Life Examined

Theresa MacPhail , associate professor of science and technology studies at Stevens Institute of Technology and author of Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World , discusses the origins of  allergies, tracing their discovery back to British physician Charles Blackley who put hay fever on the map. Alanna Collen , evolutionary biologist and author of  10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes H...

This week, Iza Kavedžija, a cultural anthropologist who lived in the Kansai region of Japan, while researching the older members of Japanese society, talks about how Japanese culture values the modest pursuit - a concept called   ikigai - small actions or interests, like making tea, that if done masterfully and with full attention provide fulfillment and meaning in life.    Get full access to Life...

Christian Wiman , author of Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair , discusses life after being diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of his cancer and how preparing for death influenced his thought, faith, and poetry. Wiman, the Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts at Yale Divinity School , examines anguish and despair and his “real desire to make faith more the center of my...

This week, Anna Lembke, addiction specialist at  Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic , and author of “ Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence ,” discusses the human tendency to lie and why telling the truth not only brings us closer together but is actually healthy for us. The intimacy created from being truthful, Lembke says, is a wonderful and healthy source of d...

Robert Sapolsky is a professor of biology, neurology, and neuro-surgery at Stanford University . He’s also a neuroendocrinology researcher and author. In his newest book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will,  he posits that extensive scientific research indicates that our decisions and choices in life are largely out of our control. Neuroscience, genetics, evolutionary theory, and child...

This week, Oliver Burkeman, journalist and author of  Four Thousand Weeks; Time Management for Mortals  explores our relationship with time and asks how our common belief that our ultimate happiness or contentment will only happen at some point in the future - perhaps when we’ve got a top job, house or kids- is impacting our sense of happiness and contentment day to day.   Get full access to Life...

Katherine May , British writer and author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times , shares her love of the winter months, describing her physical feelings when immersed in the cold local sea as a “sensory delight.” Writer, surfer, and swimmer Bonnie Tsui shares stories from her latest book Why We Swim and explains why humans have such a long and deep connection to water. Get...

This week, Cassie Holmes, Professor of Marketing and Behavioral Decision Making and author of  “Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most,”  suggests ways to value and savor the more ordinary moments and says when it comes to finding happiness, it helps to measure those less extraordinary moments in our lives.  Get full access to Life Examined at lifee...

Jonathan Bastian talks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the role that hardship and pain play in living a good life. Bloom, author of  “ The Sweet Spot ,” explores why — from running a marathon to eating spicy food — suffering helps us to thrive and gives us satisfaction. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

British author Katherine May offers some (heart)warming advice on winter and explores simple ways to rediscover the joy of enchantment. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

This week, Harvard divinity scholar Casper ter Kuile talks about the power of ancient ritual and how incorporating a tech sabbath and switching off our phones, can help us refocus and recenter our lives. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Carl Safina, ecologist and founding president of The Safina Center at Stony Brook University in New York, shares his experience raising a small owl. Safina recounts what he learned and why this period of his life was so joyful in his latest book Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. Writer Jennifer Ackerman , who’s written several books on birds and is author of What an Owl Knows:The...

Elizabeth Rush, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth , describes her voyage to the most remote place on earth, Antarctica, to see the Thwaites Glacier , a crumbling sheet of ice the size of Florida. It’s melting so fast that it's known as the "doomsday glacier.”  “The only thing I could think of as a metaphoric likeness was the wall...

This week, British author Katherine May offers a (heart) warming perspective on winter. Rather than dread or endure the cold and dark days, rediscover some of the simple ways to enjoy some of the beauty and stillness that winter offers. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Yiyun Li, writer and author most recently of a collection of short stories Wednesday’s Child: Stories, talks about the beauty of storytelling and how she uses stories to explore the relationship between parents and their children — including mothers, like her, who suffer the loss of a child: “That's one thing that literature does well, is to examine losses in life,” she says. In the 20 years since...

This week, cognitive scientist and professor of psychology at Yale University Lori Santos explains that negative emotions are very much part of the human experience and essential to leading a happy life. Leaning into these emotions and accepting them is better for us than trying to dismiss or suppress them.  Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Jonathan Bastian talks with Dr. Anna Lembke , director and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic , about the role of dopamine in the brain. She also offers advice on keeping the pursuit of pleasure in check and maintaining balance and contentment, and discusses her New York Times bestseller “ Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence .” “We're living in an...

Lisa Miller, professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and author of “The Awakened Brain; The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life,”  talks about the connections between a spiritual life and mental health, specifically what happens inside the brain when a religious or a spiritual practice are introduced. Miller, a scientist and not a theologian, talks about...

This week, professor and director of the Convergent Behavioural Science Initiative at the University of Virginia Leidy Klotz explains why when it comes to solving problems or finding ways to improve our lives -  subtraction rather than addition can be the less instinctive but often the most effective solution. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Oliver Burkeman, journalist and author of Four Thousand Weeks; Time Management for Mortals , explores our relationship with time and the modern obsession with time management, efficiency, and making the most of this valuable resource. Depressing as it may sound, Burkeman says, the average person has about 4,000 weeks. Drawing on history and philosophy, Burkeman offers a sane and sensible approach...

This week, psychology and education professor Peter Coleman explains that conflicts and disagreements are not just normal in relationships but actually a good thing - we don’t learn without conflict. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Professor of American Indian Studies Mishuana Goeman addresses the common misconceptions about Native American land and the ties between the land and language. Indigenous ecologist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and speaks to the value of living in reciprocity with the natural world. A member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Kimme...

Welcome to the Midweek Reset from Life Examined, where host Jonathan Bastian takes a small pause for a new perspective. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe

Doctor Sunita Puri and hospice and palliative RN Hadley Vlahos share their perspectives and first-hand experiences helping people approach the end of life. Puri, who is the Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the UMass Chan School of Medicine , says that more and more Americans are electing to die at home. Vlahos, author of The In- Between: Unforgettable Encounte...

Welcome to the Midweek Reset from Life Examined, where host Jonathan Bastian takes a small pause for a new perspective. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe