I am a mother of 2 boys, Jag who’s almost 5 and Dhiyo who is 1.5! I practice as an Optimism Doctor, I study and focus on the science behind optimism, hope, resiliency and joy. I specialize in the blending together of holistic practices and evidence based science. I hold a Doctorate in Health Psychology and completed a double post doctoral fellowship at UCLA and Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. I am a visual imagery expert and the founder of the Things Are Looking Up Brand and the host of the Looking Up Podcast. My journey has not really been linear in any way… I started as an intern during undergrad at a punk record label, then my first job out of undergrad was as an investment banker and then as a business development executive at a public health focused company … although I was learning so much something about the work I was doing was not connecting to my purpose and where I felt my truest value could be unearthed… I quit my job on a Monday an felt called to fly to Japan on a Wednesday… I stayed in the Japanese countryside for a bit over a month and a half, I was in my early twenties and definitely going through some sort of soul searching, I realized I really wanted to put my efforts towards staying in the healthcare field but by being more directly involved in the healing process. I decided to go back to school and pursue a career in Psychology… I was deeply fascinated by humans and the human experience and through my graduate career I became very interested in the idea of Optimism and how a person’s Optimism factor could in fact be increased… so I just kept following my curiosity and the parts of the field which lit me up and turned me on… soon enough Optimism really became my niche and my speciality. I completed my dissertation on the topic of increasing one’s Optimism through various science based modalities, really focusing on sensory based visual imagery, or visualization and soon enough I started being referred to as the “Optimism Doctor” and that just stuck. 

My favorite evidence based manifestation tip is to focus on what you expect and not just on what you want. Often times we get what we expect not always what we want. It is important for the expectation and the want to match and closing the gap between the two is where a lot of the real work begins. 

I do this thing that I call “wake up and dance” and it is exactly as it sounds, I turn on some music and dance or move my body as the very first thing I do when I get out of bed, even if I just have the time to do this for 30 seconds I do it. I also always pull one of my Things Are Looking Up Optimism Prompt Cards, of course J. 

Any season, my fashion has kind of stayed pretty rooted in the 90s and I don’t see that changing anytime soon haha.” 

My kids, husband and I go for walks around our neighborhood and by the ocean… I always prescribe my clients to go on “Happiness Hunts” especially with their kids … so we do this, and the Spring time is such a beautiful time for this, so much is blooming, there are so many things to point out which bring me joy. My older son is really into taking photographs right now and he always brings his little camera on these walks. This is how we spend our most ideal weekends. 

Santa Fe, NM and the South of France. 

Everything changes… everything evolves, nothing stays exactly as it is so to savoir the moments that feel so good and to know that the bad ones, they will pass. 

Things Are Looking Up (my brand name)” 

Oh my goodness, there are so many good episodes in the past 6 seasons, some really stand out ones are Dr. Edith Eger, who is a psychologist and a Holocaust Survivor, she is probably the most optimistic person I know and I am so happy to call her a mentor and a friend… there is so much wisdom in that episode … also, former Laker and mental health advocate, Meta World Peace …. And I loved the episode in which my friends Jamie Lynn Sigler came on and we talked all about living with a chronic illness … another really inspiring authentic episode. Oh wait, and my episode with psychologist Rick Hanson, we talked all about this idea of Neurodharma and the Negativity Bias! Just picking one was not my strong suit over here ha.” 

Touching Peace by the late Thich Nhat Hanh