The Medieval Executioner in Your Head | Valerie Brown

If you want to make change in a world filled with all sorts of horrors and obstacles, does it help or hurt to stay cheerful while you go about your business? Robert Thurman argues passionately in favo...

13 Dec 202139min

It's hard to be a human. No matter how good things are for you, being alive is still hard; whatever your life circumstances are, we're all subject to impermanence and entropy. This episode dives into ...

8 Dec 202159min

This episode explores how to make the infernally difficult challenge of habit formation a little easier, with guest Richard H. Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017 for his pion...

6 Dec 202140min

This episode is the second in our two-part Anti-Diet Series, and features guest Christy Harrison. Christy is an anti-diet registered dietitian and nutritionist, a certified intuitive eating counselor,...

1 Dec 20211h 6min

Our guest for our 400th episode is actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who you may have seen on such shows as The Good Place, The Misery Index, and Legendary. Outside of her acting career, Jameela is kn...

29 Nov 20211h 4min

It is a common desire to get out of our heads, to escape the internal noise, the chatter, the Sturm und Drang, the sound and fury, etc. You hear about it in pop songs and poetry, this urge to be blown...

24 Nov 202149min

Is there a good kind of suffering? Paul Bloom says, yes -- there is a kind of suffering that you choose. This voluntary suffering can reduce anxiety and make your life more meaningful. This episode ex...

22 Nov 202158min

Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is at the forefront of understanding human emotions: what they are, why humans evolved to have them, how they're different from feelings, and what science says about how to ma...

17 Nov 20211h 7min