10% Happier with Dan Harris

Latest Episodes:

A Mystery That Matters | Anil Seth Jun 27, 2022

Show notes

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

---

How, on this planet, did we go from molten lava and shifting tectonic plates to sentient beings? How are you awake and aware right now? Who and where and what exactly is the "you" that is experiencing everything?

Guest Anil Seth says that exploring these questions can lead to real and radical changes in your life, including reducing your emotional reactivity.

Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED Talk on consciousness has been viewed over 13 million times. Most recently, he is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

In this episode we talk about:

How brains give rise to consciousness
The bundle theory of self
The comfort in thinking of the self as impermanent
A new way to think about emotional states
How Seth's personal experience with long COVID has changed his own sense of self
The question of whether we have free will
Whether machines can be conscious – and whether we should be afraid of artificial intelligence

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/anil-seth-469

Five Ways to be Less Distracted | Shaila Catherine Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

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

---

One of the most common and insidious complaints of meditators is distraction, which can be a frustrating and difficult obstacle. Even the Buddha himself acknowledged this common problem and laid out some detailed practices for dealing with it.

In this episode, Shaila Catherine outlines the Buddha's five strategies to help us tackle distractions, which can be applied to our meditation practice as well as other aspects of our lives.

Catherine is a dharma teacher whose latest book is called Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind. She is also the founder and principal teacher at Insight Meditation South Bay and has 40 years of practice, including nine years, cumulatively, of silent retreat. Her first TPH appearance, which we called How to Focus, aired in May 2021.

In this episode we talk about:

The Buddha's struggles with distraction
Shaila's attempts to make the teachings of the Buddha accessible to contemporary minds
The importance of getting to know your own thought patterns
The counterintuitive strategy of "avoid it, ignore it, forget it"
Replacing seduction with mindfulness
Developing a flexibility of mind
Why we're vulnerable to our own tendencies when we're not mindful

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/shaila-catherine-467

The Science of Handling Uncertainty | Maya Shankar Jun 20, 2022

Show notes

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

---

It seems like a design flaw in our species that we live in a world of constant change yet most of us are not comfortable with uncertainty.

In this episode, we talk to Maya Shankar about how to get better at dealing with change and to stop seeking what scientists call "cognitive closure."

Shankar is a former Senior Advisor in the Obama White House, where she founded and served as Chair of the White House Behavioral Science Team. She also served as the first Behavioral Science Advisor to the United Nations, and is currently a Senior Director of Behavioral Economics at Google. She is the host of the Pushkin Industries podcast A Slight Change of Plans, which was named Best Show of the Year in 2021 by Apple.

In this episode we talk about:

Why humans are so uncomfortable with uncertainty and change
What a behavioral scientist actually does in the world
Why even the host of a podcast about change isn't immune to the uncertainties of life
The benefits of cultivating a more malleable sense of self
Why humans are such bad forecasters
The importance of auditing yourself when you're undergoing a big change
How to take advantage of big reset moments
The concept of cognitive closure and why encouraging an open mind can make us more resilient

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/maya-shankar-466

How to Keep Friendships From Imploding | Esther Perel Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

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

---

"The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life."

These words from the legendary Esther Perel have the power to genuinely change your outlook on life. But while it's easy to hear them and immediately have your mind go to family relationships or romantic relationships, today we're going to talk about friendships. Friendships can be massive contributors to mental health. They can also, when they go pear-shaped, be the source of abundant misery.

Today's guest is the legendary Esther Perel. Her resume is beyond impressive: She is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of books such as Mating in Captivity. Her TED talk has attracted more than 30 million views. She is fluent in nine languages. She is the host of the popular podcasts Where Should We Begin? and How's Work? And her latest project is called Where Should We Begin - A Game of Stories with Esther Perel.

In this episode we talk about:

How the pandemic has impacted our friendships
Esther's contention that "love and commitment and intimacy don't just belong to the world of romantic couples"
What makes friendship unique, in good ways and tricky ways
What to consider when determining whether to confront a difficulty in a friendship
How to conduct a self-assessment of yourself as a friend
How systematic we should be about cultivating and maintaining our friendships
How to reconnect with friends authentically
Whether or not we can have platonic friendships across the gender spectrum
How to handle friendships when you're in a romantic relationship, including friendships you share, friendships with those with whom your partner doesn't get along, and friendships with exes

Content warning: There are some brief references to sensitive topics, including suicide.

*Esther Perel invites you and a colleague to apply for a session with her that will be part of the new season of her podcast How's Work? Her team is looking for work pairs, co-founders, colleagues, managers, or any combination to join her for a session to explore the future of work together. Apply here.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/esther-perel-464

Solutions to all of Your Moral Dilemmas | Michael Schur Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

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

---

Life is filled with all kinds of moral dilemmas— from the mundane to the momentous. Should I lie and tell my friend that I like her ugly shirt? Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Ultimately, does anything we do even matter?

In today's conversation, television writer and producer, Michael Schur helps us to navigate our moral dilemmas and answer some of these difficult questions.

Schur is best known for creating and co-creating such shows as Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, and Rutherford Falls. Additionally, he has worked on shows like The Office, Master of None, The Comeback, and Hacks. He is also the Author of How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.

In this episode we talk about:

What got him started on the road to reading philosophy and studying ethics
The so-called "trolley problem"
Trusting your gut
Natural states of virtue
The evolutionary advantages of virtue
And how white lies can be beneficial in a complicated and messy society

This interview was recorded in person at the TED conference in April of 2022, where both Michael Schur and Dan Harris spoke.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/michael-schur-463

The Science of Emotional Intelligence | Daniel Goleman Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

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

---

How much would your relationships improve if you could up your emotional intelligence game? That phrase, "emotional intelligence" or EQ, entered the lexicon over 25 years ago, when Daniel Goleman wrote a book by the same name.

In this episode, Daniel Goleman talks about the four components of emotional intelligence and how we can develop these skills in our daily lives.

Golman is a Harvard-trained psychologist who, along with other contemplative luminaries such as Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and Jon Kabat-Zinn, went to Asia and discovered meditation in the 1960s— making it a huge part of their lives and careers.

In this episode we talk about:

The four components of emotional intelligence, how to develop them, and why these skills matter so much during the middle of a pandemic
Empathy and relationship management in the age of zoom
The "marshmallow test" and impulse control
A phenomenon he calls, "amygdala hijacks"
Why so many Jewish kids in the sixties and seventies got turned on to Buddhism

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/daniel-goleman-repost

4 Ways Not To Be Owned By Your Sh*t | Susan David Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

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

---

It's completely natural when dealing with anxiety, depression, anger, shame, or any other unpleasant emotion, to just want it to go away.

Guest Susan David says that these discomforts are the price of admission to being alive and offers an approach called emotional agility as a way to navigate them.

Susan David, Ph.D. is a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of a book called Emotional Agility. Her TED Talk on the subject has been viewed more than eight million times.

In this episode we talk about:

Her definition of emotional agility
The four skills of emotional agility
Why she says our emotions are data, not directives
How to move skillfully through a world that "conspires against us seeing ourselves"
How to avoid emotional "fusion"
The power of tiny tweaks
And "emotional granularity"— what it is, why it matters and how to practice it

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/susan-david-461

5 Ways To Get Over Yourself | Pascal Auclair Jun 01, 2022

Show notes

The phrase, "Get over yourself" is often used in a flippant way, but it's actually speaking to a deep human need to get out of our heads and off our own backs. At a fundamental level, this is what Buddhism is all about— seeing through the illusion of the self, which can be the source of so much of our suffering.

In this episode guest Pascal Auclair talks about how we can unlock this suffering through the use of a foundational Buddhist list called the five aggregates.

Pascal Auclair has been immersed in Buddhist practice and study since 1997. He has been mentored by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, where he is now enjoying teaching retreats. Pascal teaches in North America and in Europe. He is a co-founder of True North Insight and one of their guiding teachers.

In this episode we talk about:

How the five aggregates got Auclair hooked on Buddhist practice and philosophy
The five aggregates as a way to work with difficulty
Living with the non-negotiable prospect of dying
Paying attention to pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feeling tone
Meditation training as a way to understand that experiences are conditional

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/pascal-auclair-459

You Don't Have to be Miserable While Doing Important Work | adrienne maree brown May 30, 2022

Show notes

Our culture has oddly conflicting views about pleasure.

In this episode, author adrienne maree brown explores the importance of pleasure and how it changes your experience of the world.

adrienne maree brown is the writer-in-residence at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, and author of Grievers (the first novella in a trilogy on the Black Dawn imprint), Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation, We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office. She is the cohost of the How to Survive the End of the World, Octavia's Parables and Emergent Strategy podcasts. adrienne is rooted in Detroit.

In this conversation we talked about:

What is pleasure activism
The role of sex and drugs
Why we should say yes more
How to be in touch with our sense of "enough"
The role of gratitude
The line between commitment and detachment
How she defines authentic happiness
Her self-description as "a recovering self-righteous organizer," and why self-righteousness actually leads to powerlessness

Content Warning: Discussions of sex and drugs.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/adrienne-maree-brown-458

Time Management for Mortals | Oliver Burkeman May 25, 2022

Show notes

In a culture that values persistent productivity, one can be left feeling chronically behind.

In this episode, author and recovering time management junkie, Oliver Burkeman encourages us to stop scrambling to fit it all in by exploring the relationship between our mortality and getting things done.

Oliver Burkeman is the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Former guest Adam Grant has called it, "The most important book ever written about time management." This is Oliver's second appearance on the show. Burkeman joined us on the show a few years ago to talk about his other book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. He also writes a bi-weekly email newsletter called The Imperfectionist.

In this conversation, we talk about:

Why accepting mortality is a crucial step in improving our relationship to time
His conviction that it's not about being more efficient. It's about knowing what to neglect
Patience as a superpower and the impatience spiral
The benefits of burning bridges
Becoming a better procrastinator
The benefits of rest
What he calls "cosmic insignificance therapy"
Practical tips, such as the "fixed volume approach to productivity," the value of serialization, and strategic underachievement.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/oliver-burkeman-456

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

10% Happier with Dan Harris

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected