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Arthur Brooks is a bestselling author, social scientist, and the President of the American Enterprise Institute.  He teaches Leadership and Happiness at the Harvard School of Business.

In this episode, Eric and Arthur discuss happiness as well as his book,  Love Your Enemies:  How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture of Contempt.

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Arthur Brooks and I Discuss What It Takes to Find Happiness and…

• His book, Love Your Enemies:  How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture of Contempt
• The four extrinsic things that feed off fear are money, power, pleasure, and fame
• The four intrinsic things that feed off love are faith, family, friendships, and meaningful work
• How happiness requires meaning and having meaning requires challenge and/or difficulty
• The three aspects of meaning are coherence, purpose, and significance
• How writing out the thing you learned from a bad experience can bring meaning to it
• Learning to find significance in the small things
• How we need to stop living in the future and appreciate being in the present
• The freeing idea that nobody really cares like we think they do
• The more you judge others, the more you will feel judged
• The therapy for feeling insecure is to stop judging and start observing
• The link between humor and happiness
• How we should reject grimness
• Rejecting the expectations of the holidays can lead to more happiness

Arthur Brooks Links:

Arthur’s Website

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Arthur Brooks, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Jonathan Rauch – The Happiness Curve

Ruth Whippman on The Complexity of Happiness

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist. In 1996, Jill experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain, causing her to lose the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. John Britton is a former anesthesiologist who suffered a right brain injury leaving him with only his left brain to function. After hearing Jill’s previous episode on this show, John contacted Eric and they thought it would be interesting to host a conversation with John and Dr. Bolte Taylor to discuss their respective experiences.

In this episode, Jill, John, Ginny, and Eric talk about what it’s like to experience the world through your right brain vs. your left brain and how they come together to make for whole-brain living. 

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, John Britton, and I Discuss Right Brain Injury vs Left Brain Injury and…

• The functions of and interaction between the right and left hemispheres of the brain
• How the left brain governs past and future, me the individual, details, boundaries, language
• That the right brain governs the present, the “we” collective, connections, expansive, and openness
• The way the two hemispheres of our brain interact with one another in a healthy brain
• How John experienced the world before, during, and after his right brain injury
• The most helpful rehabilitation approach for John post his injury
• Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s experience of her left hemisphere traumatic brain injury and her recovery story

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor Links:

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s Website

Twitter

Facebook

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and John Britton, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Whole Brain Living with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

The Divided Yet Connected Brain with Iain McGilchrist

Lessons About the Brain with Lisa Feldman Barrett

Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind.  He is an award-winning professor at the University of Michigan and the Ross School of Business and also the Director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory.  In addition to countless television appearances, Ethan’s research has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and many others. 

In this episode, Ethan and Eric talk about his book, Chatter:  The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It.

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Ethan Kross and I Discuss How to Harness the Chatter in Our Head and…

• His book, Chatter:  The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It
• How we have both emotional and cognitive needs when dealing with the “chatter” in our heads
• Common triggers for internal chatter are uncertainty and lack of control
• The three main categories of tools to work with chatter
• Learning to zoom out and broaden our perspective
• Distance self-talk is talking to yourself like you’d talk to another person
• Temporal distancing (mental time travel) 
• Expressive writing about negative experiences
• Using your imagination to replay a past experience to gain objectivity
• Harnessing our internal chatter rather than silencing it
• How to think about thinking and what we can and cannot control
• Being aware of how easy some of these tools are to implement
• Creating if/then plans increases the likelihood you’ll remember to use the tools
• Environmental tools and the benefits of getting outside in nature 
• How cleaning and organizing our physical space impacts our mental state

Ethan Kross Links:

Ethan’s Website

Twitter

Instagram

Novo Nordisk – Explore the science behind weight loss and partner with your healthcare provider for a healthy approach to your weight management.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Ethan Kross, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Overthinking and Internal Soundtracks with Jon Acuff

Scott Gornto

Jillian Richardson is the founder of The Joy List, which is a newsletter with the mission of making New York City – and eventually the world – a less lonely place. She also hosts The Joy List Social, an event where you can show up by yourself and leave with a new friend. 

In this episode, Jillian and Eric talk about her new book, Unlonely Planet: How Healthy Congregations Can Change the World.  

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Jillian Richardson and I Discuss How to Become Unlonely and …

• Her book, Unlonely Planet: How Healthy Congregations Can Change the World
• Some of the barriers that get in the way of making friendships
• Some strategies we can use to make friendships
• Three relationship strengthening tactics
• How to know when vulnerability slides into neediness
• That looking for the “perfect” person or group of people can stump you in your search for meaningful connection
• When you might want to reflect on your relationship to the idea of groups
• Where to start when you’re lonely and want to connect with others
• How to meet people if you’re an introvert
• The importance of being kind to yourself in this process

Jillian Richardson Links:

Jillian’s Website

Twitter

Instagram

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Jillian Richardson, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

How to Find Joy and Community with Radha Agrawal

Belonging and Connection with Sebene Selassie

Oliver Burkeman is a British journalist and writer based in New York.  He is well known not only for his amazing books, but he also wrote a popular weekly column on psychology called “This Column will Change Your Life” which was printed weekly between 2006 and 2020. 

Oliver joins Eric for a third time on the show, and in this episode, they discuss many things, including his new book, “Four Thousand Weeks:  Time Management for Mortals”

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Oliver Burkeman and I Discuss Time Management for Mortals and …

• His book, “Four Thousand Weeks:  Time Management for Mortals”
• How we invest more energy and focus on trying to escape certain feelings
• Finitude and understanding that life is finite
• Time and how we relate to it as something we have and use
• The idea that we are time rather than we have time
• Accepting the truth of your finitude allows you to live more in the present
• Confusing meaningful with extraordinary
• Cosmic insignificance therapy suggests that we reexamine the threshold of what makes a meaningful life
• Our tendency to want to define and measure what is meaningful in life
• How the pursuit of using time well can lead us to live in the future rather than being present
• Asking ourselves if something is expanding or contracting to us
• The modern attention economy and being aware if we are choosing where our attention goes
• How the things that matter most to us can provoke unpleasant emotions that lead to seeking distractions
• The problem isn’t how things are, but rather how we think they should be a certain way
• Trying too hard to be present in the moment 
• Accepting the impossibility of complete control 

Oliver Burkeman Links:

Oliver’s Website

Twitter

Oliver’s Posts

Calm App: The app designed to help you ease stress and get the best sleep of your life through meditations and sleep stories. Join the 85 million people around the world who use Calm to get better sleep. Get 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription (a limited time offer!) by going to www.calm.com/wolf

If you enjoyed this conversation with Oliver Burkeman, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Oliver Burkeman on Modern Time Management (2019)

Oliver Burkeman (2014)

Living Between Worlds with James Hollis

Jonah Berger is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He’s an international bestselling author, a world-renowned expert on word of mouth, social influence, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors can catch on.

In this episode, Eric and Jonah discuss his book, The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind.

But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!

Jonah Berger and I Discuss How to Change Anyone’s Mind and …

• His book, The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind
• How people change
• That most decisions that we make are shaped by other people
• The major mistake most of us make when it comes to trying to change behavior in ourselves and others
• How to create change by reducing the barriers and energy required
• Feeling like we should do something vs because we want to do something
• People’s zones of acceptance and rejection
• What it means to “highlight a gap” and how it can help us change
• How the costs of change often come due before the benefits of change are experienced
• What factors drive Identification vs Differentiation

Jonah Berger Links:

Jonah’s Website

Twitter

Instagram

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Jonah Berger, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Mimetic Desires in Everyday Life with Luke Burgis

Effectively Thinking Ahead with Bina Venkataraman