 117°F) heatwave in Australia and the -60°F memories of northern Minnesota.The Science of Joy: Insights from Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart on why joy is our most vulnerable emotion and how gratitude serves as its essential antidote.Laughter that Heals: How a game of "Five Crowns" and a brewery lunch with old friends remind us that deep connection is the true source of joy.Finding Purpose in Pain: Kim shares the moving story of how her career in school counseling began and ended on the anniversary of her sister’s passing.What’s Your Joy?: Listener submissions featuring word-of-the-year inspirations, Minnesota birdwatching, and the simple joy of coffee and biscuits.Join us as we learn to lean into the vulnerability of being happy and discover how to "dance again," even after the hardest years. www.thecontagiousjoypodcast.com Join our Facebook Group at: What's Your Joy?

    40 min

  3. JAN 4

    And Here Ya Have It

    Episode 1: And Here Ya Have It – The Origins of The Contagious Joy Podcast. Welcome to the debut episode of The Contagious Joy Podcast! In this introductory session, hosts Kim (from Oregon, USA) and Jenny (from Sydney, Australia) share the heartwarming and often hilarious story of how two families from opposite ends of the globe became "framily".

    23 min
  • 3 Episodes

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The Contagious Joy Podcast helps you build a life that feels good from the inside out—no matter what’s going on around you. If you’re ready to carry joy into rooms that have forgotten it, this is your place. Tune in. Take a breath. Together, let’s spread Joy like it's Contagious!

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