The Pursuit of Happiness: Insights from Harvard's Study of Adult Development

Dr. Robert Waldinger talks about his new book The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, which explores lessons from the longest scientific study of happiness.

Dr. Robert Waldinger is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development at Massachusetts General Hospital, and co-founder of the Lifespan Research Foundation. He is also a Zen master and teaches meditation in New England and around the world. His TED Talk is one of the most viewed of all time, with over 43 million views. He’s the co-author, along with Dr. Marc Schulz, of The Good Life.

In this episode we talk about: 

• What the Harvard Study of Adult Development is and how it got started

• How much of our happiness is really under our control

• Why you can’t you be happy all the time

• The concept of “social fitness” 

• Why you should “never worry alone” 

• How having best friends at work can make you more productive

• And why, in his words, it’s never too late to be happy

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