The Gist studies happiness, and talks election results in Indonesia and Afghanistan.

Can We Really Learn to Be Happy?

Can We Really Learn to Be Happy?

A daily news and culture podcast with Mike Pesca.
July 15 2014 4:59 PM

Why Is Mike Pesca So Happy?

The Gist explores what happiness studies really tell us.

The Gist has moved! Find new episodes here.

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Every photo The Gist found to demonstrate happiness looks like a tampon ad.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Marcy Kellar/Flickr.

Listen to Episode 49 of Slate’s The Gist:

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Today on The Gist, political analyst Jonah Blank from RAND explains how young democracies navigate fair elections. Plus, Mike speaks with Sonja Lyubomirsky, the author of The Myths of Happiness, about how we can make ourselves into happier people by doing the things that happy people do. For the Spiel, no, you probably won’t succumb to a brain-eating amoeba.

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Mike Pesca is the host of the Slate daily podcast The Gist. He also contributes reports and commentary to NPR.