Finding Light in Dark Times

(liquid fizzes) (button clicks) (gentle music) Headspace Studio. (gentle music) Hi friends, it's Rosie here. Welcome to "Radio Headspace." Today I wanna go into a story that stuck with me for a long time. It's a reminder of how even in our darkest moments we can find a glimmer of light. We've all faced times when our health or life itself feels completely out of our control. And when I'm feeling a little lost or down, I think about the story of Frida Kahlo. So let's go there. So in 1925 in Mexico City, an 18-year-old Frida Kahlo was riding the bus in Mexico City with her boyfriend. At this point, she was just a curious kid attending college. And then tragedy struck. A tram from the city's new public transit system broke down and smashed into the bus, cutting it in half. The story goes that Frito was found in the rubble of the crash, impaled by a metal rod covered in gold dust. Apparently someone sitting next to her was transporting gold dust, and when the crash happened, it flew in the air and landed on her disfigured body. It's kind of a little intense for "Radio Headspace," but I like it. This isn't just a gruesome bit of history, it's the origin story of one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century. Because of the severity of her injuries, she was put into months of excruciating rehabilitation at her home outside of the city, and that's where she started to paint. She wasn't trained as an artist in any way, shape, or form, but she used art to express the incredibly raw pain, sadness, and loneliness she was experiencing at the time. Eventually, despite the tragedy in her life, she became incredibly famous, helped introduce Mexican culture to the world, and inspired countless artists without a voice. Now, the art is real, the crash is real, but is the gold dust real? I don't care. And does it really matter? The story is just too good. It's such an unbelievable image, and I find it incredibly inspiring. The idea that the moment our worst nightmare comes true could be a moment we transform into something else entirely is sort of what I'm all about. (gentle music) And there is actually a lot of research into the power of inspiring stories on our mental health. And I wanna talk about it today. Because in a world of bleak news, I found this so helpful. But let's go back a bit. So in the mid 20th century, psychologist Carl Young had this idea of the collective unconscious. It's a heady topic, but the basic idea is that there are core characters or symbols that show up across stories, cultures, and even our personal lives. They're like universal roles we all understand on a deep level shaping how we see the world and ourselves. One of them is the hero. It's the part of us that feels courageous, faces challenges, and...