Why Joy Fades: Tali Sharot on The Power of Noticing What’s Always There
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
Release Date: 04/15/2025
Beliefs Behind Your Stress: Dr. Walter Matweychuk on REBT and the 'Musts' That Wreck Your Mood
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
My guest on this podcast asserts that a huge chunk of our psychological stress isn’t caused by what’s happening but by the demands one quietly places on reality. In this episode, Dr. Walter Matweychuk teaches me about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), which focuses on identifying and disputing irrational, self-defeating beliefs to reduce emotional distress and change negative behaviors. Walter makes the case that REBT is not just a therapeutic modality but a philosophy for living based on emotional responsibility, resilience, and a way to stop rating yourself as “good” or...
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Stopping the Clock: Steve Taylor on the Psychology and Physics of Time Expansion
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
Society views time as a fixed commodity, yet modern theoretical physics and cognitive neuroscience suggest otherwise. If the linear flow of time is truly an illusion, then time isn’t just a resource to be managed; it’s a perception to be mastered. My guest on the podcast today, Prof. Steve Taylor, argues that time isn’t experienced evenly. He suggests that where you place your attention and how you live day-to-day can change the way time unfolds, stretching or compressing your sense of it. Steve is a researcher in psychology and a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University. He has...
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When Goals Fail: Anne-Laure Le Cunff on How Small Experiments Change Everything
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
We’ve been taught that success comes from setting goals, defining purpose, and executing a plan. But what if those very habits—the linear drive for certainty—are what keep us stuck? Dr. Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist, founder of Ness Labs, and world-leading expert on mindful productivity, has an alternative: treat your life like a series of tiny experiments. In her new book Tiny Experiments, she explores how curiosity, liminal spaces, and small-scale testing can transform how we handle uncertainty and growth. Anne-Laure argues that traditional goal-setting and the “tyranny of...
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Fear, Anger, and the Plans They Hide: Angus Fletcher on the Science of Primal Intelligence
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
In a world increasingly dominated by AI and computational thinking, we've been taught that logic is the ultimate form of intelligence. But what if an over-reliance on pure reason is making us more fragile and less equipped to navigate uncertainty? Angus Fletcher is a professor at Ohio State's Project Narrative and the author of the best-selling book, Primal Intelligence. Angus's has had an extraordinary career path to say the least, from building mutant neurons in neuroscience labs to studying Shakespeare at Yale, and being recruited by US Army Special Operations to train their elite...
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When You’re in a Hole: Tony Stubblebine on the Strategy, Psychology, and Lessons of a Business Turnaround
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
In this episode, I’m digging into the messy reality of business turnarounds, the kind where survival isn’t guaranteed and leadership is more about doing the hard, boring things than dazzling with big ideas. My guest is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, whose recent post “Fell Into a Hole and Got Out” made the rounds for being one of the most honest and actionable stories about company rescue I’ve ever read. Tony’s background runs deep: founder of Coach.me, architect of the Better Humans publication. This is what it’s really like to take over a company bleeding millions, shrinking...
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Medicine for the Mind: Donald Robertson on Ancient Therapies for Modern Stressors
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
There’s something strangely reassuring about knowing people were wrestling with the similar issues we struggle with over 2,000 years ago — even if they wore togas and wrote with a chisel. Donald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, acclaimed author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, and one of the world’s leading voices on Stoicism. He’s also the founder of the Plato’s Academy Centre in Athens, and a founding member of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit. On this pod, we talk about the wisdom literature and how it can help with emotional distress;...
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Why Joy Fades: Tali Sharot on The Power of Noticing What’s Always There
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
People think happiness comes from getting everything you want. But the science shows, it’s the absence, the novelty, and the change that bring joy back - Tali Sharot Ever wonder why lasting happiness can feel so elusive? This episode delves into the neuroscience of habituation, and why our brains, despite achieving desires, tend to filter out positive experiences. We'll explore this phenomenon and uncover practical strategies to consciously re-engage with what’s already good in your life. My guest is Dr. Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at University College...
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Reclaiming Experience: Christine Rosen on Being Human in a Disembodied World
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
Does the richness of your world expand or shrink in direct proportion to how much of your life is digitally mediated? My guest argues that by defaulting to digital mediation—where technology filters and facilitates our interactions—we are trading away the richness of real, embodied experience. And in doing so, we risk losing—without even noticing—the very moments that make us happy and resilient. Are we shrinking our capacity for a full, messy, exhilarating experience of being human? Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she explores American...
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Ep. 83: Why Depression Exists: Jonathan Rottenberg on the Evolutionary Origins of Mood
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
In this episode, we explore the human mood system and the origin of depression. My guest is Dr. Jonathan Rottenberg, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Better Outcomes Laboratory at Cornell University. His work examines long-term functioning and well-being after depression and related conditions, with a particular focus on explaining why some people achieve good outcomes. He received his BA from Harvard University, an MA in History from Johns Hopkins University, and his PhD in Psychology from Stanford University. Dr. Rottenberg's research has been covered in popular outlets such...
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Ep. 82: The Divided Brain: Iain McGilchrist On How We See The World
Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks
In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of the brain’s hemispheres and their profound impact on how we perceive and engage with reality. My guest is Dr. Iain McGilchrist. Iain is a true polymath—a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, philosopher, and literary scholar. He’s been a Fellow of All Souls College at Oxford and an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College. He’s also a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and previously served as Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital in London. He’s been a research fellow in neuroimaging at...
info_outlinePeople think happiness comes from getting everything you want. But the science shows, it’s the absence, the novelty, and the change that bring joy back - Tali Sharot
Ever wonder why lasting happiness can feel so elusive? This episode delves into the neuroscience of habituation, and why our brains, despite achieving desires, tend to filter out positive experiences. We'll explore this phenomenon and uncover practical strategies to consciously re-engage with what’s already good in your life.
My guest is Dr. Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at University College London, where she directs the Affective Brain Lab. Tali’s research blends neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics to study how emotion and motivation shape decision-making, memory, and belief. Tali’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The BBC, and her TED Talks have been viewed over 15 million times.
We talk about her research behind why we adapt so quickly to both the good and the bad—and how this helps us survive, but can also rob us of happiness, creativity, and even the desire to change. This is the crux of her book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, co-authored with Cass Sunstein.
If you’ve ever wondered why joy fades faster than it should—or why we stop seeing the beauty around us—this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how to disrupt that pattern.
Some highlights from the pod:
- Tali’s research background and the Affective Brain Lab
- Research insights into human–AI bias feedback loops
- Habituation: How our brains are built to ignore what doesn’t change
- Why the mechanism that makes us resilient also makes us take good things for granted
- The problem of perfection; and getting everything you want
- Dis-habituation —and how to apply it to relationships and daily life
- Happiness and the evolutionary role of novelty
- How to use imagination and attention to rekindle joy and gratitude
- Why people with depression often struggle to recover—and the role of rumination
- How learning and effort unlock happiness
- Refreshing the familiar: Savoring, small changes, and role-play
This is one of those episodes that can help you feel more alive—not by adding more to your life, but by changing how you see what’s already there.
Enjoy!