
Practical Optimism
The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being
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Narrated by:
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Sue Varma M.D.
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By:
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Sue Varma MD
About this listen
A practical program rooted in optimism to help you live fully and joyfully in an imperfect, turbulent world
As the first medical director and attending psychiatrist at the World Trade Center Mental Health Program, Dr. Sue Varma worked directly with civilian and first-responder survivors in the aftermath of 9/11. There, she met people at every point of the stress and trauma continuum. She saw devastation and stagnancy as much as she saw amazing resilience and growth. She asked herself: how do some people survive, even thrive, despite profound challenges? And how can we optimize the things we have control over, while buffering ourselves from stress?
Through her work with patients and combining philosophy, her own personal experience, and a review of the latest research in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and neuroscience, Dr. Varma discovered that the answer lies in cultivating an optimistic mindset that stays tethered to the real world and helps us make sound and reasonable decisions. This epiphany inspired Practical Optimism, Dr. Varma’s powerful program with eight pillars to help all of us experience a sense of meaning, mastery, and self-acceptance and create lives filled with joy and purpose. Optimists, research has shown, are not just happier and more successful, but physically healthier. And if you’re a natural-born pessimist? No problem: the most vital piece of the Practical Optimism program is that it is a practice, a skillset that we can choose to adopt and get better at every day.
This book isn’t about magical thinking. Practical optimists are resourceful, realistic, and thoughtful problem solvers who possess something of rare value: the inner resources to cope during a crisis and to use as fuel to flourish. Complete with self-assessment quizzes and exercises, Practical Optimism will help us all see the world for the better and reach our true potential. Practical Optimism is a scientific and tangible pathway to boosting health, happiness, resilience, success, and longevity.
©2024 Sue Varma (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book for February 2024
"In Practical Optimism Dr. Varma distills an expansive body of research into clear, relatable, and actionable guidance. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to move from surviving to thriving."—Lisa Damour, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
“Essential reading, and full of tools to help us move through challenges and embrace the possibility around us. Dr. Sue Varma shows us that practical optimism is a muscle we can build and continue to strengthen—and it can absolutely transform our lives.”—Judson Brewer, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety
"Practical Optimism beautifully weaves science and art, research and storytelling, theory and practice. Sue Varma provides us with a compass that can help us navigate our complex and demanding reality."—Tal Ben Shahar, New York Times bestselling author of Happier
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Story
We all know what it’s like to experience the disappointments and sorrows of life. Unexpected circumstances like layoffs, divorce, illness, and death can leave us hurting and isolated. Add to that the unending anxiety we feel at the state of the world—political strife and global upheavals—and we end up with a recipe for . . . joy? Yes, says journalist Steven Petrow, who has lived through all of those things, and arrived at a surprising conclusion: Joy is always present—in our everyday routines, in ties to those we care about, even in our grief.
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Needed this positivity
- By Kelli Davis on 04-08-25
By: Steven Petrow
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The 5 Resets
- Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience
- By: Aditi Nerurkar
- Narrated by: Aditi Nerurkar
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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From Harvard stress expert, nationally sought after speaker, and television correspondent Dr. Aditi Nerurkar comes a reimagined approach to overcoming your stress and burnout using five small but mighty mindset shifts.
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Articulated well.
- By Sha on 10-27-24
By: Aditi Nerurkar
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Resilient
- How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness
- By: Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson
- Narrated by: Rick Hanson
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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With his trademark blend of neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive psychology, New York Times best-selling author Dr. Rick Hanson shows you how to develop 12 vital inner strengths hardwired into your own nervous system. Then no matter what life throws at you, you’ll be able to feel less stressed, pursue opportunities with confidence, and stay calm and centered in the face of adversity. This practical guide is full of concrete suggestions, experiential practices, personal examples, and insights into the brain.
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This is Rick Hanson's BEST book yet!
- By Lyle Walter on 03-30-18
By: Rick Hanson, and others
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We Refuse
- A Forceful History of Black Resistance
- By: Kellie Carter Jackson
- Narrated by: Kellie Carter Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolence and Malcolm X's "by any means necessary." In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.
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Insightful
- By TRACEY D. SCOTT on 06-10-25
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Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People
- Avoid Emotional Traps, Stand Up for Your Self, and Transform Your Relationships as an Adult Child of Emotionally Immature Parents
- By: Lindsay C. Gibson PsyD
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met or dismissed—and you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, and abandonment. As an adult, you have fought hard to establish your own sense of self, and heal the wounds caused by your upbringing. But what about other emotionally immature people (EIP) in your life? As an adult child of an emotionally immature parent (ACEIP), you may be particularly vulnerable to EIPs.
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Perhaps the most impactful book of my life
- By MER on 11-16-23
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Matters of the Heart
- Healing Your Relationship with Yourself and Those You Love
- By: Thema Bryant PhD
- Narrated by: Thema Bryant PhD
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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As a psychologist and minister with more than twenty years of experience, Dr. Thema understands how challenging it can be to create and cultivate healthy relationships—and how critical it is for our well-being. Matters of the Heart draws on the wisdom of science, sacredness, and lived experience to help listeners tend to the garden of their hearts and build their best relational lives.
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The Words Needed To Hear
- By Anonymous User on 06-11-25
By: Thema Bryant PhD
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Do Nothing
- How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
- By: Celeste Headlee
- Narrated by: Celeste Headlee
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing. As it turns out, we’re searching for external solutions to an internal problem. We won’t find what we’re searching for in punishing diets, productivity apps, or the latest self-improvement schemes. Yet all is not lost - we just need to learn how to take time for ourselves, without agenda or profit, and redefine what is truly worthwhile.
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I almost never leave reviews
- By keli wolfe on 03-03-22
By: Celeste Headlee
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Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches
- By: Jennifer Welch, Angie Sullivan
- Narrated by: Jennifer Welch, Angie Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Long before their blockbuster podcast, I’ve Had It, Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan were simply two best friends, supporting each other through the ups and downs of life. Together they’ve celebrated family milestones and cheered on professional successes, but they’ve weathered the storms together too. When Jennifer’s husband battled alcoholism and drug addiction, she turned to Angie for support. When Angie’s own marriage began to crumble, she turned to Jennifer. And crucially, through it all they’ve kept one another laughing in stitches.
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This book is triple decker shit sandwich
- By Twishkas on 06-08-25
By: Jennifer Welch, and others
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Real Self-Care
- A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included)
- By: Pooja Lakshmin MD
- Narrated by: Pooja Lakshmin MD
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Real self-care is an internal, self-reflective process that involves making difficult decisions in line with our values, and when we practice it, we shift our relationships, our workplaces, and even our broken systems. Using case studies from her practice, clinical research, and the down-to-earth style that she's become known for, Pooja Lakshmin provides a step-by-step program for real and sustainable change. Real Self-Care is a complete roadmap for women to set boundaries, move past guilt, treat themselves with compassion, get closer to themselves, and assert their power.
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Important topic but flawed insofar as it claims to want to reach a general audience
- By A.P. on 11-06-23
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Meditations for Mortals
- Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, Meditations for Mortals offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls “imperfectionism.” It helps us tackle challenges as they crop up in our daily lives: our finite time, the lure of distraction, the impossibility of doing anything perfectly.
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Great!
- By Thomas on 11-18-24
By: Oliver Burkeman
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Mind Magic
- The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything
- By: James R. Doty MD
- Narrated by: James R. Doty MD
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades the practice of manifestation has been widely dismissed as self-involved, materialistic pseudoscience. But as neuroscientist and recognized compassion leader Dr. James Doty reveals, manifestation introduces us to different possibilities, and it lays the groundwork for a kinder, better world. Doty grounds us in the practices that change our brain structures: attention, meditation, visualization, and compassion. This mind magic allows us to move through the world in ways that help us see clearly.
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Needs a professional reader
- By Kristi on 09-22-24
By: James R. Doty MD
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Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table
- It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind...
- By: Louie Giglio
- Narrated by: Louie Giglio
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The Enemy is constantly seeking to fill your mind with destructive and harmful thoughts - whether of fear, worry, insecurity, anxiety, temptation, envy.... It’s all too easy for Satan to manipulate his way into a seat at the table intended for only you and Jesus, and to try making himself at home in your mind. It’s an ongoing battle, but one you can win! Best-selling author and pastor Louie Giglio shares practical ways to overcome the Enemy’s lies and instead find peace and security in any challenging circumstance or situation.
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amazing!!!
- By Anonymous User on 05-21-21
By: Louie Giglio
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Corked with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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How can you cheat… at drinking wine? It turns out you can. And when you do, a whole world of power, ego and money will unravel. Corked is the scandalous saga in the glamorous, competitive and mysterious world of fine wines.
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The Casualness of the Performance
- By Paula L. Simon on 05-22-25
By: Marc Fennell
I believe it is empowering guide for building a fulfilling life, Practical Optimism is a must-read for anyone seeking balance, positivity, and purpose in our day to day lives   .
The tools given!
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We all could use some Practical Optimism
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Practical Optimism
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reading this book twice. I had a couple of personal issues to deal with, but mostly I exhibit healthy habits. My healthy habits were affirmed by this book.
A Very Helpful Book
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Practical and empowering
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Absolutely Fabulous!
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super complete
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Compelling Principles
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