What is Sadness Good For? | Susan Cain

What is Sadness Good For? | Susan Cain

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

---

Many of us may have a reflexive reaction when we notice we're feeling down: we want it to go away. Maybe we think something is wrong with us and we automatically self medicate in any number of ways. But how do we square this with the fact that many of us may also really like sad movies and music? And making things even more complex, how do we compute the fact that the universe is constantly handing us opportunities to feel awe, gratitude, and joy, often at the exact same moment that sadness arises?


What's going on with this complex and conflicted relationship we have with a perfectly normal human emotion?


Our guest today Susan Cain has written a whole book about this called Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. In this book, she explores how the capacity to tune in to the inherent joy and sadness of the human situation can be a superpower for connection.


In this episode we talk about:


  • Whether bittersweetness is a skill you can hone
  • The relationship between bittersweetness and the Buddhist concept of impermanence
  • Why we feel embarrassed about discussing sorrow and longing
  • How sadness can be transmuted into creativity, and how that creativity can lead us out of sadness
  • And how America, a country founded on so much heartache, turned into, in her words, "a culture of normative smiles"




Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/susan-cain-480


Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1036)

How To Relax The Need To Control Everything | Rosa Lewis

How To Relax The Need To Control Everything | Rosa Lewis

Plus: Navigating the "dark night of the soul," the power of saying "no," and how to be more present. Rosa Lewis is a mystic, awakening guide, artist and writer. She is the author of many books, most r...

22 Apr 55min

How To Escape Your Brain's Default Mode Network | Zindel Segal and Norman Farb

How To Escape Your Brain's Default Mode Network | Zindel Segal and Norman Farb

Using your senses to reduce overthinking, turn down the voice in your head, and get out of what these scientists call "the house of habit." Dr. Zindel Segal is Distinguished Professor of Psychology in...

20 Apr 1h 4min

Trudging Through Your Own Life? Here's the Stoic Fix | Maria Semple

Trudging Through Your Own Life? Here's the Stoic Fix | Maria Semple

How to do your best work, reframe life's bullshit, and stop making your happiness hostage to outcomes. Maria Semple is the bestselling author of Today Will Be Different, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, an...

17 Apr 53min

Top 10 Neuroscience-Backed Tips for a Stronger Brain | Wendy Suzuki and Amishi Jha

Top 10 Neuroscience-Backed Tips for a Stronger Brain | Wendy Suzuki and Amishi Jha

Plus: maximizing the benefits of sleep, exercise, and meditation. To celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, we're producing episodes that share top 10 lists of practices, strategies and more from our ...

15 Apr 1h

The Science of Talking: Boost Your Mood, Sharpen Your Mind, and Protect Against Dementia | Maryellen MacDonald

The Science of Talking: Boost Your Mood, Sharpen Your Mind, and Protect Against Dementia | Maryellen MacDonald

The way you talk to other people (and yourself) can reduce dysregulation and distraction--and lead to better decisions. Maryellen MacDonald is the Donald P. Hayes Professor (emerit) of Psychology and ...

13 Apr 57min

What To Do When Life Won't Let Up | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren

What To Do When Life Won't Let Up | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren

What does it actually mean to "trust life" — especially when life is handing you something genuinely hard? In this Meditation Party episode (originally aired in 2024), Dan, Sebene Selassie, and Jeff W...

10 Apr 1h 2min

This Episode Will Calm Your Nervous System | Prentis Hemphill

This Episode Will Calm Your Nervous System | Prentis Hemphill

Strategies for getting out of your head and thriving in a chaotic world. Prentis Hemphill is a writer, political organizer, therapist and somatic facilitator. They are the author of the national bests...

8 Apr 1h 6min

Gabor Maté: Five Steps To Stop Scrolling, Bingeing, and Self-Medicating — And Reclaim Your Brain

Gabor Maté: Five Steps To Stop Scrolling, Bingeing, and Self-Medicating — And Reclaim Your Brain

Practical tools to break "automatic habits" and take back your agency.   Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a deca...

6 Apr 54min

Populært innen Helse

fastlegen
rss-gukild-johaug
hvordan-har-du-det-mann
psykodrama
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
leger-om-livet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
bak-fasaden-en-reise-i-livet-med-sykepleier-ine
rss-skravla-gar
foreldreradet
g-punktet
morten-ramm-lar-kakla-ga-til-du-sovner
rss-garne-damer
hjernesterk
rss-lopedrommen
rss-sunn-okonomi
klimaks
treningsprat
helsetipspodden
rss-kull