Episode Details

The Feeling Great App is now available in both app stores (IOS and Android) and is for therapists and the general public, and you can take a ride for free! Check it out at FeelingGreat.com!

Before we start today, I have a special shoutout to Max Kosma, our new colleague, friend and brilliant technical guru who helped make our new video studio possible! Next week, we'll see if we can pipe him in to say hello to all of you. His spirit is joyous, infectious, incredibly generous and supportive.

Thanks, Max!

Rhonda opened today's podcast with a vibrant and inspiring endorsement from Jeff, a podcast fan who was raving about the Feeling Great App. Thank you Jeff, and please check out our new app at FeelingGreat.com.

Important Announcement

Rhonda, along with a group of dedicated TEAM Therapists, including Amy Berner, Brandon Vance, Leigh Harrington, Mariusz Wirga, and Mark Noble, has just created a new non-profit organization called TEAMCBT International (TCI). TCI will provide seed money in the form of no-or-low-interest loans for groups around the world who want to offer TEAM-CBT intensives for therapists in your country. Rhonda has been instrumental in the organization of successful intensive workshops in India, Poland, Mexico, England and Ireland. They have been well received, but can be somewhat costly to produce, so Rhonda's new group is ready to provide a helping hand.

I've had the honor of presenting keynote addresses, live therapy demos, and Q and A sessions in many of those programs, and have totally enjoyed them. A big hug and THANKS to Rhonda once again! To learn more, just go to TEAMCBT.International.

Today, Matt joins us for a discussion of the meaning of life, something young people often worry about, but people of any age can be concerned. So, today, you may finally find the answer to that lofty question!

But first, I (David) mentioned a little about one of last week's questions, "Is the universe real?" I provided the type of answer the famed philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, might have provided. Namely, that the question is nonsensical, it is language "out of gear." So, we can dismiss the question, as opposed to trying to answer it.

HOWEVER, the question DOES make a ton of sense when we ask if human beings are "real." And I am not referring to some metaphysical nonsense, but rather the tendency of many people to present a happy or confident false front, all the while feeling empty, lonely, anxious and ashamed inside.

Two of the now more-than-140 TEAM techniques include Self-Disclosure and the Survey Technique, where you take the chance of opening up about some of the secrets you've been hiding, and ask others what they think about you. Although this takes tremendous courage, it often results in tremendous warmth and connection to others.

I provide a description of a young man who disclosed a tremendous amount he'd been hiding in our recent Tuesday group at Stanford, and he was convinced the group would judge him and look down on him. But just the opposite happened. He encountered a flood of warmth, admiration, and respect from the people in our group.

A small miracle, perhaps, but a real and meaningful miracle at the moment when his universe suddenly became "real" and radically different from the dangerous and critical world he'd feared and imagined.

Then we tackled today's philosophical question: "What's the Meaning of Life?" As usual, our brilliant and beloved Matt May began with a description of an extraordinarily depressed patient he once treated who'd been hospitalized for 180 days with no improvement, including a very dangerous suicide attempt.

Matt was worried for the patient's safety, so told the referring doctor that he'd been willing to talk with the patient while the patient was still in the safe environment of the hospital. The pa