Mindfulness Episodes

In our last episode with Dr. David Addiss, Heather Buesseler, Dr. Liz Grant, and Dr. Corinne Reid, we explored the role of compassion in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and learned that the SDG’s were motivated by a compassionate desire to end global human suffering across a variety of sectors. This week we’re back with these four researchers, as they offer more personal insight about what draws them to study the science of compassion. This week the researchers’ objective is t...

We begin Season 7 with a friend of the podcast — , who listeners will remember from an emotional episode last year about the role of compassion in healthcare. Dr. Addiss is back for another evocative discussion about compassion, and he’s joined by...

Today is our final episode of the sixth season of Stories of Impact, and is back in conversation with President , looking back over the year of stories we’re just wrapping up, and looking a little bit ahead at what’s to come. Read the ...

Today’s episode is all about medical professionals — the hardship, overwhelm, and burnout that pre-existed the pandemic and only got worse when it started. It's about research measuring the effectiveness of a program that offers healthcare workers the support they need to flourish, even in the midst of intensely stressful circumstances. And it’s about the positive impact the programs’ simple tools have made, not only in the lives of those first responders, but in the lives of their patients....

Today, we’re speaking with , the president of and director of the at the . Dr. Hays explains how the Faith and Displacement Project is working with an established network of churches in Colombia to train people to help their fellow citizens...

Today is the second in a two-part series that explores the subject of forgiveness. We hear more about the ground-breaking, six-site, five-country, four-continent study of Dr. Everett Worthington’s REACH forgiveness method’s effectiveness. We’re joined in conversation with Dr. Tyler VanderWeele, project Research Director; Principal Investigator Dr. Man Yee Ho; and site directors Andrea Ortega Bechara (Columbia) and Dr. Shaun Joynt (South Africa). They describe the impact of the study on individua...

Today we bring you the first of a special two-part series that dives deep into the subject of forgiveness. Our guests include Dr. Everett Worthington, Science Director in a worldwide research project studying the REACH forgiveness method’s effectiveness in facilitating not only individual forgiveness, but community forgiveness, a study that he and several colleagues conducted across six sites, five countries, and four continents. We’ll also hear from two of those research collaborators today: Uk...

The Stories of Impact podcast is coming to you for the next two weeks for a special exploration of forgiveness. Long-time listeners to the podcast may recognize Dr. Everett Worthington, who returns to discuss the largest-ever scientific study of forgiveness in the world. He joins Ukrainian citizens and fellow researchers Dr. Liudmyla Shtanko and Dr. Sergiy Tymchenko, for these important and timely conversations. We will be honored to bring you these three courageous and thoughtful experts, and i...

In this episode of Stories of Impact, we’re listening to a session from the Templeton World Charity Foundation’s Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing, which took place last fall. The conference aimed to showcase the latest and most meaningful scientific advances in understanding how humans flourish across cultures and alongside innovative new tools and strategies. Today’s session is a remarkable discussion on the human need for beauty and purpose in order to flourish, featuring a pr...

The first of a special three-part series, this episode defines polarization and explores its causes and effects. Next, we consider what we can learn from the history of polarization in other countries, share the antidotes to polarization that research has uncovered, and finally, explain why it’s important to make a long-term investment in polarization research.Today’s episode features researchers Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer, co-authors of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Ide...

Have you ever been in a group of people, everyone focused on the same thing — a sports competition or a sermon or a performance — and you’ve had a feeling that you’re being transported or transformed by what you’re experiencing? It’s when you’re been a part of a collective moment of being that is so powerful and so meaningful that you forget about any self-consciousness or shyness or hesitation, and you feel swept up in what might be called celebration or rapture, or joy, or love.There’s actua...

This week’s episode takes us to Kenya, where we meet , community mobilizer, entrepreneur and research scientist, and Harvard psychology graduate. In his long list of accolades and successes, he is most recently co-founder and executive director of...

What if we told you that by the end of this unusual episode, you could find yourself thinking completely differently about the role of video games in the lives of children and teens, and that you might actually look forward to playing video games yourself, as a way to become a healthier, happier, and more resilient human being? Today, we’ll meet a team of researchers and video game makers from the Games for Emotional and Mental Health (GEMH) Lab — Director Dr. Isabela Granic, Co-Director Dr. Han...

Today’s episode is our version of a back to school episode celebrating one of the coolest schools on the planet — the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI). We’re back with four friends from Season 2 of the podcast to further explore Diverse Intelligences: Drs. Andrew Serazin, Erica Cartmill, Pranab Das, and Jacob Foster. These researchers tell us about their work to build a community of scientists who have come together every summer for the last five years to explore together different ...

Today is our 20th and final episode of the Luminaries of Human Flourishing season on the Stories of Impact podcast. All season, we’ve been in conversation with artists, politicians, technologists, environmentalists, doctors, faith leaders, educators, sociologists, and other luminaries. And today we circle back to the beginning, in conversation with President of Templeton World Charity Foundation, biomedical scientist Andrew Serazin, whose focus on human flourishing opened the door for us to crea...

In today’s episode, we welcome , founder of , a collective of brain and behavioral scientists, human-centered designers, and multimedia producers who create innovative learning experiences. Dr. Linkenhoker is the recipient of grant funding from...

In today’s episode, we welcome , an expert in public health and preventive medicine. Dr. Addiss has spent his career thinking not only about science, but about service. In his early career, he cared for the health of migrants in the San Joaquin...

This week we bring you a conversation with Dr. Angela Duckworth, pioneering professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit that advances science to help children thrive. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2013, and in 2016 published Grit, a book that explores what elements lead to success. She makes the case that achievement is not dependent on genius, but instead, on The Power of Passion and Perseverance: grit. Dr. Duckworth believes that gr...

This week we’re bringing you a conversation about human flourishing with Vint Cerf, a man globally recognized as one of the “fathers of the Internet.” In recognition for his extraordinary contributions to the creation of Internet technology, Cerf has been awarded a U.S. National Medal of Technology, the Turing Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And, drawing on his own experience with being hearing impaired, he’s also known as a leading advocate for technology to be made accessible to ...

Our guest today is Dr. Deepak Chopra, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality. He is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and the author of over 90 books translated into over forty languages. In addition to holding a number of positions at medical schools across the US, Dr. Chopra has been at the fore...

Today, we’re in conversation about the act of listening. Our guests are researchers Netta Weinstein, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Reading, and Guy Itzchakov, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Services at the University of Haifa. Profs. Weinstein and Itzhchakov are part of a research team working to develop a scientific understanding of what listening is, what its benefits are, and why it matters so much to our well-being.Learn more:Guy Itzchakov...

Today’s guest is international superstar dancer/choreographer Judith Jamison. In 1964, at just 21 years old, Jamison made her dance debut in New York with the American Ballet Theater. She soon joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, eventually becoming the company’s principal dancer, then its artistic director, and, since 2011, she’s been artistic director emerita.Learn more:Judith JamisonAlvin Ailey American Dance TheaterAlvin AileyVideo: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater pe...

In today’s episode, we delve into how humans flourish through music and listening with internationally acclaimed musician, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis. At the age of 60, after a long, international career, Marsalis identifies not only as a solo artist and a group leader, but as an educator and a leading advocate of American culture.Learn more:Wynton MarsalisSubscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcastsMore about this episodeRead the transcript of ...

Today, we’re delving into a discussion with Casper ter Kuile and Reverend Sue Phillips, two of the co-founders of Sacred Design Lab, which describes itself as a “soul-centered research and development lab.” If you’re thinking, “Wait, how can you do R&D on the soul?!”, you’ll want to hear what ter Kuile and Rev. Phillips have to say.Rev. Sue Phillips is a graduate of Colgate University and the Episcopal Divinity School, and she has served as a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity Sc...