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Is Happiness Overrated?

Oxford University 5 Episodes Jan 8, 2026

This podcast explores what happiness is and what lies beyond it, in five bite-sized episodes. It suggests that happiness is transient and fickle, and that living fully with purpose and meaning is more important. The series uses concepts from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to encourage reflection on the common human experience. It is not intended as a replacement for professional therapy or medical intervention.

Episodes

Part 5: Why be happy when you can be real? Jan 8, 2026 248 Here we pull everything together. Living fully and meaningfully is greater than happiness. At what cost do we chase and try to own happiness?

Part 4: The Matryoshka Doll - is it really happiness or something else? Jan 8, 2026 345 Tim tries to unpack the word happiness using the metaphor of the Matryoshka Doll, and wonders how it connects to the state of our world and the transience of experience. The mind introduces things simply but when we stop and reflect, things soon get more complicated.

Part 3: I’m a tourist in my own life Jan 8, 2026 943 We think about moving from spectator to actor in our own lives, away from autopilot using values and goals. We then connect this with life-dilemmas which can bring challenges in the form of multiple choices, how do we know which way to go? 

Part 2: How do we even define happiness? Stories of the mind and the secret director Jan 8, 2026 1090 Tim tries to define happiness and fails badly doing so. Sometimes definitions are confusing and need to be treated flexibly. Happiness as a label might not be so useful and is very contextual. The secret director is introduced, and the podcast explores social comparison and labels. This part begins to unpack primary and secondary pain.

Part 1: Introduction Jan 8, 2026 166 This part sets the scene and manages expectations. It introduces attention to the mind and mindset. There’s a warning about multi-tasking and treadmills.

Is Happiness Overrated?

Episodes

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