The Secrets of Good-Enoughness and The Good Life with Professors Andreas Elpidorou & Avram Alpert
Original Air Date Wednesday, October 26, 2022
There is a wide gap between feeling not enough and good enough. The secret to feeling good enough is using boredom and frustration to propel us forward toward achieving our goals.
We become frustrated when we face obstacles to getting things we care about and it forces us to try another way of something new. By embracing our imperfections, and relinquishing our need to be right, we can all lead a good-enough life. To discover how to use our emotions in a way that creates a greater good for ourselves and our community, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two professors and authors about how to live a good life. The author of Propelled: How Boredom, Frustration, and Anticipation Lead Us to the Good Life, Professor Andreas Elpidorou describes how boredom and frustration are often misinterpreted and can be real opportunities for improving life experiences. And, the author of The Good-Enough Life, Professor Avram Alpert shares his secrets for good-enoughness and how being a part of the social construct offers a greater good for all.
Andreas Elpidorou — The Good Life:
- Andreas Elpidorou explains why happiness can not be a stable condition. [1:42]
- In his book, Propelled, Andreas shares how boredom and frustration have useful roles in our lives. [5:40]
- The connection between boredom and depression. [10:15]
- The deliciousness of anticipation. [20:00]
Andreas Elpidorou is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Louisville. He specializes in the philosophical study of the mind with an emphasis on emotions and consciousness. Author of Propelled: How Boredom, Frustration, and Anticipation Lead us to the Good Life, his work on the nature and value of boredom has received worldwide media attention.
Book: Propelled: How Boredom, Frustration, and Anticipation Lead Us to the Good Life
Elpidorou
@aelpidorou on Twitter
Avram Alpert — The Secrets of Good-Enoughness:
- In his book, The Good-Enough Life, Avram describes what it means for life to be good enough. [26:33]
- The importance of community and civic responsibility in living a good-enough life. [32:48]
- How embracing imperfections allows us to feel good enough. [39:19]
- Living the good-enough life reminds us that humans all share certain values and it is in those values that we find empathy for each other. [44:57]
Presently a Fellow at the New Institute in Hamburg, Germany, Avram “Avi” Alpert received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at Princeton and Rutgers and is the author of three books. In 2018 he co-founded the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program at Jack Shainman Gallery where he now serves as an advisor.
Book: The Good-Enough Life
This episode of Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio about the good life and enoughness is sponsored by:
LinkedIn — is Lisa’s go-to network to find the right talent to make her organization soar. Your organization can add the purple hashtag #hiring to its profile so your network can help you target the right people to hire. Attract and prioritize high-quality hires! Every week over 40 million job seekers search Linkedin.
Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life — A boot camp manual for greater emotional fitness. Happiness waits for no one and sometimes we all need support. What is getting in the way of your happiness right now?
H–Factor: Where is Your Heart? — Lisa’s documentary film explores the journey of human happiness. Emotions are contagious and happiness is a universally desired state. We tend to forget we all have the freedom to be happy or the liberty to be miserable each day.
“Frustration can be a catalyst and an opportunity.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Being good enough means being willing to surrender the need to control or to be right.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“The practice of the good enough life is the practice that leads to life for the greater good.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Happiness can not be a stable condition.” @aelpidorou on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “We are trying to engineer our lives and try to construct the best life we can.” @aelpidorou on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “When we find ourselves in a state of boredom we are not sure how to act. There is a form of crisis that arises.” @aelpidorou on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Frustration is a greatly misunderstood emotion.” @aelpidorou on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Not acknowledging emotions as viable experiences robs us of the opportunity of growth, success, and ultimately contentment.” @aelpidorou on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“When we are forced to take a pause to reflect on our condition, our situation, and through that breaking of the rhythm we can see things differently.” @avramalpert on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Part of where our happiness comes from is through our drive to improve our experience.” @avramalpert on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Democracy is an appreciation of our imperfections.” @avramalpert on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “There is nothing wrong with being imperfect.” @avramalpert on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet
CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY
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