10% Happier with Dan Harris

An often overlooked secret to improving your meditation practice.

Sebene Selassie, an author and meditation teacher. She writes the popular newsletter remind me to love 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.

Register for Meditation Party at the Omega Institute, Oct 24–26, 2025.

In this episode we talk about:

• The perks of meditating with friends
• The importance of friendship in chaotic times
• How to have difficult conversations
• Authenticity vs wanton oversharing
• Working with the thorny stuff that can come up in relationships
• Advice for people pleasers
• Building meaningful relationships in the age of social media

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

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Distraction is making you anxious and sleepless. Here's how to fix it.

Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D. is the David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry, and Founder & Executive Director of Neuroscape at UCSF. He co-authored the 2016 book "The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World".

In this episode we talk about:

• The impact of multitasking on our attention, relationships, emotions, anxiety, and memory
• The difference between top-down and bottom-up attention
• What it means to have cognitive control—and some practical tools for restoring your own cognitive control.
• Controversial technologies that could eventually help us have a stronger brain
• The impact of music and rhythm on the mind
• And how to use technology for your brain's benefit

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We asked not too long ago in the chat on our Substack community – which you can find at DanHarris.com – about what kinds of things you'd find useful as Friday bonus episodes, and one of the things we heard was: more guided meditations, please. So today, we are happy to oblige with this short meditation that I led, as part of our semi-regular live gatherings of the Renegade Sangha on Substack. Twice a month, paid subscribers are invited to join me, live, for a little guided meditation, then I take your questions. It's been so much fun to hear from you, and to help you hear from each other.

Today's guided meditation is taken from our sangha gathering on April 23. It's super simple and good for both beginners and experienced meditators alike.

If you enjoyed that and would like more opportunities to meditate together, here's what we've got coming up for you in June:

• on the podcast, we're bringing back our series Get Fit Sanely, where we talk about how to take care of your body without losing your mind – you'll hear about nutrition, exercise, rest, and more, all with a lens of self-compassion
• and we're super excited about this: friend of the pod and ace meditation teacher Cara Lai will be creating a month of bespoke meditations, each one tailored to an episode of the podcast, exclusively for paid subscribers at DanHarris.com. This is something we've been wanting to offer for a long time and I'm thrilled that we're finally doing it.

Visit DanHarris.com for all the details

This episode explores a compelling Buddhist question: does self-hatred, or self-love, make sense if the self is an illusion? Matthew Brensilver, PhD, is a clinical social worker and experienced teacher of meditation retreats. He also worked at an organization called Mindful Schools, which teaches teachers how to teach meditation.

This episode also explores:

• How and why to view your anger with skepticism
• The relationship between self-love and personal ethics
• What to do if you think you're a good person but have no interest in changing your behavior to get better
• How to handle a nagging sense of moral un-justifiability
• And how Matthew has arrived at a place of relative peace with his own mortality.

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How to beat perfectionism without lowering your standards.

Dr. Ellen Hendriksen is a clinical psychologist who will help you calm your anxiety and be your authentic self. She serves on the faculty at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD) and is the author of HOW TO BE ENOUGH: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists and HOW TO BE YOURSELF: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety.

In this episode we talk about:

• The relationship between perfectionism and anxiety
• The definition of perfectionism–and why the word is actually a misnomer
• Dr. Hendriksen's own struggles with perfectionism, and how they manifested physically
• The difference between healthy perfectionism and unhealthy perfectionism
• Changing your relationship with your inner critic
• Shifting from rigid rules to flexibility
• Keeping high standards while making room for mistakes
• Overcoming procrastination
• Navigating social comparison
• And much more

Related Episodes:

• Strategies for Social Anxiety | Ellen Hendriksen
• Ellen Hendriksen, Rising Above Social Anxiety
• The Voice in Your Head | Ethan Kross
• How To Move Into The Future With Optimism Instead Of Anxiety | Frederik Pferdt

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Additional Resources:

• Ellen Hendriksen on Substack

We're excited to share with you an episode of the new podcast Proxy, produced by Yowei Shaw. Today: the case of Mic, who feels like he defied his fate and now has no purpose in life. For her new podcast Proxy, Yowei Shaw finds someone uniquely able to help Mic break out of his regret loop. Proxy is a show that investigates niche emotional conundrums through conversations with strangers who have relevant experience. New cases every other Tuesday. You can binge episodes now in the Proxy feed.

A few ideas for staying sane in insane times, regardless of your political leanings or who you voted for. Related episode: Joseph Goldstein On: Impermanence, Impersonality, And How To Use Mindfulness To Be More Creative

Joseph Goldstein's book of poetry: Dreamscapes of the Mind

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Plus how to speak up and challenge your own tribe, how to successfully engage with people you disagree with, and more.

Jenara Nerenberg is a journalist and author. Her latest book is called Trust Your Mind: Embracing Nuance in a World of Self-Silencing. She holds degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health and UC Berkeley. She lectures widely on rhetoric, psychology, neurodiversity, sensitivity, innovation and communication.

In this episode we talk about:

• The phenomenon of groupthink—and its health implications
• The health implications of self-censoring
• Vulnerability in the age of social media
• The role of comedy in pushing back against social norms

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

On psychoanalysis, which we haven't talked about much on this show.

Dr. Orna Guralnik is a psychoanalyst and writer. Her writing centers on the intersection of psychoanalysis, dissociation, and cultural studies. She has completed the filming of several seasons of the docu-series Couples Therapy.

In this episode we talk about:

• The relationship between happiness and truth
• How to cultivate love from within
• Practices to support us in being more open-minded (to avoid what she calls a "splitting" mindset)
• Trans-generational history, and how it impacts our personal lives and relationships (in other words, how the ghosts of your ancestors operate in you now)
• One single, powerful question to ask yourself when you get annoyed
• The overlap between Buddhism and psychoanalysis

Related Episodes:

• Why Your Brain Turns The Miraculous Into The Mundane—And How To Fix It | Maria Popova
• George Saunders on: "Holy Befuddlement" and How to Be Less of a "Turd"
• The Profound Upside of Self-Diminishment | George Saunders

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Ten Percent Happier online bookstore

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

Why even self-help authors can still be messy.

Glennon Doyle is the CEO and Founder of Treat Media, an award-winning media company that makes art for humans who want to stay human. She is an author, podcaster, producer, and philanthropist. Her books include the #1 New York Times bestsellers Untamed and Love Warrior; the New York Times bestseller Carry On, Warrior; and Get Untamed: The Journal.

Abby Wambach is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup champion, six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award and one of Time's Most Influential People. She is a founder of Treat Media, and the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Wolfpack and the New York Times bestseller Forward.

In this episode we talk about:

• Significant personal struggles that happened simultaneously for Glennon, Abby, and Glennon's sister, Amanda
• How that led to them writing a book about the fundamental life questions they believe everyone grapples with
• Why people in the self-help world don't always have their shit together
• Why trauma leads to dissociation
• How to "go on" after the experience of grief
• Why we are the way we are
• Family roles, attachment theory, and learned behaviors
• The possibility of personal change
• Our thoughts on the latest season of the White Lotus
• And much more

Related Episodes:

• Abby Wambach On: Grief, Addiction, And Moving From External To Internal Validation
• Glennon Doyle is Rethinking Her Relationship to Social Media, Hustle Culture, Intuition, Her Body, and Her Parents

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Additional Resources:

• We Can Do Hard Things Book
• We Can Do Hard Things Podcast
• Treat Media
• Untamed
• Wolfpack
• Intimate Terrorism by Michael Vincent Miller