Happy You Asked: The Podcast That Explores Happiness One Awkward Conversation at a Time

Dr. Tim Lomas is a Psychology Research Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who studies why most happiness research is too Western, too narrow, and too focused on positive states to capture how people actually flourish across the full diversity of human cultures. He joins me in this episode for a conversation about untranslatable well-being words, the case for negative emotions, and what a 22-country study reveals about flourishing.

With me in this episode is Dr. Catherine Sanderson. She is the Poler Family Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, with degrees from Princeton and Stanford, and a sought-after keynote speaker whose talks translate the science of happiness, mindset, emotional intelligence, and moral courage into practical strategies for thriving at work and in life. Dr. Sanderson is the author of The Positive Shift and Why We Act, is a widely-viewed TEDx speaker, and has been named one of the nation's top 300 professors by The Princeton Review.

Dr. Kathleen Mackenzie is an award-winning Clinical Social Worker who recently retired from a multicultural urban school district after 27 years of service. She drew on this and her 33 years of clinical experience to write her new book, Exit Plan: Mapping a Way Out of the Youth Mental Health Crisis. Her recommendations are worth giving a listen by any parent, educator, or policy maker.

Life has taken Mark Winters from designing rocket parts in Houston to sharing uplifting stories as a songwriter. As he says, “My background in math and physics keeps me grounded, but it’s the haiku and wisdom I’ve traded with my grandmother that push me to see optimism everywhere.” His focus these days is on sharing messages that help others push through their own scientific, creative, or personal boundaries.

Eranda Jayawickreme is Harold W. Tribble Professor of Psychology and Senior Research Fellow at the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. His research focuses on post-traumatic growth, character, and well-being. He has been featured on NPR’s Hidden Brain, in the New York Times, BBC, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Scientific American, and Slate.

With me in this episode is Dr. Selin A. Malkoc, who is the FCOB Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Psychology at The Ohio State University. She has spent her career asking a deceptively simple question: why are we so bad at making choices that maximizes our productivity, happiness and well-being? Dr. Malkoc has long been fascinated by how differently people across cultures think about time — and how those differences shape the choices we make and the lives we end up living.

Mackenzie McGehee is the founder of Dear Humanity, I Love You (dearhumanityily.com), a mission-driven apparel brand built around the idea that small, visible reminders of love and connection can ripple outward in meaningful ways. Both her work as a personal coach and her brand share the same core philosophy: that people often need a gentle nudge back to what they already know about themselves.

With me in this episode is Dr. Lara Aknin, who is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She is also an editor of the World Happiness Report, a former Fellow with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and recent Chair of The Lancet’s COVID-19 Mental Health Task Force. She talks with me about research that shows giving substantially increases our happiness, and what that could mean for us on a day-to-day basis.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas. She is the Science Director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and a neuroscientist who studies compassion, gratitude, and awe. She co-teaches The Science of Happiness, one of the most popular online classes in the world with over 850,000 students. She also runs the Big Joy Project and has presented on the science of happiness to the Dalai Lama.

With me in this episode is Dr. Aaron B. Daniels, Associate Teaching Professor of Psychology and a Senior Mindfulness Fellow at Northeastern University. He is a former psychotherapist and a Certified Spiritual Director who has published six academic books. We talk about how his work on Dante, Jung, aliens, and mindfulness led him to see spiritual direction as a key to a content life.