I have a distinct memory of a time. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco, no fog in

sight, and we were at Dolores Park. Just kind of hanging out, playing some games, tossing

a frisbee, and we decided that we wanted to go grab a beer at a brewery. That was

maybe a mile away. And all my friends, obviously, knew how to ride bikes. They were bonafide,

San Francisco's, they had the apps on their phones to rent the bikes, and I was the single

holdout to be like, I'm so sorry, I simply cannot join you on that particular outing.

I do want a beer, I will meet you there. I was the squeaky wheel to use a bike pun. I was

the one in the group who kind of made things harder for the group, which didn't feel great.

And I would love to not have to experience that again.

A lot has changed since those days in San Francisco for Michelle Pitcher. She became a Pulitzer

Prize winning journalist, and she moved back to Texas where she grew up. But Michelle

realized there's one thing that hasn't changed. She never learned how to ride a bike. I'm

Dacker Keltner, welcome to the Science of Happiness. Michelle joins us today after trying

a practice to overcome her fear of bikes. For our show, she took to two wheels for the

first time since her last serious bike riding attempt in the third grade. Later in the show,

we'll explore what happens when we form memories while afraid, and what we can do to lessen

our fears.

We created a situation where you have a fear memory in the lab, like a manufactured fear.

So what we did is extinguished that fear responds.

More after this break.

We all want to feel better, be happier, and have more freedom, and there are endless

resources at our fingertips. But the amount of self-help books and workshops and other resources

...