Becoming a Better Friend With Barnet Bain

Live Happy Now

Live Happy LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Health & Fitness:mental Health

4.7 • 522 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As we kick off International Friendship Month, it’s the perfect time to talk about what it means to be a friend in a world that often feels disconnected. Join host Paula Felps as she sits down with award‑winning filmmaker and author Barnet Bain to explore the surprising origins of his fascination with friendship, the “bubble” we all live inside, and why genuine connection requires presence, curiosity, and courage. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why friendship is a skill — not something we simply “fall into.” How to create safety, consistency, and presence in your closest relationships. A simple 24‑hour practice that can transform how you see and respond to others.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for joining us for episode 556 of Live Happy Now.
0:08.7	February is Friendship Month, so this is the perfect time to figure out how we can make the most of our friendships.
0:15.4	I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and today I'm joined by award-winning filmmaker Barnett Bain,
0:20.6	whose interest in exploring
0:22.0	friendships led him to create a master's course for psychologists at Columbia University, and then
0:27.6	write the book, How to Be a Friend in an unfriendly world. He's here to share what made him so
0:32.9	fascinated with friendships and what he's learned about being a better friend. Let's have a listen.
0:39.3	Barnett, thank you for coming on Live Happy Now. It's such an honor to have you on the show.
0:44.3	It's really a pleasure to be here. So now, we're kicking off Friendship Month right now,
0:48.6	and it is the perfect time to talk to you about your book, How to Be a Friend in an Unfriendly
0:54.0	World. So let's start with
0:55.6	your wife. What made you so interested in studying friendship? It's not like I had it all
1:02.6	figured out. I realized that I wasn't very good at it. My daughter brought that to my attention.
1:09.0	She went away to school, to college, first time away from home.
1:13.0	And she came back and we went out to dinner, just the two of us.
1:16.0	And she was sharing excitedly all about her new life, what she was doing, where she was going, who she was with.
1:23.7	And I kept coming at her with these questions.
1:27.5	And I would like to say that these were curious questions, but they were like weighted with
1:35.7	judgment and my own ideas, fixed ideas about the courses she should be taking to people
1:42.5	she should be hanging.
1:43.5	It was all about me.
1:45.3	And she pumped the brakes on this. She said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on with you?
	...

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