Life Examined
A weekly exploration of psychology, philosophy, endurance sports, and finding meaning in the modern world. I've spent the last 5yrs interviewing some of the wisest people in the world. I want to share those insights with you.
Jonathan Bastian
Show overview
Life Examined has been publishing since 2020, and across the 6 years since has built a catalogue of 337 episodes. That works out to roughly 220 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 9 min and 52 min — with run-times ranging widely across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Society & Culture show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 3 days ago, with 17 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2024, with 93 episodes published. Published by Jonathan Bastian.
From the publisher
A weekly exploration of psychology, philosophy, endurance sports, and finding meaning in the modern world. lifeexamined.substack.com
Latest Episodes
View all 337 episodesTherapy for overachievers
Joan Didion’s devastating vision of America
The Long-Distance Life, Part II: The Psychology
The Long-Distance Life, Part I: The Ironman
What if you're not anxious or depressed, but just bored?
What ski mountaineering teaches you about life, beauty, risk and happiness
What does the city of death teach us about the nature of grief?
The paradox of love: it begins with you
What I’ll miss about the single life
Is “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver the best grief poem ever written?
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Some dreamers of the Caribbean dream
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"Moby-Dick" remains a psychedelic enigma
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The Japanese Art of Happiness
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Is "Lonesome Dove" an answer to modern male loneliness?
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In praise of quiet kindness, when the world is asking us to be loud
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The Two Quotes I Think of — and Lean on — Every Day
What Viktor Frankl and Seneca say about meaning and mental health. An essay from LifeExamined.substack.com. Please subscribe! It's only takes a minute. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe
Stay in touch with Life Examined over on Substack!
Hey everyone! It's Jonathan Bastian. Just popping in to tell you that I've been staying busy with a new weekly newsletter on Substack. I'm also spending time going through our 5yrs of archives to find hidden gems, unpublished interviews, and content that I think will be valuable to your life. It's so easy to sign up: LifeExamined.Substack.com. Just enter your email! Hope to see you over there - JB Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe
Robert Macfarlane: "Is a River Alive?"
Robert Macfarlane of Cambridge University shares his extraordinary journey writing and researching his latest book “Is a River Alive?” and explains why a river can be viewed very much as a metaphor for life, always flowing, twisting, changing and adapting while at the same time providing sustenance for man and nature alike. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe
When to medicate the mind with Laura Delano
Laura Delano is the author of “UNSHRUNK: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance." As you’ll hear, Laura Delano speaks from first hand experience - diagnosed as a teenager with bipolar disorder, Delano shares her own struggles with mental illness, the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industry and the toll that treatment and medication took on her. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe
Yale happiness guru Laurie Santos on the power of time off and modern parenting traps
Laurie Santos talks about the power of a sabbatical, burn out, and her new online course titled: “The Science of Well-Being for Parents” —a direct result of discovering just how much pressure, stress and anxiety parents are under these days. Get full access to Life Examined at lifeexamined.substack.com/subscribe