Good Life Project

Bella DePaulo, a social psychologist and the author of “Single at Heart,” challenges the deep assumption that single people are secretly miserable. Drawing on surveys of over 20,000 people across 100+ countries, she unpacks why happy singles are routinely not believed, how choice turns solitude into something nourishing, and what the pandemic revealed about singles’ resilience. The conversation overturns common myths about loneliness, support networks, and the hidden costs of couple-centric life.

After 25 years as a trusted NPR health reporter, Allison Aubrey underwent biological age testing that rattled her self-perception and launched a curiosity tour into the emotional landscape of midlife. Her book *Your Turn* reframes the years from 50 to 75 as a "third turn," a period where a hidden surge of energy and purpose can emerge. In this conversation, she and Jonathan discuss why mattering—distinct from passion or purpose—shows up in your bloodwork, the recurring dream a professional analyst helped her decode, and the simple, repeatable patterns she found among women who made real pivots later in life.

Angela Duckworth returns to Good Life Project to expand on her famous research on grit. She argues that perseverance is only half the story — the situation you are in profoundly shapes your thoughts and behavior. Duckworth introduces a three-box model (situation, thoughts, response) and four situational levers (space, peers, mentors, culture) to help people redesign their environments intentionally. She emphasizes that noticing your circumstances without blaming yourself is the first step toward meaningful change. The conversation reframes a good life as one where you create conditions that bring out the best in others.

Shane Parrish, former Canadian intelligence officer and founder of Farnam Street, explains why great decisions aren't made in the moment — they're determined by the position you're in before you decide. Drawing on his book Clear Thinking, he breaks down the four hidden defaults that hijack your thinking, shares the three-word phrase he uses to defuse arguments with his kids, and offers practical techniques for identifying blind spots in any decision.

Priya Parker, facilitator and strategic advisor, returns to argue that the fights people avoid are not what threaten their closest relationships — they are what can save them. The author of The Art of Gathering and the new book The Art of Fighting draws on two decades of helping churches, companies, and families fight better, not less. The conversation covers the moral framing that makes conflict feel like sin, the idea of relational longing as the pulse beneath a fight, and her three-phase framework for a healthy fight. She also explains what the phrase "we're not a" reveals about a group's aspirations, and why giant sequoias need fire to reproduce — and what that means for relationships that go decades without a real disagreement.

Guest host Karen Walrond talks with OB/GYN and Generation M author Dr. Jessica Shepherd about the gradual timeline of perimenopause and menopause, how to make decisions about hormone therapy, and why nearly 40% of a woman's life happens after menopause. Shepherd offers a framework for understanding where you are in the transition, explains the difference between treating symptoms and protecting long-term health, and shares findings from the SWAN study about racial differences in symptom experiences.

Neuroscientist Tommy Wood explains that age-related cognitive decline is driven more by lifestyle choices than by age or genetics. He introduces his 3S model — stimulus, supply, and support — as the key framework for maintaining brain health, and warns that retirement is the single biggest danger zone because it removes daily cognitive challenge, putting highly educated people at particular risk. The conversation covers the difference between retrieval and encoding problems, why age-specific dementia rates have actually been falling, and the two numbers to check at your doctor's office in your 40s or 50s.

Dr. Rebecca Robbins, a Harvard sleep scientist, unpacks how and why sleep changes after age 38–40, and what you can do about it. She details the brain’s overnight wash cycle that clears Alzheimer’s-linked toxins, the findings from her eight-year study linking poor sleep to dementia risk, and why jumping your bedtime back an hour almost always backfires. The conversation also covers a simple at-home test for sleep quality and the surprising relationship benefits of a 'sleep marriage' — sleeping separately on purpose.

Jonathan Fields turns the mic on himself in this solo episode, tracing the year his robust wellness practice—meditation, training, nutrition, connection—ended in a stress-induced medical diagnosis at the moment he felt most dialed-in. He argues that you cannot self-care your way out of a fundamental misalignment in a core area of life. The episode distinguishes self-care that restores from self-care that makes a misaligned life more bearable or hides problems. Fields introduces three 90-second tests—duration, imagination, intensity—to tell which kind you're running, and names five places structural misalignment hides in midlife. He makes the case that subtraction, not another practice, is usually the actual fix, and offers a six-move menu for making one concrete structural change in the next 30 days.

NYU developmental psychologist Niobe Way draws on nearly 40 years of longitudinal research with teenagers to argue that we’ve been mislabeling a loneliness epidemic as a mental health crisis. She proposes the concept of 'social health' — that connection is the root and mental health is the symptom — and shares the moment around age 15 when boys start hiding their feelings to fit cultural norms of masculinity. She also explores the gendered patterns where boys sacrifice relationships to protect themselves, while girls sacrifice themselves to protect the relationship, and offers simple practices to rebuild belonging at home and in daily life.

Marisa Renee Lee, author of Grief Is Love and Waiting for Dawn, challenges the cultural pressure to find meaning in suffering. She introduces the term 'gray grief' to describe grief with no clear endpoint or societal script. She distinguishes between identity—what you've built—and essence, the unchanging core beneath. She frames hope as a discipline practiced on the hardest days, sharing how her family embodied that discipline after her aunt's devastating loss.

Dr. Fred Cohen, a headache specialist at Mount Sinai, explains why the old vascular theory of migraine is outdated. Migraine is actually a neuroinflammatory condition, which is why older treatments often failed. He describes the 'broken thermostat' phenomenon where untreated migraine can cause the brain to accept constant pain as normal. Only about 30% of people with migraine experience aura, and it can present in many surprising ways. Cohen calls this a golden age of headache medicine, with new therapies like CGRP antagonists and neuromodulation offering hope to those who had given up.

Chris Guillebeau discusses his new book, Time Anxiety, exploring the pervasive feeling of always running behind and never being able to relax. He shares actionable approaches that go beyond standard productivity advice—such as a fifteen-minute fix for chronic lateness, an exercise to clarify what you truly want, and a method for working with your natural energy rhythms. The conversation also touches on the shame caregivers often feel about taking time for themselves and a transformative insight from Gretchen Rubin.

Leidy Klotz, behavioral scientist and engineering professor at the University of Virginia, explains the three psychological needs that every space must satisfy, rooted in hunter-gatherer survival. He argues that open-office backlash and return-to-office mandates both fail the same test, ignoring how people actually experience rooms. Klotz shares the phenomenon of habituation—how we stop seeing our surroundings, illustrated by an architecture student who walked past a landmark daily without noticing. He offers simple practices like 'space before screen' to reawaken our perception of physical space. The conversation also touches on designing spaces that honor and keep alive the memory of a loved one.

Leisa Peterson, a financial coach and former 30-year veteran of financial services, explores how childhood money stories shape adult financial decisions. She discusses inherited financial beliefs, how to define personal 'enough,' red flags when hiring financial advisors, and why silence around financial regret causes more damage than the decisions themselves. The episode challenges listeners to rewrite their money narratives.

Jessica Ortner, co-founder of The Tapping Solution and New York Times bestselling author, explains the science behind EFT tapping. The conversation challenges the power of positive thinking alone, revealing why nervous system regulation is often required for real change. Cortisol studies and fMRI data back claims of reduced stress, rewritten brain responses to cravings and trauma, and relief from chronic pain. Practical guidance includes covert tapping techniques for anxiety in social situations, along with a clear message: you don't need to believe it for it to work.

Host Jonathan Fields argues that detailed plans keep us stuck, offering the alternative of a 'move' — a small, imperfect action taken immediately. He draws on Peter Gollwitzer's research on implementation intentions and the psychology of fresh starts to explain why the middle of the year is an overlooked opportunity for change. The episode provides concrete frameworks to turn intention into action, including a five-step sequence that listeners complete before the episode ends. It’s aimed at anyone who spent the first half of the year meaning to change but never started.

In this solo episode, Jonathan Fields explains why the typical midyear goal review is a design flaw that leads people to ignore deeper signs of burnout. He introduces the Good Life Buckets—Vitality, Connection, and Contribution—as a practical audit tool. He details two hidden ways a bucket drains (leaks and missing refills) and why the most dangerous bucket is the one that feels full but is also emptying. The episode ends with three reckoning questions to replace goal lists with a more honest self-assessment. Part 2 will cover specific, small moves to act on the insights.

In this episode, psychologist Dr. Joshua Coleman discusses the alarming rates of family estrangement and offers practical guidance for parents hoping to reconnect. Drawing on decades of clinical experience and his own estrangement from his daughter, he explains the cultural forces driving estrangement, the five instinctual reactions that worsen it, and the elements of a genuine healing apology. He also explores how to hold radical acceptance alongside hope and how repair principles apply to siblings and grandparents.

Candace Dellacona, a New York estate attorney and host of The Sandwich Generation Survival Guide, discusses the emotional and practical realities of caring for aging parents while also supporting children. She explains that the hardest part is often the grief—for who your parent used to be, for lost plans, and for your own sense of self. The conversation covers the four internal shifts (identity, ownership, grief, loneliness), the importance of proactive conversations about aging and death, and the three-person support team that can make a critical difference. Dellacona also highlights the unexpected beauty that can emerge during caregiving, including reconciliation and closeness. This episode offers guidance for anyone who hasn’t yet had a real conversation about what happens if a parent’s health changes.

In this episode, award-winning science writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa explains why rumination is the single greatest pre-diagnostic factor for depression and anxiety, and why the brain gets stuck in thought spirals. She shares what her own brain scan revealed about the default mode network during rumination, and why midlife often brings old patterns roaring back. Nakazawa introduces her MIST framework—a four-step neurobiological practice for naming the mental movies, emotions, and bodily sensations that feed rumination, giving the brain a clear off-switch. The conversation also explores why women ruminate at much higher rates, and how rumination is always circling one core question: whether you matter to the people who count.

David Epstein, author of Range and Inside the Box, explains why the modern abundance of choice is quietly making us miserable. Drawing on research from decision psychology and the vivid story of Keith Jarrett's broken-piano masterpiece, he shows that constraints—not unlimited options—are what unlock creativity, satisfaction, and better decisions. The conversation covers why maximizers are less happy than satisficers, how our attention spans have collapsed from roughly three minutes to forty-five seconds, and the specific paired-constraints technique used by Monet, Dr. Seuss, and Isabel Allende to produce their best work.

In this solo episode, Jonathan Fields introduces the concept of 'diffuse resentment'—a nameless, accumulated feeling that many people in midlife carry. Drawing on research and personal experience, he outlines the five territories where this resentment grows, explains why midlife amplifies it, and offers two movements for addressing it honestly and effectively.

Sari Botton, a celebrated literary editor turned founder of Oldster Magazine, discusses her midlife reinvention after facing age discrimination in her 50s. The conversation explores the cost of performing a version of yourself that doesn't fit, the Gen X inheritance of self-reliance, and what becomes possible when you stop living by "should." Botton's story illuminates how the real pain of midlife isn't aging—it's recognizing how long you spent in the wrong life.

Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, dismantles the myth that muscle loss is inevitable with aging. Drawing from her research on active older adults, she reveals that most decline trajectories are behavioral, not biological. The episode covers the critical 35-45 decade for building physical resilience, why heavy lifting is non-negotiable for midlife women, and how menopause affects the entire musculoskeletal system—a connection largely absent from medical training.

TJ Power, lead neuroscientist at the DOSE Lab, explores how four brain chemicals—dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins—govern nearly everything we think, feel, and do. He argues that modern sedentary, digitally saturated lifestyles have hijacked these systems, and offers 20 free behavioral practices to recalibrate them without medication or life overhaul.

Tina Seelig, Executive Director of Stanford's Knight-Hennessy Scholars program and faculty member at the d.school, explores luck as a learnable skill rather than innate trait. Drawing on 25 years of research and observation of thousands of students, she breaks down the specific, concrete behaviors that separate those who consistently generate opportunities from those who miss them. The conversation covers the ship-crew-sail framework, how mental models of failure predict luck creation, and the hidden social behaviors that compound luck over time.

Bruce Feiler, author of A Time to Gather, explores why cultural rituals have disappeared from modern life and how to design new ones that actually fit how we live now. After traveling to 26 countries and attending over 100 ceremonies, Feiler argues we're experiencing a "celebration recession" alongside a "ritual renaissance"—a gap between the ceremonies we inherited and the transitions we actually face. The conversation covers the five building blocks of ritual, why homesickness can be a sign of ritual hunger, and how people are creating new ceremonies for divorce, sobriety, career endings, and other life transitions that traditional culture never marked.

Falling in love was never supposed to be easy—it's a design problem, not a character flaw. Dating coach Bela Gandhi explains how biology, attachment patterns, and cultural programming steer us toward the wrong partners, why the list we carry is often wrong, and how a systematic approach to love can change everything. She reveals the "elevator people" exercise that clarifies real needs, why 74% of third marriages end in divorce, and what successful women often get wrong. Her core message: attraction can grow, pacing matters, and love at 50, 60, or beyond is entirely possible.

Tom Rath, researcher and author of How Full Is Your Bucket? and StrengthsFinder 2.0, discusses why many of our ambitions are inherited rather than authentic, and why midlife often brings a reckoning. He introduces the concept of 'pinhole vision'—how only 50 jobs represent half the labor market, severely limiting the careers we can imagine at a young age. Rath contrasts the career ladder with a garden framework for a more fulfilling life, and shares insights from his grandfather's final hours about what truly matters. The conversation challenges the popular 'find your passion' narrative, reframing purpose as a daily practice of contribution rather than a singular calling.

Alexandra Sifferlin, a science and health journalist and author of The Elusive Body, explores the diagnostic crisis in modern medicine. Nearly everyone experiences at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime—a missed, delayed, or wrong diagnosis that shapes treatment and suffering. Sifferlin spent years inside hospital systems interviewing leading diagnosticians and tracing families who waited decades for answers, uncovering the structural gaps that let real suffering fall through the cracks. This conversation examines how physicians actually build diagnoses, what gets lost in seven-minute appointments, and what to do when multiple practitioners can't identify your condition.

Jonathan Fields explores why intelligent people become skilled at avoiding difficult conversations, using his own decade-long friendship and unaddressed hurt as the anchor. The episode breaks down four types of hard conversations, explains the difference between protecting relationships vs. protecting yourself from discomfort, and offers a practical framework for opening conversations without scripting or performing. Essential for anyone carrying something true that needs to be said.

Dr. Lucy Hone, resilience researcher and mother who lost her daughter, explores the hidden grief that arises from the gap between life as it is and as we expected. She introduces the concept of 'living losses'—griefs without a funeral that drive far more suffering than recognized. The conversation reframes grief as a full-body experience, distinguishes acceptance from 'coming to terms,' reveals the surprising commonality of post-traumatic growth, and redefines resilience not as bouncing back but as adapting forward.

Erin Weed, speaker coach and creator of the Dig—a purpose-excavation method—explores how a single word can reveal your life's operating system. In this episode, Jonathan undergoes the full Dig process in real time, uncovering the hidden patterns in his life story and discovering the word that has been running his life all along. The conversation reveals why most people are wrong about their defining word, how violations and anger point to your core purpose, and how knowing your word transforms decision-making.

Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, a leading figure in applied positive psychology, breaks down overthinking into five distinct types—worry, motivation, mindset, judgment, and regret—each with its own voice, purpose, and solution. Drawing from decades of research and her personal recovery from an eating disorder, she reveals why high-level worriers actually solve problems less effectively, introduces tools like the "I can't... yet" reframe and "taking your brain to court," and explains that the voice in your head isn't trying to destroy you—it's asking for something specific.

Jon Acuff explores procrastination not as laziness or character flaw, but as a solution to a deeper fear. Drawing from his book Procrastination Proof and work with hundreds of thousands of people, he unpacks the four permissions most people never give themselves (to dream, plan, do, and review), explains how desire creates discipline rather than the reverse, and reveals what the opposite of procrastination actually looks like—which has nothing to do with productivity.

Dr. Nicole LePera explores how childhood adaptations—the ways your nervous system learned to survive in early relationships and environments—continue to shape your patterns, reactions, and exhaustion as an adult. Drawing from neuroscience, attachment research, and epigenetics, she explains why insight alone doesn't change behavior, how emotional flooding happens in the body, and why midlife often becomes the inflection point where these old patterns finally demand attention. The conversation moves beyond therapy clichés to show what actual nervous system repair looks like.

Julia Minson, behavioral scientist and Harvard Kennedy School professor, joins to discuss the science of disagreeing well. Her book 'How to Disagree Better' provides a research-backed framework for navigating conflict without damaging relationships. The conversation reveals why leading with facts often backfires and the importance of practicing on low-stakes disagreements. Minson also explains why empathy is unreliable in heated moments and what to focus on instead. This episode offers practical tools for anyone who wants to stay connected across deep differences.

Linda Clemons, a world-renowned body language expert and author of Hush, joins the Good Life Project to decode the silent signals we constantly broadcast. She explains why the vast majority of communication is nonverbal and how our posture, gestures, and facial expressions shape every interaction—from boardrooms to living rooms. The conversation covers the four power zones of the body and how keeping them open can transform high-stakes moments, as well as the three common derailing patterns we fall into under pressure. Clemons also offers a pivotal reframe: the most important question to ask before any communication is not what you want to say, but how you want the other person to feel when they leave.

David DeSteno, a psychology professor at Northeastern and author of 'How God Works,' unpacks the data showing religious engagement significantly improves health and longevity, including a 30% drop in all-cause mortality. The discussion covers the Hindu life-stage vana prastha and why midlife may be the natural moment to shift from accumulation to sharing wisdom, how rituals like death contemplation, gratitude, and synchronous movement measurably change the brain, and the potential backfire of extracting spiritual practices from their communal containers. A rare conversation that takes both science and the sacred seriously — without asking you to choose between them.

People who are genuinely engaged in spiritual practice live longer, experience 30% lower all-cause mortality, report more meaning, and suffer less depression. The data are remarkably clear. And yet, more people are leaving organized religion than at any point in modern history.

Elena Brower, a prominent yoga and meditation teacher for two decades, discusses her radical pivot toward quietness and presence work. After stepping back from her public platform, she trained as a chaplain and began sitting with hospice patients in silence. Drawing on the ancient Chinese sutra 'Welcome nothing. Refuse nothing. Reflect everything. Hold nothing,' she explores what happens when the drive to impact many gives way to the desire to impact few—and what presence, letting go, and preparation for mortality reveal about living well.

Vanessa Hill, a leading sleep scientist at CQ University, explores the science of bedtime procrastination—that compulsive urge to stay up despite knowing you should sleep. The episode debunks myths about blue light, reveals why willpower fails at night, and explains the hidden mechanisms driving this near-addictive behavior. Hill offers research-backed strategies to reclaim rest without relying on guilt or force.

Jonathan Fields explores how reactive life syndrome—the cycle of responding to others' demands at the expense of your own agency—traps us in endless busyness and disconnects us from our authentic selves. Drawing on decades of research on flourishing, he outlines six practical strategies to break free from autopilot reactivity, reclaim intentionality, and move from frenzy to grounded purpose. Essential for anyone who feels like a passenger in their own life.

The tiny moments you ignore may hold the key to it all.

Stop the cycle of chronic pain by fixing the signals in your brain. We’ve been told for decades that pain is purely a physical problem, born of bones and body parts. But the latest neuroscience proves that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Dr.

If you feel like the world is crashing down, you are not alone in that darkness. This moment of global contraction isn't necessarily the end of the story, but perhaps the beginning of a difficult birth.

Most of us think oversharing is the problem. It's not. New research from Harvard reveals that the bigger threat to your relationships, your health, and your sense of belonging may be all the things you're choosing not to say.

Humor won't cure depression. But it might save your life. That's not a metaphor for Jenny Lawson. It's the hard-won truth of more than two decades of living with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and the kind of dark seasons that make getting out of bed feel impossible.

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.

Stop blaming willpower and start building the skill of making change stick for good. Pretty much every person wants to change something, about themselves, their lives, or situation. But, so few ever succeed at creating change, let alone sustaining it.

Turns out, "good vibes only" might be making you feel worse.

Want a deeper, more secure, fiercely connected relationship? Then, you’ll want to check out the power of relationship agreements. In this episode, we sit down with Krista and Dr. Will Van Derveer.

Being a super-communicator isn’t a gift, it’s a skill anyone can learn. Ever wish you were the person who could talk to anyone with ease? Like anyone you came in contact with became instant friends, confidantes, or trusted allies and collaborators.

How do you know when to leave a job or relationship? Look for the jolts. Ready to quit your job but unsure if it’s right? A single comment, missed opportunity, or subtle slight can suddenly make everything feel different. But is it really time to leave, or is something deeper happening?

Your mind is under siege. Every day, technology and noise fight to hijack your attention, leaving you feeling less present and more distracted than ever. In a word, unconscious. It’s time to stop the scroll and reclaim the most precious thing you own: your consciousness.

Your kids leaving isn’t an ending; it’s an open door to a more intentional version of you. Many of us spend decades organizing our entire identities around our children, only to feel a staggering sense of loss when the house goes quiet.

Tired of saying yes when you mean no and feeling resentful later? In this powerful compilation episode, you’ll learn how to set healthy boundaries without guilt, conflict, or losing the people you care about.

Trying to eliminate anxiety can make it worse. Do this instead… If you wake up with a tight chest, a racing mind, or a constant sense of unease, this conversation offers clarity, relief, and a more grounded way forward.

Your brain isn’t breaking. It’s rewiring in ways no one explained, and for many women, menopause is the moment everything suddenly feels unfamiliar.

The deeper the love, the more uncomfortable it gets, and learning how to work with that truth may change the way you relate forever.

What if excellence isn’t about winning, but becoming? For so many of us, the word excellence has become tangled up with perfectionism, obsession, and relentless hustle. No wonder it feels heavy, triggering, or out of reach.

When life upends everything, what still matters? When the future you assumed disappears, the questions get sharper. This conversation explores how meaning, values, and hope evolve when time feels uncertain and life breaks open in unexpected ways.

You can be deeply loved and still feel alone, even when your life is filled with people who care about you. Many of us assume that love automatically translates into feeling loved. But research shows that isn’t how it works.

What if chronic pain was caused by faulty wiring in your brain? And that one shift in understanding can open the door to relief many people never thought was possible. Chronic pain affects tens of millions, disrupts relationships, limits work, and quietly erodes joy.

You could be having better sex and the science explains why, not because you’re broken or doing something wrong, but because most of us were never taught how desire actually works or how intimacy evolves over time. Instead, we’re handed myths, silence, and a lot of quiet frustration.

If your life looks good on paper but feels flat, this is for you. Many of us follow the rules, build what appear to be successful lives, and still sense something essential is missing. That feeling sends us on a chase for more meaning or purpose, impact and clarity.

It's said, pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. But, is that true? Many of us live our lives in pursuit of certainty, believing that if we could just get things more stable - emotionally, financially, relationally - then we’d finally feel at ease.

Most new habits fizzle quickly, what if they didn't have to? We blame a lack of willpower, but what if the way we approach habits that's the real problem? Why does true, lasting habit change feel so hard to sustain? And, how can we do it better?

Big dreams matter. But how we pursue them matters more. You can honor where you've come from, hold live with self-compassion, and be grateful for what you have, and still yearn to accomplish big life-changing dreams, visions, or goals. The question is how?

Stop outsourcing your peace. Feeling better is an inside job.

You are not behind. How to find enough right now.

Samin Nosrat on taking back your life, overcoming overwhelm, and redefining success. A candid conversation about joy, grief, rebellion, rest, food, and what actually sustains us when achievement isn’t enough.

New Year’s resolutions fail, not because of discipline, but because the system is broken. In this episode, Jonathan Fields introduces The Unresolution, a calmer, more reliable way to change that replaces rigid promises with fun and forgiving experiments, kind reflection, and compassion.

Showing up as your true self is terrifying, but it’s also the unlock key for so much of what makes your life good.

Elizabeth Gilbert shares the daily practice that transformed her life after grief: writing simple letters of love to herself. A conversation about self-compassion, creativity, and the practices that sustain us.

Fields presents his Good Life Buckets model: three domains (vitality, connection, contribution) that determine life satisfaction. Through exercises and reflection, he guides listeners to assess their current state and set intentions for each bucket.

Brene Brown discusses her research on vulnerability, shame resilience, and the courage to show up authentically in a world that rewards performance over genuineness.