Bradley Wright, Life Purpose Lab

In-depth exploration into purpose in life. What is purpose? How does it change lives? How do we find more of it? Interviews include researchers who study it, practitioners who guide people to it, and people who have experienced it. New episode every Wednesday morning.

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Episodes

#10: Creating a Career with Multiple Sources of Purpose-Literature Professor Julie Cyzewski

How do our careers give us purpose? It turns out that there are a variety of ways, and we can combine them into a wonderful career. Julie Cyzewski worked as an elementary school teacher, but she knew that wasn't the right place for her. She decided to return to the passion of her childhood: books. She enrolled in graduate school in English and worked her way through a PhD. Now she's a tenure-track professor. She has shaped her current position so that it provides purpose in multiple domains of l...

Dec 16, 2020•40 min

#9: How and Why to Act on Purpose-Richard Lopez, Psychology at Bard College

What is the relationship between what we want in life and what we do day-to-day? How do our actions affect our sense of purpose? Richard Lopez is an expert in neurocognitive science and behavior change. He is an assistant professor at Bard College. Richard shares with us the science of enacting our purpose in life. A purposeful life is not jus a one-time decision. Rather, there's an interplay between what is most important to us (our values), our perceptions of what we are able to do (agency), a...

Dec 09, 2020•49 min

#8: Following Purpose into a Forgotten Form of Art-Faux Bois Sculpturer Diane Husson

How do artists find their purpose and express it through their work? How does purpose fuel creativity? In this episode, Sculptor Diane Husson passionately engages the role of purpose in her life and work. She is a sculpture who specializes in the all-but-forgotten art form of faux bois. She uses concrete to make beautiful garden furniture in the shape of tree branches. Diane takes us through her journey from the corporate world into art. It was a path with unexpected and even mystical mystical t...

Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 1 min

#7: From Planning to Be a "Miserable Lawyer" to a Career that He Loves-Nick Copenhaver, an Honors University Senior

How important is it for college students to aim for a career that would give them a sense of purpose? What happens when they make plans without purpose? Nick is a smart student who entered college with no sense of what he really wanted to do. So, he decided to do something that would make him a lot of money. If I can't be happy, I might as well be rich he thought. So, he decided to become a corporate lawyer. There was a problem, though, with this plan. Each year he got less happy with it. Someth...

Nov 25, 2020•41 min

#6: A Life Purpose Statement Unfolding over 50 Years-Bob Turner of The Navigators

How does a sense of purpose change our life? Does it really make a difference? At 24 years old, Bob Turner wrote out a life purpose statement. He's now in his 70s. This purpose statement has been his guide for a half century. It led him into remarkable experiences, rich relationships, and a profound impact on many people's lives. It even had him attend one of the most significant historical events of the 20th century. He's not done, either. He still follows this purpose statement daily. In this ...

Nov 18, 2020•43 min

#5: A Meandering Journey into Becoming a Writer

What do you do when you don't know what you want to do in life? You try new things. You look for glimpses of what's interesting to you and what you're good at. Nancy Franson is a writer, but it took her decades to get there. As she puts it, she discovered that she was a writer in her fifties. She shares her journey in this episode. From her story, we learn about getting feedback from other people about who we are, doing free writing to see what comes out of our hearts, and serendipitous encounte...

Nov 11, 2020•43 min

#4: Uprooting Everything to Pursue Purpose-on a Boat, in His 70s

Things were going just fine for Bud Brown. He lived a comfortable life as a church consultant. His kids were raised. He lived in a beautiful city. Then he got a whiff of a dream. It’s not just any dream. It’s a change-everything, wouldn’t-it-be-amazing dream. Most people would just talk about such dreams. Not Bud. He took action. He and his wife planned out how to have a remarkable third act to their lives. They sold the house and are now exploring how to put this plan in place. This episode is ...

Nov 04, 2020•43 min

#3: Lessons in Purpose from Surviving Cancer a Second Time

Sheri Blackmon is a cancer survivor-twice over. The most recent occurrence was harrowing. For a year, she could do little each day except try to heal. Even the smallest moments became meaningful. From this experience, she learned to view the world differently. While the chemotherapy was killing the cancer, the cancer was killing triviality. In this episode, Sheri describes how she now engages the world differently. Among the topics that come up are: the difference between active and passive purp...

Oct 27, 2020•44 min

#2: Creating a Purposeful, Flourishing Retirement with Compassion International

Tom Andrix has had a long and varied career. Her served as a naval aviator, a dry wall installer, a staff person for a Christian ministry, and a data base manager for a hedge fund. When it came time to retire, Tom wanted to do something that used his skills to make the world a better place. He wanted something that moved him at a deep level. After investigating possibilities for several years, he found a retirement activity that perfectly fits these criteria. In discussing his story, we talk abo...

Oct 23, 2020•43 min

#1: Learning about Purpose from Lifelong Activists

Manisha Desai is a sociologist who has studied activists for many years. Over that time, she’s had countless conversations with them about why they get into activism. Purpose is at the core of their motivation, and it expresses itself in different ways. Among the topics that come up are the distinction between social-purpose and self-purpose, how purpose relates to both change and acceptance, and different pathways into a purposeful vocation. To learn more about finding your own purpose, visit s...

Oct 16, 2020•37 min

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