The world’s mental health crisis is real, but so is your capacity to meet it. What if the skills that lead to genuine flourishing are already built into you, waiting to be activated?

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Richard Davidson—one of the most highly cited scientists in the world and a pioneer in the neuroscience of emotion and meditation—and Cortland Dahl, contemplative scientist, Buddhist translator, and co-founder of Tergar International, about their new book, Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving. Drawing on decades of research with long-term meditators, guidance from the Dalai Lama, and the world’s wisdom traditions, they offer a science-backed framework for wellbeing that is both profound and surprisingly accessible.

Join Tami, Richard, and Cortland to explore:

• Why flourishing is a skill—not a personality trait or a stroke of luck—and how we know this from hard scientific data
• The four pillars of wellbeing: awareness, connection, insight, and purpose—and why two of them have been largely ignored by Western science
• What it means to be “born to flourish” and the research on infants that proves it
• How just five minutes a day of intentional practice—piggybacked onto everyday activities—can produce measurable changes in behavior and biology
• Why flourishing doesn’t mean happiness: you can grieve, rage, or struggle and still be flourishing
• The role of neuroplasticity in reshaping our relationship to anxiety, reactivity, and negative narrative
• Why flourishing is contagious—and why that matters more than ever right now

If the world feels like it’s falling apart, Richard and Cortland make a compelling, evidence-based case that the path forward is not as hard as you think.

Listen now and discover what you were born to do. →

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.