What is Sadness Good For? | Susan Cain

What is Sadness Good For? | Susan Cain

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

---

Many of us may have a reflexive reaction when we notice we're feeling down: we want it to go away. Maybe we think something is wrong with us and we automatically self medicate in any number of ways. But how do we square this with the fact that many of us may also really like sad movies and music? And making things even more complex, how do we compute the fact that the universe is constantly handing us opportunities to feel awe, gratitude, and joy, often at the exact same moment that sadness arises?


What's going on with this complex and conflicted relationship we have with a perfectly normal human emotion?


Our guest today Susan Cain has written a whole book about this called Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. In this book, she explores how the capacity to tune in to the inherent joy and sadness of the human situation can be a superpower for connection.


In this episode we talk about:


  • Whether bittersweetness is a skill you can hone
  • The relationship between bittersweetness and the Buddhist concept of impermanence
  • Why we feel embarrassed about discussing sorrow and longing
  • How sadness can be transmuted into creativity, and how that creativity can lead us out of sadness
  • And how America, a country founded on so much heartache, turned into, in her words, "a culture of normative smiles"




Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/susan-cain-480


Avsnitt(1032)

Shinzen Young, Meditation Teacher

Shinzen Young, Meditation Teacher

Shinzen Young first became fascinated with Asian culture as a Jewish teenager growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Now a renowned meditation teacher, Shinzen is deeply involved in scientific resear...

1 Mars 20171h 34min

Billy Crudup, 'Jackie,' '20th Century Women' Actor (Oscars Bonus Episode!)

Billy Crudup, 'Jackie,' '20th Century Women' Actor (Oscars Bonus Episode!)

We're offering a special pre-Oscars edition of the podcast this week with actor Billy Crudup. Best known for his role as 70s rock star Russell Hammond in "Almost Famous," Crudup stars in two Oscar-nom...

24 Feb 201755min

Hannah Hart, Creator of YouTube's 'My Drunk Kitchen'

Hannah Hart, Creator of YouTube's 'My Drunk Kitchen'

Hannah Hart is best known for her bubbly personality and boozy cooking mishaps on her mega-popular YouTube series, "My Drunk Kitchen," so many fans were surprised to learn about her life-long private ...

22 Feb 201745min

Dr. Judson Brewer, Using Mindfulness to Beat Addiction

Dr. Judson Brewer, Using Mindfulness to Beat Addiction

Psychiatrist and addiction expert Judson Brewer was researching better treatment options for alcohol and cocaine addiction patients and found, through clinical studies, that meditation could significa...

15 Feb 20171h 22min

Matthieu Ricard, French Monk and 'World's Happiest Man'

Matthieu Ricard, French Monk and 'World's Happiest Man'

Tibetan Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, who is originally from France, earned the moniker "world's happiest man" after brain scans taken during a neurological study on meditation (led by Dr. Richie Dav...

8 Feb 20171h 5min

Mary Karr, Best-Selling Poet and Master Memoirist

Mary Karr, Best-Selling Poet and Master Memoirist

Mary Karr has shared many dark pieces of her past in her memoirs, from a painful childhood, to a long struggle with alcoholism and depression, to living her entire life as an agnostic before becoming ...

1 Feb 20171h 1min

Elvis Duran, Morning Radio Show Star

Elvis Duran, Morning Radio Show Star

The host of the mega-popular Top 40 radio show, "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show," has never shied away from dishing out "real talk" to his millions of listeners, not even when it comes to his dramat...

25 Jan 201747min

Jeff Warren & the '10% Happier' Road Trip! (Bonus Episode!)

Jeff Warren & the '10% Happier' Road Trip! (Bonus Episode!)

Canada native Jeff Warren was a "chronic over-thinker" who got into meditation sort of by accident while working as a science journalist and now he's an established meditation teacher. Warren and our ...

20 Jan 201753min

Populärt inom Hälsa

somna-med-henrik
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
rss-jossan-nina
inga-beiga-morsor
angestpodden
rss-vuxna-pa-latsas
not-fanny-anymore
rss-viktmedicinpodden
sexnoveller-deluxe
johannes-hansen-podcast
sova-med-dan-horning
sa-in-i-sjalen
sag-det-bara
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
rss-the-house-podcast-3
brottarbroder
till-sangs
rss-angra-inget-3
rss-relationsrevolutionen
rss-fet-fakta-podcast