When people say to me, i don't know my meaning in life, what that really means is they have one or more of three problems. We're so wired up that the natural tendency within us is to avoid pain, seek pleasure. And it's an error. It's just an error. I's no othe way to put it. Now, when you get meaning itself, meaning actually has three parts: coherence, purpose and significance.
Arthur Brooks is a bestselling author, social scientist, and the President of the American Enterprise Institute. He teaches Leadership and Happiness at the Harvard School of Business.
In this episode, Eric and Arthur discuss happiness as well as his book, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture of Contempt.
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Arthur Brooks and I Discuss What It Takes to Find Happiness and…
- His book, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture of Contempt
- The four extrinsic things that feed off fear are money, power, pleasure, and fame
- The four intrinsic things that feed off love are faith, family, friendships, and meaningful work
- How happiness requires meaning and having meaning requires challenge and/or difficulty
- The three aspects of meaning are coherence, purpose, and significance
- How writing out the thing you learned from a bad experience can bring meaning to it
- Learning to find significance in the small things
- How we need to stop living in the future and appreciate being in the present
- The freeing idea that nobody really cares like we think they do
- The more you judge others, the more you will feel judged
- The therapy for feeling insecure is to stop judging and start observing
- The link between humor and happiness
- How we should reject grimness
- Rejecting the expectations of the holidays can lead to more happiness
Arthur Brooks Links:
Arthur’s Website
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
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If you enjoyed this conversation with Arthur Brooks, you might also enjoy these other episodes:
Jonathan Rauch – The Happiness Curve
Ruth Whippman on The Complexity of Happiness
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