Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks

"Acceptance is the full embrace of our personal experience…it's choosing to feel with openness and curiosity, so that you can live the kind of life you want to live while inviting your feelings to come along for the ride" - Stephen Hayes

This podcast is about the power of dealing with negative thoughts and emotions more obliquely. It's about a central shift from focusing on what you think and feel to how you relate to what you think and feel. Its effectiveness is somewhat paradoxical because struggling to stop or change a thought or emotion can have the opposite effect - and compound the problem.

My guest is Dr. Steven Hayes. Dr. Hayes is a Nevada foundation professor of psychology in the behavior analysis program at the University of Nevada. He's an author of 46 books in nearly 675 scientific articles. His TEDx talks and blogs have been viewed or read by over 3 million people he has ranked among the most cited psychologists in the world. He's especially known for his work on acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT, which is one of the most widely used and researched new methods of psychological intervention over the last 20 years.

Steven has received the lifetime achievement award from the association for behavioral and cognitive therapy and his popular book, Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: was #1 bestseller, and his new book, which is also discussed on the podcast. A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters has been recently released to white acclaim.

Some of the topics we cover.

• Current depression rates and the impact of the pandemic
• What he thinks is exasperating depression and anxiety in the U.S.
• The differences between sadness and depression
• How our brains and emotions can often work against us
• How automatic and complicated our thinking processes are
• ACT and process-based therapy, and the challenge of a purely cognitive model
• What is relational thinking
• The problem with treating negative thoughts as problems
• How we can relate to our thoughts to create space from being caught up in them
• What is diffusion and techniques to apply it

For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com

On this episode we cover a bit of the biography of vaccines, dovetailing into the current state of vaccination around the globe.

My guest on this podcast is Dr. Paul Offit, a world renowned expert and medical pioneer in the field of immunology and virology. He is a professor in the division of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of Vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC, credited with saving hundreds of children's lives every day. Dr. Offit is also currently a member of the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee and is a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation and the Foundation for Vaccine Research. His awards and citations are too numerous to list here (See more of his bio at www.chop.edu/doctors/offit-paul-a)

Paul is not only an expert of great renown, he is also very generous and extremely passionate about public health - and it comes through.

Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization. Please listen as Paul explains why that is so.

We covered a range of topics including:

• The Ming dynasty, 'variolation' and smallpox
• Powdered pustules and other Chinese precursors
• 18th Century and the founding of vaccinology in the West
• Jonas Salk and the first successful polio vaccines
• Rotavirus and the RotaTeq vaccine
• Recombinant DNA flu vaccines
• The new mRNA era of vaccines
• Vaccine risks then and now; we do the math
• Vaccine controversy and hesitancy throughout history
• Overview of the current COVID-19 vaccines, Delta and what's next
• Who should, and should not, get the vaccine
• FDA timelines, approvals, and licensure

For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com

"A person can make himself happy or miserable regardless of what is actually happening outside just by changing the contents of consciousness" -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

How you feel about life and living, and your happiness in general - ultimately depends on interpreting everyday experience. Your mind shapes every experience you have and there is a minimal return on happiness effort, trying to exert more control over external forces.

Time should be spent on ordering your inner world. This podcast is about doing just that.

My guest is Loch Kelly.

Loch is an author, meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and founder of the Open-Hearted Awareness Institute. Loch has collaborated with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn, and NYU to study how awareness training can enhance compassion and well-being. As a licensed psychotherapist, Loch has been teaching seminars, supervising clinicians and practicing awareness psychotherapy in NYC for 30 years.

He has authored two books on meditation, Shift into Freedom The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness and The Way of Effortless Mindfulness A Revolutionary Guide for Living an Awakened Life, which is the touchstone for our discussion

Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and ancient wisdom traditions, the book is a practical guide to what he calls the next stage in the ongoing mindfulness movement: effortless mindfulness.

On the show we discuss these topics and more

• Defining meditation
• Defining awareness
• Suffering and managing emotions
• Why meditation can be hard
• Who meditation is for
• Terminology
• Explaining Flow states and how it can be elicited in meditation
• Differences between mindfulness meditation and effortless mindfulness
• On effort and effortlessness
• Types / Methods
• Multiple "selves" and the mini-me
• Glimpse practices
• How to start - "here now" meditation

There is a lot more here, so give it a listen.

For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com

Larry

Nicholas Christakis on the impact of Coronavirus, what went wrong, what's going right, and our possible future. More below.

Nicholas is a physician and social scientist at Yale University who conducts research in network science, biosocial science, and behavior genetics.

Named by Time magazine to their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, Nicholas's current work focuses on how human biology and health affect social interactions and social networks. He directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.

He is also the author of several books, including Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, and his latest, Apollo's Arrow, The Profound and Enduring impact of Coronavirus On the Way We Live - which is the topic of our conversation.

Nicholas was a font of information; it was a challenge to fit everything into an hour. He was a conversational tour de force crisscrossing history, medicine, social behavior, and disease math.

On the show we covered...

• How earlier pandemics were similar in how they played out
• The frequency of pandemics
• How COVID-19 compares to other pathogens
• Disease math and mortality curves
• Updates on lethality
• Effective contagion rates
• What went wrong
• Trust in government and scientific institutions
• What's going right
• Development of vaccines
• Vaccination rates (percentage of the populace) we need to open the economy
• The swiss cheese model of personal risk mitigation
• Post pandemic behavior and the future boom

There is a lot more here, so give it a listen.

For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com

Larry

Chatter refers to this negative cycle of thinking and feeling that leads us to get stuck in ways that can be really toxic for our health, for our relationships, and for our ability to think and perform - Ethan Kross

"Hecaton asks, "Do you ask what progress I have made? I have begun to be a friend to myself." Valuable progress indeed: he will never be alone." —Seneca

On this podcast, I delve into what cognitive science is learning about the conversations we have with ourselves - and even better, how to manage them.

My guest is Ethan Kross, Ph.D. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan's top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. And his research has been published in academic journals and featured in the New York Times, the Economist and the New Yorker, to name just a few.

He is also the author of the just-published book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, the topic of this episode.

Why do you say what you say, when you talk to yourself?

Ethan explained to me that our brains have an affinity for disconnecting from what's happening around us. This then offers an opportunity for the conversations in our minds.

Ethan says that our inner voice is crucial and helps us evaluate what we do, calibrating our gap-to-goal actions. We have a monitoring default state.

But it can turn on us.

Anxious or negative chatter can tank athletic performance and sabotage your career.

Chatter is often triggered when we interpret a situation as a threat—something we can't manage.

Hello, pandemic.

Ethan tells me uncertain times and uncertainty and a lack of control are agents that fuel (internal) chatter.

if you had asked me when I started this project, for a formula for a mass chatter event, we are living through that right now. And all the ingredients are there; a once in a century uncontrollable and uncertain pandemic - Ethan Kross

These internal conversations also determine our experiences. Your mood is most often defined not by what you did but by what you thought about what you did at the time you were doing it.

On the show, we cover a lot of his research on "chatter" laid out in his new book

• Why do we do it?
• Origins of the voices
• How chatter can backfire on us
• Tips (and tools) on improving or quelling negative chatter
• How to properly coach yourself and the use of pronouns
• Affirmations and how to talk to yourself
• And much more

It's arguable that some of the most important conversations you will have in your life will are the ones you have with yourself.

So tell yourself to give it a listen.

For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com

Larry

Tommy Chong is a grammy award-winning comedian and is legendary for his invaluable contribution to American counter-culture as part of the iconic comedy duo Cheech & Chong. During their reign, the twosome recorded six gold comedy albums, including the 1973 Grammy winner "Los Cochinos," and starred in eight films, most of which Chong co-wrote and directed. The first, "Up In Smoke," was the highest-grossing comedy of 1978, topping $100 million at the box office. Others were "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" (1980), "Nice Dreams" (1981), "Things Are Tough All Over" (1982), "Cheech and Chong: Still Smoking" (1983), and "The Corsican Brothers" (1984).

Tommy has acted in several other films, including 1990's "Far Out, Man!" and "National Lampoon's Senior Trip" (1995). He also starred as "Leo" on Fox's "That 70's Show," and guest starred on ABC's "Dharma & Greg" and "The George Lopez Show."

Tommy is also the author of the New York Times Best-Seller The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint and the book, Cheech and Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography.

In 2003 a fully armed SWAT team raided the comedian's home, culminating with Tommy being sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute "Chong Glass," a family business specializing in handmade glass water pipes (bongs).

On this episode, Tommy talks about that experience and pretty much his whole life; growing up in Canada, getting his start in rock and roll, finding improv comedy, his time with Cheech and Chong, and getting into the business of CBD and Cannabis.

I interview people, for the most part - to get their perspective as to relates to challenge whether personal or professional sometimes it's corporate and more often than not, the episodes refer to some documented touchstones like a book or research - a catalog of lessons

This one is a bit of an exception.

This episode is not so didactic; the lessons are in the pure experience - the story - and an entertaining one at that.

Enjoy!

To see show notes, resources, and more, visit larryweeks.com

What can we learn from survival science about recovering from trauma? What can survivors of extreme events teach us about creating a new normal?

My guest on this episode is Laurence Gonzales.

Laurence Gonzales is the author of numerous books and has won many awards, including two National Magazine Awards and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Laurence also received a Journalism Fellowship from the Santa Fe Institute and where he was also appointed a Miller Scholar.

Laurence wrote the best-selling books Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, its sequel Surviving Survival: The Art and Science of Resilience, and Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things.

In these books, Laurence chronicles not only how some endured life-threatening situations and somehow survive them, but also their second acts; the difficulty of moving on from their trauma to the equally challenging return to or re-creation of a "normal" life.

The extreme events that Laurence writes about are helpful to study as it lends perspective; we realize we are one among many who may have it far worse than we. Also helpful are the lessons learned on how the brain and body work during and after traumatic events.

Some of our talking points….

• How evolutionary wiring works for us and against us
• PTSD or PTS
• Why some survive, and others do not
• Problems with narrow domain expertise and ego
• Active coping skills and suggested activities
• Awareness, behavioral scripts, and accidents
• Cognitive dissonance
• The brain's rage pathway
• Goal seeking behavior and the power of hobbies

I've been trying to get Laurence on for over a year - schedules just didn't align, but we finally made it happen happy to say and it was well worth it.

Enjoy!

In this episode, my focus is on how to find peace of mind amidst turmoil and persistent uncertainty. So many things that are directly affecting our lives are also out of our direct control - and it can be maddening.

Serenity now.

The Ancient Greeks used the term ataraxia, which means a state of serene calmness. Steven Gambardella writes in the Sophist, "Ataraxia is not a positively-defined state such as "happy" or "excited" It was believed by the Hellenistic philosophies to be a "resting" state of serenity."

To achieve this state, the Stoics taught the need to discern between "things not up to us" vs. "things up to us."

"Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing." - Epictetus in the Enchiridion

Herein lies the key to much of our neurosis, not understanding what's in your control and what's not. Crazy is treating outcomes as objects; to paraphrase psychoanalyst Leslie Farber, where you can directly move an object, you cannot directly will an outcome - and your goals can distort your psyche when confusing the two.

My guest is philosophy professor Massimo Pigliucci.

Massimo has a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He is currently the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism.

He is also the author or editor of 14 books, including the bestselling How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. Other titles include Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk and his just published A Field Guide to a Happy Life.

Some of or talking points on this episode

• How his life changed in 2014
• Re-discovering Stoic philosophy
• Thoughts and suffering
• Stoicism 2.0
• How stress is created
• The dichotomy of control
• Holding things lightly; loans from the bank of the universe
• Unhooking happiness from results
• Ambition, goals and the challenge of process orientation
• Pandemics, mask-wearing and citizenship
• Historical perspectives on crazy political seasons and unorthodox leaders
• On pacifism and civic engagement

Massimo was great as usual so - take a break from the insanity out there, put your earphones on, go for a walk and listen.

Enjoy!

For show notes, resources and more of my content visit larryweeks.com

What do you do when you're faced with a big decision?

If you're like most people, you might make a pro and con list, although many don't even do that - if you're like me, you might over-analyze and spend too much time searching for that extra data point that might make you sure.

There is a better way to make quality decisions and minimize second-guessing.

My guest is Annie Duke.

Annie is an expert on decision fitness and is the author of two books on decision making, the bestseller Thinking In Bets, and her latest How To Decide, Simple Tools For Making Better Choices, is the topic of the show.

Prior to the books, Annie used high stakes poker as her decision lab and became one of the world's top poker players, winning her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2004. That same year, she won the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Before professional poker, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

This is the second time I've had Annie as a guest (See Ep. 22) and the topic of this episode follows from the first except here we shift from highlighting causes of bad decisions to discussing in more detail the process for making better ones. We move to the more practical as she outlines the tools and heuristics we can use to make quality decisions and second-guess yourself less.

Here are just some of our talking points.

• A review of "resulting" and why it's a problem
• What's wrong with pro-con lists - and what's better
• Assigning probability and forecasting
• The tree of possibility
• The decision multiverse
• The three-column decision map
• Why we should embrace educated guesses
• Factors leading up to election cycles and how predictions might be wrong yet correctly made before
• and much more

Note Annie's audio is less than optimal but listen closely, it's a gold mine of decision-making wisdom you can use right away.

Enjoy!

"It's like an aha moment when you suddenly see it, the moment you say, oh, all these negative feelings are awesome and wonderful, this is a positive deal. The moment you see that you suddenly won't want or need them anymore." - Dr. David burns

"What you resist not only persists but will grow in size" - Carl Jung

This was recorded in late August and throughout much of the world, we are still dealing with the pandemic via restricted living. Our routines have been disrupted and our world of experiences narrowed, going on six months. Add to the mix all the negative news that precedes a national election, and you have a recipe for depression and anxiety.

Enter my guest on this episode is Dr.David Burns, M.D.

David was a previous guest back when I started the podcast (episode 5), and he is one of the pioneers in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) so very happy to have him back on.

Dr. Burns is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is involved in research and teaching. He has received numerous awards, including the A. E. Bennett Award for his research on brain chemistry, the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology through the Media Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists. He has been named Teacher of the Year three times from the class of graduating residents at Stanford University School of Medicine, and his best-selling book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, published over 40 years ago, is still in the #1 Amazon spot for books on depression.

Now he has a new book that innovates on the methods in the first called Feeling Great – The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety, which is based on more than 40,000 hours treating individuals with severe mood problems.

Dr. Burns says that our negative moods do not result from what's wrong with us, but rather - what's right with us. And paradoxically, when you listen and "hear" what your negative thoughts and feelings are trying to say, you won't need them anymore, and recovery follows. The goal, according to Dr. Burns, is not just complete elimination of negative feelings, but the development of joy and enlightenment.

Some talking points from the show.

• A review of the origins and basics of CBT
• David's new treatment protocol - TEAM CBT
• A list of cognitive distortions
• Discerning healthy and unhealthy sadness
• On dealing with cancer
• Agenda setting
• How and why of honoring negative thoughts
• Case studies and patience response

Read to investigate your feelings and experiment with how to change them?

Enjoy!

For resources and more visit larryweeks.com