Flourish FM

Dr. Eli Susman is a psychologist who studies how well-being can fit into the smallest moments of an ordinary day. He coined the term “micropractice” to describe brief, evidence-based well-being practices that take thirty seconds or less, and has spent more than a decade researching how contemplative practices can be adapted to the rhythm of modern life rather than requiring us to rearrange it around them. His first book, Micropractice: A Science-Backed Approach for Calm, Clarity, and Joy in 30 Seconds or Less, published in October 2026, gathers this research into fourteen practices across four elements: move, touch, breathe and flow, alongside chapters on the science of habit formation and on breaking free of a “busy mindset.” 
Eli holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and has conducted research at Harvard. His best-known study, published in Behaviour Research and Therapy in 2024, tested a twenty-second daily practice he developed called “self-compassionate touch.” Those who practised almost daily showed gains in self-compassion, stress and mental health that rivalled interventions demanding many hours a week. The paper was covered in more than a hundred outlets across thirty languages, including The New York Times, CNN, the BBC, NPR’s Hidden Brain, Forbes and Psychology Today, and Greater Good magazine, who called the finding one of the Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life in 2024. 
Eli is also a certified yoga teacher, a laughter yoga leader and a longtime meditation facilitator, whose own practice has taken him everywhere from a Thai forest monastery to Plum Village in France.
 
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
03:49 What Are Micropractices
07:18 Consistency and Busy Mindset
10:11 Study Design and Habit Cues
15:01 Sponsor Break
16:34 Guided Self Compassion Touch
36:36 Touch Science and Cortisol
40:24 Habituation and Automaticity
46:00 Flourishing Takeaway
47:49 Where to Find Eli
48:57 Podcast Outro and Subscribe
 
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Book: Micropractice: A Science-Backed Approach for Calm, Clarity, and Joy in 30 Seconds or Less (October 2026)
Media highlights:
Greater Good: The Top 10 Insights from the “Science of a Meaningful Life” in 2024
CNN: “Doing this for 20 seconds a day can relieve stress and anxiety” 
Newsletter: The Micro Memo
Articles: 
“Daily micropractice can augment single-session interventions: A randomized controlled trial of self-compassionate touch and examining their associations with habit formation in US college students” (Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2024)
“Habit-formation strategies enhance long-term outcomes of a self-compassionate touch micropractice: a randomized controlled trial” (Scientific Reports, 2026)
 

Dr. Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and educator whose work explores the neuroscience of curiosity and what it shows us about how to live, learn, and flourish in an uncertain world. She is the founder of Ness Labs, whose weekly newsletter on mindful productivity and lifelong learning is read by more than 100,000 people. 
 
Anne-Laure is the author of Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World (2025), which draws on ancestral philosophy and contemporary neuroscience to argue for replacing rigid linear goals with small, curiosity-driven experiments. Her writing and ideas have been featured in media outlets including Big Think, Forbes, Wired, and on leading podcasts on creativity, productivity, and well-being.
 
Anne-Laure is a UKRI-funded researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, where she applies her research on the neuroscience of curiosity to ADHD, AI, mental health, and lifelong learning. She holds a PhD in Psychology & Neuroscience from King’s College London, and before her doctoral research she worked as an executive on Google’s digital health team.
 
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Anne-Laure Le Cunff links:
Website
Ness Labs
Newsletter
Book: Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World (2025)
Recent paper on flourishing: “Systematic Curiosity as an Integrative Tool for Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Review and Framework” (Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 2024)
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Episode timestamps:
01:10 Why Curiosity Matters
02:32 Systematic Curiosity Defined
04:42 Curiosity for Flourishing
06:29 Shadow Side and Self Regulation
09:21 Metacognition and Reflection
12:07 Types of Curiosity Matrix
14:35 Distraction and Context
15:51 Sponsor Antifragile Academy
17:23 Designing Tiny Experiments
21:36 From Habits to Tiny Experiments Book
23:19 Experimental Mindset Under Uncertainty
25:22 Curiosity Profiles and Stress Tolerance
28:31 What Makes Experiments Tiny
31:02 Redefining Success as Alignment
33:52 Finding Curiosity via Self Anthropology
36:01 Retrospective Experiments and Reframing
39:40 One Experiment to Try This Week
40:45 Where to Find Anne Laure

About this episode: 
 
Dr. Ethan Kross is one of the world's leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan's top-ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory, where he studies how the conversations people have with themselves shape their health, performance, decisions, and relationships.
 
He is the two-time national bestselling author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters and How to Harness It (2021) and Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don't Manage You (2025). Chatter became an international bestseller, translated into over 40 languages, and was chosen as one of the best new books of the year by the Washington Post, CNN, and USA Today. Shift was named a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly.
 
Ethan has participated in policy discussions at the White House, spoken at TED and SXSW, and consulted with some of the world's top executives and organisations. His research has been published in leading academic journals and has featured in major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and the BBC. He has been interviewed on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, and NPR's Morning Edition.
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Links:
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X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Books: Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters and How to Harness It (2021) and Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don't Manage You (2025)
Emotion & Self-Control Lab
 
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
03:51 Ethan Origin Story
07:40 Dad and Meditation Roots
10:34 What Are Emotions
14:27 Why Negative Emotions Matter
17:46 Chatter vs Shift
19:42 Three Step Regulation Framework
25:38 Sponsor Antifragile Academy
27:10 Emotion Gym Toolkit
28:43 Sensory Shifters Fast Wins
32:35 Attention and Strategic Avoidance
39:01 Perspective Shifters Reframing
41:56 Venting and Introspection Traps
47:21 Validation Without Suppression

About this episode: 
 
Michael Easter is a journalist, professor, and bestselling author who writes about how modern environments shape human behavior, health, and performance. He’s best known for translating scientific research and immersive reporting into practical insights about living better in an age of abundance. 
 
Michael is the author of two New York Times bestsellers: The Comfort Crisis (2021) and Scarcity Brain (2023). Comfort Crisis explores how modern life has become too easy and why seeking out purposeful discomfort can improve our mental and physical health. Scarcity Brain examines how evolved human instincts collide with today’s world of endless food, information, and stimulation, leading to overconsumption and addictive behaviors. 
 
Michael’s work has appeared in over sixty countries and in media outlets including Men’s Health, Outside, New York, Scientific American, Esquire, and Vice. Through his writing and speaking, he focuses on how people can design their environments and habits to live healthier, more intentional lives in a world built for comfort and excess. His work has been adopted by NASA, special forces units, Fortune 500 companies, top pro teams, and millions of readers worldwide.
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Links:
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Book: The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self (2021)
Book: Scarcity Brain: Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough (2023)
Newsletter: Two Percent
 
02:35 Why Discomfort Matters
04:25 Stress Sweet Spot
07:42 First World Problems
12:37 Arctic Reset Story
17:19 Boredom as Signal
21:24 Unpleasant Emotions Help
24:47 Misogi Annual Challenge
28:12 Physical or Mental Misogi
28:41 Sushi Fear Breakthrough
29:41 Anti Fragile Academy Update
31:12 Chosen Stress And Proactivity
33:39 Beneficial Versus Harmful Stress
36:01 Finding The Sweet Spot
38:11 Daily 2 Percent Mindset
42:13 Movement Culture And Walking
43:32 Why Walk With Weight
48:31 Rucking Gear And Sex Differences
50:06 Designing Environments For Discipline

About this episode: 
 
Karen Guggenheim is a pioneer in the global happiness movement, a leader in promoting the science behind well-being to an international audience, and a motivational speaker inspiring people about how to grow post trauma and rebuild a life focused on meaning, purpose, and happiness. 
 
Kareni is author of Cultivating Happiness: Overcome Trauma and Positively Transform Your Life (2024), and has given a TED Talk entitled “The Bridge to Happiness.” She is the producer of the World Happiness Summit®, a leading well-being conference promoting the benefits of an evidence-based approach to increase happiness in all areas of life. She is also CEO of WOHASU®, the comprehensive wellbeing ecosystem named after the Summit which is inspiring a fast-growing movement sending a positive rippling effect around the world.
 
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Links:
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Book: Cultivating Happiness: Overcome Trauma and Positively Transform Your Life (2024)
TED Talk: “The Bridge to Happiness” (2024)
World Happiness Summit: listeners get a 20% discount to the 2026 Summit with the code “FLOURISH”
00:00 Meet Karen Guggenheim
00:59 Why Trauma and Happiness
02:39 Loss and Choosing Life
05:28 Meaning as a Shield
09:09 From Accidental to Intentional
12:12 Relationships and Legacy
16:07 World Happiness Summit Origins
20:59 WOHASU Discount Details
21:48 Defining Post Traumatic Growth
25:31 Beyond Positivity Mindset
27:23 Gratitude As Reset
28:45 Presence Through Grief
30:02 Practical Happiness Tools
33:52 Design Your Day
37:53 Acceptance Not Suppression
40:13 Values As Lighthouse
43:23 Forgiveness Frees Energy
44:59 Choose Life Focus
46:38 Explorer Mindset
48:38 Summit And Farewell

About this episode: 
 
Annie Duke is an author, speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. She loves to dive deep into decision-making under uncertainty. Her latest obsession is on the topic of quitting. In particular, she is on a mission to rehabilitate the term “quitting” and get people to be proud of walking away from things. 
 
Annie is the author of two bestsellers, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away (2022), and Thinking in Bets (2018). As a former professional poker player, she has won more than $4 million in tournament poker. During her career, Annie won a World Series of Poker bracelet and is the only woman to have won the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the NBC National Poker Heads-Up Championship. 
 
Annie retired from poker in 2012. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, she was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her master’s degree. In 2023, Annie completed her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology. 
 
Annie is the co-founder of The Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit whose mission is to improve lives by empowering students through decision skills education. 
 
 
Learn more and subscribe at flourishfmpodcast.com
 
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The Alliance for Decision Education
Make Better Decisions course on Maven
Decision Education Podcast
 
00:00 Meet Dr. Annie Duke: Decision-Making, Poker, and the Case for Quitting
05:22 Defining a “Good Decision”: Goals, Values, and the Four Quadrants
09:14 Luck vs. Choice: Avoiding Nihilism and Leaning Into Uncertainty
12:49 Sponsor Break: The Anti-Fragile Academy
14:21 Decision-Making for Flourishing: Agency Without Illusions of Control
18:33 Quitting Well: Updating Beliefs, Identity Threats, and Mental Time Travel
28:03 Quitting, Happiness & the Forecasting Problem (Tying the Strands Together)
29:38 Why We Misread Our Values—and Resist Changing Course
30:52 The ‘Future Unhappy’ Exercise: Mental Time Travel for Better Decisions
32:42 Get Outside Perspectives (Independently): Friends, Mentors & Written Answers
34:11 Real-World Example: Forecasting Reveals It’s Time to Shut the Business Down
35:15 Why Focus on What Could Go Wrong: Optimism, Faster Pivots & Opportunity Cost
37:01 Flourishing Takeaway: Tech-Free Savoring Walks (and the Dog Rule)
43:26 Flow, Sports & Real Connection: Pickleball/Tennis as Tech-Free Joy
46:10 Wrap-Up: Courses, Decision Education in K–12, and Final Thanks

About this episode:
 
Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is the world’s preeminent expert on happiness. She is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and is the author of The Myths of Happiness and the bestseller The How of Happiness, which have been published in 39 countries. Her next book, co-authored with Harry Reis, is coming out in February and is titled, How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most.
 
Sonja received her degrees from Harvard and Stanford. She has been awarded many grants and honors for her research, which focuses on how and why happiness can shift over time, and how to build lasting happiness via gratitude, kindness, and connection interventions. 
 
Sonja’s work has been written up in hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, and she has appeared on multiple TV shows, radio shows, and feature documentaries worldwide. 
 
Learn more and subscribe at flourishfmpodcast.com
 
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Links:
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The Happiness Files Newsletter
Elevate Your Happiness Membership
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Books
Happiness and Mindset Quizzes
Google Scholar
 
02:05 Defining Happiness 
03:56 Happiness and Human Flourishing
07:17 The Benefits of Happiness
11:56 Effective Happiness Interventions
13:55 Gratitude Interventions
21:35 Acts of Kindness and Their Impact
23:38 Connection Interventions and Upcoming Book
28:14 Understanding Loneliness and Connection
29:51 Introducing the New Book: How to Feel Loved
33:26 Mindsets for Feeling Loved
39:23 The Role of Negative Emotions
41:20 The Power of Gratitude
45:33 The Secret to Happiness: Deep Conversations
50:11 Holiday Conversations and Final Thoughts

Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, M.D., is Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London, and a consultant psychiatrist for the NHS in London. She studies the effects, action, use and representation of psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and antipsychotics, and has also written about the history and philosophy of psychiatry. 
 
Joanna has published several books, the most recent of which is Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth (2025). Her previous books include The Myth of the Chemical Cure, The Bitterest Pills and A Straight Talking Introduction to Psychiatric Drugs.
 
Joanna has written for The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Conversation, Literary Review, was profiled in The Spectator and has been interviewed for Channel 4’s Ways to Change the World Podcast, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee’s Feel Better, Live More podcast, The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast and the Evening Standard’s Tech and Science Daily, among others. 
 
Learn more and subscribe at flourishfmpodcast.com
 
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Links:
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Twitter
Publications
Google Scholar
Psychology Today blog
Timestamps:
 
[00:03:04] Critical psychiatry's alternative perspective.
[00:04:10] Questioning the pharmaceutical industry's dominance.
[00:09:40] Emotional reactions to personal loss.
[00:14:00] Serotonin theory of depression.
[00:17:27] SSRIs versus benzodiazepines distinction.
[00:21:44] Biological vs. psychological treatment approaches.
[00:27:50] Flourishing despite mental illness.
[00:30:56] The role of suffering.
[00:36:09] Emotions as signals for change.
[00:42:07] Psychedelics and depression treatment.
[00:46:19] Depression's complex nature.
[00:48:38] Finding purpose in life.

Dr. Laurie Santos is a Professor of Psychology at Yale University and one of the world’s leading experts on the science of happiness. She is also an expert on the evolutionary origins of human cognition and the ways our minds lie to us about what makes us happy. 
 
Laurie’s course at Yale, “Psychology and the Good Life,” teaches students how the science of psychology can help us make wiser choices and live a happier and more fulfilling life. It’s the most popular class ever taught at Yale, with almost one out of four students enrolled. It has been featured in media outlets including the New York Times, [and] NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine and Slate. The publicly available online version of the class, called “The Science of Well-Being,” has attracted more than 4 million learners worldwide.
 
Laurie has won numerous awards, both for her science and teaching. She was recently voted one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young minds and was named in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.” Her podcast, The Happiness Lab, is a top-3 Apple podcast which has attracted over 100 million downloads.
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Links:
Website
Yale webpage
Yale course: “The Science of Well-Being” (publicly available version of the most popular class in Yale’s history)
Podcast: The Happiness Lab
Google Scholar
Recent article: “Laurie Santos’ Pursuit of Happiness,” The New Yorker, March 19, 2025
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
TikTok
Facebook
Twitter
Timestamps:
[00:02:46] Definition of happiness.
[00:04:09] Balancing affective and cognitive happiness.
[00:06:57] Happiness in vs. Happiness with.
[00:10:25] Misunderstandings about happiness.
[00:12:27] Evolutionary perspective on happiness.
[00:16:09] Happiness is within our control.
[00:19:08] Pursuing happiness the wrong way.
[00:23:14] Misguided happiness metrics.
[00:31:40] Social comparison and happiness.
[00:35:25] College student mental health crisis.
[00:39:05] Changing thought patterns for happiness.
[00:45:06] Parenting practices and discomfort.
[00:48:10] Practical steps for happiness.

Dr. Judith Joseph MD, MBA is a world-renowned, board-certified psychiatrist and researcher specializing in mental health and trauma. She is the founder and chief investigator at New York City’s premier clinical research base, Manhattan Behavioral Medicine, assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University, and chair of the Women in Medicine Board at Columbia University. 
 
Judith conducted the world’s first peer-reviewed clinical research study on high functioning depression in her laboratories. She recently published her instant national bestselling book based on her findings from this study, High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy (2025). She has become the world’s leading voice on high functioning depression.
 
Judith received a 2023 Congressional Proclamation from the US house of representatives for her social media advocacy and research in mental health. She has received several awards, including Share Care Awards in 2020 and 2023 for her MedCircle series on PTSD and a Good Morning America investigative special on ADHD. In 2025, Judith was featured as a
Mental Health Thought Leader on CNN’s Game Changers series. She has written for or been quoted in media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post and Forbes, and has been featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Oprah Daily and more. 
 
Learn more and subscribe at flourishfmpodcast.com
 
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Links:
Website
NYU webpage
Book: High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy (Penguin Random House, 2025)
Podcast: The Vault with Dr. Judith
High Functioning Depression and Anhedonia quizzes
Psychology Today page
Google Scholar
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
TikTok
Facebook
 
 
Timestamps:
 
[00:02:19] Understanding high functioning depression.
[00:09:06] High functioning depression explained.
[00:14:05] Anhedonia and trauma connection.
[00:19:28] Pathologically productive behaviors.
[00:20:44] Joy and technology's impact.
[00:25:17] Joy vs. pleasure in happiness.
[00:28:46] The hedonic treadmill explained.
[00:32:45] Awareness of anhedonia in therapy.
[00:35:43] Role of gratitude in healing.
[00:39:49] Gratitude practices for mental health.
[00:42:39] Tapping into your values.
[00:45:38] Overcoming hidden depression.