Episode description

How can you learn to love uncertainty? Is it better to cultivate acceptance or strive for change? And, after 223 episodes, what is the meaning of life? 

• SOURCES:
  • Jessica Alquist, professor of psychology at Texas Tech University.
  • Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at The University of Queensland.
  • Raymond Carver, 20th-century American short story writer and poet.
  • Stephen Colbert, comedian and late-night TV host.
  • Matt Damon, actor and film producer.
  • Viktor Frankl, 20th-century Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher.
  • Steve Heine, professor of psychology at University of British Columbia.
  • Charles Krauthammer, journalist.
  • Reinhold Niebuhr, 20th-century American theologian.
  • Keanu Reeves, actor.
  • Elisabeth Sifton, author, editor, and book publisher.

• RESOURCES:
  • Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times, by Steve Heine (2025).
  • "Learning to Love Uncertainty," by Jessica L. Alquist and Roy F. Baumeister (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2024).
  • "Confused or Curious? Openness/Intellect Predicts More Positive Interest-Confusion Relations," by Kirill Fayn, Paul J. Silvia, Egon Dejonckheere, Stijn Verdonck, and Peter Kuppens (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2019).
  • "A Note to Readers," by Charles Krauthammer (The Washington Post, 2018).
  • "Interest — The Curious Emotion," by Paul J. Silvia (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2008).
  • The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War, by Elisabeth Sifton (2003).
  • "Late Fragment," by Raymond Carver (A New Path to the Waterfall, 1989).
  • Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl (1946).

• EXTRAS:
  • "What Makes an Idea Interesting?" by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • "Should You Get Out of Your Comfort Zone?" by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • "Do You Need Closure?" by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • "Secret o’ Life," by James Taylor (JT, 1977).