Let Slip the Dogs of More Happiness
Companion pets - especially dogs - are credited with making our lives richer and more fun, but does the science back up this belief? Dr Laurie Santos breaks down what it is dogs can do to make us happier - and what behaviours we can adopt to experience the wellbeing boost of dog ownership even wi...
Companion pets - especially dogs - are credited with making our lives richer and more fun, but does the science back up this belief? Dr Laurie Santos breaks down what it is dogs can do to make us happier - and what behaviours we can adopt to experience the wellbeing boost of dog ownership even without buying one.
She'll also introduce you to Georgia the motorcycling dog and her owner, Laurette Nicoll.
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Treating the Pain of a Broken Heart
Being shunned by a lover, a school or an employer hurts - but we're only just beginning to understand how real this pain is and what steps we can take to administer a bit of emotional first aid to stop the experience scarring us for good.Dr Laurie Santos talks to leading experts in the science of...
Being shunned by a lover, a school or an employer hurts - but we're only just beginning to understand how real this pain is and what steps we can take to administer a bit of emotional first aid to stop the experience scarring us for good.
Dr Laurie Santos talks to leading experts in the science of rejection... and to actor/marine/golfer Tim Colceri about one of the most extreme real life stories of humiliation and dashed hopes you're ever likely to hear.
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Why Nostalgia Ain't So Rosy
Actor Rob Lowe LOVES the 1980s. And who can blame him? He was one of the most famous men on the planet. But, as he tells Dr Laurie Santos, he's careful not to wallow in nostalgia for the music, fashions and events of his youth too much - and happiness science backs him up on this.Research suggest...
Actor Rob Lowe LOVES the 1980s. And who can blame him? He was one of the most famous men on the planet. But, as he tells Dr Laurie Santos, he's careful not to wallow in nostalgia for the music, fashions and events of his youth too much - and happiness science backs him up on this.
Research suggests that our memories of the past can be very selective and highly unreliable - causing us to misremember events and cast them in a rosy glow. Sadly, this also causes us to make very bad decisions about what will make us happy in the future.
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The Happiness Lab Meets No Stupid Questions
There are no stupid questions when it comes to discussing happiness - so Dr Laurie Santos has joined forces with fellow psychologist Angela Duckworth (host of the No Stupid Questions podcast from Freakonomics Radio) for a special crossover episode to talk about how we all want to fit in; why we s...
There are no stupid questions when it comes to discussing happiness - so Dr Laurie Santos has joined forces with fellow psychologist Angela Duckworth (host of the No Stupid Questions podcast from Freakonomics Radio) for a special crossover episode to talk about how we all want to fit in; why we should do dinner and movie on separate date nights; why we should imagine bad things happening to our homes; and why a change for the worse in your life can actually be a happiness gift.
Check out No Stupid Questions wherever you get your podcasts!
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Hidden Brain: Laurie Talks Monkeys and Bad Money Decisions.
Hidden Brain is a weekly podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam. It's a show about science and human behaviour we think you'll enjoy. Dr Laurie Santos was a guest on the show - so we thought you'd appreciate a chance to hear her tell Shankar all about her research work on monkeys and what they tells...
Hidden Brain is a weekly podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam. It's a show about science and human behaviour we think you'll enjoy. Dr Laurie Santos was a guest on the show - so we thought you'd appreciate a chance to hear her tell Shankar all about her research work on monkeys and what they tells us about how our own biases surrounding financial decisions developed.
If you like this episode of Hidden Brain subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts or find out more at https://hiddenbrain.org/
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Lao Tzu
The challenges of life often cause us to work frantically to overcome our difficulties - but the Chinese thinker Lao Tzu recommended that instead we should emulate the slow, steady, yet powerful flow of a river.Solala Towler has studied and taught the principles of Daoism for more than 30 years -...
The challenges of life often cause us to work frantically to overcome our difficulties - but the Chinese thinker Lao Tzu recommended that instead we should emulate the slow, steady, yet powerful flow of a river.
Solala Towler has studied and taught the principles of Daoism for more than 30 years - and explains how we can implement them into our daily lives. Things like retaining our childlike wonder, being content to go with the flow, and appreciating moderation in all things so that we don't burn ourselves out.
You can read more about Solala's work at https://abodetao.com/
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Confucius
The Covid pandemic has robbed us of many rituals and ceremonies we took for granted - from simple handshakes to elaborate graduation ceremonies. Their loss is important - rituals contribute to our happiness in so many ways. Something the ancient Chinese teacher Confucius contemplated deeply.Harva...
The Covid pandemic has robbed us of many rituals and ceremonies we took for granted - from simple handshakes to elaborate graduation ceremonies. Their loss is important - rituals contribute to our happiness in so many ways. Something the ancient Chinese teacher Confucius contemplated deeply.
Harvard professor Peter Bol (who teaches ChinaX at edx.org) explains why Confucius thought that ritual behaviours can bring us and our communities peace and joy - but why we need to create traditions and rules and customs that serve others, not just ourselves.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Forgiveness
Miroslav Volf teaches at Yale Divinity School - and is celebrated for his work on reconciliation and forgiveness. But book learning alone does not explain this focus.Miroslav’s brother was killed in a childhood accident, and the Volf family’s journey through misery and hatred finally ended in a p...
Miroslav Volf teaches at Yale Divinity School - and is celebrated for his work on reconciliation and forgiveness. But book learning alone does not explain this focus.
Miroslav’s brother was killed in a childhood accident, and the Volf family’s journey through misery and hatred finally ended in a powerful act of forgiveness inspired by Christian teachings. He tells Dr Laurie Santos how seeking to "unglue" the deed from the doer is a gift we can give others and ourselves.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: The Day of Rest
Sarah Hurwitz worked 24/7 at Harvard, and barely took time off as she built a career in DC writing speeches for first Hillary Clinton and then Michelle Obama. Sarah would even take her cell phone into the shower.But as she explored the teachings of Judaism, she began to appreciate the vital impor...
Sarah Hurwitz worked 24/7 at Harvard, and barely took time off as she built a career in DC writing speeches for first Hillary Clinton and then Michelle Obama. Sarah would even take her cell phone into the shower.
But as she explored the teachings of Judaism, she began to appreciate the vital importance of the commandment to observe a day of rest, and found that sometimes doing less made her happier.
Sarah is author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There).
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: The Torah
Sarah Hurwitz grew up thinking there was little the great texts of Judaism could teach her - she even hatched a plot to get out of Hebrew school. But in adulthood she discovered that The Torah contains instructions to act with gratitude, kindness and solidarity that all chime with the latest happ...
Sarah Hurwitz grew up thinking there was little the great texts of Judaism could teach her - she even hatched a plot to get out of Hebrew school. But in adulthood she discovered that The Torah contains instructions to act with gratitude, kindness and solidarity that all chime with the latest happiness research.
Sarah is author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There).
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Move More... But for the Right Reasons
Moving more is great for your happiness - but many of us decide to exercise because we're unhappy with our bodies and long to change them. What should be fun and life-enhancing often becomes saturated with self-loathing.Jessamyn Stanley identified as a "fat and awkward weirdo", who shied away fro...
Moving more is great for your happiness - but many of us decide to exercise because we're unhappy with our bodies and long to change them. What should be fun and life-enhancing often becomes saturated with self-loathing.
Jessamyn Stanley identified as a "fat and awkward weirdo", who shied away from exercise until she realised that it was her own body-shaming that was holding her back. She tells Dr Laurie Santos how she decoupled her love of yoga from the corrosive idea of transforming her body - and in the process became an inspirational teacher and author for those who think exercise isn't for them.
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Feed Yourself Like You'd Feed a Loved One
Diets and "healthy" eating fads are a January fixture - but few of us stick to these harsh regimes. And when the dieting ends, we often go back to the "bad" foods we craved during our fasting.Psychotherapist Andrea Wachter says this dieting "roller coaster" makes our minds obsess over food and ca...
Diets and "healthy" eating fads are a January fixture - but few of us stick to these harsh regimes. And when the dieting ends, we often go back to the "bad" foods we craved during our fasting.
Psychotherapist Andrea Wachter says this dieting "roller coaster" makes our minds obsess over food and causes our bodies no end of harm. Andrea stepped off the roller coaster by taking a kinder and calmer approach to the foods she consumed. She tells Dr Laurie Santos the key rule - feed yourself like you'd feed someone you love.
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Reconnect With The Moment
Psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brach felt too stressed and busy to spend time with her elderly mother - until she had a lightning moment of realisation. Why couldn't she enjoy living in the moment with her beloved parent? What fears and insecurities were preventing her from devoting tim...
Psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brach felt too stressed and busy to spend time with her elderly mother - until she had a lightning moment of realisation. Why couldn't she enjoy living in the moment with her beloved parent? What fears and insecurities were preventing her from devoting time to her mom?
Tara tells Dr Laurie Santos how she created RAIN - a mindfulness practise that allows us to Recognise, Allow, Investigate and Nurture our emotions. Once we consciously engage with those emotions, Tara argues, we can decide what is really important to us and our happiness.
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Dump Your Inner Drill Sergeant
We often start a new year hoping to make big changes in how we look, feel or act. This can involve a lot of self-criticism and adopting things like tough diets and brutal exercise regimes. But being hard on ourselves doesn't deliver results.Dr Laurie Santos examines why being a nasty drill sergea...
We often start a new year hoping to make big changes in how we look, feel or act. This can involve a lot of self-criticism and adopting things like tough diets and brutal exercise regimes. But being hard on ourselves doesn't deliver results.
Dr Laurie Santos examines why being a nasty drill sergeant to ourselves is less effective than being a kind coach; and hears from researcher and author Kristin Neff about why developing self-compassion is vital to helping us achieve our new year goals.
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Happier Holidays: How to Celebrate No Matter What
A lot of the festive events and traditions we look forward to each year will be very different in 2020. Gatherings might be smaller than we'd like... or cancelled altogether. Family tensions might be heightened too. But Dr Laurie Santos has gathered a group of top happiness experts to share their...
A lot of the festive events and traditions we look forward to each year will be very different in 2020. Gatherings might be smaller than we'd like... or cancelled altogether. Family tensions might be heightened too. But Dr Laurie Santos has gathered a group of top happiness experts to share their tips, tricks and science-backed strategies to make this holiday season as good as it can be.... and maybe even great.
Joining Laurie for this festive Zoom party are Jamil Zaki from Stanford University, Liz Dunn from the University of British Columbia and Nick Epley from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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Happier Holidays: How to Give and Receive the Perfect Gift
Exchanging holiday gifts is supposed to be joyful... but for many of us it is a source of stress, anxiety and hurt feelings. To transform the way you think about the act of giving and receiving presents, Dr Laurie Santos has gathered together the top experts in the field of happiness to share the...
Exchanging holiday gifts is supposed to be joyful... but for many of us it is a source of stress, anxiety and hurt feelings. To transform the way you think about the act of giving and receiving presents, Dr Laurie Santos has gathered together the top experts in the field of happiness to share their tips, tricks and science-backed strategies. They even tackle the thorny issue of giving money in lieu of a present - with some surprising conclusions.
Joining Laurie for a festive Zoom party are Jamil Zaki from Stanford University, Liz Dunn from the University of British Columbia and Nick Epley from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: The Buddha
The Buddha was born to a royal family... and it shocked him when he found out that no amount of money or power could keep suffering and loss at bay forever. The quest to accept that life brings us pain was key to the development of Buddhism as a major religion.Dr Laurie Santos is joined by Liz An...
The Buddha was born to a royal family... and it shocked him when he found out that no amount of money or power could keep suffering and loss at bay forever. The quest to accept that life brings us pain was key to the development of Buddhism as a major religion.
Dr Laurie Santos is joined by Liz Angowski and Robert Wright (author of 'Why Buddhism is True') to explore The Buddha's teachings about unhappiness and how mindfulness meditation can help us come to terms with the negative feelings we all experience from time to time.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Epictetus
Epictetus was born into slavery and beaten until he was lame... but he became one of Ancient Rome's greatest thinkers by accepting every setback as an opportunity to learn and grow.Philosophy professor Bill Irvine joins Dr Laurie Santos to delve into Stoicism - an ancient school of thought which...
Epictetus was born into slavery and beaten until he was lame... but he became one of Ancient Rome's greatest thinkers by accepting every setback as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Philosophy professor Bill Irvine joins Dr Laurie Santos to delve into Stoicism - an ancient school of thought which urges us to reframe how we view the problems we all face and defuse the negative emotions of anger and envy that can be so harmful to our happiness.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Plato
Plato likened us all to charioteers trying to control two wayward horses. The steeds represent the competing wants and desires that constantly pull us off course and away from a happier life.Yale professor Tamar Gendler joins Dr Laurie Santos to examine how the ancient Greek philosopher didn't on...
Plato likened us all to charioteers trying to control two wayward horses. The steeds represent the competing wants and desires that constantly pull us off course and away from a happier life.
Yale professor Tamar Gendler joins Dr Laurie Santos to examine how the ancient Greek philosopher didn't only diagnose the internal tensions we all face, but also offered a cure. The horses can be made to pull in the direction you command... but each must be coaxed in the right way.
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Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Aristotle
He gave us biology, physics and drama... but Greek philosopher Aristotle also thought deeply about how humans can flourish and live happy lives of virtue.Yale professor Tamar Gendler tells Dr Laurie Santos about Aristotle's wellbeing insights and how he recommended taking daily "baby steps" towar...
He gave us biology, physics and drama... but Greek philosopher Aristotle also thought deeply about how humans can flourish and live happy lives of virtue.
Yale professor Tamar Gendler tells Dr Laurie Santos about Aristotle's wellbeing insights and how he recommended taking daily "baby steps" towards becoming the sort of happy, moderate person we aspire to be. A kind of ancient "fake it, 'til you make it" ethos.
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