10% Happier with Dan Harris

Mindfulness isn't about making your heart open. It's about feeling however you feel, respecting that, and sometimes, saying no.

About Cara Lai:

Cara Lai spent most of her life trying to figure out how to be happy, or at least avoid total misery, which landed her on a meditation cushion for the majority of her adulthood. Throughout many consciousness adventures including a few mind-bendingly long meditation retreats, she has explored the wilderness of the mind, chronic illness, the importance of pleasure, and a wide range of other things that she might get in trouble for mentioning publicly. In the past, Cara has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker and psychotherapist, but at this point she’s given up on being an adult in exchange for an all-out mindfulness rampage. Her teaching is relatable, authentic, funny and sometimes crass, and is accessible for many people. She teaches teens and adults at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and UCLA; ultimately hoping to become as good of a show-off as Dan. And to help people be happier.

To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Boundaries: Saying Yes to Saying No.” 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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The office might be one of the most difficult places to not side with yourself, but it's a concept that can help you navigate challenging situations at work.

Matthew is a meditation and dharma teacher with more than a decade of teaching experience and a passion for getting real about what it means to live well. He emphasizes humor, technique, and authentic kindness as a means to free the mind from unnecessary struggle and leave a healthier impact on the world.

Beyond Ten Percent Happier, Matthew has taught in prisons, schools, corporate events and continues to teach across North America in buddhist centers offering intensive silent retreats and dharma for urban daily life.

In this episode we talk about:

• How to change your relationship to your thoughts
• How to navigate the highs of praise and the lows of blame
• How to handle relationships at work when giving or receiving feedback
• How to bring your mindfulness practice to your workplace

Full Shownotes:https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/matthew-hepburn-work

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Balancing happiness and ambition is a challenge, especially if you often define yourself by your work. Stolzoff covers why it's good to have a job that's simply good enough.

Simone Stolzoff is the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work. He is a designer and workplace expert from San Francisco, and a former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford and The University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode we talk about:

• His argument for diversifying our sources for what makes a meaningful life
• How passion for your job shouldn't be a stand-in for pay or security
• And how to balance the pursuit of meaningful work without letting it take over your life

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/simone-stolzoff

Get out of the trance of thinking and explore what it’s like to be more generous with your attention directly, here, now.

About Pascal Auclair:

Pascal Auclair has been immersed in Buddhist practice and study since 1997, mentored by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield at the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is a co-founder of True North Insight and one of TNI’s Guiding Teachers. 

To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “The Present Moment.”

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Mindfulness is a word that is in danger of becoming meaningless. In this episode, we dig into the meaning of mindfulness, how to practice without getting overwhelmed, and how to stop the judgment spiral.

Today's guest is Diana Winston, the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. She has written several books, including The Little Book of Being, and Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness, which she co-authored with Susan Smalley, and which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Diana has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1989, including a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma.

In this episode we talk about:

• How Diana defines mindfulness
• How we know if we're in a state of bonafide mindfulness
• The difference between mindfulness as a trait and mindfulness as a state
• Whether you have to meditate to achieve mindfulness as a trait
• What current scientific research says about the benefits of meditation
• The link between intuition, happiness and authenticity
• Her definition of happiness
• How meditation can help us relate to our bodies differently
• How to stop the self-judgment spiral
• Creating a top ten list to deal with difficult thoughts
• How to use meditation for chronic pain
• Striking a balance between reason and intuition
• The ripple effects of practicing meditation
• And how to start practicing mindfulness without getting overwhelmed

Full Shownotes:https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/diana-winston

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Welcome to the third installment of Meditation Party, an experiment we're running with a chattier format – more of a morning zoo vibe, but way deeper, of course. Dan's co-hosts in this episode are his two close friends: the great meditation teachers Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren. Sebene Selassie is based in Brooklyn and describes herself as a "writer, teacher, and immigrant-weirdo." She teaches meditation on the Ten Percent Happier app and is the author of a great book called, You Belong. Jeff Warren is based in Toronto and is also a writer and meditation teacher who co-wrote the book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics with Dan Harris. Jeff also hosts the Consciousness Explorers podcast.

Related Episodes:

#489. Can You Really Conquer Hatred Through Love? | Father Gregory Boyle

#519. The Art and Science of Keeping Your Sh*t Together | Shinzen Young and James Gross

Best of the Archives: Making it RAIN | Tara Brach

For more info on the Meditation Party Retreat: Meditation Party Workshop at Omega Institute

To watch this interview online, go to: https://www.youtube.com/@TenPercentHappier

If you want to be part of the show, please call in with a question or comment. The number is 508-656-0540. Or you can email us with a voice memo at [email protected] with a voice memo.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/meditation-party-3

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Today's guest is Linda Åkeson McGurk, a Swedish American writer and author of There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids. Her latest book is called The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature Every Day. She is the founder of the blog Rain or Shine Mamma, a resource for parents and other caregivers.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why humans are so drawn to nature and what the many scientific benefits are
• The historical roots of friluftsliv in Nordic countries
• Why we should go outside even when the weather sucks
• Why we should go camping
• The benefits of cold plunges
• The benefits of silence
• The danger of seeing ourselves as separate from nature
• And why she believes appreciation of nature and meditation are complimentary

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/linda-akeson-mcgurk

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Wim Hof

Additional Resources:

• Download the Ten Percent Happier app today: https://10percenthappier.app.link/install

Ryan also talks about how meditation helped him ride out a brutal political campaign, escaping the grind, and whether he'll run for office again.

Tim Ryan served for 20 years in the U.S. Congress. He is the author of a book on the power of mindfulness. He is the author of a book on the power of mindfulness, Healing America: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Recapture the American Spirit and a book on reforming the broken food systems, The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm.

In this episode we talk about:

• How his practice helped him weather a brutal political campaign
• Why he's joined the ice bath craze
• The link between breathwork and meditation
• How he's adjusting to civilian life after 20 years in Washington
• How he handled things when he realized the race was not going his way
• What he was thinking and feeling when he made his concession speech
• What it's like to be outside of the DC fishbowl
• The freedom that comes with not living under a microscope
• The kids basketball game made him realize his life had changed
• Escaping the grind
• Whether he's considered running for office again
• And what the rough and tumble of politics has taught him about dealing with difficult people

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/tim-ryan

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Gladwell On: the importance of flow states, why people should have a lifelong pursuit or practice, and how he personally relaxes.

Malcolm Gladwell is the president and co-founder of the podcasting network Pushkin Industries, and the author of six New York Times bestselling books including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He's also the host of the Pushkin podcast Revisionist History.

For tickets to TPH's live event in Boston on September 7:

https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/dan-harris/

For tickets to TPH's live and live streamed event in Colorado on November 3:

https://www.milehichurch.org/calendar/10-percent-happier-with-dan-harris/

Do you have a favorite episode of TPH? We want to hear about it!

Here's how you can help us uncover these hidden gems.

1. Call +1 508-656-0540
2. Tell us your name and favorite episode
3. And, in a couple of sentences, tell us why this episode hit home for you

Do this and your episode and story may be part of our Deep Cuts feature

In this episode we talk about:

• The backlash Malcolm faced from his work from home comments
• Pushing the noise aside when it comes to social media
• Lessons in kindness from a recent Revisionist History episode
• The importance of flow states
• How he personally relaxes
• Why people should have a lifelong pursuit or practice
• What he thinks now about his famous 10,000 hours argument
• Why we need to engage and investigate the views of others to be morally alert as human beings
• And his biggest journalistic mistake

Content Warning: Brief mention of eating disorders.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode//malcolm-gladwell-rerun

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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The scientific case for self-compassion and why it doesn't have to lead to passivity, self absorption, or cheesiness.

Today's guest is Kristin Neff, an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She's the author of the book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself and Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive.

For tickets to TPH's live event in Boston on September 7:

https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/dan-harris/

For tickets to TPH's live and live streamed event in Colorado on November 3rd:

https://www.milehichurch.org/calendar/10-percent-happier-with-dan-harris/

Do you have a favorite episode of TPH? We want to hear about it!

Here's how you can help us uncover these hidden gems.

1. Call +1 508-656-0540
2. Tell us your name and favorite episode
3. And, in a couple of sentences, tell us why this episode hit home for you

Do this and your episode and story may be part of our Deep Cuts feature

In this episode we talk about:

• How Kristin first got into meditation and why she was drawn to the practice of compassion
• How, paradoxically, self-compassion actually makes us less focused on ourselves
• The three components of self-compassion
• One of the big blockers for men in practicing self-compassion
• What self-compassion is and isn't
• How research shows that self-compassion is a trainable skill
• Whether we actually need the internal cattle prod to get ahead
• Being kind to yourself even when you notice prejudice coming up in your mind
• And how men and women deal with shame differently

Full Shownotes:https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/kristin-neff-rerun