468: The secret sauce of happiness | Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, M.D.

The mindbodygreen Podcast

mindbodygreen

Alternative Health, Health & Fitness

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Order a copy of my new book The Joy Of Well-Being at thejoyofwellbeing.com! Robert Waldinger, M.D.: “People who are more concerned about others are happier.” Robert, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and Zen practitioner, joins us to discuss how to live a life full of purpose, happiness, and health, plus: - Robert’s professional background and research (~00:13) - What makes up a “good” life? (~01:15) - The longest study every done on adult life (~02:01) - What happiness looked like 80 years ago versus today (~03:21) - Why we’re more unhappy than ever (~06:27) - Why strong relationships are crucial for well-being (~07:39) - How happiness changes as you age (~10:03) - The biggest takeaways from the Harvard Study of Adult Development (~11:42) - How casual relationships impact your health (~12:54) - How technology & social media really affects happiness (~14:33) - Why wealth & fame makes some people happy but not others (~17:26) - A meditation practice for genuine happiness (~21:04) - Why loneliness is a huge health issue (~22:33) - How to make genuine connects with others (~23:33) - The role of purpose & community in happiness (~30:16) - The biggest happiness myths (~34:37) - Why not every friendship has to last (~37:02) - The keys to maintaining happiness from generation to generation (~39:21) - The future of happiness research (~43:11) - How to start a social fitness routine (~45:32) Referenced in the episode: - Robert's book, The Good Life. - The Harvard Study of Adult Development. - Watch Robert's TED Talk. - Huberman Lab Podcast episode on happiness. - A survey revealing 1 in 4 Gen Z-ers plan to become influencers. - Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. - Read more about Erik Erikson's theory of generativity. - Sign up for The Long Game. We hope you enjoy this episode sponsored by NerdWallet, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: podcast@mindbodygreen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the MyBuddyGreen podcast. I'm Jason Wackeb, founder and co-CEO of MyBuddyGreen and your host.
0:07.4	This is the sound of a grade 8's harpist who also has time to run their own bakery.
0:13.8	Thanks to Intuit QuickBooks automated invoice reminders, she never has to chase payments.
0:19.4	So suppliers can never pull on her strings. Get peace of mind, get QuickBooks, not available on self-employed.
0:27.3	Hey everyone, now it's no secret that the health and well-being space is filled with conflicting
0:32.2	opinions and controversies. But I think we all can agree that a sense of happiness is a very
0:37.3	good thing for your health. And according to Dr. Bob Waldinger, happiness can even help you live
0:43.1	longer. Dr. Bob is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and Zen practitioner who currently runs the
0:50.1	longest study of adult life that's ever been done. Yes, you heard that right. He is the
0:56.8	director of the 85-year-long Harvard study of adult development, where he investigates over
1:05.0	2,000 participants to answer the following question. What makes a good life?
1:11.6	Now in today's episode, Dr. Bob tells us everything you need to know about living a life full of
1:16.2	purpose, happiness and health. A true Muslim, you'll definitely want to share with your friends.
1:23.2	Bob, welcome. Well, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
1:26.8	Great to have you. I really enjoyed your new book, The Good Life. So it's really exciting
1:31.6	for me to have you on the show. And you've got an interesting background. So why don't we start
1:36.0	there by telling folks a bit about your background and the work you do? Sure, I'm a psychiatrist.
1:42.6	I am a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Med School. And I run the longest study of adult life
1:50.4	that's ever been done. But in addition, my specialty in psychiatry is psychotherapy, is talk therapy.
1:58.4	So I do that every day. I teach it to psychiatry trainees. And the other thing I do, which is
2:06.8	really important in my life, is I'm a serious Zen practitioner. Well, a lot to like there.
2:14.0	But specifically, the most interesting thing about you is the sound bite of, I run the most
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