Feeling Lost or Behind in Life? The #1 Happiness Expert Explains How to Find Your Purpose
episodePreviously titled “Find Your Purpose & Live a Meaningful Life Today with the #1 Happiness Expert” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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How will this episode help me discover my purpose in under 5 minutes?
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. You want to know one of the hardest things in life? It's figuring out your purpose. Why are you here? What are you supposed to be doing with your life? Can you create a good life and live with more meaning when the world is so overwhelming or the problems that you're facing feel insurmountable? Is that even possible? Well, Dr. Dacher Keltner, who is the founder and director of the Greater Good Science Center, is here to tell you, yes, you can live a more meaningful life. And when your life is challenging, that's exactly the moment when you need to anchor in on your purpose even more. By the end of this episode, you will have answered two questions that are proven to help you discover your purpose.
And you'll also understand the six common ways people find more meaning and purpose in their lives. And that's going to help you zero in on yours. You will also master a one-minute habit that reduces depression, anxiety, daily stress, and will make you feel more purposeful. And it's free. And you can practice it tonight. And even if you already have a strong sense of purpose, today's conversation is going to help you go even deeper because that's exactly what happened to me as I was talking to Dr. Keltner. And if you're feeling totally lost, you're in the exact place you need to be. Because what Dr. Keltner is here to share with you, it is easy, simple, it'll make you feel better, and could be completely life-changing.
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. I am so glad that you're here with me. It's an honor to spend this time together with you. And if you're new or somebody shared this episode with you, I just want to take a moment and personally welcome you to the Mel Robbins Podcast family. Today, you and I are talking all about how to find purpose and live a meaningful life, even when the world is overwhelming. Our guest today is Dr. Dacher Keltner. Dr. Keltner is one of the world's leading experts on the science of meaning and purpose. And the tools that he's about to share with you are based on over 40 years of research on how to live a meaningful life. Dr. Keltner is a distinguished professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center, one of the world's leading research centers studying the science of happiness and connection.
Dr. Keltner has published over 200 scientific papers, written six best-selling books on the science of a meaningful life, including his most recent book, The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Please help me welcome Dr. Dacher Keltner to the Mel Robbins Podcast. Dr. Dacher Keltner, welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast.
It's good to be with you, Mel.
It is so good to be with you, and I'm really excited for our conversation because I'm very, very familiar with your work, and I use it, and it's exciting to be with you because your energy... is extremely grounding. I'd love to have you speak to the person who's here with us and just share a little bit about what your extraordinary research might change in their life if they were to take it and apply it just day to day in the simplest ways.
Yeah, I think that the central message of today, hard won by science, we have such strength inside of us. We have such a sense of how to make the world better. We can find beauty around us. We have a sense of calling and a way to improve the lives of people, and we just need to feel that and to sense that in ourselves. This is free. It's in us. It just takes a little bit of inquiry, and then we just have to put it into practice a few minutes a day, and it will lead you in good directions. I'm going to feel better, despite the state of the world, after everything you're going to... Yeah, I mean, this is a time of crisis for a lot of people. A lot of people are struggling. A lot of people are very tired.
So, grounded in that, what we're going to be talking about today is how do we find purpose?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How will this episode help me discover my purpose in under 5 minutes?
0:00–10:56
2
Who is Dr. Dacher Keltner and what research backs his advice on meaning and happiness?
10:56–25:50
3
What simple daily practices boost calm, connection, and small moments of joy?
25:50–49:47
4
How does purposeful living differ from feeling purposeless according to the research?
49:47–1:06:24
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Mel Robbins Podcast
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