183 - Chats with Shana: What Makes You Happy? I'll go first.
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Hi everyone. As you may know, Chats with Shawna episodes are casual and are intended for you to hear natural language. Today we'll be chatting about what makes us happy. Throughout the episode, you'll hear 50 universal sources of happiness, from the smell of freshly baked bread and cookies to the smell of

to cuddling with a kitten or puppy. To break the ice, I will share 10 things that make me happy. And throughout my explanations, I'll explain challenging expressions and phrases in English. I hope you walk away from this lesson more reflective and happier. Also, I hope you're ready to share what makes you happy.

Hi, everybody. My name is Shawna, and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States. Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it.

Hi everyone, welcome back. This is episode 183 and we're going to talk about life's simple pleasures, what makes you happy. Every year in November, we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. We eat a lot, it's a feast,

And while sitting around the table, we often tell our family and friends what we're thankful for. In English, we always use the preposition for here, with thankful and grateful. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my home. I'm thankful for my husband doing the dishes after dinner, which is new. I'm really thankful for that.

And yeah, we can also thank someone for doing something. I've thanked Lucas and my daughters for helping out with household chores. It makes me happy when we have a clean house. Now, what makes you happy? How often do you think about gratitude? They're two different things, but being thankful or grateful for something is

is somewhat related to happiness, right? We're thankful for things that make us happy. So how do you think being thankful or being grateful and having that awareness affects your overall happiness? It's an interesting question, and I had to research a little bit about it because I've been thinking about starting a gratitude journal, which I'll get to in a minute.

So I found a study from the National Library of Medicine that said, a single act of thoughtful gratitude can lead to a 10% immediate increase in happiness and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms. Some studies say that journaling about gratitude can increase long-term happiness and overall optimism.

That's pretty impressive, right? So this past week, I've been thinking about starting a gratitude journal.

Do you know what a gratitude journal is? So a journal is like a notebook, and a gratitude journal is a notebook that you fill with your thoughts and statements regarding what you're grateful for. So you can write basic statements in there, such as, I'm grateful for my family, or I'm grateful for good weather.

But they say that it's much more effective when you write specific and in-depth thoughts. I asked AI for an example of an effective statement of gratitude, and it said, Today, I'm grateful for the laughter I shared with my family over dinner because it brought us closer together. It reminded me that simple moments can create the best memories.

Now, some of you might find that cheesy, but it's interesting. It requires some reflection, but the immediate result is feeling a deeper appreciation for those moments. The long-term purpose of a gratitude journal, though, is to change one's mindset, to become a more positive person.

And of course, the happiness comes with it. So I like this idea a lot. And I'm curious, have you written in a gratitude journal before? Have you had a journal before? Do you want to? When I was a kid, my mom had a happiness journal. It wasn't quite a gratitude journal. There weren't long, in-depth statements like the one I just read.

Hers was simplistic and straightforward. Perhaps we can see it as like a stepping stone or a first step to writing a gratitude journal. Every day, she'd write down one thing that made her happy. It could be simple, like something that she liked. At the top of the page, she wrote in cursive, life's simple pleasures.

And at one point, she started asking my brother and me, what's one thing that made you happy today? Or what's one thing that you like? My brother's page said things like hot sauce or driving on big open roads. Mine was like little furry kittens and the smell of freshly baked bread.

So she'd write down our lists, and on occasion, she'd read them back to us. Every time I've laughed, not just because it's funny to hear what made me happy as a 23-year-old, she wrote them way back then, but because many of the silly things I said still make me happy. So yes, creating this list had an immediate effect on my mood.

Can thinking about life's simple pleasures make us happier? I think so, and that's why I think this is going to be a really fun episode and a fantastic language exercise for you. I would like you to think of 10 things that make you deeply happy. You can start by writing a list, like my mom's in her happiness journal.

Write down everything you can think of that makes you happy, like things you like around you. Then, once you have a long list, you can flesh it out. To flesh out means to add more details, substance, or depth to something, to make something fuller. So while listening, you can write down the things that make you happy. Maybe I'll say something that reminds you of something in your everyday life.

and then later you can flesh out your list. Sound good? When I asked ChatGPT the 50 most common everyday pleasures, it came up with a perfectly organized list divided into different sections. The first, everyday pleasures, nature and the outdoors, social connections, achievements and personal growth,

food and comfort, music and art, the list goes on. So I'd like to read through some of the things that ChatGPT said. So close your eyes, we're going to get reflective here, and see how you feel when I read these. Everyday pleasures. A warm cup of coffee or tea in the morning. Freshly baked bread or cookies. Sleeping in on a lazy day.

Finding money in an old coat pocket. A warm shower or bath after a long day. How did you feel? Freshly baked bread and a cup of coffee followed by a warm shower? That is my cup of tea.

So take a minute to think about everyday pleasures. You can pause the audio if you want. If not, just keep listening. The first that came to me was freshly baked bread. And I had thought of this before ChatGPT had to pretend like they came up with the idea. Anyway, we have an expression in English, the best thing since sliced bread.

And we use it to emphasize that something is the best. It's incredible. It's the best thing since sliced bread. I'm not sure if I have such a high opinion of sliced bread. Obviously, this expression is used ironically. It's the best thing since sliced bread. But I do think that fresh bread is the best thing ever.

Until I was about 17 years old, I don't think I had ever tried good bread. My best friend, Nina, who is from Berlin, Germany, lived with my family for seven months. And during that time, we were in high school, she never stopped talking about bread. Other than her family, it was the thing that she missed most about home.

dark breads with seeds and lots of flavor. Now, the summer after Nina lived at my house, I went to her house in the outskirts of Berlin. We got bicycles and rode from her house to a local bakery, and she ordered 10 different types of rolls, a loaf, who knows what else. And once we got back to her house,

Her mom had set up sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, different types of cheeses, jams, Nutella. I was like, what is happening? It was a smorgasbord of exciting, flavorful things. And when I got back to the U.S. that summer, I was deeply upset by the bread sold at U.S. supermarkets. It seemed like everything was fluffy, flavorless,

and just not like European bread. So since then, fortunately, bread in the U.S. has gotten better. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have gotten better. Good present perfect there. And I've started baking my own bread at home. And it's something that makes me very, very happy. And multiple times a week, our house smells like heaven.

I've been experimenting with sourdough, rye, wheat. We're actually going to a flour mill this weekend to buy hand-ground flour. I love it. And I'm going to throw it out there. If anyone who is listening owns a bakery or works at a bakery and would invite me to come watch you, just let me know. You can find me on Instagram at American English Podcast.

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I'm guessing that bread makes a lot of people happy because it was in that list, bread and freshly baked cookies. What about you? Do you like bread as much as I do? Is there another type of food that makes you really happy? So this fit under everyday pleasures.

And the other day I was walking around my house thinking, hmm, what things around here make me happy? Maybe that warm blanket, a comfy pillow, a picture on the wall. I realized that in English we say that money can't buy happiness, but it can buy two things that make me very happy. A plane ticket somewhere, exciting, and cups.

Yes, cups is my number two unique coffee cups. It sounds pretty random, but let me explain. For about 10 years of my life, I lived far from where I grew up. In Spain, New York, Germany, Colombia, and Brazil. And in those 10 years, I pretty much lived out of a suitcase.

The thing is, I always carried my favorite coffee cups. They were what reminded me of home. And to me, there's something very special about waking up in the morning, picking a cool looking cup, and then having a nice coffee in it. It's the first thing that you look at. I mean, you're holding the handle and lifting it up to your face. You're looking right at it.

And so I think it does have a direct impact on me. So if you open our kitchen cabinets, you'd see that none of our coffee cups match. Each one has its own special story that I'm reminded of when I grab it. I have house cups with roofs that detach. You put the roof on top of the cup to keep your coffee or tea warm.

We have a handmade cup from my favorite pottery shop in Vermont. We watch them make the same cups by hand. So that reminds me of that very cool trip up there. And I also have Lyon a l'accordion.

which I'm not probably pronouncing right. But it is a little yellow cup with a gnome playing an accordion, and he's been around the world and back with me. So sitting by a fireplace in winter with my nice coffee cup is just the best thing. It's the best thing since sliced bread.

So yeah, does anyone else love cups? Do you have unique plates? Cutlery? Now for the next one, we're going to step outside. ChatGPT says, a common source of happiness is nature and the outdoors. Which one of them sounds most appealing to you? Watching a beautiful sunset or sunrise? The sound of rain on the roof?

A cool breeze on a hot day, walking barefoot on the beach, or seeing a rainbow after a storm. They're all pretty nice, aren't they? Honestly, being outside in general is an immediate mood boost. That brings me to my number three, camping and hiking in beautiful places. I grew up camping on a regular basis.

and spending a lot of time in nature. Actually, those are probably the strongest young memories I have. In California, where I grew up in the north, we were surrounded by a lot of state parks and national parks that my family used to visit. So we'd go camping. We wouldn't sleep in trailers.

or RVs or camper vans. There's so many different options to sleep in nowadays, but good old tents. You know, we'd pitch a tent. And I remember crawling out of my sleeping bag as a kid, walking out into the chilly mountain air,

There was just something very refreshing about that. One of my favorite things about camping is hiking. Walking in the wilderness and through the trees and looking for beautiful views. To me, there's no better place to hike than Yosemite National Park. If you ever come to California, you can't miss it. Seeing Half Dome in person is breathtaking.

You can see the fire fall in February. There are so many scenic hiking trails and waterfalls with pools to swim in. They're so cold, but definitely worth visiting. And if you can get a good view at sunset, watch the sky turn orange and pink like cotton candy. It's magical. So let's bring it back to you.

In your list of 10 things that make you happy, does nature and the outdoors show up on it? Number four, the feeling after working out. I would love to say the feeling while working out, but I'm not in shape. As I mentioned previously, I love baking. I think if you cut me in half, you might find out that I'm actually just a giant piece of sourdough. Um,

But this year, I've decided that I want to feel healthy again. And that doesn't mean only eating vegetables or cutting out sweets. Simply exercising enough to feel stronger. We have a term in English, couch potato. Someone who sits around a lot, who's kind of lazy, is called a couch potato.

I'm more of a chair potato. It's not really a thing, but I don't move as much as I should in an exercising sense. I do move a lot cooking, working, cleaning, but it's not exactly working out. At the beginning of January this year, I took a free Pilates class and ended up signing up

We're only a few weeks in, but I'm happy to say that I have muscles. They're not muscular yet, but I found out they exist, which is exciting. It makes me happy. As we say, no pain, no gain. Have you heard that one?

It means that success, improvement, or achieving something worthwhile often requires hard work, struggle, or even discomfort. We often use it when talking about fitness. If you want to build muscle, you have to push through tough workouts. No pain, no gain. In general, the feeling after working out makes me happy.

Big shout out to Shika, one of the premium subscribers who joined Pilates the same week as me. We got this. The next thing I want to mention is music and art. AI listed this as one of the categories. And below it, five common sources of happiness are...

discovering a new artist you love, watching a movie that moves you emotionally, seeing beautiful artwork or photography, and dancing like nobody's watching. Now, I bet all of these make you happy, if you're like me. It's funny, though. I asked Lucas how he felt about these.

Oddly, he didn't mention listening to a song on repeat. Lucas is a musician. I don't think he listens to music the same way normal people listen to music. I think it's like a project for him. Anyway, I also asked, do you ever dance like nobody's watching or just dance when nobody's watching? He was like, uh, no.

but the thought was pretty good. I kept imagining him dancing in his music studio. Anyway, I'm sure you can come up with five stories here on these five points. What really makes me immediately happy is number five, catchy music. When I say that music is catchy, it means that it's addictive. If you hear a catchy song, you might want to listen to it a second time

You might want to listen to it a third time. You'll probably listen to it on repeat, which was the first thing in the list from AI. Now, if you do, the melody or chorus might get stuck in your head. If that's the case, you can say, oh man, this song is stuck in my head, or I can't get it out of my head. It's on repeat.

If I hear my favorite song on the radio, I'm not just happy, I'm elated. I'm over the moon when talking about happiness. Over the moon is on the extreme level. Very, very happy. When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I got my first CD, my first compact disc. And you know what it was? Ace of Base.

a Swedish group. They have a song called The Sign, which I have probably listened to 2,000 times since I was 10 years old. If that song comes on in the car, I scream at the top of my lungs. No shame. Do you have a song like that? One that you can feel in your bones? What's the catchiest song you've heard recently? Next, we're moving on to achievements and personal growth.

AI mentioned finishing a good book makes people happy. Learning something new and useful. Completing a workout and feeling accomplished. I already mentioned that one. Reaching a goal you set for yourself. Solving a problem that was bothering you. So for me, and once again, I made my list before AI, but apparently just reads my mind. I wrote good books.

Specifically, being in the middle of a good book, not necessarily finishing it. So my mom has a picture of me sitting on the beach in Hawaii with my head tucked into a Harry Potter book. I was 12 or 13 years old, and I couldn't put the book down. On occasion, I'd look at the palm trees or jump in the water, but I was not mentally on vacation with my parents.

For the past 20 years, they've made fun of me for that. And I joke that they should have planned their vacation around the Harry Potter book release date. And they sort of roll their eyes. When a book is that good, we call it a page turner. You can't stop flipping the pages, even when there's a new chapter.

Most Harry Potter fans would agree, every Harry Potter book is a page-turner. But in general, being in the middle of a good book is exhilarating. You don't know what's going to happen. And for me, it's exciting throughout the day. I know, ooh, I get to go home and listen to that or read that.

depending on whether it's an audio book or a physical book. And like you predict in your mind, that's when you know it's a good book. Once again, being in the middle of a good book makes me happy. How about you?

If you're interested in books that are ideal for intermediate learners and want to hear my tips on how to choose books, then be sure to check out the link in the episode notes. If you're into rom-coms like romantic comedies, I definitely found some for you. Perfect for your next beach vacation.

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Speaking of which, my number seven is planning a vacation and going on a vacation. It's a two-part answer because there are two clear parts to it. So the planning part is just great, isn't it? Sitting at home,

on your chair looking at cool hotels, imagining yourself on a lounge chair somewhere, overlooking a pool or the ocean. Then you get to choose those things and wait anxiously for them to happen. Last week, we didn't do step one. We didn't plan.

Last weekend, we took the car and drove to Lake Norman, which is just north of Charlotte in North Carolina. It's only about two hours away from us, and the trip was on the spur of the moment.

In other words, it was not planned. It was all of a sudden. The trip was on the spur of the moment. Lucas was selling one of his guitars to a guy there, and he wanted it quickly. So first off, Lake Norman is beautiful. There's a bunch of rich towns surrounding a very calm lake.

And when you're standing at the edge of their beaches, there's quite a few of them, there's mansions that line the edges of the still glassy water. And each of them has a dock with a boat. It was so peaceful and so different from what I'm used to that I had to ask myself, where are we? It looked like a scene from a movie.

which is part of the joy of traveling, experiencing new places that you didn't know exist. But then, and excuse my language, the shit hit the fan. We had booked a room in the worst hotel I've ever been in. Lucas and I went into the room and noticed that a gorilla had been there before us. Not one, not two,

not five, but 10 hairs on the sheets. The sheets definitely hadn't been washed. And I'm not normally a complainer, but I was like, this is really gross. So I asked to change rooms. And the second room had beds covered in hair too, and pubes in the shower. Do you know what pubes are?

Pubes is short for pubic hair, hair from down there. So we ended up leaving the hotel. And to make a long story short, I discovered that there are two very important parts to traveling. There's the planning, which is fun. And then there's the going on a trip. And in between, you get this fantastic time period when you are waiting for everything nice to happen.

So that's my number seven, planning and going on vacation. Of course, definitely to discover new places. Number eight, learning a language. Now this definitely fits under the achievements category, but notice how I didn't say knowing a foreign language. It's actually the learning process that makes me happy.

On a daily basis, I listen to French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese podcasts. I'm obsessed. I listen in the car, while I'm cleaning, while I'm baking my bread, while I'm running on the treadmill. Now, my favorites are those that are spoken at a normal speed, not too fast, and very clearly.

Because it's very exciting understanding a foreign language. It makes me happy. Even if my level isn't very high and the person is speaking very slowly, but I understand it, I'm like so excited. So when I find a podcast that is at my level, I learn new vocabulary from context, which seems effortless.

The bonus for me is when a host talks about something related to culture, whether that's business, food, science, history, mannerisms, like how people act in public or in social settings. Language and culture always need to go together. And when they do, it makes me very, very happy. As you can see why I'm still doing this after six years.

We're coming up to number nine, social connections. The first we have is laughing with friends until it hurts. A hug from someone you love, getting a heartfelt text or letter, making someone else smile, reminiscing about good times with loved ones. I'd have to say here, laughing with friends until it hurts. I feel like it doesn't happen as often as I'd like these days.

Maybe I don't talk to as many friends as I should, keep in contact, schedule meetings to talk to friends. But I think it's a reminder, just thinking about this, how fun it is to spend time with a good group. I definitely have one memory from middle school where I laughed so hard with a friend that we actually had Saturday school. We got kicked out of class, sent to the principal.

And I still remember why. We were learning about explorers. And my friend looked at me and she goes, instead of saying Vasco da Gama, she was like Vasco da Llama Llama. And I don't know why we just had a laughing attack. We later found out that the teacher thought we were laughing about him. Last but not least, number 10, hugs, but specifically six second hugs.

Have you heard of the six-second hug or kiss? So it's a concept that was popularized by a relationship expert, Dr. John Gottman, and he says that it's a powerful way to strengthen emotional bonds and

that by holding a hug or a kiss for six seconds, you allow the release of oxytocin, which is often called the love hormone or the bonding hormone. Apparently, by doing this, letting it last for six seconds, it promotes feelings of trust, security, and emotional closeness, and that it can also boost happiness. So all in all, pretty cool, huh?

One of my favorite things in the world is, of course, being hugged by my two little daughters and Lucas. So yes, it definitely brings happiness. And I've started implementing this six second thing. I feel like it's a good time frame to give a hug. It's kind of random, kind of funny to think about six seconds. It's also awkward to count it.

or yell at somebody for not giving a long enough hug because it kind of kills the mood. But yeah, good thing to be aware of, I think. So number 10, hugs, and specifically the six second hugs. Now that's it for this lesson. I'd like to mention that my mom still adds to her list of things that make her happy.

To this day, she still puts fortunes in her book from fortune cookies, affirmations, and other thoughts. And then she looks at her book when she wants to boost her mood. What do you think about that idea? Do you feel happy thinking about the different things we covered today? If not, let me finish this episode by covering the other half of simple pleasures that I didn't mention.

That one came up in the other category as well. The next category was...

Volunteering for a cause you care about. Watching someone's face light up when you surprise them. The next category, and we just have a few more here. Snuggling with a pet. Watching funny animal videos. Seeing wildlife in its natural habitat. Playing with a puppy or kitten. Feeding birds or squirrels in the park. Under travel and adventure, there were a lot that...

I connected with exploring a new city or country, taking a spontaneous road trip, booking a vacation you've been dreaming of, trying a new food from a different culture, sleeping under the stars while camping, and last but not least, moments of peace and reflection, sitting by a fireplace in winter, meditation or deep breathing exercises,

A quiet morning when the world is still asleep, writing in a journal and reflecting on life, feeling grateful for the little things in life. With that, I hope that this episode gets you thinking and gets you talking about what makes you happy. If you haven't already, write 10 things that make you happy on a piece of paper and then ask someone else to do the same thing. This is a great conversation starter.

Explain why each thing makes you happy. Tell a story and see how much meaningful conversation comes up with this prompt. I have a strong feeling you'll walk away with a deepened connection to yourself and the person with whom you're chatting.

That's it for this very reflective episode. This is not the typical episode, but I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like the PDF transcript, quiz, pronunciation player, and flashcards for this episode, sign up to Premium Content. You'll find the link in the episode notes. Enjoy the rest of your day, and until next time, bye.

Thanks and hope to see you soon.

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