Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Or, in English, Happy New Year!  

We kick off this first episode of 2022 by reintroducing ourselves, so you know who we are and where we’re coming from as you listen to all the episodes to come (because you’re following our show on your favorite podcast app, right?). But we also did that so we can begin engaging a skill that is urgent to focus on this year - namely, critical thinking.  

In today’s episode, we dive into the booming economic statistics from the US and how that stands in stark contrast to the majority of Americans who disapprove of the state of the economy, and how our news sources may be playing an outsized role in our perception of reality. There are psychological trends we want to steel ourselves against, because this applies to the Big Lie, or the January 6th insurrection, or COVID vaccines, or racism, or basically any topic that you’ve read about or heard about or discussed that’s been in the news lately. 

Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at [email protected]

What to listen for:

• How to say Happy New Year in Japanese! Plus, Sara & Misasha’s personal backgrounds
• Factual statistics about the out-performance of the US economy in 2021, in stark contrast to polling data showing American disappointment with the economy
• What psychological forces are at play when we take in negative news, what we can know and do to keep ourselves from falling into common traps, and why we think critical thinking is the biggest tool we need to sharpen in 2022

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