Dr. Richard Davidson

And if the elephant touches the point where the rouge is...

It's recognizing itself in the mirror.

And there are very few species that pass the self-test in that way.

Most species don't.

Yeah, absolutely.

So the course is built on a framework that we've developed on the plasticity of flourishing.

It holds that there are four key pillars of human flourishing and each of these pillars exhibits plasticity.

And these are the key trainable ingredients that constitute human flourishing.

So what are these four pillars?

The first pillar is, and we've talked about some in the course of our conversation already, but the first we call awareness.

And awareness is where mindfulness would be, it's where voluntary attention, the capacity to focus resides, and it also includes our capacity for self-awareness and for meta-awareness, which we've spoken about.

The second pillar we call connection.

And connection is about the qualities which are important for healthy social relationships.

Qualities like appreciation and gratitude and kindness and compassion.

You can think of the opposite of that being at least in part social isolation and loneliness.

Again, these are elements that we know can be trained.

They are importantly connected to our well-being.

The third pillar we call insight.

And insight is about a curiosity-driven approach.

understanding of the narrative that all human beings have about themselves, the narrative that we carry around in our minds.