Professor Brock Bastian —Is happiness the right thing to be chasing?
What if the pursuit of happiness is the very thing standing between you and a meaningful life?
About Professor Brock Bastian
Brock Bastian is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne and one of Australia's leading researchers on the psychology of wellbeing, pain, and the social function of suffering. He is the author of The Other Side of Happiness, which makes the case that pain, not the avoidance of it, is central to human flourishing. His TED Talk on why we need pain to feel happiness has been watched by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
About this episode
In this conversation, Jess and Brock examine the cultural story we've been told about happiness, that it's something to be maximised, protected, and pursued. Brock's research suggests this framing is not only inaccurate but actively harmful, producing people who are less resilient, less connected, and less capable of finding meaning.
Together they explore how our expectations shape emotional experience, what role struggle plays in building a sense of self, and why communal rituals, shared difficulty, collective grief, celebration, are among the most powerful tools we have for genuine connection.
In this episode:
Why the relentless pursuit of happiness may be making us feel worse
How our expectations about how life should feel shape our emotional experience
The role of pain and discomfort in building resilience and meaning
Why communal rituals and shared struggle create genuine connection
What a good life actually looks like, beyond the absence of difficulty
Prompt for reflection:
"How have your expectations about how life should feel shaped the way you experience it, and in what ways has that helped or hurt you?"
The purpose of reflective prompts deepens our understanding. When we apply ideas to ourselves, we can think about concepts through a new lens. And if you want to take this one step further, use this question to spark a conversation with someone else. When we talk through ideas and concepts, we give ourselves a chance to reflect and to crystallise the wisdom that we've learned.
Listen now :
Learn more about Professor Brock Bastian
Website | brockbastian.com
Book | The Other Side of Happiness
Watch his TED Talk | Why we need pain to feel happiness
LinkedIn | linkedin.com/in/brock-bastian
X (Twitter) | x.com/drbrockbastian
This episode was hosted by Jess Leondiou, brought to you by Archley's tools for introspection and reflection. www.archleys.com
