{"podcast":{"title":"The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan","slug":"the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188","podcast_index_feed_id":1371188,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/61371.rss","website_url":"https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/61371/b8169094491d87e5c919fbbc549287ca.jpg","author":"Andrew Sullivan","episode_count":276,"summary":"\"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle,\" - George Orwell.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T06:17:14.708828+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188"},"episode":{"title":"Arthur Brooks On How To Be Happy","slug":"arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy","published_at":"2025-12-26T18:05:57+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188","url":"https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/182047393/23916c056a0154e9e556b67a7873e4b6.mp3","summary":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Arthur is an academic and writer. The former president of the American Enterprise Institute, he’s a professor at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. The author of 13 books — including the 2023 bestseller he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey: Build the Life You Want — his latest is The Happiness Files , a curated collection from his “How to Build a Life” column at The Atlantic. He’s also the host of the “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast. An auto-transcript is available above (just click “Transcript” while logged into Substack). For two clips of our convo — how to prevent Trump from wrecking your mood, and how to open up your right brain — head to our YouTube page . Other topics: raised in Seattle by an artist mom and mathematician dad; converting to Catholicism as a teen; his early career as a French horn player; meeting his Spanish wife at a young age — and not speaking the same language; the risks that immigrants take; the British aversion to striving; walking the Camino de Santiago; his mother’s struggle with depression her whole life; how half of your happiness level is genetic; Charles Murray on religion; near-death experiences; Burke; Emerson; Oakeshott; animal impulse vs moral aspiration; Nicomachean Ethics; success as a false siren; Spinoza; our obsession with screens; the AI explosion; time management; the Daily Dish and my burnout in 2015; silent meditation retreats; the happiness of having a dog; Arthur’s work with the Dalai Lama; Buddhist vs Christian suffering; my deepest fear; my HIV test; the importance of failure for strivers; Stoicism; psychedelics; the Sabbath; the denialism over death; and how chang…","meta_description":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Arthur is an academic and writer. The former president of the Am…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2603,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/episodes/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}