Episode 158: Exploring Gratitude

Into the Fold: Issues in Mental Health

it was back in 2017 that we had on Dr. Art Markman, co-host of the KUT show Two Guys on Your Head, to talk about political climate as a chronic stressor. And so, six years after the fact, we thought that it would make sense to close that circle by inviting on Dr. Markman's partner from Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke. We recently had him come to the studio for a discussion of gratitude and an exploration of just what it means to stop and be thankful.

Dr. Duke is the Marlene and Morton H. Meyerson Centennial professor of Music at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. To quote him on gratitude, "When you do think about the capriciousness of life experiences, to me that is a real incentive for even greater levels of gratitude, because once you sort of recognize that you're not the author of your own story entirely, and that there are a lot of things that happen in your life to the good, which you actually had very little to do with, and it doesn't mean that what you did, you had no part in this. It's just that there's a lot of luck involved."

In addition, we're also taking a look back at the year in mental health, through a sampling of some of our most representative episodes from 2023.

Related Links:

• Political Climate as a Chronic Stressor
• World Mental Health Day

• Diversity, Awareness and Wellness in Action

• Music Therapy for Kids

• Teaching in a Time of Division

• The Loneliness Epidemic