10% Happier With Dan Harris

All this month, we’re sharing custom guided meditations from our teacher of the month, Kaira Jewel Lingo, exclusively available at DanHarris.com. Like any good drug dealer, the first taste is free – so today, we’re giving you a sample of what you can expect for the rest of the month. This meditation is about learning to sit with discomfort.  Related Episodes: Are You Overcomplicating Your Life? Meet August's Teacher of the Month, Kaira Jewel Lingo   Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more at eomega.org/workshops/meditation-party-2025.   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

It’s good to apologize when you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, but there’s more to “making up” than simply an apology. We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff, and this week we’re hearing from parenting expert and psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy about taking the next step when you’ve made a mistake. Full Episode:  How to Repair the Damage After a Fight | Dr. Becky Kennedy The Single Most Important Parenting Strategy | Becky Kennedy | TED   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more at eomega.org/workshops/meditation-party-2025.   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10Hap

How to (constructively) lower the bar on your meditation practice.   Ofosu Jones-Quartey is a meditation teacher, hip-hop artist, and author based in the DC area. He’s a certified teacher with over 20 years of experience bringing mindfulness, self-compassion, and creativity to people of all ages. His stage name is “Born I,”, and his new book is called Lyrical Dharma: Hip-Hop as Mindfulness.   In this episode we talk about: The definition of open-awareness meditation  How it differs from classical concentration practices (such as focusing on your breath, or loving kindness phrases) Why Ofosu chose open-awareness meditation (in direct response to his struggles with OCD) How you can practice open-awareness meditation  The benefits of a technique called “mental noting”  The “practice self-assessment tapes” that we run in our mind Self-compassion and “lowering the bar” in your meditation practice The relationship between  neurodiversity and meditation in general How to  depersonalize the experience of suffering A

An expert in failure shows us how to find success in the most counterintuitive way.   Manu Kapur is currently the Director of the Singapore-ETH Center, and Professor for Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, where he also directs The Future Learning Initiative (FLI). Manu is also the Founding Chair of the ETH Zurich – EPFL Joint Doctoral Program in the Learning Sciences. In this episode we talk about: The definition of Productive Failure (a concept Manu developed that allows you to design for and harness failure for deeper learning) Why we learn more from failing than from succeeding The difference between desirable and undesirable failure  The neuroscience of curiosity Practical ways to incorporate productive failure into your daily life How to get into your “failure zone”  Cool concepts like the looking back and moving the Gold posts How to normalize failure and create environments in which other people feel safe to fail  The role of psychological safety and a growth mindset

Sharing an episode today from our friend Gretchen Rubin’s podcast, Happier. Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth Craft discuss the idea of the “familect” and why it might be fun to create a  dictionary for our own familect. They also talk about a hack that makes it easier to use a smartphone, and they share dozens of listeners’ thought-provoking  “Secrets of Adulthood.” Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more here!   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff. This week, we’re hearing from therapist Dick Schwartz, as chosen by Mani Chandy from our Substack team. Schwartz is the founder of Internal Family Systems, a way of looking at all of the various “parts” that we have inside ourselves, and how they can work together or make things harder for us.  Full Episodes: How to Handle Your Demons | Richard SchwartzHow (and Why) To Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more here! Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

An avalanche of practical advice and brief (but powerful) life lessons.   Gretchen Rubin is a New York Times bestselling author and happiness expert who explores human nature and habits. She’s a highly acclaimed writer, host of the podcast  Happier with Gretchen Rubin and the founder of the award-winning Happier app.    In this episode we talk about: What aphorisms are, and why they’re useful  How to make decisions that lead to a “bigger life" Why you should pay special attention to anything you lie about or hide  The argument against task-sharing  The dangers of being indecisive  Why offering emotional validation can often be more powerful than offering solutions Why you should pay close attention when people repeat themselves over and over And much more Related Episodes: The Happiness Project: Revisited  How To Use Your Five Senses To Reduce Anxiety, Increase Creativity, and Improve Your Relationships  Small Ways to Improve Your Everyday Life Right Now  Outer Order, Inner Calm  'The Four Tendencie

A conversation with a Cornell professor who is attempting to rebrand the concept of defiance. Dr. Sunita Sah started her career as a physician but then switched over to organizational psychology. At Cornell, she conducts research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. She is the author of Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes. In this episode we talk about: How Dr. Sah defines defiance  The costs of compliance  The five stages of defiance How to make defiance a practice The upside of tension  The importance of knowing your values — how to articulate them, and how this relates to our biology, specifically our hormones  The gender components of defiance  Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel  To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris Sponsors: Smalls: For a limited time only, get 60% off your first order PLUS free shipping when you head to S

We’re in the midst of an exciting evolution of the overall 10% Happier project. In our quest to make this podcast more actionable – to help you operationalize all the game-changing ideas you encounter on this pod – we’re now offering guided meditations to accompany each full episode of the show, available to paid subscribers at DanHarris.com. For the month of August, those meditations will come from Kaira Jewel Lingo, a Buddhist teacher who spent 15 years as a monastic in the Plum Village tradition. In this bonus episode, you’ll hear our head of content, DJ Cashmere, in conversation with Kaira Jewel, sharing some of her fascinating backstory. From a communal Christian community in Chicago, to a Zen monastery in the south of France, to making her life as an independent teacher in New York, you’ll hear how the thread of “voluntary simplicity” runs through all of it.  Related Episodes: How To Keep Your Relationships On the Rails | Kaira Jewel Lingo A Buddhist Recipe for Handling Turmoil | Kaira Jewel Lingo

A conversation with singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and psychologist Dacher Keltner, recorded at the New York Times Well Festival, moderated by Dan. All three of them have dealt with anxiety and continue to work with it, and they discuss the ways they look for joy and sustainable wellness.  Related Episodes: Sara Bareilles: Anxiety, Anger, and Art The Evolutionary Case for Kindness | Dacher Keltner This Scientist Says One Emotion May Be the Key to Happiness. Can You Guess What It Is? | Dacher Keltner   Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more at eomega.org/workshops/meditation-party-2025.   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit http

Reclaim your power from the news, booze, shopping, or denial. Ayya Anandabodhi is the spiritual director of Pārāyana Vihāra, a monastic residence in Port Townsend, WA. She was raised in Wales, in the UK, and first encountered Buddhism in her early teens and began training as a nun at age 24. You can listen to some of her Dharma talks, here.    In this episode we talk about: What centering means – and how to do it in the midst of chaos or calamity (Including some very practical tips) The difference between centering vs equanimity  How to break out of old patterns  The power of pausing How anger is justified, but it doesn’t help A quick but deep dive into the Four Noble truths, a foundational Buddhist list We tackle the tricky topic of “true nature” We talk about the vital role of that treacly and often misunderstood term, compassion   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit ht

A happiness expert explains how to alter your ego, reduce self-consciousness, and boost “okayness”.    Bruce Hood has been a Professor of Developmental Psychology in Society at Bristol University since 1999, and for the past 5 years he has been concentrating on how to make students happier. He undertook his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Cambridge followed by appointments at University College London, MIT and a faculty professorship at Harvard.    In this episode we talk about: How to define happiness How to be happy in the midst of a shitshow How to shift from being egocentric (self-focused) to allocentric (interconnected)  The impacts of social isolation (and how to avoid it) The challenge of optimism (and how to overcome it) Finding a “flow state” through meditation  How to enhance your social connections Where “true, authentic happiness” comes from Controlling attention and rejecting negative comparisons  The role of nature And much more Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikT

Dan welcomed his friend, the actor, neuroscientist and podcaster Mayim Bialik, and her co-host Jonathan Cohen to Substack with a live conversation. They talked about anxiety – one of many things they have in common – along with faith, imagination, manifestation (not in the way you might think), and what’s the best time of day to meditate. Find Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown wherever you get your podcasts, and they’re also on Substack.    Related Episodes: Mayim Bialik On: Anxiety, Anger, Believing in Both Neuroscience and God, and the Pressures of Being a Teen TV Star   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris  

We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff. This week, we’re hearing from death doula Alua Arthur, as chosen by our managing producer Lauren Smith. Arthur helps people with all the non-medical aspects of dying – emotional, spiritual, and practical – and she has a simple question that she says simplifies decision-making and stress.   Full Episode:  How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris  

Plus other intriguing questions answered such as: should you change your personality? What exactly is a personality anyway?   Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Her new book is called Me, But Better.  In this episode we talk about: The definition of personality  The so-called big 5 aspects of personality and Olga’s attempts to work on them How to spice up your social life  The concept of conscientiousness, and how to get better at it An antidote to procrastination  Tips for reducing neuroticism  The role of psychedelics  Practical ways to make reasonable changes in the midst of a busy life Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

The attitude that can help you survive the Trump era.   Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He is the acclaimed author of Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, The Whole Language, and most recently, Cherished Belonging.   In this episode we talk about: His unique understanding of God—one that even agnostics can get behind How to build communities that counteract polarization  The practice of affectionate awe  Father Boyle’s antidotes to despair His own daily practice And much more Related Episodes: Can You Really Conquer Hatred Through Love? | Father Gregory Boyle   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Additional Resources:  Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life as Sacred Ground   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10Happie

A lot of us have questions about our meditation practice, but we may not have anybody to ask. Am I doing it right? Which kind of meditation should I be doing? How do I choose? Today, our Teacher of the Month Dawn Mauricio breaks down some of those questions with some actionable suggestions you can take into your next meditation session. Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

We’re bringing you some of our favorite gems from the archives, as chosen by our staff. This week, we’re hearing from Buddhist scholar and teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi, as chosen by Tara Anderson, one of our podcast producers. We’re getting a little meta today, as Dan and his guest talk about paying attention to what your own mind is doing. Full Episode:  The Mental States That Steal Your Calm | Bhikkhu Bodhi   Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel   To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

The happiness recipe from ancient Buddhist psychology. Beth Upton has been teaching meditation since 2014. Before that she spent ten years as a Buddhist nun, five of them in Burma under the guidance of Pa Auk Sayadaw. She currently leads the Sanditthika Meditation Community. In this episode we talk about: The Buddhist Abhidhamma, which Beth calls “particle physics for the mind”   Why she’s interested in the broader teaching of Kusala (happy mind states) Practical ways to design our lives to get more Kusala The beautiful qualities of mind that all co-arise in a moment of Kusala  How we get tripped up in the realm of the “unwholesome” How Beth navigates Kusala and Akusala in her day to day life Related Episodes: The Profound Upsides of Mortality | Nikki Mirghafori, PhD Join Dan’s online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris  

Harness the power of suggestion for well-being, pain management, and mental health.   Dr. Amir Raz is a world-renowned expert on the science of suggestion with recent positions as Canada Research Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Psychology at McGill University, and as Founding Director of The Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University. His most recent book is The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds. In this episode we talk about: How Dr. Raz transitioned from a career in magic to neuroscience  The science of suggestibility, how it’s defined, and its relation to hypnosis  Stage  hypnosis vs medical hypnosis How the power of suggestion could be  therapeutically harnessed to impact our physiology, behavior, and well-being Practical exercises for increasing thought control The "magical ingredient" when it comes to dealing with life's challenges Why placebos may work even when you know you’re taking them Ho