Hidden Brain

New to Hidden Brain? Here's a great place to start. hiddenbrain.org/featured-episo…

“Our habits are not just habits of behavior. They’re also habits of perception.” This week, we revisit a conversation with psychologist and neuroscientist @NormanFarb about how our perceptions of the world can lead us astray, and how we can update them to see the world more clearly. open.spotify.com/episode/2KlDUt…

Rottenberg's depression forced him to stop pursuing a career as a historian. His body made him stop and reconsider. Instead, he found the work he was built for. Depression doesn't always mean you're broken. Sometimes your body is trying to redirect you.

Rottenberg argues that low mood is a signal. Its message is simple. Should I proceed or should I stop? Think of grief. When someone you love dies, your body slows down, energy drains, the world contracts. We don't call grief a defect. We call it a natural process.

You've been told depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain. That the way you think is distorted. That's the story we've heard for decades. What if I tell you a Cornell psychologist has spent 30 years arguing depression isn't a defect at all, but a signal your body is sending to keep you from harm?. 🧵

The hike to the summit. The meal you spent hours cooking. The club you had to earn your way into. Researchers call this the effort heuristic: when something costs time, energy, or discomfort, your brain reads that as a signal of worth. The things you’ll value most are usually the hardest to earn.

Psychologist Lisa Miller says that people with spiritual lives are healthier, happier, and more connected to others. But how do we go about exploring that kind of existence? In this week's episode, the second in a two-part series on how to cultivate an awakened brain. apple.co/4h0WlA8

Most of us spend years climbing Maslow’s pyramid toward the peak of self-actualization. Stanford’s Dave Evans says that summit is probably out of reach. But there are more paths to fulfillment than you could pursue in multiple lifetimes. How can you fully be who you’re trying to be right now?

When Solitaire Miles was 18, she suffered a stroke. At the hospital, medical staff accused her of being intoxicated. Then her high school principal arrived — a nun named Sister Maura Smith. hiddenbrain.org/unsunghero/sol…

In last week’s episode, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about what goes on in the spiritual brain. In the second part of our conversation, we explore what it means to cultivate a mind that is open to the transcendent. open.spotify.com/episode/07t0oq…

How many people do you think never recover from a devastating loss? Researchers reviewed roughly a hundred studies and found the answer is about ten percent. Most of us think we’re far more fragile than that. And that assumption keeps us from taking risks we don’t need to avoid.

“It is sustained spiritual life that seems to go hand in hand with a deepening of our awakened awareness.” Last week, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about the science of spirituality. Today, we explore what those ideas look like in everyday life. Then, behavioral scientist Dave Evans returns to respond to your questions on designing a meaningful life. hiddenbrain.org/podcast/waking…

Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. The five stages of grief were developed for terminally ill patients, then became a way to judge whether everyone else is grieving correctly. Grief is one of the most individual experiences a person can have. There is no wrong way to grieve.

During her freshman year of college, Jennifer Novak felt like the world was collapsing around her. One particularly bad day, a stranger stepped in and gave her hope. hiddenbrain.org/unsunghero/jen…

Try explaining exactly how a toilet flushes without making a mess. Most of us can’t, even though we use one daily. Cognitive scientist Phil Fernbach calls this the illusion of explanatory depth: mistaking familiarity for real understanding. The same gap shows up in politics and medicine.

What if the human brain is built not only for survival, but also for transcendence? Psychologist Lisa Miller suggests that spirituality is a universal human capacity, and that feeling connected to something bigger than ourselves might be essential to a fulfilling life. open.spotify.com/episode/3UpXy8…

Most of us think the way forward starts with a plan. A vision, a goal, a five-year map. But Dave Evans, who teaches design thinking at Stanford, suggests the real starting line is somewhere less obvious: fully accepting where you are right now, even the parts you'd rather not. Acceptance isn't surrender. It's the moment you stop wrestling with what you can't change and finally see what you can.

“Every human being on earth is born with a natural capacity for spiritual awareness.” Can science tell us anything about our spiritual lives? Psychologist Lisa Miller says the answer is yes. In this week’s episode, how spirituality changes our mental outlook. hiddenbrain.org/podcast/waking…

Big exam. Wedding toast. Job interview. The moments where we spiral into uncontrollable what-ifs. Stanford Professor Dave Evans calls his fix “fully engaged, calmly detached.” Give the moment everything you’ve got while it’s happening, then let go once it’s done. What happens next isn’t up to you.