Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we dig into the concept of GOMO, the Guarantee of Missing Out, as a more empowering alternative to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and FOBO (Fear of Being Over). We'll talk about how making choices inherently involves letting go of other possibilities, which, though initially daunting, can lead to a sense of freedom and relief. We'll lean on insights from Oliver Burkeman's 'Four Thousand Weeks' and Barry Schwartz's 'Paradox of Choice,' as we explore some practical strategies to navigate the overwhelming array of choices in modern life and the art of letting go to make space for what you're most connected to. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Joy Lab Episode about FOBO.
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Series on authenticity from our Joy Lab podcast:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• Follow Your Bliss: Awakening to Joy [ep. 219]
• The Still Small Voice: Awakening with soulfulness [ep. 220]
• Farivar, S., Wang, F., & Turel, O. (2022). Followers' problematic engagement with influencers on social media: An attachment theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 133. Access here. 
• Ruth King's website.

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we dig into this phenomenon of 'pathological productivity.' We'll talk about how over-focusing on productivity can lead to mental and physical health issues, why us humans have a deep aversion to idleness, why rest can feel "bad," and most importantly, how we can get out of this kind of pathological productivity and embrace rest and play in ways that nourish us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Joy Lab episodes referenced:
• Where's Your Third Place? [ep. 171]
• Sometimes I Just Sits... (the power of solitude) [ep. 74]
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Series on authenticity from our Joy Lab podcast:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• Follow Your Bliss: Awakening to Joy [ep. 219]
• The Still Small Voice: Awakening with soulfulness [ep. 220]
• Chandola, T., Ling, W., & Rouxel, P. (2025). Are anxious Mondays associated with HPA-axis dysregulation? A longitudinal study of older adults in England. Journal of Affective Disorders, 389. Access here.

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we talk about "joyless urgency," a brilliant phrase coined by Marilynne Robinson. The short story is that our modern kind of hustle culture and constant busyness often leads to little personal fulfillment. So what's causing all this urgency? We've highlighted some important reasons in some recent episodes (see links below). Today, we'll introduce another one: too much social media. We'll focus on something called "problematic engagement" and how excessive use on social media can fuel a cycle of anxiety and temporary relief followed by more anxiety and temporary relief and then more anxiety... you get the picture. Awareness is the first step to get out of this cycle and we'll hit on that a bit in this episode. And be sure to tune in for the next several episodes as we'll cover some practical steps you can take to get out of joyless urgency and back into joy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• More about Marilynne Robinson from The Poetry Foundation
• Joy Lab Episodes referenced:
• Worrier? You're Not Alone. Here's Why We Worry... [ep. 213]
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• Follow Your Bliss: Awakening to Joy [ep. 219]
• The Still Small Voice: Awakening with Soulfulness [ep. 220]
• Farivar, S., Wang, F., & Turel, O. (2022). Followers' problematic engagement with influencers on social media: An attachment theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 133. Access here.

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

The renowned play researcher, Dr. Brian Sutton-Smith, said that the "The opposite of play is not work, the opposite of play is depression." There's a lot of truth to that. In this episode, we (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) explore how play and having fun is woven into our human nature and why it's so essential for our mental health. We'll even touch on some surprising facts about how old rats can grow more brain cells than younger rats (it applies to humans too!) and why even retirees, who might experience every day as a holiday, report increased happiness on federal holidays. We hope you come away from this episode with more motivation to rest and play. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Series on authenticity from our Joy Lab podcast:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• Follow Your Bliss: Awakening to Joy [ep. 219]
• The Still Small Voice: Awakening with soulfulness [ep. 220]
• More on Dr. Brian Sutton Smith from the National Institute for Play.
• Merz, J. & Osberg, L. (2006). Keeping in touch: A benefit of public holidays. Access here.
• Rosso, L. & Wagner, R. (2021). Causal Effect of Public Holidays on Economic Growth. Access here. 

View full transcript here.  

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we wrap up our Month of Awe by exploring the concept of the 'Still, Small Voice' and its role in authenticity and soulfulness. We'll talk about the importance of turning inward, listening to our inner voice, and forming a relationship with our wisest self. Not sure what to listen for? Thankfully, even though our inner voice is unique to us, there are some universal characteristics to look out for. We'll get into those specifics so you can listen in with more confidence and take action in ways that nourish you and those around you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! 

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Related Joy Lab Episodes:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• Follow Your Bliss: Awakening to Joy [ep. 219]
• Mary Oliver (website for her work)
• Parker Palmer and the Center for Courage and Renewal

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we dig into this idea of 'Following Your Bliss' as a strategy to tap into authenticity and joy, especially by focusing on the small, everyday experiences that spark awe and vitality. We'll draw inspiration from the ideas of Joseph Campbell; we'll bring "joy" back down to the everyday practices we do here at Joy Lab; and we'll also bash the myth that growth has to be full of hardships, monsters, blood, sweat, and tears. And if all of this talk has you thinking that this journey to true self is a selfish pursuit, we hope you come away from this conversation with more confidence that embracing your true self is one of the most impactful gifts you can offer the world. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources & Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Related Joy Lab Episodes:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• The Road Most Travelled: Awakening Through Suffering [ep. 218] 
• The Power of Myth (with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers)

 Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) as we discuss strategies for awakening through suffering to foster authentic joy. We'll emphasize the challenges of becoming one's true self, acknowledging that life frequently presents opportunities for awakening. We'll also dig into the concept of post-traumatic growth and the importance of awareness, stillness, and openness in navigating life's hardships.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Portia Nelson: There's a Hole in My Sidewalk (book)
• Tedeschi, R. G., Park, C. L., & Calhoun, L. G. (Eds.). (1998). Posttraumatic growth: Positive changes in the aftermath of crisis.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
• Related Joy Lab Episodes:
• Unmasking Your True Self: Exploring Authenticity and Awe [ep. 216]
• Embrace Your True Self: Accepted, Connected, & In The Game [ep. 217]
• Learning to Love Well: Be More Permeable [ep. 23]

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) for a conversation about authenticity and the journey of becoming one's true self. We'll first explore how to let go of external masks that keep our true self hidden. How can we do that? Mainly through self-acceptance. We'll then bust the myth that authenticity is an individual sport. The truth is that our authenticity is entangled with everyone and everything around us-- which is a good thing. When we start to work within this space of support, then our life gets bigger and easier. We can go beyond our small self and work in a bigger, more connected space. And on a sports note... we'll get deep into a "basketball is life" analogy that Aimee is super into. Whether you like sports or not, we hope you resonate with the message that we can step out of a defensive way of living and into a more empowered, authentic life.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources & Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Related Joy Lab Episodes:
• No Need to Hurry, No Need to Sparkle, No Need to Be Anybody But Yourself [ep. 160]
• Accept Yourself Just As You Are & Then You Can Change [ep. 150]
• How to Change: External vs Internal Motivators [ep. 145]
• Ross Gay's website (his book "Inciting Joy" is fantastic)

Full transcript here

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join us (Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek) for a conversation about awe and authenticity. This is also the beginning of a month-long focus here at the podcast on how to uncover your authentic self. In this first episode, we'll highlight three big obstacles to authenticity. The first is the creation and impacts of a 'false self,' often developed during adolescence and driven by the need to satisfy external pressures. The second is an externally-focused search for the self that if we don't course-correct, always results in an exhausting and endless external search for the self. The last obstacle is that we tend to make this search for our true self into a big, complicated, spiritual pursuit of enlightenment. Instead, we see living authentically as a continuous, ordinary process, integral to achieving joy and contentment. Be sure to listen in for next episode as we dive deeper into authenticity.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Healing and the Mind (Bill Moyers) 
• The philosopher Aimee was trying to remember... Ludwig Wittgenstein and his work Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Full transcript here. 

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Join Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek for a conversation about our motivations for curiosity. We'll start with Albert Einstein's idea that mystery is central to true art and science, and the importance of remaining curious and open to the unknown... which, yes, is easier said than done. To make things a bit easier here, we can engage in a little check in strategy by asking ourselves, "Am I curious to learn or confirm?" When our curiosity is driven by learning rather than a need for confirming, we can see big benefits for our wellbeing and brain health. This episode also sets the stage for our focus next month on the Element of Awe. We hope you'll come away with some inspiration to embrace the (healthy!) discomfort that true curiosity requires and to integrate a sense of wonder into your daily life.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Sources and Notes:

• Joy Lab Program: Take the next leap in your wellbeing journey with step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life.
• Related Joy Lab Episodes:
• How uncertainty & anticipatory anxiety can keep you stressed out & stuck [ep. 212]
• Worrier? You're Not Alone. Here's Why We Worry... [ep. 213]
• Fast-Acting Strategies to Combat Worry and Anxiety [ep. 214]

Full transcript here.

Please remember that this content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice and is not a replacement for advice and treatment from a medical professional. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health professional before beginning any diet change, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Please see our terms for more information.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call the NAMI HelpLine: 1-800-950-6264 available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET. OR text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email NAMI at [email protected]. Visit NAMI for more. You can also call or text SAMHSA at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.