Get Happy

Clem Onojeghou (CC0)

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Original Air Date: 
January 11, 2016

Can science tell you how to "get happy?"  This hour,  the psychology and history behind the very idea of happiness. Plus some practical advice for how to live well.

Mark playing a game in his basement.
Audio

After suffering a terrible concussion, game designer Jane McGonigal created a game to help her feel better. In the years since, it's helped nearly half a million other people overcome depression, anxiety and other mood disorders.

Length: 
12:42
Audio

Psychiatrist Michael Bennett and his daughter, comedy writer Sarah Bennett, say it's time we stopped thinking about our feelings and instead focused on our actions.

Length: 
7:37
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Historian Darrin McMahon traces ideas around happiness from classical antiquity to the modern age.

Length: 
04:11
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Poet David Whyte finds inspiration in everyday words. In his book "Consolations," Whyte examines the deeper, often surpising meanings of 52 ordinary words.

Length: 
11:16
"Solo Faces" by James Salter
Bookmarks

Writer David Morris explains why "Solo Faces" by James Salter is one of his favorite books.

Length: 
03:20
Site of Thoreau's Hut, Concord, Mass.
Articles

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life." Those famous lines from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" have inspired generations of people — including his biographer, Laura Dassow Walls.

Show Details 📻
Airdates
January 11, 2016
July 15, 2017
May 12, 2018
December 21, 2019
Guests: 
Freelance Comedy Writer
Psychiatrist
Willliam P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English, Notre Dame
Last modified: 
October 20, 2020