The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

Happiness Lab is five years old. To mark our birthday, Dr Laurie has picked her favorite five episodes from the archive. The show Why Nostalgia Ain't So Rosy was certainly a memorable one for her.  

Actor Rob Lowe LOVES the 1980s. And who can blame him? He was one of the most famous men on the planet. But, as he tells Dr Laurie, he's careful not to wallow in nostalgia for the music, fashions and events of his youth too much - and happiness science backs him up on this.

Research suggests that our memories of the past can be very selective and highly unreliable - causing us to misremember events and cast them in a rosy glow. Sadly, this also causes us to make very bad decisions about what will make us happy in the future.

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To mark the podcast's fifth birthday, Dr Laurie is revisiting some of her favorite episodes. And this show - Working Your Way to Happiness - has a special place in her heart.  

Marty kills rats... but if you asked him what his job is he'd say it was "solving problems" and "helping people". How we view our work can contribute greatly to our daily levels of happiness - far more than money or status.

Dr Laurie examines how we all came to ignore the importance of job satisfaction and hears from Professor Amy Wrzesniewski about "job crafting" - the reframing skill that happy people like Marty use to see their careers as more than just a way to make money.

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The Happiness Lab debuted back in fall 2019. To celebrate our fifth birthday, we're revisiting Dr Laurie's favorite shows. We kick off with one from way back. 

Technology allows us to bank, shop and dine without talking to another human, but what toll is this taking on our happiness? So in this episode, the inventor of the ATM and the Talking Heads singer David Byrne joined Dr Laurie to explore the ways in which talking to strangers can bring us all genuine joy.  

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We're bringing you an episode of Fixable, where Laurie joined Frances Frei and Anne Morriss to discuss whether you can make yourself happier at work. They talk about the concept of time famine, why you need a best friend at work, and where your employer is responsible for your wellbeing. Their conversation will show you how to turn your workplace into your happy place.

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We can spend a lot of time working - and it gives us fulfillment, social interaction and fun - but still one in five of us say our workplaces are "toxic". And even the best jobs can sometimes be stressful and draining. So how do we set ourselves up to thrive at work?   

Former news anchor Dan Harris (of 10% Happier with Dan Harris and DanHarris.com) joins Dr Laurie Santos to explore strategies to be a happier employee and a better employer. 

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You can't alway win at work. We all have career setbacks and disappointments - and learning how to deal with them is vital. We need to move on from our mistakes, accept that we're not superhuman, and be willing to see failure as the price of experimenting and taking risks.

Former news anchor Dan Harris (of 10% Happier with Dan Harris and DanHarris.com) joins Dr Laurie Santos to discuss the things that have gone wrong in his work life (he had a panic attack live on national TV) - and the ways in which we can reframe how we greet our career failures. 

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The biggest names in wellness podcasting - "The Titans of Happiness" - come together to talk about the greatest mental health challenges facing us in 2024 and the very simple things we can all do to be happier. 

Joining Dr Laurie Santos for this World Mental Health Day special are: 

Dr Joy Harden Bradford, the clinical psychologist and host of the podcast Therapy for Black Girls.

Gretchen Ruben, the best-selling author, host of Happier with Gretchen Rubin and all-round happiness guru at GretchenRubin.com.

Dan Harris, the former TV news anchor who now fronts 10% Happier with Dan Harris and the online community at Dan Harris.com. 

And since this is an extra special episode, Dr Laurie invited one extra special guest, Sesame Street’s Elmo. 

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We often assume that we can’t fix the big problems we see in the world around us. And that trying is for suckers - who’ll just end up sad, exhausted and defeated. 

Dr Laurie Santos and Dr Jamil Zaki meet people who have tried to make a difference in their communities - often against great odds - and have found the process made them happier and more hopeful.

Jamil's book Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness is out now.

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It feels like our world is deeply polarized. We seem to fundamentally disagree with so many people - and with those disputes comes anger and hatred. Can anything bridge these yawning divides? 

It turns out that we aren’t as divided as all that. Our minds often fool us into thinking we disagree with people more than is actually true. Dr Laurie Santos and Dr Jamil Zaki look at ways we can tame this misconception and get on with people who think a little differently to us.

Jamil's book Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness is out now.

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Some people think they need to be ruthless and selfish to thrive and survive in life. The theories of Charles Darwin are often wrongly interpreted to support this view that being competitive is the key to happiness and success. It isn’t. 

Dr Laurie Santos and Dr Jamil Zaki find that there are plenty of examples in the animal kingdom and human world where cooperation, kindness and compassion prove to be the winning strategy.

Jamil's book Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness is out now.

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