Diversity Rules Magazine

4 Diversity Rules Magazine February 2018 erapist, Educator and Life Coach Diane Lang has dedicated her career to helping people turn their lives around and is now on a mission to help them develop a sustain- able positive attitude that can actually turn one into an optimist, literally. A therapist and educator/coach of Positive Psychology, she has seen that it can provide a strong foundation for finding great happiness and is gratified that it is becoming a mainstream method of treatment. A parent herself, Lang has taught Positive Par- enting to parents and written extensively on the benefits of using it with even the young- est children. She has also spoken or conducted seminars on postpartum depression, striving for balance versus having it all and practical tips on in- terviewing, networking and dressing for success and is the author of "Baby Steps: the Path from Motherhood to Career." Diane is a erapist and Life coach in NJ. Her clini- cal experience includes treating patients with different forms of mental illness, physical and emotional abuse and relationship issues. Lang is also an Adjunct in Psychology at Montclair State University, her college work includes mentoring students for individual ca- reer counseling and personal issue advisement. As an expert in her fields of therapy, Lang has been featured in the Daily Record, Family Circle, Family Magazine, Working Mother Magazine and Cookie Magazine, seen on NJ 12 TV, Good day CT, CBS TV, Style CT, e Veira network and the national televi- sion program "Fox & Friends." She has also participat- ed in a reality based Internet show, ourprisoner.com, hosted Generation X-tinet and appeared in various educational videos including Columbia books. Lang has an M.A. in Counseling and a B.A. in Lib- eral Arts from the New York Institute of Technology. Diane has her Positive Psychology coaching certificate from Wholebeing Institute. Diane's latest book is: Mindfully Happy ... Waking Up To Life. Please visit her website for more information: www. dlcounseling.com Or email: DLCounseling2014@ gmail.com JRK: Before we get into the interview, can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you are from and all that good introductory stuff? DL: I'm a NY girl who now lives across the bridge in NJ. I'm a Positive Psychology educator, life coach, speaker and author. I'm also an adjunct of Psychology at MSU and love what I do!! JRK: You are a therapist, educator and author that uses a technique called "positive psychol- ogy." Can you tell us about that in more detail? DL: Positive psychology is a branch of Psychology that is the scientific study of what makes life worth living? It studies happiness, strengths, meaning/purpose, flow and resiliency. It is concerned with people knowing their strengths and using them in their every day life. JRK: Can you tell us a bit about your most recent book entitled, "Mindfully Happy … Waking Up To Life?" What is it all about and what are some of the techniques you suggest in the book for folks to hap- pily live their lives? DL: e book is about cultivating more happiness and mindfulness to your daily life.e book offers re- alistic, easy to follow, sustainable tips and tools. e book goes over Mindfully Happy Habits such as Grat- itude, Random acts of kindness, Taking risks, Mak- ing sure your basic needs are met and mindfulness/ meditation. JRK: Living one's life happily is a challenge many times for most people, generally. When one is mar- ginalized or is a minority, like many Diversity Rules Magazine readers who are LGBTQ, how much more difficult can it be to be happy? What are some ways that marginalized populations can become happy and fulfilled in their lives given the special challeng- es they face as queer individuals? DL: Being a minority can affect your happiness lev- els. Mindfully Happy ... A Conversation With Diane Lang By Jim Koury, Editor/Publisher

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