How To Build a Happy Life: Subtraction as a Solution

How to Age Up

The Atlantic Monthly Group, LLC

Education, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Self-improvement

4.0 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From how we build our cities to how we shop, it can seem as though our natural human tendency is to add. But a culture of accumulation may be exactly what holds us back from the simple solution in front of us: taking things away. University of Virginia professor Leidy Klotz helps us analyze the benefits of subtraction and how less may create the space for what we truly desire. This episode was produced by Rebecca Rashid and is hosted by Arthur Brooks. Editing by A.C. Valdez and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Matthew Simonson. Be part of How to Build a Happy Life. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com. To support this podcast, and get unlimited access to all of The Atlantic’s journalism, become a subscriber. Music by the Fix (“Saturdays”), Mindme (“Anxiety”), JADED (“Blue Steel”), and Timothy Infinite (“Rapid Years”). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:51.0	Hey Becca, why was thinking?
0:53.0	What was the thing during the worst of the COVID
0:56.0	that you missed the most?
0:59.0	I used to work at a coffee shop before a COVID hit
1:02.0	and knowing that my friends would come in to entertain me on my shift
1:07.0	and basically the life that comes from engaging with others.
1:11.0	I mean, there's really nothing like that
1:13.0	and as much as I tried to emulate that, it was impossible.
1:22.0	This is how to build a happy life.
1:24.0	I'm Arthur Brooks, Harvard professor and contributing writer at The Atlantic.
1:29.0	And I'm Rebecca Rashid, a producer at The Atlantic.
	...

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