With and For hosted by Dr. Pam King

Science can change your life. The more we study what makes people develop, grow, learn, and flourish—the more we see how the practical application of scientific findings can help us transform our life and experience—into a life of value, meaning, purpose and true thriving.

Yale psychologist Laurie Santos has spent her career investigating the human brain and how it thrives. From her popular Yale course to her podcast, The Happiness Lab, she’s communicating actionable and hopeful lessons for how to build lasting habits, cultivate self-compassion, manage complex emotions, and realign our lives toward meaningful happiness.

In this conversation with Dr. Laurie Santos, we discuss:

Laurie Santos on how to activate psychological science for more happiness and meaning (from the episode):

“Some of these factors that we know scientifically do work. From simple behavior changes like being more social, doing nice things for others, just healthy habits  like sleeping and moving your body,  to mindset shifts, to becoming a little bit more present, to becoming more other oriented, to becoming more grateful, more self-compassionate, and so on.

There are shifts that we can make that can have a huge effect on how we actually interact in the world.

We need to understand that we're not perfect, we're just human. And we will mess up a little bit too. But it's really the journey that   matters.”

About Laurie Santos

Dr. Laurie Santos is the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast. Dr. Santos is an expert on the science of happiness. Her Yale course, Psychology and the Good Life, teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. Her course recently became Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years, with almost one of our four students at Yale enrolled. Her course has been featured in numerous news outlets including the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, Slate and O! Magazine. A winner of numerous awards both for her science and teaching, she was recently voted as one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young minds, and was named in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.” Her podcast, The Happiness Lab, has over 100 million downloads.

Listen to The Happiness Lab podcast

Visit [drlauriesantos.com](http://drlauriesantos.comhttps://www.drlauriesantos.com/)

Show Notes

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Welcome to the fourth and final week of our Advent Meditation Journey.

If you’re longing for a more meaningful Advent season, this meditation invites you to reflect on love—the heart of Advent and the fulfillment of all our deepest hopes, longings, and desires.

Throughout this series, we’ve explored hope, peace, and joy. Now, we turn to love—the love of God made flesh in Christ, Emmanuel. In this quiet time, you’ll be guided to reflect on what you love most, where your life feels aligned—or out of alignment—and how God’s love might invite you to reorder your heart.

Find a quiet space, take a deep breath, and let yourself settle into this sacred moment. Let’s begin.

⁠https://youtu.be/zi2d5IPCCM0

Check out our blog - Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love.

https://thethrivecenter.org/fourth-sunday-of-advent-love/

https://depree.org/de-pree-journal/love-that-comes-near/

To receive all four meditations, visit https://thethrivecenter.org/ and sign up for our newsletter https://mailchi.mp/fuller.edu/sm-practices-for-spiritual-health-part2. We at the Thrive Center wish you a season filled with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christ.

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Welcome to the third week of our Advent Meditation Journey.

If you’re longing for a more meaningful Advent season, this meditation invites you to pause and reflect on the deeper joy that often hides beneath the noise and hustle of December. Each week, we focus on a different theme—Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love—and today we turn our attention to joy.

Joy is more than a fleeting feeling—it’s rooted in what we love and how we live. This short reflection will guide you to consider the longings that shape your joy and help you notice where God may be meeting you right now.

So take a few moments, find a quiet space, and let yourself be still. Wherever you are, however you are, know that God welcomes you here. Let’s begin.

We at the Thrive Center wish you a season filled with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christ.

To receive all four meditations, visit 

https://thethrivecenter.org/ and sign up for our newsletter 

Check out our blog - Third Sunday of Advent: Joy.

https://thethrivecenter.org/third-sunday-of-advent-joy/

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Welcome to the second week of our Advent Meditation Journey.

In this sacred season of waiting, we turn our attention to peace—not just as a feeling, but as a way of being rooted in God’s presence. This meditation invites you to pause, breathe deeply, and explore the longings that stir beneath the surface. However you are today—tense or calm, weary or expectant—you are welcome here. Let this be a moment to bring your whole self before God and receive the peace that passes understanding.

To receive all four meditations, visit 

https://thethrivecenter.org/ and sign up for our newsletter 

https://youtu.be/FYCPLepj1kU

We at the Thrive Center wish you a season filled with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christ.

Check out our blog - Second Sunday of Advent: Peace.

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Welcome to the 2025 Advent Meditation Journey.

If you are longing for a more meaningful Advent season, we invite you to join us in setting aside time each week to reflect, pray, and re-center. Advent is a season of preparation—a sacred invitation to slow down and open ourselves to the coming of Christ.

This is the first week of our Advent Meditation Journey. In this season of sacred waiting, we pause to reflect on longing and hope. Whether you’re feeling grounded or weary, hopeful or uncertain, you are welcome here. This brief meditation is an invitation to slow down, tune into your heart, and open yourself to the quiet stirrings of hope. Find a comfortable place, take a deep breath, and join me as we begin this Advent journey together—with honesty, stillness, and expectation.

Check out our blog - First Sunday of Advent: Hope.

https://thethrivecenter.org/first-sunday-of-advent-hope/

To receive all four meditations, visit 

https://thethrivecenter.org/

 and sign up for our newsletter 

https://mailchi.mp/fuller.edu/sm-practices-for-spiritual-health-part2

https://mailchi.mp/fuller.edu/web-thrive-advent2025

⁠https://youtu.be/FYCPLepj1kU

We at the Thrive Center wish you a season filled with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christ.

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Christmas is about the love of God given to us in Christ. Love compels us forward through darkness and light—enabling us to grow and change, connect and relate, forgive and let go, and make a difference and seek justice.

This December, we’re celebrating Advent with you by offering four guided meditations by Dr. Pam King—considering how to cultivate the Advent virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives this year.

We’d be grateful if you considered the Thrive Center in your year-end giving. To make a year-end tax-deductible gift, visit thethrivecenter.org/contribute.

Don't forget that Season 2 of With & For launches with all new episodes on January 6, 2025!

Show Notes

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Joy is more than a feeling. It’s a virtue. And it’s something we can cultivate. We live into joy when we encounter who or what matters most to us. It’s associated with our life's deepest yearnings and connection.

This December, we’re celebrating Advent with you by offering four guided meditations by Dr. Pam King—considering how to cultivate the Advent virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives this year.

We’d be grateful if you considered the Thrive Center in your year-end giving. To make a year-end tax-deductible gift, visit thethrivecenter.org/contribute.

Don't forget that Season 2 of With & For launches with all new episodes on January 6, 2025!

Show Notes

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Peace can be elusive, but if set an intention to be instruments of peace—both in offering it and experiencing it—it has the power to transform us. Peace is often an indication that life is in balance and going well, either in the immediate or the eternal sense.

This December, we’re celebrating Advent with you by offering four guided meditations by Dr. Pam King—considering how to cultivate the Advent virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives this year.

We’d be grateful if you considered the Thrive Center in your year-end giving. To make a year-end tax-deductible gift, visit thethrivecenter.org/contribute.

Don't forget that Season 2 of With & For launches with all new episodes on January 6, 2025!

Show Notes

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

Hope is powerful. It’s more than a feeling. It’s a foundation for getting us through even the darkest of times. The season of Advent provides the opportunity to attune to hope, become aware of our deepest hopes and desires, and then align our lives to hope.

This December, we’re celebrating Advent with you by offering four guided meditations by Dr. Pam King—considering how to cultivate the Advent virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives this year.

We’d be grateful if you considered the Thrive Center in your year-end giving. To make a year-end tax-deductible gift, visit thethrivecenter.org/contribute.

Don't forget that Season 2 of With & For launches with all new episodes on January 6, 2025!

Show Notes

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

How can we reconnect, repair, and rebuild our fractured world?

We need grounded scientific insight that we connect us with what is good, true, and beautiful. We need wider perspective that guides us toward purpose, community, wisdom, and spiritual health.

Developmental psychologist, ordained minister, and professor, Dr. Pam King introduces Season 2 of With & For, which launches on January 6, 2025. Inviting guests with expertise in psychology, spirituality, and leadership, this new season will tackle practical questions with courage, openness, and hope—focusing on insights, stories, and exercises for how to reconnect, repair, and rebuild our fractured world. How to find psychological, emotional, and spiritual health, and how to find one another in love.

This season, episode topics include:

The power of positive emotions like awe, wonder, curiosity, and transcendence, along with other research backed practices that encourage them.

The dangers of spiritual and religious abuse, the psychological impact of childhood relational trauma, and how to heal from the wounds of the past.

The neuroscience behind our emotional health, its impact on how we develop, learn, grow, and make meaning.

The science behind core human relationships, the emotional vulnerability and power dynamics of intimate romantic relationships, as well as the challenge of parenting and being parented.

Why and how our moral lives and cultivating virtues are fundamental to joy and thriving.

The legacies of racial justice and consider the spiritual and moral underpinnings of nonviolent resistance. The healing properties of art, creativity, and beauty, and how they offer comfort and strength beyond words.

And much more.

Subscribe to With & For wherever you listen to podcasts and visit us online at thethrivecenter.org/podcast.

About the Thrive Center

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.