Podcasts
Latest Episode: Life: Part 2
Latest Episode: Life: Part 2
In the Western world, we have celebrations to mark life events in the first half of our lives—graduations, weddings, baby showers—but, we don’t celebrate becoming middle-aged. Instead, we often bemoan the “midlife crisis.” Turns out, that’s the wrong way of looking at middle age. In this episode, Arthur is joined by Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy, who has dedicated his life to helping people through the transition to the second half of life. They discuss how “middlescence” can be a joyful and fruitful time, if managed well and share some advice for having an even happier second half of life than the first.
Past Episodes
Life: Part 2
In the Western world, we have celebrations to mark life events in the first half of our lives—graduations, weddings, baby showers—but, we don’t celebrate becoming middle-aged. Instead, we often bemoan the “midlife crisis.” Turns out, that’s the wrong way of looking at middle age. In this episode, Arthur is joined by Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy, who has dedicated his life to helping people through the transition to the second half of life. They discuss how “middlescence” can be a joyful and fruitful time, if managed well and share some advice for having an even happier second half of life than the first.
References and further reading:
Emotional Equations: Simple formulas to help your life work better | Chip Conley
Wisdom Well: Chip’s Blog | Chip Conley
Curbing Post-Election Suffering
The happiness effect of competitive elections is real: Losing an election hurts. In fact, research shows that in presidential elections, having your candidate lose can depress happiness for months. How are you feeling post-election? In this episode, Arthur and Ceci explore the research on happiness and post-election suffering. Also, Arthur shares some much-needed advice for those attempting to cope with Trump’s loss; but for those celebrating a Biden victory, Arthur has some advice for you, too.
References and further reading:
How to Cope with Election Agony | Arthur Brooks
Losing Hurts: The Happiness Impact of Partisan Electoral Loss | Pierce, L., Rogers, T., & Snyder, J.
Presidential Elections, Divided Politics, and Happiness in the USA | Pinto, S., et al.
Politics and Unhappiness
With Election Day looming, it’s hard to tune out the nonstop political coverage across all platforms—from cable news to social media. Can you pay less attention while still being an engaged citizen? Should you be tuning out for the sake of your happiness? In this episode, Arthur and Ceci discuss why it’s necessary for the political junkies among us to attempt a political detox and share some practical tips on how we can avoid letting politics dominate our thinking and ruin our happiness and relationships.
References and further reading:
Reading Too Much Political News Is Bad for Your Well-Being | Arthur Brooks
Happy Monkey
Are you struggling to find peace in your life? Does the future seem grim? Tibetan Buddhists attribute this sense of restlessness and pessimism to your “monkey mind.” With this understanding, finding peace and happiness is tricky, like training a frenetic monkey that you can’t get to sit still. In this episode, Arthur is joined by Dr. Martin Seligman, positive psychology expert and author of Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. They share practical advice for how you can calm your monkey, better understand the future, and move from pessimism to optimism in your daily life.
This episode is brought to you by Talkspace, Feetures, and Paypal.
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References and further reading:
What to Do When the Future Feels Hopeless |Arthur Brooks
The Hope Circuit | Martin Seligman
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life | Martin Seligman
Why Lawyers are Unhappy | Seligman, M., Verkuil, P., & Kang, T.
Searching for Spirituality
The evidence is clear that people find happiness and greater life satisfaction in faith and spirituality. But what do you do if you have no experience with faith or have fallen away from the religion of your childhood as you’ve grown older? In this episode, Arthur and Ceci discuss overcoming common obstacles to exploring your spiritual side, particularly if you’re feeling religious stirrings for the first time. But Arthur also shares advice for those who are more traditionally religious on how to elevate their practice amid the busyness of everyday life.
This episode is brought to you by Talkspace, Feetures, and The American Story podcast.
Get $100 off your first month on Talkspace with the code ARTHUR at Talkspace.com or download the app.
Get $10 off your first pair of Feetures when you use code ARTHUR at feetures.com.
Visit theamericanstorypodcast.org and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or on your preferred podcast platform.
References and further reading:
How to Navigate a Midlife Change of Faith | Arthur Brooks
The Arthur Brooks Show
In a special bonus episode, Simon Sinek talks to Arthur Brooks about loving your enemies at an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action | Simon Sinek
You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, and Megaphone. The Arthur Brooks Show is published by The Vox Media Podcast Network.