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Wise Habits Reminders

032: Dan Harris (ABC News)

July 1, 2014 7 Comments

Dan Harris- The One You Feed


http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/oneyoufeed/DanHarrisFinal.mp3

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This week on The One You Feed we have Dan Harris.

Dan is best known for his work on ABC News, Nightline and Good Morning America, but we invited him on the show because of his latest book: 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story.

I was fascinated by this book. Dan was driven to meditation and self help out of a self imposed crisis after he had a panic attack on national TV. His journey through that landscape mirrored my own to some degree. He had a degree of skepticism from the beginning that he retains today. He also was perplexed by the paradox that most fascinates me: What is the degree that serenity can erode our ambition?

Going from the esoteric teachings of Eckhart Tolle to the down to earth practical modern buddhism of Mark Epstein (author of the classics Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart and Thoughts without a Thinker) he was able to find an approach that worked for him. The book is insightful, hilarious and very instructive.

In This Interview Dan and I Discuss…

  • The One You Feed parable.
  • That the mind can be trained for compassion and happiness.
  • Exercising the brain just like the body.
  • The science of meditation.
  • The message for people who are skeptical of meditation.
  • The voice in my head is an asshole.
  • 10% happier not unicorns and rainbows.
  • What meditation isn’t.
  • Reading Eckhart Tolle.
  • Our tendency to focus on the bad things and ignore the good.
  • The difference between constructive anguish and useless rumination.
  • The difference between pain and suffering.
  • “the craving to be elsewhere, to be otherwise, permeated my life”
  • The tendency to project into the future.
  • “The background static of perpetual discontent”.
  • How we are like colicky babies who are never quite satisfied.
  • His conflicted view on the tendency to never be satisfied.
  • How dissatisfaction can drive us forward.
  • When it is useful to keep pushing and when is it better to back down?
  • The happiness set point theory.
  • Raising our emotional set point.
  • Ambition versus satisfaction.
  • Motivation coming from happiness versus pain.
  • Not being attached to the results.
  • Romanticizing melancholy.
  • How a certain amount of stress is necessary.
  • Being happy does not work at cross purposes to being successful.
  • Dealing with failure.
  • How when our minds wander we are less happy.
  • Meditation in less than 140 characters.
  • Remembering to feed the good wolf.
  • How one of the meanings of mindfulness is remembering.
  • Training to be less of an asshole.

Dan Harris Links

Purchase 10% Happier

Dan Harris on Twitter

subscribe in itunes

Some of our most popular interviews you might also enjoy:

Mike Scott of the Waterboys

Rich Roll

Todd Henry- author of Die Empty

Randy Scott Hyde

Filed Under: Featured, Podcast Episode

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Derek Olsen says

    July 7, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    One word…

    Fantastic.

    Reply
  2. Lee says

    July 11, 2014 at 2:05 am

    Great interview. Worth taking the time.

    Reply
  3. Sophie says

    August 15, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    Thank you for all the wonderful podcasts. This one was especially good.
    Listened to it twice and went out and bought Dan’s book.

    Reply
  4. Annette says

    August 28, 2014 at 12:19 am

    I read a lot of interesting posts here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of work, there is an online tool that creates readable,
    google friendly articles in minutes, just type in google – laranitas free
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  5. weight loss says

    January 7, 2015 at 8:10 am

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  6. Monica Cox says

    February 13, 2015 at 12:58 pm

    Stole his “the A*shole in my head”- he should have totally named the book that!!
    http://marcstreasurebasket.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/howtodealwithemotions.html
    Thanks again guys- I know it’s an old one for you, but just making my way from the bottom to the top!!

    Reply
  7. gwen says

    September 8, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    to the dan harris and his famely some crazy men named otis livingston looking for real problem otis livingston is looking to destroy dan harris over some racial views Otis livingston can be a problem for dan harris famely

    Reply

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