New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Hidden sources of stress — and how to beat them. Also: the myth of normal, the necessity of being disillusioned, and the disutility of comparing your suffering. Description: There’s so much to be grateful for in modern medicine. We can all agree that we would not do as well in a world with no Advil or dentistry. And yet, our guest today, who is a renowned doctor, says modern...
Apr 01, 2024•57 min•Ep. 751
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Buddhist strategies for making money and being creative. Meditation teacher David Nichtern believes that business can be, in his words, an essential spiritual practice. He has been practicing and teaching meditation for over 40 years. He’s also the author of a book, Creativity, Spirituality, and Making a Buck . And he hosts a podcast by the same name . He began his career as...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 749
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Why fear of other people’s opinions (FOPO) holds us back, and what to do about it. Michael Gervais is a high performance psychologist and the host of the Finding Mastery podcast. His new book is called The First Rule of Mastery : Stop Worrying About What People Think of You. In this episode we talk about: A handy new acronym: FOPO, Fear of People’s Opinions How the evolution...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 748
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How to build a career that is sturdy, meaningful, and doesn’t burn you out. Description: Christina Wallace is a senior lecturer of entrepreneurship at Harvard business school, an active angel investor, and even a co-producer of Broadway musicals. Her new book is called The Portfolio Life . Her varied resume should give you an idea of what she means by this. In this episode w...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 746
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Slow productivity: achievement without burnout. Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University where he is also a founding member of the Center for Digital Ethics. In addition to his academic work, Newport is a New York Times bestselling author who writes for a general audience about the intersection of technology, productivity, and culture. His book...
Mar 18, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 745
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Do you struggle to fit meditation into a busy life? Check out this candid conversation with Dan’s younger brother, Matt. Matt Harris is partner at Bain Capital Ventures, where he’s developed an expertise in Fintech, or financial technology. He’s also a father of six incredible children. He is 17 months younger than Dan, to the day. And as you will hear, he likes to make fun ...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 743
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- We explore the intellectual and practical aspects of these mystical and esoteric concepts. Joseph Goldstein is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies , both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening , A Heart Full of Peace , One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism , Insight Medi...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 742
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A Buddhist psychiatrist (and one of the key players in Dan’s meditation career) talks about the overlap between Freud and the dharma. Mark Epstein M.D. , is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, is the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts without a Thinker , Going to Pieces without Falling Apart , Go...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 740
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Am I a bad meditator if I don’t go on a retreat? What do they entail? How do I stay silent for days on end? How do I get into one? What’s the food like? Spring Washam is the author of two books, A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground . She is also one of the founding teachers at the ...
Mar 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 739
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A wide ranging interview with one the biggest and most controversial names in the self-help world. Deepak Chopra is the founder of the Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality. He is a best selling author, including numerous New York Ti...
Feb 28, 2024•53 min•Ep. 737
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- The tables have turned: Dan is interviewed by two of his producers. This is the kickoff episode of our upcoming series celebrating the 10th anniversary of Dan’s book, where two of Dan’s producers, DJ Cashmere and Lauren Smith, interview him. We talk about the story behind the book, what it was like to have a panic attack on national television, why Dan decided to admit it pu...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 736
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- The four rules for a meaningful conversation, when to be vulnerable, and how to form the habits of becoming a supercommunicator. Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of the bestselling The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better. His new book is called Supercommunicators . In this episode we talk about: How he defines super communicator The four ...
Feb 21, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 734
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How to cultivate a generosity mindset— and make a good thing less boring. Chris Anderson is the curator of TED . He is the author of New York Times bestseller TED Talks and has overseen the introduction of, among others, the TEDx program , the TED-Ed initiative , and the Audacious Project , a bold new philanthropic model to inspire change at scale. His newest book, Infectiou...
Feb 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 733
Three tools for living a “passion-struck” life. John R Miles is a former naval officer and corporate titan who has made it his business to study what it means to find passion and purpose in your life. He is the host of the Passion Struck Podcast and the author of the new book Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life . In this episode we talk about: A visualization technique for setting your priorities Why “autopilot” is the wrong met...
Feb 16, 2024•9 min•Ep. 728
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A master class in equanimity. It’s the latest installment of our Meditation Party series. Live from Omega. Sebene Selassie describes herself as a “writer, teacher, and immigrant-weirdo.” She teaches meditation on the Ten Percent Happier app and is the author of a great book called You Belong . She’s based in Brooklyn. Jeff Warren is also a writer and a meditation teacher. He...
Feb 14, 2024•47 min•Ep. 731
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Simple tools you can knit into your life both for when you’re actively freaking out, and for preventing future trips down the anxiety toilet. Dr. Jenny Taitz is a clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Taitz completed her fellowship in psychology at Yale University School of Medicine and achie...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 730
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- What 40 years of research tells us about how to cultivate good relationships in our lives. World-renowned for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction, Dr. John Gottman has conducted over 40 years of breakthrough research with thousands of couples. He is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute and Affective Software Inc. as well as author of over 200 published ac...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 727
Conflict doesn’t have to suck. These iconic relationship researchers tell us how. Fight Right: How Successful Couples Turn Conflict Into Connection is the name of a new book by esteemed guests Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Gottman. They are the co-Founders of The Gottman Institute and have completed over 40 years of research with more than 3,000 couples. John is the researcher; Julie the clinician. They have written several books together, including Eight Dates and The Love Prescription . Even ...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 726
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- We’re dropping a fun little treat in your feed today: it’s an episode of The Puzzler, a new podcast from writer A.J. Jacobs, who was my guest on Ten Percent Happier at the beginning of December . His new book, also called The Puzzler, is all about his exploration of the world of puzzles – everything from word games to jigsaw puzzles to Sudoku and beyond – and how what he cal...
Feb 02, 2024•13 min•Ep. 721
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- You may be breathing wrong. Here’s how to fix it. At times, self-improvement can seem like a never-ending hallway filled with limitless shame and insufficiency. So when something as simple as the breath falls into this category, it seems only natural to meet that news with some resistance. Our guest today, James Nestor, argues that many of us, of all things, are breathing in...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 724
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Dan Savage has been writing the popular sex-advice column Savage Love for over thirty years. He also hosts the Savage Lovecast and is the author of numerous books. In 2010 Dan and his husband founded the It Gets Better Project, which was designed to give hope to LGBTQ kids. It was seen all over the world–and won an Emmy. In this episode we talk about: How to handle disappoin...
Jan 29, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 723
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Sometimes perseverance is overrated. An argument for strategic quitting. Julia Keller is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and playwright. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature from The Ohio State University and has taught at Princeton University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame, and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. She was ...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 720
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Our ability to focus is not lost, it’s just changing. Here’s what we can adapt. Here’s a horrifying fact: the average attention span has now declined to just 47 seconds on any particular screen. 47 seconds! How did this happen? How can we get anything done this way? Today we’re going to meet the scientist who’s done this research, find out what’s driving this, and what we ca...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 719
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. ---- A Harvard Business School professor discusses how to get good at “intelligent failure.” Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. Her latest book is called the Right Kind of Wrong . Her research examines psychological safety and teaming within and between organizations. In this episode we talk about: The problems...
Jan 17, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 717
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How to boost productivity, empathy, and focus, while reducing burnout. From the godfather of Emotional Intelligence. If you have any degree of ambition, one of the things you probably think about is how to perform at your best, or somewhere close, every day. How to keep your energy up. How to get into flow. How to stay focused and productive. How to play well with others. Da...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 716
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. ---- The author/podcaster talks about her nonnegotiables at a delicate time in her life. Glennon Doyle is an author, activist, and the founder of Together Rising. She hosts the We Can Do Hard Things podcast and wrote the #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed , a Reese’s Book Club selection, which has sold nearly three million copies. Photo Credit: Alexandra Hedison In this episod...
Jan 12, 2024•47 min•Ep. 714
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Plus, provocative and practical ideas about actually enjoying exercise, the real relationship between weight and health, the problem with weight loss, the morality of food, feeding your kids, and who "the real bad guy" is. Virginia Sole-Smith is the bestselling author of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture and The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image and Guil...
Jan 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 713
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Dr. Jud breaks down how habits work and how to change them. Plus, insights on stress, boredom, mindfulness, pleasure, satisfaction, and contentment. Judson Brewer M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally renowned addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist and a bestselling author. He is a professor in the School of Public Health and Medical School at Brown University. His new book ...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 712
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Have you already bailed on your resolutions? Where are you on your other life goals? This episode is a master class on sticking with it, no matter what. Bryan Stevenson is a public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 710
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Chödrön also talks about how to deal with difficult people, set boundaries, and keep a sense of humor in the face of our human foibles and failings. Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York City. In her mid-thirties, Ani Pema met and studied with Lama Chime Rinpoche, becoming a novice nun in 1974 in London. She received ordination from His Holiness the Sixte...
Jan 03, 2024•59 min•Ep. 709