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One thing is certain in the new year — we’ll evolve, with or without resolutions. In podcast, experts consider our responsibility.
Nothing is certain except death and taxes, the saying goes — but there’s another sure thing to add to that list: change.
“The more we resist change, the more we suffer. There’s a phrase I like. It says, ‘Let go or be dragged,’” said Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Harvard Study on Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on human happiness and well-being.
As humans, we are constantly changing. Sometimes change is pursued intentionally, when we set goals, for example. But change also happens subconsciously, and not always for the better. Richard Weissbourd, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and director of Making Caring Common, said that disillusionment is often underappreciated as a factor in change.
“People can respond to disillusionment by becoming bitter and withdrawing — and cynical,” he said. “They can also respond to disillusionment by developing a more encompassing understanding of reality and thriving.”
Mahzarin Banaji, an experimental psychologist who researches implicit beliefs, said that even our biases can change over time as we experience new circumstances. It’s one reason why it’s important we do not lose agency when it comes to changing ourselves.
In this episode of “Harvard Thinking,” host Samantha Laine Perfas talks with Waldinger, Weissbourd, and Banaji about the value of embracing change.