The Cultivation of Human Flourishing

“If you’re not aware of what’s going on in your mind, you can’t transform it.” Dr.Richard Davidson has believed that strengthening our minds has the power to change the world since he was a teenager. He’s been a pioneer studying emotion, well-being, and our brain for decades. Yet, it was when he met His Holiness the Dalai Lama that the true seed of his life’s work was planted. The Dalai Lama encouraged him to study how practices like meditation impact our brain, and if they made a difference, to spread them as far as he could. Dr.Davidson advances this mission every day as the Founder of the Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovations and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In our conversation, we explore Dr.Davidson’s world-changing work on the advancement of human flourishing, which he describes as “the process by which we can harness the innate capacities that every human being has.” He illuminates that we’re wired for love and offers daily practices to cultivate altruism, appreciation, and compassion. We learn that mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise and how to build habits that develop our awareness, emotional agility, and mind-body coherence. These practices are significant not only in enhancing our life experience. They change our biology and the impact we have on each other, all leading to his profound invitation that: “We have a moral obligation to cultivate love.”