Love is both beautiful and you want to scream with horror, but it would become easier if we were

able to admit how frightening love and tenderness actually are when we're confronted with them.

Today's guest is one of the most brilliant minds of our time. A philosopher and a best-selling

author, it is Alan de Botton. He's here to help us navigate and understand why we feel what we feel

so that we can heal and live our best possible lives. I'm a psychotherapist. This is the basic

thing you need to do. Get out on a starry night and look at the stars. Suddenly you're aware

of the vastness in which we all live. And you think, you know what? It's not all about me.

The university being going on a lot longer,

it's a lot bigger. I am a grain of sand. Thank God. We talk about love, some of its biggest myths, why so many of us think we need to be chosen to feel worthy. We even talk about how to move on from a life that's hurt us. I mean, that's just the beginning. There's so much more in this conversation. There's a zone, right? Between what you're hoping for and what life serves up.

Yes. And you can either, right, between what you're

hoping for and what life serves up. Yes. And you can either fill it with tears or you can fill it

with laughter. Let's try and fill it with the richest kind of laughter. Being human is a full-time

job and it's not always easy to get it right. But actually, no matter how lost you feel, there is

always space to begin again.

So, Alan de Botton, modern-day philosopher, what I love about what you want to do is you want to bring these big ideas to the general public in a way that we can all digest and understand them.

You were a co-founder of School of Life.

How many years has School of Life been going?

We started in 2008.

I mean, that is such an amazing organisation,

and the good that they've done has been quite extraordinary,

and the reach that it's had.

And I'd like to talk to you today, particularly because of the reason that I started this podcast,

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