How Do Our Minds Help (or Hinder) Finding Connection & Purpose?
House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy (@Surgeon_General) is a podcast hosted by the 21st U.S. Surgeon General. In each episode, Dr. Murthy and his guests explore how they navigate the messiness and uncertainties of life to find meaning and joy. By sharing openly what’s on our minds and in our hearts, we can find strength and healing through connection. Guests will include experts and thought leaders in their field who have found ways to forge deeper connections, showcase a human-centered view of public health, and build community and healing.
Have you ever had a moment when you’ve wanted to reach out to someone you haven’t seen in awhile, but something stops you, like the worry you’ll say the wrong thing? Or have you had the experience of assuming that someone who disagrees with you must also dislike you?
It turns out, our mind can play tricks on us that make it harder to connect.
Shankar Vedantam, host and creator of the podcast ”Hidden Brain” joins the Surgeon General for a two-part conversation that travels across science and deeper philosophical questions about life.
In this first conversation, Shankar explains the “hidden brain,” the part of the mind that function outside of our awareness, making unconscious decisions and judgments. They ponder the paradox of how social anxieties keep us from connecting, but how acts of connection and kindness have far greater impact and power than most of us realize.
Offering both science and personal stories, Shankar and Dr. Murthy help us work through our fears of connecting. And help us close the gap between our values, like kindness, and our actions.
Part 2
What is our purpose, both individually and collectively? What lies in the balance of who we are now and who we will become?
In Part Two of this episode, the Surgeon General and Shankar Vedantam, host of “Hidden Brain,” go deep into conversation about our individual and national quest for meaning and purpose.
This episode becomes deeply personal as both host and guest reveal their family’s hopes for coming to America, and the unimaginable ways in which those dreams were realized. They find themselves asking where else on earth has what America can offer? And how can we remember and reinforce our ideals at moments the noise becomes too great?
