We Sell Happiness But We're Miserable
Their company was rising. But their romance was falling apart.
Overview
Episode 10 of How’s Work? with Esther Perel concerns a pastry chef whose macaron business is managed by his boyfriend. They both dreamed of bringing others happiness in a colorful cookie, yet their own happiness has crumbled due to a clash of problem-solving styles and a congealing of creative vs operational roles.
In We Sell Happiness But We're Miserable, Esther demonstrates a fresh way to communicate both at home and at work.
Thematics
What to listen for in this episode 10 of How’s Work? with Esther Perel:
- When is a division of responsibilities productive, and when does it impede communication, problem solving and success?
- When our coworkers are our partners in life, in what ways do we bring our professional roles into our personal lives?
- In conflicted relationships, even neutral comments expressing a partner’s concern about our wellbeing can sound critical and aggressive rather than empathic and safe. Beware the confusion between care and control.
- How we react to a situation may differ greatly from how another responds to the same situation. Communicating the roots of these differences can mean the difference between anger and fear vs understanding and acceptance.
- When is a work question a work question, and when is it a lingering question from our formative struggles of coping with adversity?
- How do our early survival dramas — and core beliefs — play out in our work relationships and behaviors?
- What are some of the rituals and conversations for reconnecting partners to the feelings that first brought them together?
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