Podcasts about greater good center

In this episode, I am joined by Dacher Keltner, Founding Director of The Greater Good Science Center. He is a world-renowned expert on the study and science of well-being. I am super excited to have him on the show! Please check it out!  Christie and I took his "Science of Happiness" course offered by EDx and did a recap episode that you can find here: https://positivephilter.libsyn.com/bonus-episode-science-of-happiness-course Social Media/Plugs Dacher Keltner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dacher-keltner-34882728/ Science of Happiness Course by the Greater Good Center on EdX: https://www.edx.org/course/the-science-of-happiness-4 Science of Happiness Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScienceofHappinessCourse/ Science of Happiness Podcast:  https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/series/the_science_of_happiness If you have a question for the podcast call 571-336-6560 or leave a question via this Google Form. Intro music provided by DJ BIGyoks. Check out his Instagram and Soundcloud channel can be found here:  https://www.instagram.com/beats.byyoks/ https://soundcloud.com/dj-bigyoks Outro music provided by Ryan Rosemond. Check out his Soundcloud channel here: https://soundcloud.com/brothersrosemond/albums  Please follow Positive Philter: Positive Philter Facebook Page Positive Philter Twitter Positive Philter Instagram  If you would like to support the podcast, please consider donating to the Positive Philter Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/positivephilter Positive Philter was selected by FeedSpot as Top 20 Positive Thinking Podcasts on the web. https://blog.feedspot.com/positive_thinking_podcasts/

Gwyn Wansbrough is the Executive Director of Partners for Youth Empowerment who work to bring more arts and creativity into all kinds of educational settings. Here, we talk about her work, her personal journey, and a range of inspiring organisations and approaches.If the conversation inspires you to bring some more creativity into your own education work, PYE runs excellent facilitator trainings, partners with schools to make classrooms more creative and shares a range of free training resources online. As it is a specific favourite of both Gwyn and me, we discuss Theatre of the Oppressed in the conversation - if you are keen to learn more and use that in your work, Augusto Boal's book Games for Actors and Non-Actors is a fantastic resource. Other organisations that Gwyn recommended people interested in this space should check out include UWC, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, the Greater Good Center at Berkely, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and the Search Institute. Gwyn also referred to Youtube videos documenting PYE's Creative Classrooms work - here they are: Video 1 and Video 2.As always, if you have any comments or questions, I'd be happy to hear from you. Email me at lukas.wallrich@empower-training.deTheme music from https://filmmusic.io: "Zigzag" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

On Nature as healing modality and connecting force. On the magical mycelium all around us, and the greatest natural solution for climate change. An award-winning cinematographer, director and producer whose notable career spans more than four decades providing breathtaking imagery using his time-lapse, high-speed and macro cinematography techniques. Schwartzberg is a visual artist who breaks barriers, connects with audiences, and tells stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, people, and places. Louie’s theatrical releases include the 3D IMAX film Mysteries of the Unseen World with National Geographic, narrated by Forest Whitaker; the documentary, Wings of Life for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep, and America’s Heart and Soul for Walt Disney Studios. His latest feature film, Fantastic Fungi, which explores the world of mushrooms and mycelium and illustrates how this fascinating organism can provide sustainable solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems, from curing diseases, to saving the bees, and cleaning the atmosphere will be released in theaters fall, 2019. Louie has also directed the Soarin’ Around the World; a motion simulator ride film, one of the most popular attractions at Disney Theme Parks worldwide. His Netflix series, Moving Art, was renewed for a third season and will be premiering in September, 2019. Designed to inspire, educate and evolve our perspective on the world, each episode immerses viewers in the natural world, taking them on a journey through time and scale. Louie’s TED talks have gone viral with over 54 million combined views. His Gratitude Revealed series of shorts were launched on Oprah.com. Supported by the Templeton Foundation, with science and analytics by the Greater Good Center at UC Berkeley, the series explores the multifaceted virtues of gratitude. Louie is the only filmmaker to be inducted into the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Lemelson Foundation’s Invention Ambassadors Program. For Schwartzberg, the greatest satisfaction is creating works that can have a positive effect on the future of the planet. “I hope my films inspire and open people’s hearts. Beauty is nature’s tool for survival – we protect what we love. That is the shift in consciousness we need to sustain and celebrate life.” Louie is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, Directors Guild of America and on the board of Earth Day Network. Time-lapse photography of decomposition [2:58] The role of mushrooms. Recycling [3:58] Mycelium network [7:38] Greatest natural solution for Climate Change [10:25] How everything is connected [14:19] Magic Mushrooms [16:58] Mushrooms as immune boosters for bees [25:55] Penicillin [29:19] The beauty of nature as a healing modality. Mahameru flower [31:01] What needs healing [37:34] Favorite view [39:40] Prayer [40:40] Resources Fantastic Fungi https://movingart.com Wings of Life Paul Stamets' Ted Talk oil 6 Ways Mushrooms can save the world. The Master Game by Robert S. De Ropp

Season 2 starts Monday, August 5th! Get Ready! I explain why I took a break and what to expect moving forward!  If you have a question for the podcast call 571-336-6560 or leave a question via this Google Form. You can also message the podcast on FB, Twitter, and Instagram.  Twitter/Instagram @christiemkay4 Science of Happiness Course by the Greater Good Center on EdX: https://www.edx.org/course/the-science-of-happiness-4 Science of Happiness Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScienceofHappinessCourse/ Intro/Outro music provided by Ryan Rosemond. Check out his Soundcloud channel here: https://soundcloud.com/brothersrosemond/albums  Please follow Positive Philter: Positive Philter Facebook Page Positive Philter Twitter Positive Philter Instagram  Podcasts I listen to: Time Well Spent by Ronald Young The Oh My Goff Show by Angie Goff Creative Pep Talk by Andy J. Pizza  The PreGame Podcast by Jermaine, Darius, and Hannah  If you would like to support the podcast, please consider donating to the Positive Philter Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/positivephilter If you are interested in learning about the chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha I am affiliated with, Theta Rho Lambda, check out their website: http://thetarholambda.org/ Positive Philter was selected by FeedSpot as Top 20 Positive Thinking Podcasts on the web. https://blog.feedspot.com/positive_thinking_podcasts/

Bonus Episode while the podcast is on a temporary break. The podcast will return AUGUST 5th!  In this episode, Christie and I recap the Science of Happiness course that we both completed recently. We also answer a few questions from the listeners. If you have a question for the podcast call 571-336-6560 or leave a question via this Google Form. You can also message the podcast on FB, Twitter, and Instagram.  Twitter/Instagram @christiemkay4 Science of Happiness Course by the Greater Good Center on EdX: https://www.edx.org/course/the-science-of-happiness-4 Science of Happiness Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScienceofHappinessCourse/ Intro/Outro music provided by Ryan Rosemond. Check out his Soundcloud channel here: https://soundcloud.com/brothersrosemond/albums  Please follow Positive Philter: Positive Philter Facebook Page Positive Philter Twitter Positive Philter Instagram  If you would like to support the podcast, please consider donating to the Positive Philter Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/positivephilter If you are interested in learning about the chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha I am affiliated with,Theta Rho Lambda, check out their website: http://thetarholambda.org/

Host Ali Nazar interviews Jason Marsh, Editor in Chief of the Greater Good Science Center, on the campus organizations work on quantifying what makes people happy.Transcript:Ali Nazar:You're listening to KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM, University of California and listener supported radio. And this is Method to the Madness coming at you from the Public Affairs Department here at CalX, exploring the innovative spirit of the Bay Area. I'm your host, Ali Nazar. Thanks for joining us today. And with me in studio I have Jason Marsh, the founding editor-in-chief of Greater Good magazine. Hey Jason, how's it going?Jason Marsh:All right, how are you? Thanks for having me.Ali Nazar:I'm good, thanks for coming in. And so, we have lots of founders on of organizations and I always asked the same question to start because you usually create something because you see like a gap. You're trying to fill something. So what's the kind of the problem statement that Greater Good is trying to solve?Jason Marsh:Sure. Well they're really to kind of at the heart of of Greater Good. And one is that there is a whole lot of great research and big ideas generated within universities like Cal, that never really see the light of day, never really make it out into the world and have an impact to improve peoples' quality of life, to improve relationships, to public policy or education. And so, Greater Good was really born to this idea that we should have a more of a bridge between science and practice. There should be ways where the fruits of research, should really make its way out to the public, to really benefit the public, improve public wellbeing really broadly and improve individual wellbeing, improved the way people relate to one another and improve institutions, like schools and workplaces and healthcare systems and and political systems as well. And really, the second animating idea behind Greater Good was that there's this fundamental misconception about human nature.There is, has been a prevailing belief that we're sort of born bad, born aggressive, born antisocial. And yet, there was this emerging body of research over time really pointing to this more positive narrative about human nature. Suggesting that actually there are really deeply rooted propensities for goodness, for altruism, for compassion. And by changing that narrative and changing what people expect humans are capable of, we can really change behavior and really change some of those institutions as well for the better. So there was really this marriage of ideas that there's a real need to get the word out about this research coming out of academia, coming out of social science, to really change people's understanding of who they are, what they're capable of and in effect, provide a huge bridge between what the scientific community was starting to understand and what the rest of the world could really benefit from.Ali Nazar:Wow. It sounds amazing and so needed in these times. And it makes me wonder about kind of the history of the science of happiness. Like that doesn't seem like a science, when you think about sciences. What is the history behind this study?Jason Marsh:Sure. So, backing up, for decades really, for much of the 20th century, a lot of psychology and other behavioral, cognitive, social sciences were really focused on the roots of pathologies. The roots of why is it that people do evil, do bad things, how to institutions become corrupt. But starting, there had been this strain of research that really toward the late nineties started to take off and focusing on, let's look not just at human pathology, let's look not just to what's wrong with people, but really try to understand what can go right and how we can actually help people have a greater sense of thriving and happiness and wellbeing, both to address some of the deficiencies that we experience and also to take certain situations where people might feel like they are just sort of getting by in life and to really infuse a greater sense of thriving, of happiness, of wellbeing, to really create in some ways a more positive ripple effect through society as a whole.And so, that there has been this growing movement, some call positive psychology, in some ways to distinguish it from other strains of psychology. Focusing really on happiness and wellbeing, and our center has in some ways built on some of that research, but we've also really drawn on work, not just on individual happiness and personal wellbeing, but really social relationships. And there's, at the same time, it's been a growing emphasis, not just on personal happiness, but on social relationships, on compassion, on altruism, really what makes people do good and what makes people feel good.Ali Nazar:So that it's a relatively new science is what you're saying.Jason Marsh:Yeah.Ali Nazar:Late nineties, so it's a 21st century type of study.Jason Marsh:Exactly. Yeah.Ali Nazar:Interesting. Okay. So before we dive further into what Greater Good does, can you tell me a little about yourself? Like how did you come to become founding editor of a magazine dedicated to this topic?Jason Marsh:Sure. Yeah. I sometimes think of myself as like the luckiest guy in Berkeley. I came out here in the early 2000s, about 2002, just at the time, the center ... At the time, the center was called the Center for the Development of Peace and Wellbeing. So it was a a real mouthful. And it was a bunch of psychology faculty who kind of knew, really broadly that they had this mission to take this new research of wellbeing, new research of compassion and generosity and help get it out to a wider audience. But they didn't quite know how to do that. They didn't have as much experience on the communication side, on the journalism side.My background's in journalism, I got connected to the faculty. They basically invited me to pitch what I would do with some kind of publication focused on this research, on these topics. I had been doing something sort of coincidentally somewhat similar type of work in Washington, DC had been editing this more political journal on civic engagement and community building. A lot of overlap and so put together kind of my dream job basically for what I would do with a a magazine along these lines that I thought would really be beneficial and really make a big public impact and really help people. And you know the team, liked the idea, we developed the first issue as a pilot and that was published in 2004, and it's kind of taken off from there.Ali Nazar:14 years later.Jason Marsh:Yeah.Ali Nazar:Still publishing, is it a monthly/quarterly, what is it?Jason Marsh:So it started off as a print magazine. It became a quarterly, 2009 we shifted to be entirely online so it's now, Greater Good magazine is now entirely online. And then, since that time as well, we've grown other programs and projects out of Greater Good. So there's still the hub, Greater Good, greatergood.berkeley.edu, is still the hub of all kinds of content, thousands of articles and videos and podcasts. But we have also an events series, a couple of online courses, host of other programs, all basically focused on the same research.Ali Nazar:Cool. Well I want to get more into kind of what you guys do and the breadth of it. Right now we're talking to Jason Marsh, he's the founding editor and chief of Greater Good magazine right here on campus at UC Berkeley. And before we get into the breadth of programs, I did want to get a little bit more into that founding story of the Greater Good center itself, because this show really focuses on this kind of spark of how do things grow from this one idea. So it sounds like you had could walked into an organization that would just kind of beginning, can you give us the history of it?Jason Marsh:Yeah, so it's a really amazing and pretty powerful story. So, there were a couple Tom and Ruth Ann Hornaday, who graduated from Berkeley in the early sixties and then sadly in the nineties lost a daughter to cancer. And they both were trying to honor her memory and spirit and also build on their great love and affinity for Cal, and came to the university and said essentially, we want to do something to foster peace and wellbeing in the world and to honor her memory and honor ... But they knew it was really the great research and great ideas coming out of Cal. And they, together with George Breslauer, who was dean of social sciences at the time, came up with an idea for a center that'd be different than a lot of other centers at Cal or beyond, that it wouldn't just be focused on research. It would really be focused on taking research conducted at Cal and even more broadly and really focusing on getting that work out to the public. So it had a wider impact on families, on schools and society at large.So there was sort of this initial brainstorming committee of a few psychology faculty at Cal. So Dacher Keltner was our founding faculty director, Steve Hinshaw and Phil and Carolyn Callan were all psychology faculty whose research in one way or another, all focused on, how do we not only address sort of what's wrong with people, but help them build really lives, positive relationships. And so, together came up with the idea of ... and I should say as well, Dacher and and Steve and Phil and Carolyn, all were committed in their own work, not just to doing really top tier research, but also really to find innovative ways to get that work out to the public and have it serve a real public benefit.So, together they came up with the idea for a center that would do that, came up with the idea for a Center for the Development of Peace and Wellbeing. Fortunately, I was able to connect with them just at that moment where they're contemplating how to really get the center out to a wider audience, get the research out to a wider audience. And I should say a few years after that, after Greater Good launched as a print magazine, we changed the name of the center to be the Greater Good Science Center, instead of the Center for the Development of Peace and Wellbeing.Ali Nazar:Yeah, Greater Good's a little catchier.Jason Marsh:A little catchier, a lot of confusion about what exactly we did. And it was also really hard and long to say.Ali Nazar:Okay. So you're ... Jason, you're someone who traffics in this knowledge of what makes people happy. So I have to ask you the question, what makes people happy?Jason Marsh:A good question. So the simple answer is strong social connections and positive relationships. There's a line from the research though, sort of with a caveat, is a line from the research saying relationships are necessary but not sufficient to happiness, right? So, if you don't have positive relationships, it's going to be really hard to find true happiness in life. And yet, it's not just about relationships itself. There could be other factors, other extenuating circumstances, other things in play that could still hinder your happiness. But the relationships are often really a foundation and key starting point.So out of that work, there's been a whole host of studies, lots of research looking at the benefits and also how do you then build successful connections? How do you build successful relationships that are so strongly linked to happiness? I should say as well, when we talk about happiness, we're not just talking about fleeting feelings of pleasure, and just feeling good. A definition that we use is, it is partly about positive emotion, but it's also about this deeper sense of purpose and meaning and satisfaction with your life, that goes beyond just moment to moment experiences of pleasure. So that's why our tagline actually for the Center is a science of a meaningful life. Right? This deeper sense of goodness or commitment to something beyond the self.Ali Nazar:It's really interesting that that's the definition as you see it, because it speaks to the interdependence that we all have on each other, as opposed to like, you know, it's a very American, I think concept to be very independent.Jason Marsh:Exactly.Ali Nazar:To not need anybody. So, it's like our society is maybe not set up to be happy in some ways if that's what you guys have found in the science.Jason Marsh:Right. Yeah, exactly. And that's, in some ways, makes the work somewhat challenging, we're running against some pretty big cultural currents. At the same time, that's what gets us up in the morning to feel like there is a need for the work, it isn't just something that people are already completely embracing, and you know that's already, totally dominant beliefs or practices in our culture there are these competing ideas. And don't get me wrong, I think there's a lot to be said obviously, for individualism and for independence, but part of our work and part of the research suggests is that it's really important to find the right balance, right? Between both pursuing your own personal goals and dreams and wellbeing and also recognizing the ways that you are also living in community. Your actions affect others and a lot of your wellbeing is both contingent on and helps to influence the wellbeing and contributions of others.Ali Nazar:So have you ... I would think in the science of happiness, there's been studies of many different cultures and like this is a social science, right?Jason Marsh:Yeah.Ali Nazar:So that's a lot of like looking at long trends and surveys and stuff like that. So what are some of the learnings that have been found from other countries that maybe aren't as individualistic capitalistic as America?Jason Marsh:Yeah, so you know, it's a great question. In the last five, 10 years or so, there's been, as the science of happiness has taken off and really gone global in a lot of ways, there has emerged a broader sense on happiness around the world. There is now a world happiness report, put out sort of in connection with the UN regularly, that often finds that the countries that are ranked the highest on measures of happiness, looking at several different factors, are the ones that have in some ways a a stronger egalitarian spirit, have a stronger sort of social democratic tradition of greater commitment to the common good and less inequality.So, a lot of those values that are more community-minded, more civically-minded, often translate into greater happiness for individuals within the country itself. Which is sort of paradoxical, right? We often think about those two things being somewhat at odd, right? Like having to sacrifice your needs for the greater good. When in fact like actually having that commitment to the greater good, having a commitment to something bigger than yourself. Having a a culture and even on government that tries to foster that greater sense of like, we're all in this together. Actually, the individuals within those societies, do better, feel better individually as well.Ali Nazar:Are there any places in the world, like if you're, you know, looking to be an expat American, you want to become a happy person, where should we go?Jason Marsh:Denmark always ranks really high. Denmark, Norway-Ali Nazar:Scandinavians.Jason Marsh:And other countries. Yeah. Costa Rica does as well actually often in a lot of those surveys.Ali Nazar:Is there a correlation between higher tax rates and happiness?Jason Marsh:That's been looked at a little bit, because [crosstalk]Ali Nazar:A little bit of theoretically that's the go for ... you're giving it to other people, right?Jason Marsh:Right, exactly. Yeah. I mean there's, that the tax rate itself hasn't, I wouldn't say it's been proven as a definite cause or clear determinant of happiness, but certainly there were a lot of other sort of correlational data, a lot of other data suggesting that there is a strong relationship. At the very least, there's evidence suggesting that inequality is bad for happiness, right? And inequality is also bad for pro social behavior as well. Pro social as supposed to antisocial behavior, right? So in situations where there are greater power imbalances, it's not just bad for the person who is on the lower end of the totem pole, but also for someone who is in a higher level of status, there's evidence suggesting that they're actually their skills at connecting with other people being more altruistic, being more compassionate, those skills are actually compromised by their elevated status. So all the kinds of skills that you need really to make the kinds of connections that are linked to happiness are impeded by elevated status.Ali Nazar:Yeah, it's really, really fascinating. We're talking to Jason Marsh, he's the founding editor-in-chief of Greater Good magazine from the Greater Good Science Center right here on campus. You're listening to Method to the Madness on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM, I'm your host, Ali Nazar.And so, one of the founding principles of this center is to bridge the gap between academia and the real world. And so, I was looking at your guys' website, you have a lot of programs for different types of real world applications. So I'd like to dive-in a little bit about kind of how you guys are delivering on that promise of the mission. So first let's talk about parents and families, it's one of the constituencies you kind of name on your website. And I'm a member of a family and it's hard, with little kids and all that. And so happiness is a thought that comes around a lot, because like you're kind of always yelling at some little kid to do something. So what have you guys found and how do you apply research to that setting?Jason Marsh:Sure. So, I mean, one of the main things we've tried to do, really from day one, is to produce quality research-based materials, resources for parents who are often up at 2:00 AM, I've been in this case with a kid of my own, googling ways, looking for ways to be a better parent, to yell less at your kids, to be more understanding, be more patient. And so, part of our focus has been from day one, to really focus not just on common wisdom, conventional wisdom, but really what the research suggests are really effective ways to foster happiness and wellbeing within families. And also to raise kids with the kinds of skills that lead them to a sort of happy and meaningful lives. So from early-on we had produced, when we had the print magazine, a lot of articles on families and child development.We had for a number of years a really popular parenting blog called Raising Happiness by actually a Berkeley PhD, Christine Carter, who wrote a book of the same name, that also proved to be a really great resource for parents. And more recently we've actually launched a new parenting initiative, we have a great parenting director at the center, Miriam Abdula who runs a program, where she's both writing about the science of wellbeing for parents and families. And also, running a program where we give out grants, sort of modest sized grants to different community-based programs around the country that want their work to serve parents and help their kids, help parents help their kids develop the kinds of skills that we know are linked to happiness and wellbeing and leading sort of positive, meaningful lives. So providing both funding and also helping to connect those programs to researchers who can help ground their work a little bit more deeply in the research to make sure that there's a really strong scientific basis to it.Ali Nazar:Okay, cool. And tell me about some of the other programs. I saw there was a bunch of different people or constituencies that you kind of focus on, but tell me about some of the main programs right now.Jason Marsh:Yeah, so like parents, we've also focused a lot on educators over the years. Really helping people who are trying to help kids, especially both so that they can provide useful resources and tools for kids and also to serve their own wellbeing. Right? I mean, educators, there's huge demands, a lot of stressors, a lot of evidence that there's really great burnout and turnover in the profession. So we've tried to provide resources both so that teachers can better serve their students and also so they can better serve themselves and make sure that they don't burn out.So similarly, we've a whole host of resources on our website for teachers. We also for the last six years, have run a summer institute for educators. We've had teachers come from just about every state in the country, from dozens of countries around the world, to come to Berkeley for a week and get really a crash course in the science of wellbeing and explore together how they can take the science and really apply it meaningfully to their classroom.And now more recently, our education team is developing a new resource coming soon, early in 2019, really to serve as a clearing house, really the best tools, best resources, best practices and strategies, so that to make it even easier for teachers to take all this wisdom from the science and really incorporate it into their classroom, into their school, without having to add yet another thing on their agenda to make it as seamless and hopefully as painless as possible.Ali Nazar:Cool. Well it sounds like there's ... your website has a lot of tools it sounds like, for helping people to access the different programs you have. And then when I was looking through, there's a breadth of things you guys do. There's events, there's content being published and-Jason Marsh:Yep, exactly.Ali Nazar:So I did want to ask about, you talked about what makes people happy, but this science, I would think in the study of this would give you some tips on how to change someone who's not happy to become happy. Like that's the trick, right?Jason Marsh:Yeah.Ali Nazar:There's a lot of people out there who are weighted down by a lot of different stressors of all different types. So what's your recommendation? You guys have all access to all this knowledge. If there's a listener who's not happy, what should they do?Jason Marsh:Yeah, so there are ... it's been a really big question in the field, right? Because early on, focus on happiness was like, let's just figure out if we can take people who are, you know, moderately happy and try to make them happier. More recently, there's been a focus on, let's look at more at risk populations and people even who are having suicidal thoughts are at risk for depression, and see if a lot of these same strategies can be effective for them as well. And fortunately, many of them have been. There are ... should say, like offer the caveat right up front for people dealing with serious depression or serious psychiatric problems, it's still, most important for them to see a mental health professional. The tools that we offer on the site are not supposed to be a substitute for therapy say.But certainly there's a huge number of people who just feel like ... who are kind of unhappy, who are maybe struggling with maybe some symptoms of depression or just feel like they're not as satisfied with their lives they'd like to be. And so that, the research has found, successfully found that there are ways that they can actually benefit over time. One of the big focuses of that work has been on gratitude as a practice. Right? So there's been, for the last 20 years or so, a huge emerging science of gratitude. We focused on a lot, which in some ways is just really simply, recognizing and appreciating the gifts and good things in your life, that you might otherwise take for granted. Right? So they basic idea is, there are lots of positive things that might happen to us over the course of a day that we just kind of ignore or take for granted.And by training our minds over time and focusing a little bit more deliberately on some of those good things, we can gradually kind of change the narrative that we're telling ourselves about our lives and change kind of the emotional tone of our lives, so that it ceases just to be about the ways that people have taken advantage of you or been mean to you. But you start to recognize ways that people have actually gone out of their way to be kind to you and nice things that people have done for you and you see yourself differently in relation to others. You see other people differently and you see sort of human nature differently as well. So, and at the same time, you're creating more of these positive memories, right? By actually noticing and appreciating and savoring more positive experiences, you're then creating these positive memories you can return to over time as well. So it provides both these greater momentary experiences of happiness and also these greater lasting memories and lasting resonating feelings of happiness as well.Ali Nazar:It's so interesting that you say that we're speaking with Jason Marsh is a founding editor of Greater Good magazine. It's interesting that you say that because our society is moving to a place with less time and less and less time. So like you're talking about getting space to recognize positive things and have gratitude for it, but it feels like we have less and less space.Jason Marsh:Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's a huge issue and I think that's been something we focus on in the last few years, especially is the impact of new technology, especially on wellbeing, on being able to hone a lot of these skills. Because yeah, I mean gratitude, there's also a huge emerging science, which a lot of people have read about on mindfulness. A lot of it places really strong emphasis on taking moments essentially to pause and notice your surroundings. Even savor and appreciate some of the good you might pass by otherwise. And that is really at odds both with the pace of our culture, with our work lives, with technology. And so, in some ways it's a great challenge, but in some ways it's calling for the need for these practices to be as widely spread and embraced or embraced as widely as possible because there are so many other forces that are pushing in the opposite direction.Ali Nazar:Yeah, yeah, well the work is really needed. So I appreciate you coming in and telling us about it. I always end interviews Method to the Madness with the same question. This is an organization founded with a thesis to help bridge the gap between the academic research on happiness and getting it out there in the world. So, if everything went perfect five years from now, like what would the goal of Greater Good Center look like?Jason Marsh:Yeah. So if everything went well five years from now, we've been asking this question of ourselves a lot lately. I think we would see a lot of the tools and ideas we're putting out in the world, embraced not just by more individuals. Like we were really pleased to see the growth in our organization as ... in general. We-Ali Nazar:How many people work there?Jason Marsh:When we are a print magazine, let's see, we have a staff of 14 but other Grad students and faculty who are involved. When we started as a print magazine, we reached 5,000 subscribers. We now have about 600,000 unique visitors to the website each month. We have an online course that's enrolled about 600,000 students as well.Ali Nazar:Anybody can enroll?Jason Marsh:Anybody can roll. It's a free course. Anybody can access the resources on the website, they're all free. So that's all really, really gratifying to see so many individuals really hungering for and based on our own surveys and research, seemingly benefiting from those resources. However, we feel like there's still just really huge needs in organizations and institutions. In our education system, in our healthcare system, in our workplaces. And we're starting more and more to work more directly with schools and districts and companies and leaders in healthcare, and where we'd really like to go and where we'd like to see the work go is to see it embedded even more directly to inform and really influence and shape the policies and best practices within some of those major institutions that just have influence over, millions if not billions of people worldwide.Ali Nazar:Cool. Well, it's a great vision and mission. So thanks for coming in today, Jason.Jason Marsh:Thanks for having me.Ali Nazar:We've been speaking with Jason Marsh, he's a founding editor-in-chief of Greater Good magazine. And Jason, just a quick plug for people want to understand how to get involved and access these resources. Can you tell them how to do it?Jason Marsh:Yeah, thanks Ali. Best place to go is our Greater Good magazine website, that's greatergood.berkeley.edu. And best way to stay on top of what we're doing and stay in touch is to sign-up from that site for our free weekly newsletter.Ali Nazar:Okay, great. Well you heard right here, this is KALX Berkeley. I'm your host Ali Nazar and Methods to the Madness. Thanks for joining everybody, and thanks again for joining us, Jason, and everybody have a great Friday. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

October 7th, 2014 Guest: Mary Beth Sammons is an award-winning journalist and author who writes not only about health and wellness, but grace, gratitude, and reinvention. She joins us to discuss the secrets and the science of living a fulfilled, recognized life. Her new book, co-authored with Nina Lesowitz, is called The Grateful Life: The Secret to Happiness and the Science of Contentment through Viva Editions Press. Here is an excerpt from their site: The Grateful Life: The Secret to Happiness and the Science of Contentment is a guide to discovering—and realizing—one’s dreams though a positive attitude. Through years of research and practice, authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons have discovered that grateful living can transform lives. Grateful people are happier people, as shown by neurobiology studies at University of California Berkeley’s Greater Good Center (greatergood.berkeley.edu). This book contains inspiring stories about those who practice gratitude as a spiritual practice to rise out of adversity to new life. It will also show how grateful living is central to the good life and to attracting abundance. Filled with motivational quotes, resources and exercises, The Grateful Life will help people on their journey to create the life they’ve always wanted. Taking the concept of the bestselling Living Life as a Thank You to the next level, The Grateful Life includes absorbing and transformative stories from the frontlines of real people, who unveil the secret to achieving success—big and small—in life.

Get Happy: Have you ever wondered what it takes to be happier and stay that way for more than a day or two? Dacher can tell you how to get the happiness you want.