Richard Davidson & Cortland Dahl: “Flourishing Is Contagious, and It’s Easier Than You Think”
4/28/20261 hr 2 min
What if flourishing isn't something you have to achieve, but something you were born to do? Tami Simon speaks with neuroscientist Richard Davidson and contemplative scientist Cortland Dahl, authors of Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving, about four trainable skills—awareness, connection, insight, and purpose—that can transform your wellbeing in as little as five minutes a day.
This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.
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First 90 secondsTami Simon· Host0:00
The Sounds True Podcast Network.
Richard Davidson· Guest0:02
[gentle music] This is the kind of evidence that leads us to title the book the way we did, that we literally are born to flourish.
Cortland Dahl· Guest0:17
This isn't like another self-improvement program. It's really recognizing what's already here, what we already have, and then building from there, and it's just a totally different inner process when you view it that way.
Tami Simon· Host0:26
In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guests are Richie Davidson and Courtland Dahl from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and they're the authors of the new book, Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving. Perhaps you've heard of Richie Davidson. He's one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. He's known for his groundbreaking work studying emotion and the brain, and also what we can learn from long-term meditators that we can put into practical application in our lives. Courtland Dahl is a contemplative scientist who works closely with Richie at the Center for Healthy Minds. He's a translator of Buddhist texts. He's author of the book, A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism, and he's co-founder and executive director