Mindfulness Episodes

Our new season begins with scientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropy leader Dr. Andrew Serazin, President of Templeton World Charity Foundation. Dr. Serazin discusses TWCF's latest initiative, the Grand Challenges for Human Flourishing, which will enable researchers to discover new knowledge, develop new tools, and launch new practices or interventions that make a lasting impact on human flourishing.Learn more about the Grand Challenges for Human Flourishing initiative.Subscribe to Stories of...

The birthright of every human being is not just to survive, but to thrive.This year on the Stories of Impact Podcast, we bring you conversations about the science behind innovative tools that help human beings flourish.Join host Tavia Gilbert and journalist Richard Sergay to hear about the intersection of the science and spiritual practices that give life the deepest meaning and fulfillment.Every first and third Tuesday, you’ll hear from global luminaries with expertise in psychology...

Today’s episode highlights Richard’s conversation with Dr. Everett Worthington. Dr. Worthington is Commonwealth Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. For the last 30 years, Dr. Worthington has been studying forgiveness, and he has written more than a dozen books on the subject. In 2001, he developed the pioneering REACH Forgiveness method, which has helped thousands of people—including himself—reap the mental and physical benefits of forgiveness.Learn more about Dr. Everett...

Templeton World Charity Foundation President, Dr. Andrew Serazin, is back for another conversation with podcast host Richard Sergay. Dr. Serazin talks about human flourishing — what it is, and how TWCF hopes to spur discovery about it. Dr. Serazin shares his excitement about the foundation’s Grand Challenges for Human Flourishing program, born out of a specific strategy to discover new knowledge, develop new tools, and launch new innovations that make a lasting impact on human flourishing.Di...

Imagine a state of being in which all the many dimensions of your life are good. Imagine health that goes beyond typical measures of physical and mental well-being, but expands to include life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and thriving social relationships.This spring, join producer Tavia Gilbert and journalist Richard Sergay for the fourth season of the award-winning Stories of Impact podcast. This season, we bring you explorations of how people throughout the wor...

Today, we speak with an ethicist, a computer scientist, and a neuroscientist who have teamed together at Duke University to research how we might build human morality into an artificially intelligent machine. Drs. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Jana Schaich Borg, and Vincent Conitzer also tell us about a surprising outcome of their research: that imbuing machines with the ability to act in accordance with moral principles can actually help us deepen our understanding of our own moral philosophy and b...

In today’s episode, we explore the social cognition found within our own species, and what the benefit to every person might be if we deepen our understanding of the wide variety of intelligences of human beings.We hear from two researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Sue Fletcher-Watson, and her colleague, Dr. Catherine Crompton, about their study examining the social cognition of autism, which shines new light on the comfort and confidence that autistic people can experience in com...

The Stories of Impact Podcast presents stories of the scientific breakthroughs that fuel the human search for meaning, purpose, and truth — how lives are transformed by science. Season 2 focuses on Diverse Intelligences.This project was made possible through the generous support of a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Today, host Richard Sergay is in conversation with David Sloan Wilson, professor of biological sciences at Binghamton University and president of the Evolution Institute. Prof. Wilson describes the core principles of human groups that allow successful cooperation, and discusses how we can implement these principles to alleviate the negative effects of the current pandemic and stop its spread.The fifth and final episode in a special, five-part Covid-19 conversation series.Learn more about...

In this episode, host Richard Sergay speaks to Joseph Bulbulia, professor at the University of Auckland and the MacLaurin Goodfellow Chair in Theological and Religious Studies. Professor Bulbulia discusses how religious interaction, worship, and teaching come together in different ways to facilitate group cooperation, and what we can learn from that to support us during the pandemic.This is the fourth episode in a special, five-part Covid-19 conversation series.Learn more about Joseph Bu...

In today’s episode, host Richard Sergay speaks with Erez Yoeli, director of the Applied Cooperation Team at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, about how to motivate people to cooperate and behave altruistically during a pandemic. Dr. Yoeli discusses how we can harness the power of reputation to encourage prosocial behavior, and suggests ways to make the message of altruism appeal to everyone in a time when people are receiving conflicting messages about what is right.This is the second episod...

The first episode of the Stories of Impact podcast special, five-part Covid-19 conversation series features Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Host Richard Sergay speaks with Dr. Fredrickson about why her work in positive psychology is more relevant than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Fredrickson offers tips on how to nurture our positive emotions and resilience amid the stress and anxiet...