Naming the Real

Our culture is in crisis, revealed in skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression, even (and especially) amongst the most comfortable and well-off. Dr. Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation, diagnoses our cultural crisis as rooted, in part, in the "druggification" of our society. Specifically, she explains how addiction functions writ large across our culture through an over-abundance of dopamine triggers, utimately leading to dopamine deficit states—a state in which it is not possible to enjoy anything at all. Her answer? Lean into pain and discomfort. Her message is counter-cultural, but it may very well change your life.

Dopamine is the brain’s reward chemical, crucial for regulating human motivation, desire, and focus. Yet never in human history have so many dopamine-delivery vehicles (from sugar to social media to online shopping) been so pervasive. We live in a dopamine-glutted world. And the overabundance of dopamine creates continual pitfalls of over-indulgence and addiction all around us. In this episode, we explore the neurobiology of dopamine and, following the work of Dr. Anna Lembke, the mindbody’s pain-pleasure balance. Because understanding this principle and  engaging core practices to keep your life in balance can radically change you...and help change the world.

Are you happy right now? And what do we even mean when we use the word "happy"? Our society has implicit notions of what happiness is and how we attain it, but often these notions are incomplete at best and backwards at worst. In this episode, we explore a rubric for happiness and some practical steps for becoming truly, wildly happy. 

We tend to think of emotions as things that “just happen to us,” and indeed that is part of our human experience. But we may also miss the degree to which we have a say over and agency in what emotions we experience and how we experience them. In this episode, the first in a short series on the world of emotions, we explore what Dr. Brené Brown calls “emotional granularity”—the skill of distinguishing between and naming emotions at a refined level. This skill, it turns out, is critical for emotional health and happiness and for living a flourishing life.