Thanks to years of studying psychological flexibility, I had an opportunity to do a long-form interview on one of the best podcasts, The Hidden Brain (for their Happiness 2.0 series). We spoke for an hour about the science of happiness and meaning in life, friendship, parenting, trauma, grief, anger, anxiety, and strategies for dealing with pain. I also revealed some excruciating memories from childhood and one of the most embarrassing stories from college. It might be my most profound public conversation.
Shankar Vedantam is quite the interviewer. He excavated deeply personal stories that I never shared before. Here’s hoping something resonates for you:
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And don’t miss the next issue of Provoked on cultural scripts that require a minor rebellion:
Todd, I'm a fan of your work since reading "... dark side". I really appreciate this particular podcast interview with you. The stories were deeply moving.
Fear, guts, grit, determination… No matter what your fear, acceptance is the steppingstone to get you where you wanna go. I enjoyed this sublimely person podcast so much. Gut wrenching pain, yes, but the learning from your early suffering is packed with huge life lesson gifts. I listened to this podcast twice. Nothing like truth-telling with life affirming lessons. Negative emotions are our springboard to well-being and success. Thanks for helping us stretch our rubber bands to places in life we never thought we absolutely can achieve.