With the holiday season in full force and New Year’s Eve fast approaching, it’s easy to get bogged down in the chaos only to make lofty resolutions for things to be different next year. But you don’t have to wait until 2024 — or make unattainable goals for the new year — just to live a happier life. Instead, Oprah Winfrey is showing us how we can start living happier right now through her latest “Super Soul” podcast series (the final episode just dropped on Dec. 4) that accompanies her recently launched book “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.”
A bit of background on the New York Times bestseller: Winfrey collaborated with Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks to teach readers how they can become happier with the life they currently have instead of waiting for circumstances to change or challenges to improve. The pair uses their decades of experience to give research-based, actionable ways to improve your level of happiness.
Along with realistic strategies for how to improve your happiness, the book shares insights from people who took control over their well-being and chose to be happy despite an array of major life setbacks.
Winfrey’s “Super Soul” podcast, which features interviews with authors such as Dr. Anita Phillips and Kerry Washington, has three episodes dedicated to “Build the Life You Want.” In the three-part series, Winfrey and Brooks dig deep into the science and happiness skills featured in their book while also answering reader questions — almost like a virtual book club.
The idea of having deep conversations with authors is something that Winfrey feels strongly about: “I love reading, and I especially love when I finish a great book and have the chance to speak with the author about it,” Winfrey tells us. “To dive in and get their perspective and hear about their process and go deeper on the themes and topics. With each of the new ‘Super Soul’ podcast interviews, I had a chance to do just that. Speak with these incredible authors about their searing, thought-provoking and vulnerable memoirs.”
‘Build the Life You Want’ companion podcast recap
Throughout the series, Winfrey and Brooks chat about why “happiness is not a destination, happiness is a direction” as well as “The Four Pillars of Happiness: Faith, Family, Friends and Work That Serves.” They also discuss what Winfrey considers “one of the biggest contributions to people getting happier” and how living happier can start when you focus less on yourself.
The pair also dives into the ideas of “the disease to please” and one-directional “emotional ATMs” within families. Plus, they chat with readers across the country on topics including the “Friendship Pillar of Happiness,” uncovering the difference between “deal friends” and “real friends” as well as the two things you need for a fulfilling and happy career.
If any of those topics hit home for you, then you may benefit from checking out the book and listening to the corresponding podcast episodes.
“My intention with any interview is to leave the audience feeling like they have a greater understanding of themselves through the subject and conversation,” Winfrey says. “To provide a pathway for someone to look at something from a new vantage point, to consider something they might have thought or felt and see it in a new light. To have increased empathy for others and themselves.”
The “Super Soul” “Build the Life You Want” companion podcasts, including the most recent episode released on Dec. 4, are available on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Audible. Don’t forget to pick up the book “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier” either. (We think it makes a great gift idea for moms, book lovers or anyone who could benefit from being happier with their life.)