Why knowing your tendency can improve your life. Susan Cain is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking , and Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole . Her Kindred Letters newsletter is read by people in all 193 countries and all 50 American states. Join her at TheQuietLife.net . In this episode we talk about: How to know if you’re an introvert or extrovert The strengths of introversion – and how these can you no ...
Mar 03, 2025•57 min•Ep. 915
What it is, how beginners can get a taste, the dangers of striving, and whether tech can make it easier. Dr. Matthew D. Sacchet, Ph.D ., is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General). Since 2012, he has authored more than 120 publications, presented more than 150 times at international, national, regional and local conferences and speaker series, and been cited more than 8,000 times. In th...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 913
Featuring a meditation teacher, author, professor, and dedicated experimenter with these molecules. Jay Michaelson is a journalist, meditation teacher, rabbi, and professor of religious studies whose work for the last several years has been focused on psychedelics, meditation, and spirituality. Jay is a field scholar at Emory University’s Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, and a fellow at Harvard Law School’s project on Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience. He is currently a vis...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 912
A node of sanity in these challenging times. Bill Weir is America’s leading climate reporter. His new book is a celebration of our planet and human brilliance. It is a hopeful plea for communities to rally around nature, new ideas and each other, to create the kind of resilience that lasts generations. In this episode we talk about: How a hotter earth is increasingly changing our lives Why some experts say the climate issue is half physics, half psychology How to work with feelings like rage and...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 911
One of my favorite episodes that we’ve recorded in a long while. 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 Meditation and The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 910
What confidence does to your brain, why it helps with anxiety, and how to get it if you don't already have it. Plus, the problem with overconfidence. Ian Robertson is a Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Trinity College and was the founding director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. He has written five books, the latest of which is called, How Confidence Works . In this episode we talk about: What confidence actually is How to boost confidence The dangers of overconfidence, and how ...
Feb 17, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 909
A candid, useful, and hilarious conversation. Chodo Robert Campbell Sensei is a Zen teacher, bereavement specialist, grief counselor and a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety. The educational non-profit he co-founded, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care , touches thousands of lives every year through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices. Chodo has been featured in the Ne...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 906
Why self-inquiry is the first ingredient to a healthy relationship. Jillian Turecki is a renowned relationship coach, teacher, author, and host of the podcast, Jillian On Love . Fueled by an insatiable curiosity about what makes a relationship thrive, Jillian has helped thousands over the last 20 years through her teachings, courses, and writing to revolutionize their relationship with themselves so that they transform their romantic relationships. In this episode we talk about: The difference b...
Feb 10, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 905
Data-driven, dharma-informed, Dan-tested strategies for improving relationships of all kinds. In this episode we talk about: The value of having platonic friends in addition to your spouse or partner A key communication skill that Dan picked up from the writer and researcher Brené Brown How humor can help your relationships – and how it can hurt A cognitive reframe from couples therapist Esther Perel How to manage conflict in a healthy way And one of Dan’s favorite Saturday Night Live sketches: ...
Feb 07, 2025•27 min•Ep. 903
Practical strategies for managing our emotional lives. Dr. Ethan Kross , author of the international bestseller Chatter , is one of the world’s leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the Director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. In this episode we talk about: What an emotion actually is The myth that we should only experience positive emotions Why sometime...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 902
How your reliance on being liked, being comfortable, and being perfect is blocking you from making the change you want. Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is one of the most influential doctors in the UK with over two decades of experience. He now hosts Europe's biggest health podcast, Feel Better, Live More , he is the author of 5 Sunday Times bestsellers, he regularly appears on BBC television, national radio and his TED talk, How To Make Disease Disappear , has almost 6 million views. In this episode we t...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 901
A Buddhist doctor/nun on how we’re all addicted to something—and how to reduce craving. Sister Dang Nghiem, MD, (“Sister D”) was born in 1968 in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. She lost her mother at the age of twelve and immigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen with her brother. Living in various foster homes, she learned English and went on to earn a medical degree from the University of California – San Francisco. A...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 899
How to use your innate mindfulness to turn the volume down, or even uproot, your everyday addictions. Dr. Judson Brewer is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences and Psychiatry at the Schools of Public Health & Medicine at Brown University. He is the author of several books, including The Craving Mind , Unwinding Anxiety , and The Hunger Habit . This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. We talk about: J...
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 898
A podcast pioneer on failure, resilience, luck, work/life balance, and the power of questions. Guy Raz has been instrumental in creating some of the most iconic podcasts in the world, including Wondery's How I Built This , Wow in the World and TED Radio Hour. The New York Times has described him as “one of the most popular podcasters in history.” This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. We talk about: The challenge–and gift–of failure Getting comfortable with discomfort and r...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 896
How to be less stressed and more productive. Nolitha Tsengiwe , a Dharma teacher and board member at Dharmagiri Retreat Center, in South Africa. She is also a graduate of Insight Meditation Society teacher training. This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. In this episode we talk about: How to weave mindfulness into your day without requiring a big formal sit How to have healthy conflict in the workplace Our attempts to explain the ineffable And much more Related Episodes: Do...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 895
Burnout is on the rise. Two experts show us how to combat it. Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than twenty years ago. Christopher Germer is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He also co-developed a highly impactful program called Mindful Self-Compassion, which ...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 894
A candid conversation about money: How much is enough? How to find real security? Sebene Selassie , an author and meditation teacher. She writes the popular newsletter Ancestors to Elements and her first book is called, You Belong . Jeff Warren is also an author and meditation teacher. He writes the popular Substack newsletter Home Base and is the coauthor, along with me, of a book called Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics . And he is the co-host of the mind/bod adventure pod. This episode is part ...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 892
A Wharton professor shares practical tips on increasing your financial security, and eradicating the taboo around financial conversations. Dr. Wendy De La Rosa is an Assistant Professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She focuses on behavioral science to improve consumers’ financial well-being. This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. We talk about: Psychological and technological tools for taking control of your finances How to get a handle on small ...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 891
The science and dharma of mindful eating. How it can stop over eating—and how to actually make the habit. Brother Pháp Lưu is an ordained monk in the Plum Village tradition started by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. He’s worked with scientists at Dartmouth College and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to develop research on the effect of Plum Village mindfulness practices on children. This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. We talk about: The health benefits of mindf...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 889
What exercise does to your brain—and how to actually do it regularly. Wendy Suzuki is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University, where she is also the first Asian-American Dean of the College of Arts and Science. She is the author of two books, Good Anxiety and Healthy Brain, Happy Life . This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. We talk about: How exercise not only enhances cognitive function but also protects against age-related cognitive decline an...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 888
Dan briefly whittles down his top 10 takeaways from the science of behavior change. In this episode we talk about: How our brain’s evolution for short-term survival makes long-term goals harder Picking the right goals Making it easy Leveraging fresh starts How to make goals a team sport The crucial role of mindfulness and self-compassion This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. Related Episodes: The Science of Making – And Keeping – New Year’s Resolutions | Hal Hershfield How...
Jan 03, 2025•25 min•Ep. 886
Contemplating your own death can feel like a massive bummer at first, but there’s good news: how you react to that inescapable fact really matters. Vinny Ferraro has practiced insight meditation (vipassanā) since the mid-90s. He’s the Guiding Teacher of the Big Heart City Sangha in San Francisco and has led a weekly sitting group for almost two decades. As a fully empowered Dharma Teacher thru Spirit Rock/IMS, he has taught residential retreats at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and the...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 885
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- “Radical self-love” — what it is and how to do it. It is incredibly common for many of us humans, whatever our gender, to be at war with our bodies -- trying to live up to the people we see in the movies, on social media, or even the versions of ourselves in old pictures. This never-enough-ness can lead to an ambient level of self-loathing that can be incredibly destructive....
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 884
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Very few of us relish chaos and disruption, but they are facts of life, given the nonnegotiable nature of change. In this episode with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, we’re going to talk about how to tune into the value of disruption, and learn how to sit with the chaos. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is an ordained Zen priest, holds a Ph.D., and worked for decades as a social science researc...
Dec 20, 2024•52 min•Ep. 882
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Can mindfulness really pull you out of a spiral of self-judgment? Don’t you need to be judgmental sometimes? What’s the difference between being discerning and judgmental? Description: Meditation and mindfulness doesn’t uproot your capacity to be judgmental, but it can help you see the value in being judgmental by learning how to work with the judging mind. La Sarmiento has ...
Dec 18, 2024•54 min•Ep. 881
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Equanimity: what it is, what it isn’t, and how to get it. Guest Kamala Masters was one of the teachers at Dan’s first ever meditation retreat. In this episode she dives into how to develop equanimity and shares her story of learning how to practice meditation during her everyday life while raising three children on her own. Kamala Masters has been meditating since the 1970s,...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 880
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Dan and Executive Producer, DJ Cashmere, pull back the curtain on what we do, how we do it—and what’s coming next. In this episode we talk about: An exciting New Year's series reveal and upcoming meditation challenge What goes into making the show–and why we do it The ins and outs of starting a new business And much more Sign up for Dan’s newsletter here Follow Dan on social...
Dec 13, 2024•36 min•Ep. 878
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How your blindspots hurt your decision-making— and how to fix it. Anu Gupta is an educator, lawyer, scientist, and the founder and CEO of BE MORE with Anu , an education technology benefit corporation that trains professionals across corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors to advance DEIB and wellness by breaking bias. His work has reached 300+ organizations training mo...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 877
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- The upside of the often misunderstood "tribalism". Michael Morris is the Chavkin-Chang Professor of Leadership at Columbia Business School as well as a Professor in its Psychology Department. Outside of academia, Professor Morris has consulted with and conducted executive training workshops for hundreds of clients across the globe, including Fortune 100 firms, governments, a...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 876
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A famed author and humorist takes a deep dive into grief (with Dr. Bianca Harris as co-host). Sloane Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Grief Is for People , How Did You Get This Number , and I Was Told There’d Be Cake . She is also the author of Look Alive Out There , Cult Classic and The Clasp , both of which have been optioned for film. She serv...
Dec 06, 2024•55 min•Ep. 874
