Dr David Fryburg, Endocrinologist ‘Pro-Social Acts, Like Kindness, Are the Key to Happiness.’

David Fryburg, M.D., is the President and co-founder of Envision Kindness, a nonprofit organization that promotes kindness, compassion, joy, and love through kindness media. Dr. Fryburg is also the author of a blog series entitled “The Science of Kindness,” which is distributed by Psychology Today and other outlets. In his previous work, David led teams of scientists from academia, government, and industry to solve problems in how we measure or diagnose disease for the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Biomarkers Consortium. Fryburg was previously a faculty member of the University of Virginia as well as the global head of translational medicine for cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine diseases at Pfizer. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and trained at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Yale University.

Today, David joins me to share his story and talk about the power of kindness. We discuss a doctor’s duty to know patients intimately, and we note that patients sometimes come for a listening ear more than for medical expertise. We talk about the power of the news and the contagious nature of emotion, and David introduces the concept of the visual diet. We talk about why and how we can transcend language in spreading kindness and good news. David explores the question of why we are kind to one another and posits that kindness is necessary for the survival of our species. We talk about the dangers of toxic stress and the threefold benefits of kindness. We talk about the need for kindness to oneself, and we discuss the importance of dispelling the ego.

“Everybody needs to feel like they matter.”
– Dr. David Fryburg

“Just as you are what you eat, you are what you see.”
– Dr. David Fryburg

This week on In the Doctor’s Chair

  • The visual diet
  • Transcending language in the spread of kindness and good news
  • Why the good news you take in should outweigh the bad
  • Why we’re kind to each other
  • Kindness to oneself
  • Dispelling the ego

In the Doctor’s Chair

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