Most everyone wants to live a good, meaningful life, though we don’t always know what that means and how to do it. Plenty of modern self-improvement programs claim to point people in the right direction, but many of the best answers were already offered more than two thousand years ago.

My guests have gleaned the cream of this orienting, ancient-yet-evergreen advice from history’s philosophers and shared it in their new book, The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning. Their names are Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko, and they’re professors of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Today on the show Meghan and Paul introduce us to the world of virtue ethics — an approach to philosophy that examines the nature of the good life, the values and habits that lead to excellence, and how to find and fulfill your purpose as a human being. We discuss how to seek truth with other people by asking them three levels of what they call “strong questions” and engaging in civil and fruitful dialogue. We then delve into why your intentions matter and why you should use “morally thick” language. We also examine the role that work and love has to play in pursuing the good life, and how the latter is very much about attention. We end our conversation with how a life of eudaimonia — full human flourishing — requires balancing action with contemplation.

#770: Philosophical Tools for Living the Good Life

Dating is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history. Given that, it shouldn't come as a surprise that many people aren't sure of the best way to go about it, especially since the rise of modern technology and dating apps has made an already murky landscape even more confusing.

If you feel like you could use some expert, research-backed guidance to navigating this world, enter today's guest, Logan Ury. Logan is a behavioral scientist turned dating coach, the Director of Relationship Science for the Hinge dating app, and the author of How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love. Today on the show, Logan explains the three dating tendencies and the three types of attachment styles that can influence, and potentially sabotage, your ability to get into a healthy relationship. She shares the easiest thing you can do to be more successful in making connections on the dating apps, and the criteria to use for figuring out how to best meet people in person. Logan then gets into how to design a good first date, and what to tell the other person if the date doesn't go well, rather than ghosting them. She also makes the case for why you shouldn't be over reliant on feeling the proverbial spark when deciding whether to see someone again. We end our conversation with tips on breaking up with someone you've been dating for awhile.

#778: A Playbook for Modern Dating

How did one of history's greatest writers — Ernest Hemingway — get going with his craft, develop his indelible style, and infuse his narratives with memorable life and compelling tension?

Today we delve into the answers to those questions with Hemingway scholar Mark Cirino, who is a professor of English, the editor and author of half a dozen books on Hemingway — including Ernest Hemingway: Thought in Action — and the host of the One True Podcast which covers all things related to Papa. Mark and I our begin our conversation with how Hemingway cut his teeth with writing as a journalist, how the "iceberg theory" underlay his approach to writing as a novelist, and how his years in Paris — and the books, people, and art he encountered there — influenced his work and the trajectory of his career. We then discuss how his travel and recreational pastimes allowed him to write with a vivid firsthand understanding of certain places and pursuits, what his writing routine was like, and how the characters in his novels explore the tension between thought and action. We end our conversation with Mark's recommendation for where to start reading Hemingway if you've never read him or haven't read him in a long time, and what Mark thinks was Hemingway's "one true sentence."

#786: The Writing Life of Ernest Hemingway

Why do corrupt people end up in power?

By way of an answer, you probably think of that famous quote from Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." But my guest today, Brian Klaas, would say that's only one part of what leads to corrupt individuals and cultures, the other being that people who are already corrupt are more likely to seek power in the first place. Brian argues that if we ever hope to develop better systems, from our national governments to our office hierarchies, we have to work on both prongs of this dynamic, not only preventing people who gain power from going bad, but encouraging good people to seek power as well.

Brian is the author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, and today on the show, he and I discuss how people who possess the so-called "dark triad" of traits are more attracted to positions of power, how the framing around those positions can either amplify or alter this self-selection effect, and what a tyrannical homeowners' association president and a psychopathic school janitor show us about these dynamics. We also discuss why power does indeed corrupt people and can in fact change their very brain chemistry. Brian explains the importance of accountability in keeping a system clean, and how you can serve in positions of power without becoming corrupted yourself.

#792: How Power Corrupts

#3156, Aug. 5, 2022: Even in depictions of scenery or people in the daytime (this title is from "An Introduction to Ukiyo-e, in English and Japanese") 
Today's pure primal piano music here. Happy if this music makes you feel peaceful.. : )
Looking for absolute natural beauty every day for Piano Ten Thousand Leaves. Target number is 4536 and 3156(69.6%) achieved today. Find my project.. : )
This piece may might have good 1/f fluctuation characteristic although I stopped investigating it each piece.

######## NEW 21th SELECTION ALBUM JUST RELEASED ########
"Giouji Temple Feeling Love" - the 21st selection album of piano ten thousand leaves

Youtube: Full(20 songs, 50 minutes) and Free 4K Video with Super Beautiful Motion Graphics of Artgrid
https://youtu.be/Zq9Oksqf4rw

spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/5JDlSrZ6wltF3ouIXsr4U2

apple music
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1615911988

iTunes
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1615911988?app=itunes

amazon music
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Line Music
https://music.line.me/webapp/album/mb000000000266d79e

AWA
https://s.awa.fm/album/0d40ec976ca707691d13

Other Every music streaming services in the world
https://linkco.re/ECPuRp77

Even In Depictions Of Scenery Or People In The Daytime -#3156 By Chair House 08052022

#3159, Aug. 8, 2022: When the season approached cherry trees would be transplanted (this title is from "An Introduction to Ukiyo-e, in English and Japanese") 
Today's pure primal piano music here. Happy if this music makes you feel peaceful.. : )
Looking for absolute natural beauty every day for Piano Ten Thousand Leaves. Target number is 4536 and 3159(69.6%) achieved today. Find my project.. : )
This piece may might have good 1/f fluctuation characteristic although I stopped investigating it each piece.

######## NEW 21th SELECTION ALBUM JUST RELEASED ########
"Giouji Temple Feeling Love" - the 21st selection album of piano ten thousand leaves

Youtube: Full(20 songs, 50 minutes) and Free 4K Video with Super Beautiful Motion Graphics of Artgrid
https://youtu.be/Zq9Oksqf4rw

spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/5JDlSrZ6wltF3ouIXsr4U2

apple music
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1615911988

iTunes
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1615911988?app=itunes

amazon music
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=chair+house+%E7%A5%87%E7%8E%8B%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AE%E6%83%B3%E3%81%84+-+%E3%83%94%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8E%E4%B8%87%E8%91%89%E9%9B%86+-+%E7%AC%AC21%E9%81%B8&i=digital-music&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Line Music
https://music.line.me/webapp/album/mb000000000266d79e

AWA
https://s.awa.fm/album/0d40ec976ca707691d13

Other Every music streaming services in the world
https://linkco.re/ECPuRp77

When The Season Approached Cherry Trees Would Be Transplanted - #3159 By Chair House 08082022

241 - The Status Game - Will Storr

During World War II, Henry Beecher, an anesthesiologist serving in the U.S. Army, noticed that 32% of the soldiers he treated for horrific battle wounds felt no pain. A further 44% experienced only slight or mild discomfort, despite the fact they had shrapnel embedded in their bodies. Beecher hypothesized that the euphoria of surviving battle resulted in the release of a natural painkiller. When morphine was running low in Europe, Beecher thought he could harness the mind’s seeming ability to produce natural painkillers in a different way by injecting soldiers who were about to undergo surgery with a simple saline solution, while telling the soldiers they were receiving morphine. About 90% of these patients underwent the surgery with little or no pain.

Beecher’s field-expedient placebo treatments would go on to open up decades of research into the power of our expectations. On today’s show, my guest will walk us through that fascinating research, and how the connection between the body and the mind is a lot stronger and wilder than we know.

His name is David Robson and he’s an award-winning science writer and the author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World. David and I begin our conversation with how and why the brain operates as a prediction machine, and how the expectations it generates can shape the reality we experience. We then discuss how even when someone’s pain or condition is very real, the placebo effect can have an equally real effect on their physiology — even when people know they’re taking a placebo. We also get into the “nocebo effect,” where your expectation that a drug will have negative side effects, in fact produces those side effects. From there we turn to how the expectation effect has powerful results beyond the medical world, and shows up in the areas of sleep, diet, and fitness, including how thinking of doing chores as exercise actually increases the health benefits of that activity, how reframing your anxiety can turn it into a performance-enhancing boost, and how your perception of getting older hugely affects how you will actually physically and mentally age.

#803: How Your Expectations Can Change Your Life

#3222, Oct. 10, 2022: With the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand (this title is from " A guidebook to Japan and its Cuspoms") 
Today's pure primal piano music here. Happy if this music makes you feel peaceful.. : )
Looking for absolute natural beauty every day for Piano Ten Thousand Leaves. Target number is 4536 and 3222(71.0%) achieved today. Find my project.. : )
This piece may might have good 1/f fluctuation characteristic although I stopped investigating it each piece.


######## NEW 22nd SELECTION ALBUM JUST RELEASED ########
"Midsummer Light" - the 22nd selection album of piano ten thousand leaves

Youtube: Full(20 songs, 50 minutes) and Free 4K Video with Super Beautiful Motion Graphics of Artgrid
https://youtu.be/NrGOHU8Oq8I

spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/0xbAyejkTEictsVmLxwc0v

apple music
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1639517632

amazon music
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=chair+house+%E7%9C%9F%E5%A4%8F%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B2%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A+-+%E3%83%94%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8E%E4%B8%87%E8%91%89%E9%9B%86+-+%E7%AC%AC22%E9%81%B8&i=digital-music&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Line Music
https://music.line.me/webapp/album/mb00000000028c4baf

AWA
https://s.awa.fm/album/d9a568a7ba17bc6aa983

Other Every music streaming services in the world
https://linkco.re/HR7gvxuN

With The Thumb And First Two Fingers Of The Right Hand - #3222 By Chair House 10102022

#3241 Oct. 30, 2022: In addition the three days before and after the day in particular " A guidebook to Japan and its Customs") 
Today's pure primal piano music here. Happy if this music makes you feel peaceful.. : )
Looking for absolute natural beauty every day for Piano Ten Thousand Leaves. Target number is 4536 and 3241(71.5%) achieved today. Find my project.. : )
This piece may might have good 1/f fluctuation characteristic although I stopped investigating it each piece.


######## NEW 22nd SELECTION ALBUM JUST RELEASED ########
"Midsummer Light" - the 22nd selection album of piano ten thousand leaves

Youtube: Full(20 songs, 50 minutes) and Free 4K Video with Super Beautiful Motion Graphics of Artgrid
https://youtu.be/NrGOHU8Oq8I

spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/0xbAyejkTEictsVmLxwc0v

apple music
https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1639517632

amazon music
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=chair+house+%E7%9C%9F%E5%A4%8F%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B2%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A+-+%E3%83%94%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8E%E4%B8%87%E8%91%89%E9%9B%86+-+%E7%AC%AC22%E9%81%B8&i=digital-music&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Line Music
https://music.line.me/webapp/album/mb00000000028c4baf

AWA
https://s.awa.fm/album/d9a568a7ba17bc6aa983

Other Every music streaming services in the world
https://linkco.re/HR7gvxuN

In Addition The Three Days Before And After The Day In Particular - #3242 By Chair House 10302022

When you look back on the moments you regret most in your life, a fair number of them likely involved you being angry. And if these cringe-inducing, life- and relationship-damaging moments happen more often than you'd like, then it's time to start thinking about how to get a handle on your anger.

My guest today offers help in that process. His name is Dr. Chip Tafrate, and he's a clinical psychologist, a professor of criminology and criminal justice, and the co-author, along with Howard Kassinove, of Anger Management for Everyone: Ten Proven Strategies to Help You Control Anger and Live a Happier Life. Chip walks us through what anger is, how it's distinctive from aggression, and how it can be both destructive and healthy. We then get into some of the strategies Chip recommends for managing your anger so it stays in that latter zone, including making changes to your lifestyle, avoiding anger-inducing triggers, reframing your thoughts, and doing anger exposure therapy.

Resources Related to the Podcast

Anger Management for Any Situation — Chip and Howard's Udemy course
AoM podcast #614 with Steven Hayes on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
AoM Podcast #489: How to Get a Handle on Your Anger
AoM Article: How Reframing Builds Resilience
AoM Article: The Virtuous Life — Tranquility

Connect With Dr. Chip Tafrate

Chip's faculty page at CCSU

#786: The Writing Life of Ernest Hemingway

The Art of Manliness

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