Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

How to Find Happiness, Peace & Purpose Even When Life Feels Hard with Mo Gawdat #596

30 snips

Nov 19, 2025

Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer of Google [X] and bestselling author, dives into profound discussions about happiness and grief. He reveals that true happiness doesn't rely on circumstances but is a skill we can cultivate through choice and reframing. Mo shares his transformative journey following the loss of his son, emphasizing how grieving him became a pathway to joy. He also explores the value of solitude and fasting for clarity, and the idea that our suffering shapes personal growth, making life a meaningful journey.

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INSIGHT

Happiness Is A Perception Shift

Happiness is largely created by how we interpret events, not by the events themselves.
Mo defines happiness as the difference between life events and your expectations of life.

INSIGHT

Look Down To Increase Gratitude

Growing up around visible misery can create gratitude by showing how privileged your situation is.
'Looking down' reduces entitlement and increases appreciation for small blessings.

ADVICE

Ask What You're Doing To Be Unhappy

When you feel unhappy, ask what you're doing to make yourself feel that way and which perspective you're taking.
Use that self-inquiry to reclaim agency and choose a more empowering outlook.

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We all want to be happy. Yet the harder we chase it, the more elusive happiness it can seem. This week’s returning guest podcast believes the answer does not lie in changing our circumstances, but in changing how we see them.

Mo Gawdat is the former Chief Business Officer of Google [X] and the author of multiple bestselling books, including Solve for Happy and That Little Voice in Your Head. Following the tragic death of his son Ali, Mo has made happiness his primary topic of research, diving deeply into literature and conversing on the topic with some of the wisest people in the world.

Mo actually came on my podcast to talk about relationships and how he believes technology and AI can help us transform them, but when we started chatting our conversation went off in a completely different direction. We ended up having a wonderfully deep and thought provoking conversation that ended up being almost 3 hours - so, I have decided to split up the conversation into 2 different episodes. This week’s episode is the first half of our conversation, and the second half will come out next week.

In this week’s episode, Mo shares what he’s learned about happiness, suffering and the true nature of life and death. We explore what it really means to say that “happiness is a choice,” and why that perspective can coexist with deep compassion for pain and loss.

During our conversation, we discuss:

● Why happiness isn’t dependent on external circumstances – and how it’s possible to find peace even in difficult times.

● How reframing our thoughts and expectations can shift our emotional experience of life.

● What Mo learned about happiness growing up in Egypt, and how seeing suffering around him shaped his sense of gratitude.

● The powerful lessons he drew from losing his son, Ali, and how grief can open a path to love and meaning.

● Why suffering can be one of our greatest teachers, showing us what truly matters.

● How our thoughts can keep pain alive – and why letting go of the mental replay of past events is an act of wisdom.

● Mo’s belief that death is not the end, and how physics and spirituality can point to the same truth about consciousness.

Mo helps us all to see that happiness isn’t fragile or fleeting; it’s a state of being we can nurture, even when life feels hard. His story is a testament to the strength of the human heart and our endless capacity to find meaning in love.

I hope you enjoy listening.

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Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/596

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