10% Happier with Dan Harris

Latest Episodes:

Meditate on the Breath (Without Driving Yourself Nuts) | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

You don't have to focus too maniacally on your breath; your body is part of the process, too. Our good buddy Joseph Goldstein shows you how to balance.

Joseph Goldstein is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of many books including, most recently, Dreamscapes of the Mind.

This meditation is part of a new series on the Eightfold Path. The rest of the series is available on Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

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Status: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How To Get It Without Driving Yourself Crazy | Will Storr Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

Plus more surprising information on this fundamental human drive.

Will Storr is a multi award-winning writer and Sunday Times bestselling author. His latest book is A Story is a Deal: How to use the science of storytelling to lead, motivate and persuade.

Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

In this episode we talk about:

The key elements of a properly deployed story
The different ways to measure status
The three main ways humans compete for status
The benefits of altruism as a source of status
The balance between self interest and altruism
How mindfulness factors into the status drive
Managing our relationships with social media

Related Episodes:

Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again | Johann Hari

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Stoic Advice for Handling Setbacks, Insults, and Death | William Irvine Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

How to boost your psychological immune system, the stoic way.

William "Bill" Irvine is the emeritus professor of philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He is the author of eight books that have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy and Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient.

Bill is one of many great teachers featured on Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

In this episode we talk about:

How Bill was first introduced to Stoicism (the story involves a midlife crisis and a banjo.)
The comparison between Stoicism and Buddhism
Psychological strategies for attaining equanimity
The practice of negative visualization
Stoic approaches to handling anger and insults
How to reframe setbacks as tests
Stoicism VS emotional suppression
Tools for navigating the challenges of our digital age
What Stoics say about pursuing fame and status
And why death is the "ultimate exam"

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Alisyn Camerota On: Surviving the News, Surviving the Teenage Years, and the Concept of Home Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

From punk rock to broadcast journalism. A veteran journalist shares her story.

Alisyn Camerota is an award-winning journalist and author. She recently wrote the memoir, Combat Love: A Story of Leaving, Longing, and Searching for Home.

In this episode we talk about:

Our mutual dislike of covering breaking news
How her turbulent teenage years helped her prepare for life's chaos
What "home" actually means
How her childhood informed her own parenting style
The delicate balance between giving your children too little or too much freedom
What it means for a journalist to center themself in a story
Surviving the news
Coping with anxiety and media consumption
And much more

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How To Deal With Difficult Emotions, Difficult Feedback, and Difficult Parts of Your Own Mind | Diane Musho Hamilton Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

Cross-training for your mind.

Diane Musho Hamilton is an author, award-winning mediator, and teacher of Zen. She is the author of three books on conflict resolution, relationships, and communication. Her latest book is Waking Up and Growing Up: Spiritual Cross-training for an Evolving World, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson.

Diane is one of many great teachers featured on Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

In this episode we talk about:

What Diane means by spiritual cross training and waking up
Cultivating emotional maturity
Foundations of Zen practice
Integrating shadow and psyche
The key aspects of living with purpose
The value of intention setting
Ethical action and community

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

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Dan's panic attack on live TV

Sam Harris On: Equanimity in Turbulent Times; Compassion for Difficult People; And Dualistic vs Non-dualistic Mindfulness Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

An old friend (and my spiritual brother) discusses some of the most important things he's ever learned.

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, author, podcaster and the proprietor of Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

In this episode we talk about:

How to maintain equanimity in shitty situations
How to have compassion – or at least non-hatred – for people you disagree with politically
The illusion of free will and its relationship with compassion
The difference between dualistic and non-dualistic mindfulness
The concept of having no head
Why meditating with your eyes open can be super helpful
And much more

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On Having No Head

Can You Be Kind Without Becoming Boring And/Or Weak? | A Question From "Mean Aunt Kate" Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

We're going to give you a taste of the so-called "renegade sangha" sessions on DanHarris.com, which is powered by Substack. In those sessions, Dan usually guides a meditation and then takes questions.

In this brief episode, you're going to hear one of the best, funniest, most relatable questions we have received to date.

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Buddhist Themes in The White Lotus, Explained | Josh Bearman Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

Dan deconstructs the Dharmic elements of the popular HBO show, with the co-host of The White Lotus Official Season 3 companion podcast.

Joshuah Bearman is a writer and film producer in Los Angeles. He has written for Wired, GQ, Harper's, Rolling Stone, and contributed to This American Life. Along with Jia Tolentino, Josh is the co-host of the The White Lotus Official Podcast.

In this episode we talk about:

How Josh became interested in Buddhism
How Mike White, the writer and creator of The White Lotus, became interested in Buddhism
Buddhist concepts and themes all three seasons of The White Lotus
Buddhist notions of self and identity
Some paradoxes and pitfalls of Buddhism
The perils of pleasure seeking
Craving certainty as a bulwark against anxiety
The importance of repetition of simple Buddhist ideas that we are programmed to forget
The Buddhist concept of attachment
The three jewels of Buddhism and the importance of relationships

Related Episodes:

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Additional Resources:

The White Lotus Official Podcast

I Want an Awakening Experience. How Do I Get It? | Henry Shukman Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

They say enlightenment is always an accident. Here's how to make yourself more accident-prone.

Henry Shukman is a poet, author and Zen master in the Sanbo Zen lineage. He is founder of the Original Love meditation program, spiritual director emeritus at Mountain Cloud Zen Center and co-founder of the single-path meditation app The Way. His most recent books are Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening and the Zen memoir One Blade of Grass.

In this episode we talk about:

Henry's awakening moment
The meaning of the term "inn"
We walk through the four inns
We talk about loving your obstacles
Whether finding a meditation teacher matters
What koans are, and how they can enhance your practice

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

Additional Resources:

Henry's meditation app, The Way
Henry's latest book, Original Love
Henry's website

How To Be Sanely Productive | Oliver Burkeman Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

The liberation that comes from realizing that you're never going to get everything done.

Oliver Burkeman is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Four Thousand Weeks, The Antidote, and most recently, Meditations for Mortals. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Psychologies and New Philosopher. He has a devoted following for his writing on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.

Oliver is one of many great teachers featured on Waking Up, a top-notch meditation app with amazing teachers and a ton of courses for all levels. If you subscribe via this link: wakingup.com/tenpercent, you'll get a 30-day free trial—and you'll be supporting the 10% Happier team, too. Full and partial scholarships are available.

In this episode we talk about:

What the term "imperfectionism" means
The illusion of reaching a point where "everything's done"
Why there's liberation in seeing how finite we are
Why small, imperfect actions are more valuable than perfect plans
Why overplanning is a kind of avoidance
How to make decisions
The importance of finishing things
Who you should develop a taste for problems
Why effort doesn't always equal value
Why we need to stop protecting other people's feelings
And the paradox of mattering immensely and not at all

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