Jonathan Bastian talks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the role that hardship and pain play in living a good life. Bloom, author of  “The Sweet Spot,” explores why — from running a marathon to eating spicy food — suffering helps us to thrive and gives us satisfaction.

British author Katherine May explores the concept of wintering as a period of rest and reflection for physical and psychological well-being. The podcast reflects on the parallel between difficult periods in life and the experience of grief, emphasizing the importance of valuing emotional well-being. The chapter discusses the profound lessons about life that can be learned from hibernating animals. The speaker reflects on the sensory landscape and altered consciousness that comes with being in the sea. They discuss the transition from wintering to finding beauty and meaning in the world once again. The podcast explores the feeling of enchantment and its diminishing as we grow older. The speakers reflect on the experience of seeking the green flash at sunset and finding solace in connecting with nature.

This week, Harvard divinity scholar Casper ter Kuile talks about the power of ancient ritual and how incorporating a tech sabbath and switching off our phones, can help us refocus and recenter our lives.

Carl Safina, ecologist and founding president of The Safina Center at Stony Brook University in New York, shares his experience raising a small owl. Safina recounts what he learned and why this period of his life was so joyful in his latest book Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. Writer Jennifer Ackerman, who’s written several books on birds and is author of What an Owl Knows:The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds, describes why the owl is the absolute apex predator.

Elizabeth Rush, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth, describes her voyage to the most remote place on earth, Antarctica, to see the Thwaites Glacier, a crumbling sheet of ice the size of Florida. It’s melting so fast that it's known as the "doomsday glacier.”  “The only thing I could think of as a metaphoric likeness was the wall in Game of Thrones,” says Rush. She shares her thoughts on individual climate action, carbon footprints, and how her experience in Antarctica framed her own dilemma on motherhood in a rapidly warming world.  “If I'm gonna wish a child into this world, I have to wish this world upon that child, so I better be part of the change,” Rush says.

This week, British author Katherine May offers a (heart) warming perspective on winter. Rather than dread or endure the cold and dark days, rediscover some of the simple ways to enjoy some of the beauty and stillness that winter offers.

Yiyun Li, author of Wednesday’s Child: Stories, discusses the beauty of storytelling and examining losses in life. She shares her personal experience with grief and the therapeutic effects of gardening and writing. The podcast explores the role of English as a literary language and the universal theme of grief in literature.

This week, cognitive scientist and professor of psychology at Yale University Lori Santos explains that negative emotions are very much part of the human experience and essential to leading a happy life. Leaning into these emotions and accepting them is better for us than trying to dismiss or suppress them. 

Dr. Anna Lembke, director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, discusses the role of dopamine in the brain and the addictive world we live in. She highlights the impact of the internet, explores the connection between addiction and mental health, and explores physical movement and dopamine neurotransmitters. She also emphasizes the power of radical truth-telling in recovery and decision-making, the effectiveness of support groups, and delves into the dangers of fentanyl in the drug epidemic.

Lisa Miller, professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and author of “The Awakened Brain; The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life,”  talks about the connections between a spiritual life and mental health, specifically what happens inside the brain when a religious or a spiritual practice are introduced. Miller, a scientist and not a theologian, talks about her personal experience, work and research to develop a “new foundationally spiritually based treatment to help awaken our natural spiritual awareness..the awakened brain.”