Dan Harris meditates.
10% happier
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10% happier
Dan Harris meditates.
10% happier
I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m obsessed with possibilities.
It’s not exactly a “grass is greener” syndrome. It’s the excitement that arises between changes. When I changed course, I wasn’t sure in my heart if it was the best choice, but there are so many unknown possibilities ahead.
I have made many changes in my life. I’ve lived with him in 3 different countries and her in 8 cities in the US. I’ve worked all kinds of jobs: teacher, retail salesperson, bartender, news producer, war reporter, radio show host. I understand. At one point, I was working on an NPR show. bryant park project I had just come out of New York and got a call from a recruiter at ABC News. A few months later, I was starting again in a new city, Washington, DC, with a new company, and in a medium I had no experience with: television. It was scary. It was also all fresh and refreshing.
While I was there, I met a guy named Dan Harris. Well, I didn’t actually “meet” him so much as say a word to the camera after he said my name. Dan was one of the anchors at ABC News at the time, and he was often tasked with reading the introductions to my articles on the air. We had actually met several years ago when we were both reporters covering the religion beat — me at NPR and him at ABC. But in 2008-2009, when I was a correspondent, he was a big-time anchor who I thought was destined to sit in that chair for the rest of his career.
In 2014, Dan Harris published a memoir that is also a beginner’s guide to meditation. 10% happier. Since it was such a hit, he himself underwent a major change. He launched a meditation app, started a podcast on mindfulness, and eventually quit his job at ABC to focus on this new venture full-time.
When I started this spiritual quest and this radio series, I immediately knew I wanted to talk to Dan. I wanted to understand the events that led to such a drastic change in his professional life. And as someone who has been constantly on the move for many years, who has sometimes fallen under the spell of change, I wanted to understand what he learned by sitting still.
The cover of the best-selling book that changed Harris’ career.
10% happier
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10% happier
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rachel Martin: Part of your origin story is this moment on set when things started to get confusing in your head.
Dan Harris: Yeah, I’ve been eating out at this freakout for a while.But yes, on set Good morning, America On a warm June morning in 2004, I was filling in for Robin Roberts and reading the headlines at the beginning of each hour of the show. I had filled in for her so many times before that I had no reason to predict what was going to happen. Within seconds of starting to speak, my lungs spasmed, my heart rate began to increase, and my mouth became so dry that I could no longer speak. If you’re a newscaster, this is very inconvenient. And I had to bail out and throw it back to the main host of the show. It was just horrible and humiliating.
Martin: So what changes did it cause?
Harris: This is not a neat story about me having a panic attack and then becoming a Buddhist. That didn’t happen. But I immediately made some changes. One is that I stopped using drugs. Part of the panic attack was fueled by the fact that after spending years in a war zone, I very foolishly began self-medicating with recreational drugs, including cocaine.
Even if I wasn’t using drugs that often, even if I wasn’t feeling high, it changed my brain chemistry, making it easier for people with pre-existing tendencies for anxiety and panic to use drugs. I learned that it is enough to increase the likelihood of ingestion. Have a panic attack. So I quit drugs, started seeing a psychiatrist for years, and eventually, combining psychotherapy with my work as a religious reporter, discovered meditation, which changed me profoundly. brought.
Martin: You’ve spent years thinking about mindfulness at this point, but things have really changed in America. So mindfulness is now a huge industry. As a central figure in the American mindfulness movement… Is mindfulness the same as Buddhism?
Harris: no.
Martin: are you a buddhist?
Harris: yes.
Martin: you?
Harris: yes. I’m a Buddhist, but mindfulness is different from Buddhism. Mindfulness, as it is currently practiced in the West, is a great thing in my opinion. There are criticisms of the modern mindfulness movement that I think have some validity in practice, but I still think, frankly, that this is a great development and a positive development for the species. Masu.
One criticism is that the West has taken mindfulness, one of Buddhism’s active ingredients, out of its original context, which can lead to misunderstandings. Actually, I think that’s true, but I don’t think it should ruin the entire company.
Mindfulness is one of the qualities of the mind that the genius Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, taught to his followers. Mindfulness can be understood as the quality of self-awareness that allows you to understand how confusing your mind is without getting caught up in it. We have a river of thoughts, impulses, and emotions rushing us, but most of the time we let it dominate us because we are unable to recognize or see clearly this constant cacophony in our minds. I’m just doing it. And mindfulness is a way to break out of the matrix in a way and see how wild your mind can be. That is, to look at the content of consciousness and not get carried away with it.
This is a very useful thing that Buddha taught, and I’m glad that more and more people in the West are practicing it. And there’s all the evidence that meditation and mindfulness meditation techniques have all these benefits for the brain, other parts of the body, and even our behavior. But that’s not the whole story of Buddhism.
Martin: right. So these are different things. You can practice mindfulness, but you don’t necessarily have to consider or define yourself as a Buddhist.
Harris: absolutely.
Martin: So, is the difference that mindfulness is Buddhism without the religiously mandated sacrifices?
Harris: Buddhism is either very interesting or something you don’t need to consider. Is Buddhism a religion? Yeah. Is it philosophy? Yeah. Is it the science of the mind? Yeah. That’s a lot, but I think the truth is that you can put some of it into practice. So, even though I’m a Buddhist, I’m not going to sit here pounding on the table and say that enlightenment and rebirth are real because I don’t have any evidence.
The Buddha was very clear – this is why Buddhism appeals to skeptics like me – he was clear that we should not take what he said at face value. The phrase he used in the ancient Indian language Pali was “ehipasiko,” which means “come and see for yourself.”
Rachel Martin and Dan Harris were once colleagues at ABC News.
Screen capture via wayback machine
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Screen capture via wayback machine
Rachel Martin and Dan Harris were once colleagues at ABC News.
Screen capture via wayback machine
Martin: As someone who has known you from afar for a long time – I mean, you were the anchorman who read my introduction. [weekend reporting] – This is a big evolution for you, Dan.
Harris: Yeah.
Martin: That’s a big change. But I think you’re interested in the process that got you to this point. When you first discovered meditation, did it take you a while to identify yourself as a Buddhist?
Harris: oh yeah. And I’d still say I’m a secular skeptic in some ways. One of my favorite explanations about Buddhism is that it is not about belief. That’s the thing to do. And I think of Buddhism as a set of practices that help us understand fundamental truths down to the bone.
What changed my thinking about Buddhism was realizing that this practice that I was doing, this practice of meditation, was rooted in an ancient tradition that had an incredible intellectual foundation. It took my worldly mindfulness and made it even more interesting.
Martin: Do you think Buddhism works in American culture?
Harris: Yeah. One of the characteristics of Buddhism is that it adapts to whatever culture it enters. I think that’s mostly beautiful, and I don’t think we should lose sight of the fact that this is an Asian tradition from which it originated. And I think one of the mistakes I made was focusing too much on scientists and Western teachers and neglecting the Asian roots of this practice. That’s a mistake I’m trying to correct as my career progresses.
I think it’s very easy for white people in predominantly white Buddhist communities to lose sight of the roots of this practice. And I would say that’s a blind spot to look out for.
Martin: What do you think about the corporatization of Buddhism in America?
Harris: I think I’m leaning towards both here. This is a cliché, but you have to speak where the people are. I’m interested in what works to make people happier or less unhappy, but I don’t care how you frame it. And I think the critique of corporatization, often called McMindfulness, can be true at the same time. I also agree with some of the criticisms, but ultimately I feel that more mindfulness is better than less. I’d love to see something like this come out into the world, even if it’s not my personal style.
Martin: Yeah.
Harris: Do you meditate?
Martin: It’s interesting, so you should give it a listen.I tried it right after 10% happier ‘ comes out and then, like most people, something happens in life and it doesn’t happen anymore. My eternal excuse was that I had a job that required me to get up early in the morning, so if I didn’t set aside that time in the morning, I wouldn’t have time.
Then there were various times when something bad happened to my family or something and I tried to get back into that situation. There’s a lot of dark stuff in my head sometimes, but I think it takes real skill. That’s tough, Dan.
Harris: I didn’t ask you to do that to make you blame yourself. There are two things that I think are really valid. One is that it is difficult to find time. That’s really true. And second, it’s hard to practice. Even on a nice day, your mind is all over the place and it’s difficult to meditate. But if there’s something upsetting going on in your life, there’s a good chance that if you meditate, you’ll get a front row seat to see it in an IMAX movie.
Martin: right.
Harris: It’s all true. I think all we know about the science of habit formation and human behavior change is that one of the most successful things you can do is start very small. Most days he aims to do one or two minutes. That could be a really good way to start.
When it comes to the practice itself and how easily we get distracted, people often tell themselves how bad meditators they are when they get distracted. But success is waking up from distractions and starting over. The key is to distract yourself and try again and again. Because when you wake up from distractions, you realize how wild your mind is. And once you see it and get used to the turmoil of your mind, it doesn’t own you as much. That is mindfulness.
Watch it on Sunday night NPR for Enlighten Me with Rachel Martin meanwhile All things considered.
