Reclaim your power from the news, booze, shopping, or denial.

Ayya Anandabodhi is the spiritual director of Pārāyana Vihāra, a monastic residence in Port Townsend, WA. She was raised in Wales, in the UK, and first encountered Buddhism in her early teens and began training as a nun at age 24. You can listen to some of her Dharma talks, here. 

In this episode we talk about:

• What centering means – and how to do it in the midst of chaos or calamity (Including some very practical tips)
• The difference between centering vs equanimity 
• How to break out of old patterns 
• The power of pausing
• How anger is justified, but it doesn’t help
• A quick but deep dive into the Four Noble truths, a foundational Buddhist list
• We tackle the tricky topic of “true nature”
• We talk about the vital role of that treacly and often misunderstood term, compassion

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A happiness expert explains how to alter your ego, reduce self-consciousness, and boost “okayness”. 

Bruce Hood has been a Professor of Developmental Psychology in Society at Bristol University since 1999, and for the past 5 years he has been concentrating on how to make students happier. He undertook his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Cambridge followed by appointments at University College London, MIT and a faculty professorship at Harvard. 

In this episode we talk about:

• How to define happiness
• How to be happy in the midst of a shitshow
• How to shift from being egocentric (self-focused) to allocentric (interconnected) 
• The impacts of social isolation (and how to avoid it)
• The challenge of optimism (and how to overcome it)
• Finding a “flow state” through meditation
•  How to enhance your social connections
• Where “true, authentic happiness” comes from
• Controlling attention and rejecting negative comparisons 
• The role of nature
• And much more

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Additional Resources: 

• The Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well

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Dan welcomed his friend, the actor, neuroscientist and podcaster Mayim Bialik, and her co-host Jonathan Cohen to Substack with a live conversation. They talked about anxiety – one of many things they have in common – along with faith, imagination, manifestation (not in the way you might think), and what’s the best time of day to meditate.

Find Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown wherever you get your podcasts, and they’re also on Substack. 

Related Episodes:

• Mayim Bialik On: Anxiety, Anger, Believing in Both Neuroscience and God, and the Pressures of Being a Teen TV Star

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We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff. This week, we’re hearing from death doula Alua Arthur, as chosen by our managing producer Lauren Smith. Arthur helps people with all the non-medical aspects of dying – emotional, spiritual, and practical – and she has a simple question that she says simplifies decision-making and stress.

Full Episode: 

How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur

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Plus other intriguing questions answered such as: should you change your personality? What exactly is a personality anyway?

Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Her new book is called Me, But Better. 

In this episode we talk about:

• The definition of personality 
• The so-called big 5 aspects of personality and Olga’s attempts to work on them
• How to spice up your social life 
• The concept of conscientiousness, and how to get better at it
• An antidote to procrastination 
• Tips for reducing neuroticism 
• The role of psychedelics 
• Practical ways to make reasonable changes in the midst of a busy life

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The attitude that can help you survive the Trump era.

Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He is the acclaimed author of Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, The Whole Language, and most recently, Cherished Belonging.

In this episode we talk about:

• His unique understanding of God—one that even agnostics can get behind
• How to build communities that counteract polarization 
• The practice of affectionate awe 
• Father Boyle’s antidotes to despair
• His own daily practice
• And much more

Related Episodes:

• Can You Really Conquer Hatred Through Love? | Father Gregory Boyle

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Additional Resources: 

• Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life as Sacred Ground

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A lot of us have questions about our meditation practice, but we may not have anybody to ask. Am I doing it right? Which kind of meditation should I be doing? How do I choose? Today, our Teacher of the Month Dawn Mauricio breaks down some of those questions with some actionable suggestions you can take into your next meditation session.

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We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff. This week, we’re hearing from Buddhist scholar and teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi, as chosen by Tara Anderson, one of our podcast producers. We’re getting a little meta today, as Dan and his guest talk about paying attention to what your own mind is doing.

Full Episode: 

The Mental States That Steal Your Calm | Bhikkhu Bodhi

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The happiness recipe from ancient Buddhist psychology.

Beth Upton has been teaching meditation since 2014. Before that she spent ten years as a Buddhist nun, five of them in Burma under the guidance of Pa Auk Sayadaw. She currently leads the Sanditthika Meditation Community.

In this episode we talk about:

• The Buddhist Abhidhamma, which Beth calls “particle physics for the mind”  
• Why she’s interested in the broader teaching of Kusala (happy mind states)
• Practical ways to design our lives to get more Kusala
• The beautiful qualities of mind that all co-arise in a moment of Kusala 
• How we get tripped up in the realm of the “unwholesome”
• How Beth navigates Kusala and Akusala in her day to day life

Related Episodes:

• The Profound Upsides of Mortality | Nikki Mirghafori, PhD

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Harness the power of suggestion for well-being, pain management, and mental health.

Dr. Amir Raz is a world-renowned expert on the science of suggestion with recent positions as Canada Research Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Psychology at McGill University, and as Founding Director of The Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University. His most recent book is The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds.

In this episode we talk about:

• How Dr. Raz transitioned from a career in magic to neuroscience 
• The science of suggestibility, how it’s defined, and its relation to hypnosis 
• Stage  hypnosis vs medical hypnosis
• How the power of suggestion could be  therapeutically harnessed to impact our physiology, behavior, and well-being
• Practical exercises for increasing thought control
• The "magical ingredient" when it comes to dealing with life's challenges
• Why placebos may work even when you know you’re taking them
• How we protect ourselves against mis–and–disinformation
• And much more

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