How to Be a Good Rebel with Todd Kashdan

There’s a tension we’ve all felt at some point between the benefits of conformity and the desire to be true to ourselves and follow our intuition. On today’s episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick Hanson and I are joined by Dr. Todd Kashdan to discuss how to combine skillful positivity with principled insubordination, so we can speak up for what’s right even when it’s not popular.

About Our Guest: Dr. Todd Kashdan is Professor of Psychology at George Mason University. He is a leading authority on well-being, curiosity, psychological flexibility, and resilience. He has published over 210 peer-reviewed articles and his work has been cited over 34,000 times. He is the author of several books including Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life, The Upside of Your Dark Side, and most recently, The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively.

Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:45: Combining skillful positivity and dissent

7:55: Distinguishing principled insubordination and generic misanthropy

10:05: Four elements of principled insubordination

19:05: Yin and Yang applied to insubordination

21:35: Safe havens and a secure base

26:20: How capable are we of cultivating self-awareness?

32:05: Positive intent, courage, and sitting with discomfort

38:45: Strategies for being a moral and effective dissident

46:40: Navigating societal hierarchies

51:50: Process comments as insubordination

53:00: What Todd does when his kids are insubordinate

58:05: Recap

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