Consider lessons from one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history on happiness. The lives of 724 men were tracked over 75 years.
So what makes a good life?
How is a good life built? Is it fame and achievement?
Who were the healthiest at age 50?
From tens of thousands of pages that were generated, what is the clearest message about our wellbeing in our 80s?
The good life of men and women is addressed by Robert Wadlinger in his TED Talk, “WHAT ABOUT YOU?”
Bio: Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Zen priest. He is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever done. The Study tracked the lives of two groups of men for over 75 years, and it now follows their Baby Boomer children to understand how childhood experience reaches across decades to affect health and wellbeing in middle age. He writes about what science and Zen can teach us about healthy human development. Dr. Waldinger is the author of numerous scientific papers as well as two books. He teaches medical students and psychiatry residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and he is a Senior Dharma Teacher in Boundless Way Zen.