How to lead a happier, more fulfilling life (with Dr. Robert Waldinger)
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 July 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Listening to your favorite song, going on vacation, chocolate… What makes YOU happy? Today’s guest, psychiatrist Dr. Robert Waldinger, is the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, an 83-year-old project--one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever--that tracks how life experience across decades affects health and wellbeing in middle age and beyond. Robert shares the surprising things he’s learned about what makes a meaningful life and what to do--or avoid--in order to have a long, fulfilling existence. Robert is the author of numerous scientific papers as well as two books, and he teaches medical students and psychiatry residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is a Senior Dharma Teacher in Boundless Way Zen. To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:02.0 | Audio Collective. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Chris Duffy and you're listening to how to be a better human. |
| 0:11.0 | A fresh pair of socks, jumping into a lake laughing so hard with a friend that we |
| 0:16.8 | both snort those are a few of my favorite things and no on today's show we are |
| 0:22.0 | not performing an alternate version of the sound of music. |
| 0:26.0 | But those are the first things that come to mind when you ask me what makes me happy. |
| 0:30.0 | So what makes you happy? |
| 0:32.0 | And what if the things that actually make us happy aren't what we expect? |
| 0:37.0 | Well, Robert Waldinger is a scientist who's trying to get to the bottom of these questions. |
| 0:42.0 | His TEDX talk is one of the most popular of all time. It has more than 40 million views. |
| 0:47.0 | So clearly, there are a lot of people out there who are interested in finding out these answers. |
| 0:52.0 | And here's a clip of what Robert has to say. who are interested in finding out these answers. |
| 0:52.8 | And here's a clip of what Robert has to say. |
| 0:56.1 | What keeps us healthy and happy as we go through life? |
| 1:00.8 | If you weren't going to invest now in your future best self, |
| 1:05.0 | where would you put your time and your energy? |
| 1:08.0 | Pictures of entire lives of the choices that people make and how those choices work out for them, |
| 1:16.0 | those pictures are almost impossible to get. |
| 1:20.0 | Most of what we know about human life, we know from asking people to remember the past. |
| 1:27.0 | And as we know, hindsight is anything but 2020. |
| 1:31.0 | We forget vast amounts of what happens to us in life, |
... |
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