How to Stop Chasing Happiness and Make a Meaningful Life Instead

The Academic Life

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In this episode you’ll hear about: why pursuing happiness won’t make you happy [but pursuing meaning can make you happier], why doing three random acts of kindness improves your mood, and discussion of the book A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding A Meaningful Existence.

Our guest is: Dr. Frank Martela, a professor at Aalto University in Helsinki. He finds meaning in family life, good conversations, friendships, and being a scholar. He is a philosopher and researcher of psychology specializing in studying the meaning of life, and is the author of A Wonderful Life.

Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She reinterprets the historical narrative in both traditional and creative forms. She finds meaning in her personal life, her research, and in nature. She supports her work-life balance with long walks and her photography, which you can find here.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

• A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding A Meaningful Existence by Frank Martela
• Donna Freitas, The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost.
• Find the Good by Heather Lende
• The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith
• Sue Stuart-Smith, The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature.
• The Ethics of Authenticity by Charles Taylor
• The Outsider by Colin Wilson

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