Burnout is on the rise. Two experts show us how to combat it.

Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than twenty years ago. 

Christopher Germer is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He also co-developed a highly impactful program called Mindful Self-Compassion, which has been taught to over 100,000 people across the world.

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. 

We talk about:

• How to know if you are burnt out
• The three main symptoms of burnout, their causes, and their health consequences
• The three components of self-compassion and how they can help 
• The inner critic and why we kick our own asses
• How to draw appropriate boundaries with your boss
• The difference between tender and fierce self-compassion
• Tools for dealing with perfectionism without letting go of high standards

Related Episodes: 

• Do Life Better
• Sanely Ambitious 
• Kryptonite for the Inner Critic | Kristin Neff
• #360 Self-Compassion Ain’t Always Soft | Kristin Neff
• #310 The Scientific Case for Self-Compassion | Chris Germer
• For the Burned Out, Fried, and Exhausted | Emily & Amelia Nagoski

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Full Shownotes: https://meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/neff-germer-894

Additional Resources:

• Self-compassion event with Kristin Neff & Dan Harris
• The Self-Compassion Test
• The Center for Mindful Self Compassion

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We’re so often glued to our devices, but mindful screen time is possible. Flip the script and catch yourself before you go into zombie mode.

About Dawn Mauricio:

Dawn Mauricio discovered the practices of Buddhist meditation in 2005, and from then on, did what any well-intentioned perfectionist would do — plunge in head first! Since then, she's graduated from several teaching programs, including Spirit Rock's four-year Teacher Training. Her teaching style is playful, dynamic, and heartfelt, and she teaches extensively in her home-country of Canada, as well as the US, to teens, people of color, and folks of all backgrounds.

To find this meditation in the Happier Meditation app, you can search for “Screen Time for Meditators.”

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A candid conversation about money: How much is enough? How to find real security?

Sebene Selassie, an author and meditation teacher. She writes the popular newsletter Ancestors to Elements and her first book is called, You Belong. 

Jeff Warren is also an author and meditation teacher. He writes the popular Substack newsletter Home Base and is the coauthor, along with me, of a book called Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. And he is the co-host of the mind/bod adventure pod.

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. 

We talk about:

• How much is enough 
• The illusion of security 
• The importance of being able to talk to your friends about this stuff
• The power of identifying your own money story, in other words, finding the point of origination for your own neuroses on the subject

Related Episodes:

• Do Life Better
• How to Avoid the Toilet Vortex of Anxiety | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren
• How to Stay Calm No Matter What’s Happening | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren
• Meditation Party: The “Sh*t Is Fertilizer” Edition | Sebene Selassie & Jeff Warren
• Meditation Party with Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren: Psychedelics, ADHD, Waking Up From Distraction, and Singing Without Being Self-Conscious
• Meditation Party: Magic, Mystery, Intuition, Tattoos, and Non-Efforting | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren

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Full Shownotes: https://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/meditation-party-892

Additional Resources:

• Register for Meditation Party at Omega, October 24 - 26, 2025
• Allison Strickland’s GoFundMe

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A Wharton professor shares practical tips on increasing your financial security, and eradicating the taboo around financial conversations.

Dr. Wendy De La Rosa is an Assistant Professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She focuses on behavioral science to improve consumers’ financial well-being.

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. 

We talk about:

• Psychological and technological tools for taking control of your finances 
• How to get a handle on small frequent purchases
• The relationship between our environment and our finances
• Financial shame 
• How our parents relationship with money impacts us as adults
• The G.I. Joe Fallacy, and the misconception that “knowing is half the battle” when it comes to our financial health
• 10 financial questions to ask your romantic partner
• How to eliminate the taboo of financial conversations
• And much more

Related Episodes: 

• Do Life Better 
• 543. The Psychology of Money | Morgan Housel
• #402. How To Work Around Your Own Irrationality | Richard Thaler
• #345 How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

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During major life transitions your emotional and mental world can kick into overdrive. Learn how to stay in the eye of the hurricane.

About Joseph Goldstein:

Joseph is one of the most respected meditation teachers in the world -- a key architect of the rise of mindfulness in our modern society -- with a sense of humor to boot. In the 1970's, he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Since its founding, thousands of people from around the world have come to IMS to learn mindfulness from leaders in the field. Joseph has been a teacher there since its founding and continues as the resident guiding teacher.

To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “Calm In Big Transitions.”

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The science and dharma of mindful eating. How it can stop over eating—and how to actually make the habit.

Brother Pháp Lưu is an ordained monk in the Plum Village tradition started by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. He’s worked with scientists at Dartmouth College and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to develop research on the effect of Plum Village mindfulness practices on children.

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series. 

We talk about:

• The health benefits of mindful eating
• The line between moderation and restriction 
• The five contemplations before eating 
• The basic steps of mindful eating 
• How to ensure mindful eating doesn’t feel like a chore or burden
• Fasting and our culture's dysregulated relationship to food
• Mindful consumption in general
• The four nutriments
• And much more

Related Episodes:

• Do Life Better
• Get Fit Sanely
• The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole
• The Science of Why You Eat When You're Not Hungry–And How to Stop | Judson Brewer

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What exercise does to your brain—and how to actually do it regularly.

Wendy Suzuki is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University, where she is also the first Asian-American Dean of the College of Arts and Science. She is the author of two books, Good Anxiety and Healthy Brain, Happy Life.

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.

We talk about:

• How exercise not only enhances cognitive function but also protects against age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases. 
• The difference between cardio and strength training
• Whether it matters if you track your steps
• How to sustain your motivation to exercise
• And practical tips on how to start, restart or increase an exercise habit
• We also talk about the brain benefits of sleep, meditation, and healthy eating (with a detour into ways to counteract the potentially unhealthy obsession with being healthy)
• And finally, we talk about the counterintuitive benefits of anxiety

Related Episodes:

• Do Life Better
• Get Fit Sanely
• Sleep Better
• The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole

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Explore letting your body's most natural habit take over, and enjoy the benefits this brings to any moment.

About Jeff Warren:

Jeff makes meditation and practice accessible to diverse audiences in order to help people live more fulfilled and connected lives. He’s taught meditation to suspicious journalists, US Army cadets, burned-out caregivers, Arizona cops, formerly-incarcerated youth, virtuoso popstars, distractible teens, and every other conceivable demographic of freethinker, including squirmy six-year old kids.  He tries to do this in a way that’s rigorous and clear and adventurous. You can find out more about him at jeffwarren.org. 

To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “Being Simplicity.”

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Dan briefly whittles down his top 10 takeaways from the science of behavior change.

In this episode we talk about:

• How our brain’s evolution for short-term survival makes long-term goals harder
• Picking the right goals
• Making it easy
• Leveraging fresh starts
• How to make goals a team sport
• The crucial role of mindfulness and self-compassion

This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.

Related Episodes:

The Science of Making – And Keeping – New Year’s Resolutions | Hal Hershfield

How To Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

Why Your Bad Habits (And Addictions) May Be Getting Worse – And How Mindfulness Can Help | Dr. Jud Brewer

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Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes

Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/dan-solo-habit-formation

Additional Resources:

• Download the Happier Meditation app today.

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Contemplating your own death can feel like a massive bummer at first, but there’s good news: how you react to that inescapable fact really matters. 

Vinny Ferraro has practiced insight meditation (vipassanā) since the mid-90s. He’s the Guiding Teacher of the Big Heart City Sangha in San Francisco and has led a weekly sitting group for almost two decades.

As a fully empowered Dharma Teacher thru Spirit Rock/IMS, he has taught residential retreats at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and the Esalen Institute. Currently, he leads Spirit Rock's Year to Live course and teaches retreats and daylongs through Big Heart City and meditation centers across the country.

He is a respected leader in developing and implementing interventions for at-risk populations. leading groups in schools, juvenile halls and prisons since 1987. He has led emotional intelligence workshops for over 100,000 youth on four continents.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why it’s important to think about your own death even if you’re not expecting it anytime soon
• The distinction between the actual conditions of your life and how much you suffer
• A practice called the five Daily Remembrances, which Dan started doing himself right after we recorded this — and which has made a real difference for him
• And some of other practices they do in the class, including the “life review” and “housekeeping”

Related Episodes:

Three Buddhist Practices For Getting Your Sh*t Together | Vinny Ferraro

How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur

Join the waiting list for A Year To Live at Spirit Rock.

Find out more about the Young Adult Retreat at Spirit Rock (taught by Vinny Ferraro, Matthew Brensilver, Cara Lai, and Hakim Tafari).

Use code TENPERCENT for 10% off these two courses at Spirit Rock:

Anxiety as Teacher: A Dharma and Yoga Daylong

Cultivating the Beautiful Factors of Mind

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Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes

Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/vinny-ferraro-a-year-to-live

Additional Resources:

• Download the Happier Meditation app today. 

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