Arthur Brooks: Meaning in Midlife & Beyond
3/26/202650 min
You’ve reached a point in life where you thought you’d feel different. You’ve checked a lot of the boxes of achievement, happiness, even success. And, still, something is missing. It is a quiet restlessness that age or achievement cannot seem to quiet. What you’re missing is meaning.
Our guest today is Arthur Brooks. He is a Harvard professor and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness.
In this conversation, we explore:
- The myths we tell about how to find meaning, and how they delude us.
- The neurological reason why your phone is blocking purpose
- The 3 real keys to meaning and mattering, and finally feeling alive
- The arrival fallacy that explains why winning is not the same the meaning
- How to use a specific morning protocol to program your brain for mystery and wonder
- The counterintuitive reason you actually want suffering in your life
If you are tired of the hustle and still feeling empty, it is time to look at the science of the soul, and learn how to bring more meaning into your life, starting with practical tools today.
You can find Arthur at: Website | Instagram | Episode Transcript
Next week, we're sharing a really meaningful conversation with Jenny Lawson. She's a #1 New York Times bestselling author who has made millions of people laugh with her writing, and she also lives with treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. This conversation is one of the most honest, funny, and unexpectedly hopeful we've ever had on the show.
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Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJonathan Fields· Host0:00
So you reach a point in life where you just thought you'd feel different. You checked all the boxes of, you know, achievement and happiness and even quote, success, and still something is missing. It's a quiet restlessness that age or achievement, they just can't seem to quiet. And what you're missing may well be meaning. My guest today is Arthur Brooks. He's a Harvard professor, number one New York Times best-selling author. His new book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. And today, we're exploring the myths that we tell about how we, quote, "find meaning" and how they delude us into doing things that actually keep meaning out of our lives. We talk about the neurological reason why your phone is actually blocking your ability to feel a sense of purpose and joy. We explore the three real keys to meaning and mattering and finally feeling alive that nobody ever really talks about or tells you about. We talk about something called the arrival fallacy that explains why all the success in the world won't make you feel like you want to feel. And we explore how to use a specific morning protocol to just kind of reprogram your brain for mystery and wonder. And finally, we drop into the counterintuitive reason you actually want suffering or pain in your life. It's a deep research backed look at how to move from not just getting by to truly flourishing. So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project.