Listening is a profound gift that honors both the speaker and the observer. By understanding our individual communication style, we offer others validation and sharpen our communication skills. This commitment to intelligent communication builds deeper trust and serves as a gift to ourselves. Learning how to listen better expands our perspective and fosters genuine connection.

To gain a deeper understanding of how to listen better, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with Haru Yamada, a sociolinguistics researcher and a writer with a PhD from Georgetown University.

Haru describes the physical and contextual differences between hearing and listening, and the intricacies of listener-led cultures and speaker-led cultures. From her book, Kiku: The Japanese Art of Good Listening, Haru offers strategies for creating stronger personal relationships by strengthening our listening muscles..

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Cultivating happiness requires an active investment, yet some believe true personal growth only follows a "dark night of the soul." By navigating the tension between nihilism and existentialism, we transform an existential crisis into a search for fulfillment. Is discovering the meaning of life an individual pursuit, or is metaphysical life devoid of a moral truth?

For a thoughtful exploration of meaning, happiness, and the human search for fulfillment, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with public policy professor, author, and thought leader in the science of wellbeing, Dr. Mark Fabian.

Mark describes the existence of nihilism and existentialism within the social and political spectrum as well as the key differences in how they translate into happiness and personal growth. He highlights the beneficial effects of being of use in one’s community.

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When we agree to practice joy through community, connection, and belonging in its own powerful way, it is an act of defiance to what's going on around us. We must ask ourselves, particularly in these difficult times, what we are fighting for? We fight for a meaningful world that yields joy. This commitment to fostering shared happiness becomes the ultimate evidence of resilience and a deeply healing public force.

To discover how to find joy and hopefulness in difficult times, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen continues her conversation with Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College and coordinator of the upcoming JOY: Loving the World in Dark Times conference..

Roger shares his intentions for the JOY: Loving the World in Dark Times conference, which are rooted in Hannah Arendt's philosophy that freedom is not a private endeavor but is best found in the public sphere.

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WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.