Paula Price

Paula Price is a mother, wife, daughter, fixer of things, recovering perfectionist, voiceover actress, and certified happiness coach. She received a BA in Communications:Radio/TV and a Business Minor from Xavier University and has done everything from running a corporate video studio to producing her own films. Each day in sunny Los Angeles brings about new blessings and challenges but Paula has learned to take everything in stride with a sense of humor and fiery drive. Her goal is to help others find and use their own light to live in their true purpose.

Your book’s title makes a bold statement: The Choice Is Yours. What was the moment in your life when you first realized happiness was a choice?
That is a really great question. I feel like I realized happiness was a choice early on during Covid and how it changed the world. Since then, many things like world events have, I feel, sped up making people fill themselves with anxiety and fear. These are all choices because the reality is our life is short, so on the daily, we have the choice to decide if we’re going to let other emotions take over or we are going to ground ourselves and choose happiness. We get so caught up in the drama of things that if we sit back, take a breath and choose to move on we can invite things that make us happy back into our lives. We may not be able to control our circumstances, but we can control the way we deal with our circumstances.

In The Quest for Happiness, you share practices like journaling, writing thank-you notes, and spending time in nature. Which of these has been most transformative for you?
The practices I share like journaling writing thank you notes and spending time in nature are all elements to the bigger picture. I wouldn’t say that just one of those things has shaped my personal happiness journey. I feel like each one of them is an important step in finding out what makes you happy and serves others to help with your gratitude journey.

You describe yourself as a “recovering perfectionist.” How has letting go of perfection played a role in your own happiness journey?
When you are a perfectionist you can stress yourself out and get caught up in the mundane. I am still finding myself gravitating towards wanting to check things off a list, and wanting to do things perfectly, but I am more cognizant of making time to enjoy myself and letting go of having to be perfect or right all the time. It’s the moments of messiness that can sometimes bring about the most happiness.

Many people struggle to find happiness during challenging circumstances. What advice do you give to someone who feels stuck in a difficult season?
When someone is dealing with a difficult season, you absolutely need to allow yourself time to feel the emotions you are feeling. Feelings of anger, resentment, fear, trauma… Whatever it is that is bringing about this difficult season. These emotions absolutely need to be felt first before they can be let go. The key is to give yourself moments of joy within the storm. So if you’re finding yourself in a difficult situation while you are dealing with that situation, choose gratitude by looking around you and taking the time to be grateful. You can also sit in nature, phone a friend, do an activity of something that you enjoy… Definitely make time for these moments of joy so that eventually you can get back on track

Each chapter in your book ends with a poem. Why did you decide to include poetry, and how do you think it deepens the reader’s experience?
I have always gravitated towards poetry, and it’s something that has allowed me to express my feelings since childhood. I felt like by summarizing the chapter in a poem, it would give even more clarity to what I spoke about in the chapter and also showed my own creativity (since I speak about creativity creating happiness)

As a certified happiness coach, what is the most common misconception people have about what it takes to be happy?
I think there are many people that don’t even realize they are not choosing happiness on a daily basis. I think most people get caught up in the day-to-day and “I have to’s” instead of the “I get to’s” and they just choose to be miserable rather than realizing that they’re even choosing that. For example, saying I get to go to work every day instead of saying, I have to go to work every day is just a simple switch of mindset. We have to take a look at our life and be responsible for our happiness, but that means that we have to really want it because a lot of times when people aren’t happy it’s because victimhood or their trauma is serving them more than they think happiness would.

Your background spans corporate video, film production, and voiceover acting. How have these creative outlets influenced your perspective on happiness?
Being in the creative fields for so long has really led me to realize how much happiness creativity can bring into someone’s life. Even if you enjoy knitting, or gardening or interior design, doing these things, even for yourself not even for a business allows your soul to shine. I think it’s really important for people to embrace their inner creativity to create joy. It’s hard for me to not see creativity as an outlet for happiness because I’ve been doing some sort of performance or entertainment since I was a very young child.

Gratitude is a recurring theme in your book. How can someone turn gratitude into a daily habit without it feeling forced or repetitive?
Have you noticed that when you’re angry or in a bad mood that everything around you just keeps getting worse? By switching your mindset to one of gratitude you are taking the heaviness off of yourself and allowing yourself to focus on something bigger than just yourself. I always tell people think of three things at the end of the day that you were grateful for… Sometimes when you’re in a really dark place, you may only be able to say things like a roof over your head or food to eat, but realizing that some people actually don’t have those things can create a more grateful heart. When you have the mindset of gratitude, and you share it with others, you open up the energy to be more positive and positivity will follow you. (so instead of that anger making everything worse. You’re being grateful making everything lighter.)

You’ve said happiness isn’t dependent on location. How do you help clients create joy no matter where they live?
Happiness is such a personal thing. It shouldn’t really matter where you live because you can choose it in any situation or place. If you are not living in a place you enjoy, find a space nearby that you can go to to spend some quiet time each day. In other words, find your sanctuary, no matter where you are, so that you can take time to listen to yourself and allow yourself a moment of healing time. Perhaps you live in a space that’s too noisy or your roommates don’t get along with you etc., it can be trying and that’s why you need to find a place that can be your happy place.

Beyond your book, what’s next for you in your mission to help others find and use their own light—and can you tell us about the puppies you’re helping to get adopted?
Ahhh the puppies… Yes, my dog had seven puppies. We decided to keep two and find homes for five of them. It was definitely a growth experience for myself and my family. I think the hardest thing to do was actually give them up because you feel like you’re letting them down, but they definitely taught me Patience, and that when you love someone sometimes the best thing you can do is set them free. (lessons I was definitely not expecting to learn on this journey.)
Besides The Quest for Happiness, I have a children’s book called Happiness is for Everyone that is coming out November 13. (On all digital platforms or your favorite bookstore) My hope is to work with adults and children in finding their own paths to happiness. Also, in the not too distant future, I will be having Retreats that will encompass all of my course, which is also available on my website, called Your Quest for Happiness (a recorded workshop that offers a deeper dive than my book into working on yourself and your happiness journey) plus the retreat will also have all kinds of healing modalities, like, tapping, sound bowls, etc and will have lots of fun activities like crafts and sports… Basically it will be a three day camp happy. (giving you all the tools you’ll need to create a daily happiness practice, and life.)

---

Website: https://anchorheartbooks.com/the-quest-for-happiness 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulasworld1/​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anchorheart_books/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/actorpaulaprice/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-price-0a30489

Purchase the book here: 
https://books2read.com/the-quest​