Think About Death. Science Says You’ll Be Happier. | Dr. Laurie Santos
The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
4.6 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 July 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The most misunderstood Stoic practice is Memento Mori - remember you will die. Dr. Laurie Santos, an expert on the science of happiness, joins Ryan to share the research behind why thinking about your mortality is proven to increase happiness. Dr. Laurie shares how to balance negative and positive visualizations for a fulfilling life, the Stoic practices that she swears by, and practical applications of Stoic and Buddhist teachings.
Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on the science of happiness and the ways in which our minds lie to us about what makes us happy. Her Yale course, “Psychology and the Good Life,” teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. The class became Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years, with almost one out of four students enrolled.
Her course has been featured in the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, Slate and O! Magazine. The online version of the class—The Science of Well-Being on Coursera.org—has attracted more than 4 million learners from around the world. A winner of numerous awards both for her science and teaching, she was recently voted as one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young minds, and was named in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.”
Listen to Dr. Laurie’s podcast, The Happiness Lab, where she shares the latest scientific research on what it means to be truly happy.
Check out more of Dr. Laurie’s work at DrLaurieSantos.com and follow her Instagram @LaurieSantosOfficial, X @LaurieSantos, and on YouTube and TikTok @DrLaurieSantos
🪙 We have a collection of items in the Daily Stoic store to help you in your own memento mori practice, check them out here: https://store.dailystoic.com/
📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work
🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast
🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast
✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/
📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Shopify has been our e-commerce platform of choice at the Daily Stoic since day one. It's easy to use, |
| 0:06.6 | and there are tons of helpful articles and courses available to help you be an expert at online |
| 0:11.9 | selling. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, |
| 0:17.7 | from household names like Mattel and Jimshark to brands just getting started. |
| 0:22.1 | Getting started designing your website is easy with their integrated design studio. With hundreds of |
| 0:28.2 | ready-to-use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand's style. |
| 0:34.6 | Accelerate your content creation with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, |
| 0:40.1 | page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a |
| 0:45.3 | marketing team behind you. Easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers |
| 0:51.2 | are scrolling and strolling. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world-class expertise |
| 0:58.3 | and everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. |
| 1:05.1 | If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. |
| 1:08.4 | Turn your big business idea into... |
| 1:11.2 | With Shopify on your side. |
| 1:15.0 | Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.co. |
| 1:20.5 | com.uk-UK. slash stoic. |
| 1:23.0 | Go to Shopify.com. |
| 1:25.2 | dot UK slash stoic. |
| 1:27.6 | That's Shopify. dot co. Okay. U.K.S.S. Stoic. That's Shopify.com. |
| 1:29.8 | dot UK slash Stoic. |
| 1:32.5 | Make this summer's adventures more extraordinary with Audible. |
| 1:36.4 | While you're lounging by the pool, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.