How to Find Your True Purpose & Create Your Best Life | Dr. James Hollis

Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. (instrumental music plays) I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. James Hollis. Dr. James Hollis is a Jungian psychoanalyst and author of more than 17 books about the self, relationships and how to create the best possible life. Some of the notable titles and topics of those books include Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path, as well as The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other, which, as the name suggests, is about relationships. He has also written about how to access our most resilient self in the book entitled Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times. During today's discussion, Dr. Hollis teaches us what questions we need to ask of ourselves on a regular basis in order to best understand who we really are and what we most desire at the level of vocation, romantic relationships, friendship, and family, and indeed, in relationship to life's journey. What you'll quickly realize during today's discussion with Dr. Hollis is that while, yes, he is trained as a Jungian psychoanalyst, he is also very firmly grounded in practical tools. That is, he teaches us the simple and yet practical tools that we can each and all apply on a daily basis in order to make sure that we are staying on our best path. We discuss how family dynamics that we grew up in, as well as trauma and attachment styles, combine with our unique gifts, and indeed our shadow side as well, in order to drive us down particular trajectories in life that sometimes lead us where we want to go, but other times lead us astray, and when they do, how to get back on track. Today's conversation with Dr. Hollis is truly a special one in that he rarely does podcast appearances. In fact, we traveled to him to record this podcast. That's how motivated I was to be able to sit down with him, because I'm familiar with his many books and his incredible teachings. But I really wanted to get his knowledge collected in one format, in one place. And what I can promise you is that by the end of today's podcast, you will be thinking differently about yourself, about the people in your life, and indeed, life itself. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Mateina. Mateina makes loose-leaf and ready-to-drink yerba mate. Now, I've long been a fan of yerba mate as a source of caffeine, in part because of its high antioxidant content, as well as its ability to elevate glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, which leads to a slight appetite suppressing effect, as well as its ability to regulate blood sugar and possible neuroprotective effects. I also just happen to love the way that yerba mate tastes. I'll sometimes drink it hot by pouring hot water over the loose-leaf yerba mate, and I'm particularly fond these days of drinking the zero-sugar cold brew Mateina yerba mate that I helped develop. Now, I realize that there are a lot of different brands of loose-leaf and canned and bottled yerba mate out there, but the reason I like Mateina the most is, first of all, it has absolutely the best taste of all of them. Secondly, they only use organic ingredients, and thirdly, because they offer low-sugar and zero-sugar varieties. If you'd like to try Mateina, you can go to drinkmateina.com/huberman. That's spelled drink M-A-T-E-I-N-a.com/huberman. Right now, Mateina is offering a free one-pound bag of loose-leaf yerba mate tea and free shipping with the purchase of two cases of their cold brew yerba mate. Again, that's drinkmateina.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by Joovv. Joovv makes medical-grade red light therapy devices. Now, if there's one thing that I've consistently emphasized on this podcast, it's the incredible impact that light, meaning photons, can have on our mental health and physical health. Red and near-infrared light has been shown to have profound effects on improving cellular health, which can help with faster muscle recovery, boosting healthier skin, reducing pain and inflammation, enhancing sleep, and much more. What sets Joovv apart is that it uses clinically effective wavelengths, emits a safe and effective dose of red and near-infrared light, and most importantly, offers the only true medical-grade red light panel available. I personally try to use the handheld Joovv Go unit, as it's called, every day, and especially when I'm on the road traveling. If you'd like to try Joovv, you can go to joovv.com/huberman. That's J-O-O-V-V.com/huberman. Joovv is offering an exclusive discount to Huberman Lab podcast listeners with up to $400 off Joovv products. Again, that's joovv.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers professional therapy with a licensed therapist carried out online. Now, I've been going to therapy for well over 30 years. Initially, I didn't have a choice. It was a condition of being allowed to stay in school. But pretty soon I realized that therapy is extremely valuable. In fact, I consider doing regular therapy just as important as getting regular exercise, including cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, which of course I also do every week. The reason I know therapy is so valuable is that if you can find a therapist with whom you can develop a really good rapport, you not only get terrific support for some of the challenges in your life, but you also can derive tremendous insights from that therapy. Insights that can allow you to better not just your emotional life and your relationship life, but of course, also the relationship to yourself and to your professional life, to all sorts of career goals. In fact, I see therapy as one of the key components for meshing together all aspects of one's life and being able to really direct one's focus and attention toward what really matters. If you'd like to try BetterHelp, go to betterhelp.com/huberman to get 10% off your first month. Again, that's betterhelp.com/huberman. And now for my discussion with Dr. James Hollis. Dr. James Hollis, such a honor and a pleasure to sit down with you. I'm a huge fan of your writing and I'm excited to talk to you today.