37. Emiliana Simon-Thomas: The Fireworks of a Compassionate Brain

46. Matthew Johnson: Mysticism, Medicine, and the Mind

This episode's guest is Dr. Matthew Johnson. Since 2004, he's played a role in the revival of psychedelic research, publishing on psychedelics in relation to mystical experience, personality change, risk and safety, ethics, and the treatment of tobacco addiction, cancer distress, and depression. He's also known for his expertise in behavioral economics, addiction, sexual risk behavior, and research across a wide range of drugs and has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, Fox News, the BBC, and more.

45. Tim Lomas: Do We Have a Word For That?

Dr. Tim Lomas is a Psychology Research Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who studies why most happiness research is too Western, too narrow, and too focused on positive states to capture how people actually flourish across the full diversity of human cultures. He joins me in this episode for a conversation about untranslatable well-being words, the case for negative emotions, and what a 22-country study reveals about flourishing.

44. Catherine Sanderson: The Moral Courage to Be Happy

With me in this episode is Dr. Catherine Sanderson. She is the Poler Family Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, with degrees from Princeton and Stanford, and a sought-after keynote speaker whose talks translate the science of happiness, mindset, emotional intelligence, and moral courage into practical strategies for thriving at work and in life. Dr. Sanderson is the author of The Positive Shift and Why We Act, is a widely-viewed TEDx speaker, and has been named one of the nation's top 300 professors by The Princeton Review.

43. Kathleen Mackenzie: A Real Plan to Help the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Dr. Kathleen Mackenzie is an award-winning Clinical Social Worker who recently retired from a multicultural urban school district after 27 years of service. She drew on this and her 33 years of clinical experience to write her new book, Exit Plan: Mapping a Way Out of the Youth Mental Health Crisis. Her recommendations are worth giving a listen by any parent, educator, or policy maker.

42. Mark Winters: Joy, Science, and Music

Life has taken Mark Winters from designing rocket parts in Houston to sharing uplifting stories as a songwriter. As he says, “My background in math and physics keeps me grounded, but it’s the haiku and wisdom I’ve traded with my grandmother that push me to see optimism everywhere.” His focus these days is on sharing messages that help others push through their own scientific, creative, or personal boundaries.