Anxiously entering the third year of a pandemic, and facing other huge challenges – inequality, injustice, endangered democracy, climate change, etc. we need to take care of ourselves. Here’s my 2013 conversation with neuropsychologist RICK HANSON, author of the best-seller BUDDHA’S BRAIN, about his book, HARDWIRING HAPPINESS, where he brings together mindfulness and neuroscience and offers pro-active practices to actually shift your brain’s neural structure – the hardwiring – toward calm, contentment, and confidence. 

I wish you and your loved ones a deeply renewing holiday season. This week, you’ll hear my 2014 conversation with REZA ASLAN about his best-selling book, ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. He examines Jesus the man through the lens of the time and place in which he lived, first-century Palestine, and labels him a zealot – a radical political opponent of the Roman occupation. Since Jesus was crucified without overthrowing Roman rule, he is one of many “failed messiahs.” But only he among them become the starting point of one of the world’s great religions. This approach offers a Jesus more human, if no less heroic. To learn more visit www.rezaaslan.com. 

As another difficult year comes to an end and we find ourselves wishing others – and ourselves – Happy Holidays, here’s my 2013 conversation with SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY about the provocative findings in her book, THE MYTHS OF HAPPINESS: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn’t; What Shouldn’t Make You Happy, but Does. She draws on the latest scientific research to show that believing in certain happiness myths can have toxic consequences. We’ll talk about how to take advantage of this research to actually make our lives more happy and fulfilling.

CELINE-MARIE PASCALE, professor of sociology at American University, is a leader in examining how deep inequalities can be normalized through the language we use to describe them. Her book LIVING ON THE EDGE: When Hard Times Become a Way of Life offers the voices of people who struggle to make ends meet, reveals a system that profits from their struggles, and presents a vision for change from the working people who know that the economy we have is unsustainable for most of the U.S. population. You can learn more at cmpascale.org.