TED Audio Collective.

This is TED Health, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective.

I'm your host, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleiter.

To close our latest series, A Healthyer You, I wanted to share a conversation

that I had with Ira Bedzo at TED Next back in October. I was a professor, an ethicist and a rabbi,

and the executive director of the Emory Purpose Project. Together, we explored how to redefine

success by aligning personal values with purpose and meaningful actions.

We also discussed navigating urgency culture with intentional decision-making, practical strategies to prevent burnout, and tools to help you live more intentionally, and at the same time prioritizing inner flourishing over

external validation. Because achieving a healthier you isn't just about physical well-being.

It's also about caring for your mental and emotional health by living in alignment with your

values and purpose. Now before we dive in, here's a quick word from our sponsors.

So, Ira... So Ira, the bio on the TED website, it says ethicist.

So how do you describe yourself?

First off, Shoshana, thank you.

That's a great question to start with.

I would say whenever people hear that I'm an ethicist, the first thing that they think is,

well, I don't need that guy. Either I'm a good person, so I don't need someone to tell me what to do,

or they don't know me, so I don't want someone to come and impose their thoughts, their beliefs,

their values onto me.

What I like to say that I do, an atheist, is I try to help people think more creatively and make decisions based on who they want to be and what they care about. For me, it's not simply

just a matter of, is this act good or bad, or is this act right or wrong?

It's, are you making the decisions that speak to the goals that you have?

...