Psychologist and New York Times Bestselling author Dr Tal Ben-Shahar taught the most popular course at Harvard on Positive Psychology – but he’s also the perfect guest to help us navigate how to be sad, well.
From a dashed career as an elite squash player to navigating the perils of perfectionism, the fallacy of arrival and the importance of feeling all of our feelings – Tal has explored highs and lows both personally and professionally.
Now, Tal says: ‘One of the major obstacles to becoming happier is the belief that life can and ought to be free of painful emotions.’
Here, we talk about
- positive psychology vs toxic positivity
- arrival fallacy
- perfectionism (aka sunk cost’)
- why we need to embrace ‘wholebeing’
- the SPIRE model for living and being sad, well
- what advice Tal would you give to his 21 year old self
Find out more about Tal’s work
@TalBenShahar on Twitter or
@happiness.studies.academy on Instagram - and his new book, Happiness Studies, is out now.
Follow Helen on
Twitter,
Instagram or
Facebook @MsHelenRussell
Read more about Helen’s new book, How To Be Sad (
Waterstones ,
Amazon UK or anywhere you like to buy books)
Get in touch with the show at
howtobesadpodcast@gmail.com
And as ever, BIG thanks to Joel Grove for production and to Matt Clacher at HarperCollins for making this podcast happen.
