This podcast is about the problem of overthinking - and how modifying one’s metacognitive beliefs can reduce stress, worry, and problem fixation. 

Thinking is an amazing capacity we all have. Humans possess the cognitive abilities to form concepts, imagine possible futures, and solve problems, but this same capacity, when it runs amuck, can keep you up at night, paralyze effect decision making and keep you in a loop of worst-case scenarios. 

Yeah, not helpful. 

My guest is Dr. Pia Callesen, who explains how to use meta-cognitive strategies to break free from this overthinking. 

Dr. Callesen is a therapist and metacognitive specialist managing several clinics in Denmark. She has a Ph.D. from Manchester University, and She is the author of Live More Think Less (2020). Her study into the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy for depression, published in Scientific Reports in 2020, suggests that MCT has considerable benefits which might exceed those of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). 

On this show, we discuss…

• Metacognition and metacognitive therapy
• Metacognitive beliefs
• The self-regulating mechanism in the brain
• When less is more when dealing with thoughts
• Trigger thoughts
• How MCT differs from traditional cognitive therapies
• Targeting specific psychological processes
• How to postpone worry/rumination
• Attention training
• The benefits and risks of mindfulness
• Detached mindfulness
• How attentional awareness helps with depression 

As a person who overthinks, I’m already benefiting from much of Dr. Callesen’s advice here. I think you will find this interesting and very helpful. 

Enjoy! 

For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com

“Feelings, nothing more than feelings” - Morris Albert

In this episode, we discuss how emotions are made - and how insights into how our brains make us feel can help us cope with challenging situations. 

My guest is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychology professor and neuroscientist at Northeastern University, who is the author of seven books on emotion and the brain, including the best-selling book How Emotions Are Made and, most recently, Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain. In addition to the books, Dr. Barrett has published over 260 peer-reviewed scientific papers. She received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain.

Her groundbreaking research overturns many prior assumptions about how the human brain forms emotions. On this show, we cover these topics …

• A discussion about theory in scientific contexts
  The classical view of emotions
• An overview of her research in constructed emotion
• The problem with the “amygdala hijack” and the reptilian brain
• The brain as a prediction machine
• Rationality
• Mood and metabolic efficiency
• The body-budget
• How emotions can be recategorized
• A new take on depression
• The story of her daughter and the “emotional flu”
• Decision-making, rationality, and the use of emotion

For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts

This discussion centers on what living with purpose actually means. 

My guest is Professor William Damon. 

William is a psychologist and professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He has been designated one of the fifty most influential living psychologists in the world today and is one of the world's leading scholars of human development. Bills is a pioneering researcher on the development of purpose in life and wrote the influential book The Path to Purpose. His current work includes a study exploring purpose in higher education and a study of family purpose across generations. He’s been elected to the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

On this podcast, we cover these topics and more. 

• The multiple definitions of purpose
• Vocations/avocations  
• How purpose can change over time 
• Is purpose something you find or do
• Purpose as a noun vs purpose as a verb
• On having purpose vs being purposeful 
• The benefits of a Life Review 
• Bill's story about his early family life and his new book A Round of Golf With my Father 

For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts