10% Happier with Dan Harris

Dan flies to Dharamsala, India to spend two weeks in the orbit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is the first installment of a five-part audio documentary series, something we've never done before now. Over the course of the episodes, we talk to His Holiness about practical strategies for thorny dilemmas, including: how to get along with difficult people; whether compassion can cut it in an often brutal world; why there is a self-interested case for not being a jerk; and how to create social connection in an era of disconnection. We also get rare insights from the Dalai Lama into everything from the mechanics of reincarnation to His Holiness's own personal mediation practice.

In this first installment, Dan watches as a young activist directly challenges His Holiness: In a world plagued by climate change, terrorism, and other existential threats, is the Dalia Lama's message of compassion practical — or even relevant?

Full Show Notes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dalai-lama-guide-538

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Healthy Minds Innovations
• Compassionate Leadership Summit

Additional Resources:

Download the Happier app today: https://my.happierapp.com/link/download

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

---

According to guest Adam Grant, excellence does not require perfectionism, and rather than obsessing over the outcome of your work, there are better ways of measuring your own success.

Adam Grant is a frequent flier on this show and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 5 books that have sold millions of copies and have been translated into 35 languages: Think Again, Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. He's an organizational psychologist who has been the top-rated professor at Wharton for seven years. He's also the host of a newish podcast, called Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, in addition to his other chart-topping podcast, called WorkLife.

In this conversation, we talked about:

• Adam's definition of neurotic vs. normal perfectionism
• Why he thinks we're seeing a rise in perfectionism amongst younger people
• Strategies for managing perfectionism
• A different metric for measuring the quality of our work
• The importance of finding the right judges of our work
• Reimagining our relationship to failure by setting a failure budget
• The difference between procrastination vs. what he personally suffers from: "precrastination"

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/adam-grant-547

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

---

Our guest today is one of the most prominent happiness researchers in the world, and he has come to the conclusion that living the good life boils down to one thing: finding awe. We're going to learn what awe does to your body, how it changes your sense of self and your relationship to the world, and why we evolved to feel awe. We're also going to get eight simple strategies for mainlining awe into our everyday lives.

Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. His new book is called, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.

In this conversation we talk about:

• What awe is exactly
• How awe is different from other primal emotions like fear and appreciation of beauty
• Why we are awe-starved in our culture right now
• The connection between awe and morality
• How to get something called "moral beauty" into our lives as an alternative to the outrage served up by social media
• The importance of something called "collective effervescence"
• How to use nature, music, and even death as sources of awe
• How to understand epiphanies
• And how awe has the potential to get us into trouble sometimes

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dacher-keltner-546

Develop insight into your cravings and find some freedom by observing your thoughts and physical sensations when you are lost in desire.

About Alexis Santos:

Alexis has practiced and taught Insight Meditation in both the East and West since 2001. He has been a long-time student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya (a well respected meditation teacher in Burma whose teachings have attracted a global audience), and his teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity -- a style of practice that's particularly useful during our crazy lives. Alexis has completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training, teaches retreats across the globe, and currently lives in Portland, Maine.

To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Understanding Desire,” or click here: 

"https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=14b7581a-9121-40a8-87a1-11bfbf50c3b3"

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.

---

Brené Brown has found that most people are only able to identify three emotions: happy, sad and pissed off.

In this episode we explore how better understanding the full spectrum of your emotions, rather than drowning in them, can become an upward spiral.

Brené Brown is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her latest book is Atlas of the Heart, which is also the name of her HBO Max series. Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston and a visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. She has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. Her TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with over 50 million views.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why she decided to map the 87 key emotions and experiences
• How she was deeply influenced by the Buddhist concept of the "near enemy"
• Why she no longer believes it's possible to read emotions in other people
• And why meaningful connections require boundaries

Content Warning: This episode contains explicit language, but a clean version of the episode is available at tenpercent.com and on the Ten Percent Happier app.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/brene-brown-436-rerun

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

---

The New Year is approaching and this is a time when many of us think about making and breaking new habits. So today we're bringing on one of the smartest people when it comes to habits, best-selling author and speaker Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen's contention is that before you embark on a self-improvement project, it's crucial to have some self-awareness about what kind of person you are. She has devised a framework called the Four Tendencies, which helps you identify your personality type in order to gain powerful insights into how you make or break habits.

Rubin is a lawyer by training and began her career clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Gretchen then went on to write a series of books that examine small and doable ways to boost our happiness in everyday life. These include: The Happiness Project, which spent two years on the bestseller list and sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide, and Better Than Before. We initially conducted the interview you're about to hear back in 2017, when Gretchen released a book called The Four Tendencies.

In this episode we talk about:

• How and why Gretchen developed the Four Tendencies framework
• How Gretchen's framework can give each of us a recipe for successful habit change
• Breaking down the Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, or Rebels
• How these Four Tendencies are an overlapping Venn diagram
• What "obliger rebellion" is and how to spot it in your relationships
• The value of forming an accountability group
• And why Gretchen sometimes calls herself a happiness bully

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/gretchen-rubin-99-rerun

The delicate practice of self-forgiveness can help undo habits of self-judgment, self-criticism, and help you reclaim greater self-esteem.

About Diana Winston:

Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and the author of several books including, The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness

To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Self-Forgiveness,” or click here: "https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=73751265-07b6-4333-b2e6-a9d682e0b213"

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.

---

Today we're tackling some thorny dharma questions. For example: How do you love someone without attachment? How do you love yourself when the self is allegedly an illusion?

Kevin Griffin is both a long time Buddhist practitioner and also a 12 step participant, and in another previous episode we talked to him about the nature of craving and addiction. In this popular episode from the archives, Kevin talks about his semi-skeptical take on loving kindness – that venerable if somewhat misunderstood Buddhist concept and practice. His book is being re-released this month, with a slightly new title Living Kindness: Metta Practice for the Whole of Our Lives.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Loving kindness versus living kindness
• The dangers of modern loving kindness practice
• The idea that you don't have to feel love all the time
• And we talk about a Buddhist text called the Metta Sutta.

Content Warning: The interview includes brief references to addiction and other forms of suffering.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/kevin-griffin-370-rerun

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

---

If you're tired of the venom, preening, and predatory listening so common on all sides of our various cultural divides, this episode is for you.

My guest today is Loretta Ross, who believes that "calling out," which is quite common on social media these days, is adding way too much toxicity to the discourse and alienating people who might otherwise be allies. Instead, she believes in "calling in," which steadfastly insists on a large measure of grace, and rejects the impulse to dehumanize.

On today's show, Loretta offers a compelling mode of engagement that is insistently open-minded and large-hearted, no matter where you stand on the political divide.

Loretta describes herself as a radical Black feminist, activist, and public intellectual. She's a visiting Associate Professor at Smith College, and she also teaches an online course called, Calling in the Calling Out Culture.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/loretta-ross-316-rerun

Sebene guides you through using physical touch points to reduce anxiety. This is a great alternative to focusing on breathing.

About Sebene Selassie:

Sebene Selassie was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised in white neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., she was a tomboy Black girl who loved Monty Python and UB40. She never believed she belonged. Thirty years ago, she began studying Buddhism as an undergraduate at McGill University where she majored in Comparative Religious Studies. Now, Sebene is a teacher, author, and speaker who teaches that meditation can help us remember our inherent sense of belonging, that our individual freedom affects absolutely everyone and everything, and that our collective freedom depends on each and every one of us. 

To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Working With Anxiety,” or click here: 

"https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=1fe8c559-04a4-4082-bf7c-e59d573c1252"

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