I Heart This

About I Heart This

Root beer, libraries, fresh notebooks, the blue sky--the world is full of things to love. And yet, somehow, despite being surrounded by wonders, we get too busy to notice. We get caught in anxiety. We get stuck in the vitriol of the internet. But ... there is an antidote to all of this. All we have to do is pay attention to the blessings arounds us. That's what "I Heart This" is for. We believe that appreciation is one the highest callings of a human being. Our mission is to remind you that the world is full of miracles. Think of us as a series of audio thank you notes to the universe. In every episode we celebrate another reason for living. We uncover forgotten and often surprising reasons to notice the blessings around us--weaving in history, art, philosophy, and science. Join us for a regular dose of joy. There’s enough outrage in the world; let’s talk about what we love!

Publisher

Ben Lord

Category

education · religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Jan 2023

Latest episode

13 Nov 2025

Latest episodes

54 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Nov 2025

   The Chains You Can't See: Stories of Inner Freedom

   What if the chains holding you back… are on the inside? What if the rules constraining what you do and say and think … are ones you didn’t even know you were following? In this episode, the biggest and most challenging one I’ve ever produced, we’ll follow four different stories of people finding the courage to write their own minds. This is the story of freedom you can’t see. References Berlin, I. (1969). Two Concepts of Liberty’. https://faculty.www.umb.edu/steven.levine/Courses/Action/Berlin.pdf Foner, E. (2016). Give me liberty! (6th AP). W W Norton. Franklin, B. (1753). Letter to Peter Collinson. Teaching American History; Ashbrook Center. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/letter-to-peter-collinson/ Franklin, B. (1784). Founders Online: Remarks concerning the Savages of North America, [before 7 Jan …. Founders.archives.gov. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-41-02-0280 Gowdy, J. M. (1998). Limited wants, unlimited means : a reader on hunter-gatherer economics and the environment. Island Press. Green, H. (2025, October 2). You are probably underestimating Jane Goodall’s impact. YouTube; Vlogbrothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_FzzLeA6pk Harris, M. (1995). Cultural Anthropology. Good Year Books. Peterson, D. (2006). Jane Goodall : the woman who redefined man. Houghton Mifflin Co. Ronda, J. P. (1977). “We are well as we are”: An Indian critique of seventeenth-century Christian missions. The William and Mary Quarterly, 34(1), 66. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/1922626 Sahlins, M. (1981). Stone age economics. Aldine. Thwaites, R. G. (Ed.). (1896–1901). The Jesuit relations and allied documents: Travels and explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France, 1610–1791; the original French, Latin, and Italian texts, with English translations and notes (Vols. 1–73). Burrows Bros. Co. https://archive.org/details/jesuit-relations-allied-documents Westover, T. (2018). Educated: A memoir. Random House.

2. 

   18 Sept 2025

   The Monk, The Dynamo, and John McPhee

   Anybody out there like to do big things? Anybody out there feel like your life is so full sometimes you can barely think? Anybody out there wonder if there’s a better way? Yeah … me too. In this much belated episode, I’m asking big questions about how much work is enough and how to make that happen in an ambitious life … because, right now, I’m right I’ve got no way around those questions. The story of the picnic table comes from Draft No. 4. It was retold in Cal Newport's Slow Productivity where some of the stories in this episode also originated. Research on the relationship between work quantity and quality is summarized in Scott Young's book, Get Better at Anything. References Mcphee, J. (2018a). Draft No. 4 : On the Writing Process. Farrar, Straus And Giroux. Mcphee, J. (2018b). Pine Barrens. Daunt Books. Newport, C. (2023, April 28). Danielle Steel and the Tragic Appeal of Overwork - Cal Newport. Study Hacks. https://calnewport.com/danielle-steel-and-the-tragic-appeal-of-overwork/ Newport, C. (2024). Slow Productivity. Penguin. Pema Chödrön. (2018). The wisdom of no escape : and the path of loving-kindness. Shambhala Publications, Inc. quoteresearch. (2013, September 16). Quote Origin: “To Be Is To Do” “To Do Is To Be” “Do Be Do Be Do” – Quote Investigator®. Quoteinvestigator.com. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/16/do-be-do/ Young, S. H. (2024). Get Better at Anything: 12 Maxims for Mastery. HarperCollins UK.

3. 

   3 Sept 2025

   The Case for Smiling at Strangers

   A cheery greeting to people on the street can come off as fake or even intrusive. Here why I do it anyway.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

2,250

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

11 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

30

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

71

Contact I Heart This

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.