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341. How to Increase Your Capacity for Happiness — with Dr. Peggy DeLong, The Gratitude Psychologist™

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Release Date: 07/14/2026

350. Why You're Afraid to Sell — with Nikki Rausch show art 350. Why You're Afraid to Sell — with Nikki Rausch

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

If you run a business, you have to know how to sell — and yet so many of us do this thing I call the mom voice the second it’s time to say a price out loud. Something like, “It’s $300,” in this careful, coaxing tone, like we’re convincing a kid to tie their shoes. Meanwhile we’re talking to a fully capable adult who actually wants to work with us. This week I’m joined by Nikki Rausch, a sales strategist, speaker, and the founder of Sales Maven. Nikki spent 17 years in corporate sales, mostly in a male-dominated, technology-driven world, before she started coaching women...

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The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

My guest this week had a childhood nickname: Muscles. She wasn't the smallest kid on the block, but she could always outrun the boys and knock a softball clean out of the park. Somewhere along the way, that name got buried — and stayed that way for decades. Mary Ellen Loranger is a 56-year-old entrepreneur, author, and wellness leader who’s spent the past eight years, alongside her husband Wayne, coaching thousands of women through nutrition, health, and lifestyle transformation. A former Ironman athlete, she’s spent the last few years building Midlife Strong®, a strength training and...

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The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

My guest this week spent forty years studying death — first as a pathologist doing autopsies, later coaching people from inside her own pathology office. What she found in that work wasn't morbid. She found more life force in the morgue than she usually found walking around on an ordinary day, and that contradiction sent her looking for why. Sabine O'Laughlin calls what she found the mother line: the idea that everybody has one mother, whatever your relationship with her looks like, and that mother gave you exactly one thing — your life. Until you can accept that fully, Sabine says, you...

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The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Lindsey Busfield’s resume doesn’t look like it belongs to one person. Starbucks barista. English teacher. Auditor of Amish chicken barns. Now she’s the vice president of one of the country’s top legal marketing firms. None of it was the plan. For years, Lindsey figured she’d eventually run her own business, the same way her entrepreneurial parents had. Then a two-day aptitude test told her something different: she wasn’t built to be the visionary founder. She was built to be the expert, the organizer, the person who makes the pieces actually run. In this episode, Lindsey and I talk...

info_outline 346. Certainty Is a Skill (And You Can Learn It) show art 346. Certainty Is a Skill (And You Can Learn It)

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Most of us think certainty means confidence — that bold, "everything always works out for me" kind of energy. It doesn't. Confidence is built on evidence: you earn it by looking back at what you've already proven. Certainty is different. It's a deep inner knowing you can access before you have any proof at all, and it's one of the most important skills for building a genuinely wealthy life — not just a life with more money in it, but one where you trust your next move even when you can't yet explain why. In this solo episode, I break down the real difference between certainty and...

info_outline 345. Joy as a Default Setting — with Roberta Ravella, Founder of The Joy Experiment show art 345. Joy as a Default Setting — with Roberta Ravella, Founder of The Joy Experiment

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Roberta Ravella spent 25 years in mortgage origination. She was good at it. She was also, by her own account, a classic case of burnout. She tried coaching. She tried marketing. She even opened an AI business with a friend. Two months in, something in her said no, and she couldn't push past it the way she used to. So she stopped. Her mentor sent her on a six-week break with one rule: shut it all off. What Roberta found on the other side of that break is what she now calls The Joy Experiment. This conversation is about what it took to get there, and what her mornings look like now that she's...

info_outline 344. Why You Struggle to Receive Money (Even When You're Good at Making It) show art 344. Why You Struggle to Receive Money (Even When You're Good at Making It)

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Most of us don't actually have trouble making money. It's the keeping of it — the receiving of it — that's the problem. If you added up how much money has passed through your hands over your lifetime, the number would probably surprise you. It comes in, you manage it, you pay bills, and then it's "gone," so you never really see how much you're circulating. That's not a money-making problem. That's a receiving problem, and most women were never taught the skill. In this solo episode, I break down what receiving actually is, why we were never taught to do it, and how you can start practicing...

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The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

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info_outline 342. The Energy Drains for Women Entrepreneurs No One Warns You About show art 342. The Energy Drains for Women Entrepreneurs No One Warns You About

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

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info_outline 341. How to Increase Your Capacity for Happiness — with Dr. Peggy DeLong, The Gratitude Psychologist™ show art 341. How to Increase Your Capacity for Happiness — with Dr. Peggy DeLong, The Gratitude Psychologist™

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Most of us have been told, at some point or another, to just be happy. Just let it go. Just choose joy. And if you've tried that and found it completely unhelpful, you are in very good company. Dr. Peggy DeLong is back on the podcast for her third visit, and what she shares in this episode about how to increase your capacity for happiness is not what most people are teaching. It's not about ignoring what's hard. It's not about thinking positively until the feeling kicks in. And it has nothing to do with luck or your current circumstances. Peggy discovered the power of gratitude while sitting...

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Most of us have been told, at some point or another, to just be happy. Just let it go. Just choose joy. And if you've tried that and found it completely unhelpful, you are in very good company.

Dr. Peggy DeLong is back on the podcast for her third visit, and what she shares in this episode about how to increase your capacity for happiness is not what most people are teaching. It's not about ignoring what's hard. It's not about thinking positively until the feeling kicks in. And it has nothing to do with luck or your current circumstances.

Peggy discovered the power of gratitude while sitting by her fiancé's side as he was dying from an aggressive cancer. She was 26. She didn't push the grief away. She felt it — and that turned out to be the beginning of everything she now teaches.

If you've ever been told to just cheer up and wanted to throw something, this one is for you.

 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

  • Why pushing emotional pain aside actually makes it harder to access real happiness — and what to do instead

  • How your capacity for joy is in direct proportion to your capacity to feel pain

  • What collective effervescence is and why it matters more than we think

  • How human connection with complete strangers predicts happiness just as much as our closest relationships

  • What the three Ps — present, pleasure, and purpose — have to do with breaking the high-achieving cycle

  • Peggy's four Ps for building positive mental health: prioritize, plan, practice, prosper

 

DR. PEGGY'S FREE GIFTS FOR GAME ON GIRLFRIEND® LISTENERS

 

CONNECT WITH DR. PEGGY DELONG

 

ABOUT DR. PEGGY DELONG

Dr. Peggy DeLong, known as The Gratitude Psychologist™, is an internationally recognized expert in gratitude, positive psychology, mental health, and personal development. She helps individuals and organizations cultivate greater peace, joy, and fulfillment.

With a Doctorate in Psychology and over 30 years of experience — including her work as a forensic psychologist conducting more than 4,000 evaluations — she brings a rare depth of insight, credibility, and practical wisdom to her work. She has partnered with leading institutions such as Princeton, Penn State, Rutgers, and major healthcare and corporate organizations to deliver transformational programs and experiences.

As a speaker, author, therapist, and coach, Peggy is the creator of The Grateful Day™ and The Prioritize P.E.A.C.E. Method™, empowering people to move from overwhelm to clarity and emotional well-being. She is also the founder of multiple community-based initiatives and the Your Happy Second Half™ program, where she supports high-achievers in building meaningful connections, rediscovering joy, and living with renewed purpose.

 

READY TO BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE?

There's a reason we talk about mindset and mental health on this podcast — because what's happening on the inside shows up directly in your business results. If this episode got you thinking and you're ready to look at what might be holding your business back, I'd love to spend 30 minutes with you.

As my free gift to Girlfriends, I offer a 30-minute discovery call. We'll talk about where you are right now, what you want to build, and what might be getting in the way.

Book here: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13047670&appointmentType=2244195

 

FREE GIFT FROM SARAH

Get Sarah's Freedom Calculator and discover how much your business needs to make to finally be free. Download at https://sarahwalton.com/freedom

 

LEARN FROM SARAH

Explore Sarah's online courses and free resources to start building your business with confidence.

 

CONNECT WITH SARAH

 

ABOUT SARAH WALTON

Sarah Walton is a wealth consciousness coach, strategic advisor, podcast host, and mentor who helps women entrepreneurs build businesses they love.

Her mission is simple: to put more money in the hands of more women.

She's the creator of the Abundance Academy, The Art of Receiving, and the Game On Girlfriend® podcast.

Sarah teaches authentic, heart-centered business strategies because when women have more financial power, they don't just keep it — they use it to take care of their families, support their communities, and build something bigger than themselves.

 

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