10% Happier with Dan Harris

What Everyone Who Meditates Should Know | Chenxing Han and Duncan Ryūken Williams

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you meditate (or do yoga, for that matter), you may have been taught by a Westerner, but you owe a gigantic debt of gratitude to the giants and gen...

The Science of Building Better Relationships | Marissa King

28 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of networking can be fraught. For some people, it might, at times, seem either icky or pathetic to deliberately try to make friends, either i...

The Art and Science of the World's Gooiest Cliche | Barbara Fredrickson

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of our primary missions on this show is to rescue vital ideas that have lapsed into cliches. There are so many important concepts out there that m...

The Science of Hope | Jacqueline Mattis

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're talking to a renowned psychologist who has come up with five strategies for cultivating hope. Dr. Jacqueline Mattis is a clinical psycholo...

Why Buddhism Is Inherently Hopeful (Despite All the Talk of Suffering) | Oren Jay Sofer

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Buddhism can get a bad rap as being hopelessly pessimistic -- in no small measure because one of the Buddha's first principal pronouncements was, "Lif...

Discomfort: A Counterintuitive Source of Hope | Sebene Selassie

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As you may know, we are in the midst of a two-week series on hope – a concept we are trying to rescue from the realm of rote cliche and empty bromid...

Hope Is a Skill | George Mumford

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Spring is here. Vaccines are entering arms. But for many of us, hope can feel slippery and fleeting. Even with the pandemic seeming to abate, there's ...

Three Mindfulness Strategies from Joseph Goldstein (2020)

07 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To inject a little sunshine, perspective, and wisdom, we thought it might make sense to repost one of our favorite conversations of the last year. Thi...

How Your Emotions Are Made | Lisa Feldman Barrett

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today's guest is at the forefront of understanding human emotions: what they are, why humans evolved to have them, how they're different from feelings...

A Pressure Cooker for Insight | Bart van Melik

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The great meditation teacher Ram Dass once said, "If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your family." My guest today comes with tools ...

Three Lessons from Happiness Research | Emma Seppälä

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

People in the mindfulness meditation world often note that what we're teaching is not a breathing exercise; the goal is to just feel the breath as it ...

The Self-Interested Case for Examining Your Biases | John Biewen

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Too often, the process of looking at your biases can be presented like eating your vegetables. But one of the most fascinating and rewarding things I ...

The Profound Upside of Self-Diminishment | George Saunders

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There is a powerful scene in a novel called Lincoln In the Bardo, where President Abraham Lincoln has come to the cemetery where his young son, Willie...

How to Understand Oneness | Roshi Norma Wong

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're diving into a concept that is simultaneously one of the oldest contemplative cliches and one of the most profound head scratchers — onen...

How This Plague Ends (and What It Tells Us About Human Nature) | Nicholas Christakis

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We all remember that fateful week, almost exactly a year ago, when it all seemed to sink in for so many of us–when Tom Hanks got sick, the NBA suspe...

How to Break Your Anxiety Habit | Judson Brewer

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To mark the first anniversary of the week in March 2020 when Covid fundamentally altered our lives, we're launching a special two-part series. Today, ...

A Conversation about Abuse, Agency, and Mindfulness | Tanya Selvaratnam

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Before we dive in, a warning: this conversation includes descriptions of abuse and violence. As you may know, March 8th, the day we're dropping this e...

Uprooting Your Delusions | Andrea Fella

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

I know you guys, and it is pretty clear you love deep dharma episodes. Today we've got a dharma episode that is quite timely. As you all know, we live...

How to Make a Masterpiece | Pete Docter

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're all creatives, whether we think of ourselves that way or not. In so many aspects of your life, from planning your future to planning a meal to c...

A New Way to Think About Addiction | Annie Grace

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The stereotypical depiction of fighting addiction makes it seem highly unpleasant: White knuckling, sweating it out, detoxing, going cold turkey–you...

Your Craving Mind | Kevin Griffin

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is an episode about our craving, grasping minds. Whether you have struggled with a classic addiction or not, we all have addictive tendencies; we...

Making it RAIN | Tara Brach

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're going to talk about a massively useful acronym, which can be used both on the cushion and in your free-range living. The acronym is RAIN -...

Holding it Together When Things Fall Apart | Pema Chödrön

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're now almost a full year into the era of Covid restrictions, and I suspect that many of you, as I am, are starting to internalize the fact that, n...

How (and Why) to Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you relate to the more difficult— and even ugly— aspects of your personality? How do you feel about yourself when you are, say, in a judgme...

A Deeply Healthy Kind of Perfectionism | Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We have talked a lot on this show about how perfectionism can have pernicious impacts on your psyche. Today we're going to talk about how, by contrast...

The Joy of Being Wrong | Adam Grant

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

My guest today makes a fascinating and potentially life-changing case. He argues that we need to reconsider how we view intelligence. He says that ins...

The Buddha's 8-Part Manual for a Good Life | Brother Pháp Dung

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're talking about one of the Buddha's first and most important lists: the Eightfold Path. I'm kinda surprised we've never done a deep dive int...

How to Do Nothing | Jenny Odell

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For an audience of meditators (or aspiring meditators), the idea of doing nothing shouldn't be foreign. But, speaking from personal experience, it is ...

A New Way to Think About Your Time | Ashley Whillans

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For many of us, in this pandemic, our relationship to time has become particularly fraught. You may be noticing that, with no limits on your work time...

Non-Preachy Ethics | Jozen Tamori Gibson

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're diving in on another Buddhist list today. One of the many things I like about the Buddha is that, as far as I can tell, he pretty much always ai...

How to Call People In (Instead of Calling Them Out) | Loretta Ross

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this Martin Luther King day, it's tempting to fear that America, and the world, may never have been further away from the kind of inclusive society...

A Big Dose of Perspective | Jack Kornfield

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is exactly what I needed right now: a huge, helpful dose of perspective in the midst of the political crisis gripping America -- a crisis which, ...

A Wise and Counterintuitive Way to Meditate in a Crisis | Lama Rod Owens

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you're either seething or scared — or both — in the aftermath of the attack on the US Capitol, this one's for you. In times of national and int...

National Trauma–Now What? | Jon Kabat-Zinn Special Edition

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

I don't know about you, but I felt a lot of anger, fear, and sadness while watching those horrifying images from the United States Capitol on Wednesda...

You're Doing Resolutions Wrong. Here's How to Fix It. | Dr. Laurie Santos

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New Year's Series Episode 4. Today we're going to dive into the science behind why so many of us get New Year's resolutions so wrong -- and how we can...

Karamo: How To Actually Do Self-Love

01 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New Year's Series Episode 3. We talk with Karamo about how to practice self-love--and why doing so is the opposite of selfish.   Karamo was the first...

The Scientific Case for Self-Compassion | Chris Germer

30 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

New Year's Series Episode 2. We talk with Chris Germer about the scientifically-proven benefits of self-compassion; how to practice self-compassion in...

The Ultimate New Year's Resolution | Susan Piver and Jeff Warren

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

New Year's Series Episode 1. We talk with expert meditation teachers Susan Piver and Jeff Warren about a radical approach to the new year: self-compas...

The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole (January, 2020)

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I, like many people, have the potential to get pretty dysregulated around food and body image. A lot of men don't talk about this stuff, but there is ...

Vulnerability: The Key to Courage | Brené Brown

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Vulnerability is not something I ever personally considered to be a valuable skill to cultivate. That is, until I met today's guest, Brené Brown-- wh...

Kryptonite for the Inner Critic | Kristin Neff

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I don't know about you, but there have been many times during this wrenching year where I have made my pain even worse by adding on layers and layers ...

Manure for Enlightenment | Fleet Maull

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The notion of transmuting the difficult stuff in your life into something positive has become a cliche. Turning lemon into lemonades, making your mess...

The Science of Emotional Intelligence | Daniel Goleman

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How much would your relationships improve if you could up your emotional intelligence game? That phrase -- emotional intelligence -- entered the lexic...

A Meditator in the Arena | Sam Harris

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Harris (no relation to me, by the way -- although I wouldn't mind it) has had a formative impact on my contemplative development. He was one of th...

Secrets from the Happiness Lab | Laurie Santos

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

2020 has already sucked extremely hard, but we may now be entering even more difficult months ahead, as winter sets in. So we asked Professor Laurie S...

What You Can Learn from the Buddha's Wife and Aunt | Pamela Weiss

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The women around the Buddha dropped a ton of useful wisdom, but I suspect you haven't heard much about that. Why? Why have these women been largely wr...

Depression and Anxiety: Your Old Enemies, Your Best Friends| Zindel Segal

25 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Winter is coming. Not to get all Game of Thrones on you, but... while there are some optimistic signs on the horizon in the form of vaccines, it looks...

The Words of the Buddha | Bhikkhu Bodhi

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When I first got interested in meditation, all the talk of the Buddha that I encountered in the various books I was reading and lectures I was attendi...

A Holiday Survival Guide for Difficult Conversations | Bill Doherty

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What to do if you find yourself marooned at your Thanksgiving meal, facing a voluble uncle who is spewing political ideas you find abominable? Our gue...

Six Words to Get You Through a Bad Day | Bonnie Duran

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It feels like the right time to drop a deep Dharma episode. And this one has a twist. Bonnie Duran is a professor in the Schools of Social Work and Pu...

Relationship Advice from a "Mega Monk" | Haemin Sunim

11 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

My guest today does a fantastic job of speaking in a not-at-all-annoying way about the inarguably important yet potentially very cheesy concept of sel...

How (and Why) to Hack Your Empathy | Jamil Zaki

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kindness and empathy are loaded propositions right now. When you hear those words, you might think: Eh, those are soft skills that won't help me get a...

Dealing with Uncertainty, Anxiety, and Anger | Special Post-Election Edition | Lama Rod Owens

04 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the wee hours of election night, we consult Lama Rod Owens on uncertainty, anxiety, rage, and self-care. Join Dan and Rev. angel Kyodo williams tod...

How to Use Social Media without Losing Your Mind | Randy Fernando

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Given that social media has been blamed for rising levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and political polarization, is it possible to use this t...

How To Be Grateful When Everything Sucks | DaRa Williams

28 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the face of the seemingly unremitting horrors of 2020, is it possible -- or wise -- to generate gratitude? My guest today argues: yes. DaRa William...

Vitamin E: How To Cultivate Equanimity Amidst Political Chaos | Election Sanity Series | Roshi Joan Halifax

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

#294: Vitamin E: How To Cultivate Equanimity Amidst Political Chaos | Election Sanity Series | Roshi Joan Halifax It's part four in our Election Sanit...

A Star, Utterly Unguarded | Brett Eldredge

21 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We've backed away from celebrity interviews on the show of late, because we got a lot of feedback from listeners saying they had trouble relating to s...

The Opposite of Schadenfreude | Election Sanity Series | Tuere Sala

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There's an old expression: "Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little bit." I love that saying, because it speaks to how hard it can be to take ple...

Three Mindfulness Strategies from Joseph Goldstein

14 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There will be no talk of election or pandemic on this episode. This is a straight-up, meat-and-potatoes meditation talk from the one and only Joseph G...

The Immense Power of Giving a Crap | Election Sanity Series | Rev. angel Kyodo williams

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Do you remember that band, The Shins? They had a popular song that appeared on the soundtrack for that Zach Braff movie Garden State. Anyway, they als...

Fun Is a Trainable Skill (And It Doesn't Involve Your Phone) | Catherine Price

07 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At a time like this, fun may seem frivolous. But our guest today is going to argue — convincingly, in my opinion — that fun is absolutely essentia...

What's Love Got To Do With It? | Election Sanity Series | JoAnna Hardy

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In an election season characterized by misinformation, mistrust, and now a positive covid test from the President-- we've been plunged headlong into a...

Can You Change Your Relationship With Fear? | Dr. Abigail Marsh

30 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There's no shortage of fear these days -- the virus, the climate, racial injustice, political tumult… I could go on. But can you change the way you...

Feeding the Mind | Dr. Mark Hyman

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're going to get a deep take on the old cliche, "You are what you eat." Usually that expression speaks to the impact of food on our bodies, bu...

What's the Point of Joy Right Now? | James Baraz

23 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In my opinion, purveyors of joy can come off as oily and unctuous, even in the best of times. Like walking impersonations of Rainbow Brite. But in har...

How To Handle A Narcissist (Including, Maybe...Yourself) | Keith Campbell

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Narcissist" is a word that gets thrown quite a bit, including by me -- often, semi-facetiously, about myself. But until this conversation, I didn't a...

The Buddha's Foundational Listicle | Phillip Moffitt

16 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Way before Buzzfeed, the Buddha was creating listicles: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, The Three Jewels, The Eight Worldly Winds... I could go on...

The "Lifequake" Survival Guide | Bruce Feiler

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We have another themed week for you, with two episodes about how to navigate major life changes-- clearly a resonant theme, given the various dumpster...

What a Buddhist Monk Learned from Nearly Being Assasinated | Bhante Buddharakkhita

09 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When you first encounter Bhante Buddharakkhita, the wise and affable Abbot of the Ugandan Buddhist Center, you might be tempted to think: this guy's b...

One Man's Planetary Quest for Happiness | Ravi Patel

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do you strike work/life balance when you feel overwhelming pressure to provide for your family? How do you balance gender roles in a modern marria...

How To Stay Politically Engaged Without Losing Your Mind | Sharon Salzberg

02 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the heat of an election that is both incredibly nasty and hugely consequential, it might be tempting to try to shut out all the feelings of anger, ...

How To Stay Centered When You're Skiing Off a Cliff | Angel Collinson

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Angel Collinson is a badass in every sense of the word. She's one of the world's best extreme skiers, a meditator, and a climate activist. In this con...

This Conversation Actually Explains Oneness With The Universe | Sebene Selassie

26 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I grew up with that famous Groucho Marx joke, "I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member." It always resonated with me. As my...

Are We All Traumatized? | Dr. Pat Ogden

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's a human urge to return to normalcy after a cataclysmic event. But if we rush back to normalcy without taking a beat, without metabolizing what we...

Improving Your Relationships, Buddhist Style | Martine Batchelor

19 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is a mix of the technical, the practical, and the delightful. We're talking about a meditation technique that can impact relationships, y...

The Case for Optimism | Dr. Jonathan Salk

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The virus has exploited so many weaknesses of our culture. But having exposed the weaknesses, such as inequities and reckless individualism, could the...

A Master Class in Resilience | George Mumford

12 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we have a master class in resilience. My guest is George Mumford, who has overcome some towering difficulties in his own life, including an addi...

The Secrets of Gritty People | Angela Duckworth

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on the show, we're exploring the interrelated themes of grit and resilience -- both massively resonant and relevant issues in the era of Cov...

The Antidote to Burnout | Leah Weiss

05 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when work has become more challenging than ever, we're going to explore one myth and one revelation. The myth -- which many of us, myself in...

You Don't Exist. But You Actually Do. Wait, What? | Guy Armstrong

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we take a simple, useful, and down-to-earth stroll through one of the most confounding -- but liberating -- concepts in Buddhism. On ...

The Sex Episode | Devon and Craig Hase

29 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Buddhists don't tend to shy away from talking about body parts -- but usually it's more along the lines of meditating on things like spittle, defecati...

How to Get Sleep in Anxious Times | Dr. Donn Posner

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I don't know about you guys, but my sleep has suffered quite badly during the last few months. Today's guest really got me thinking about this issue i...

How Do You Optimize Your Performance When Everything Sucks? | Pete Carroll & Michael Gervais

22 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do you optimize your performance when life is utterly disrupted by a pandemic? Are optimism and confidence trainable skills? Can we get over our f...

The Case for "Doing Nothing" in a Time of Crisis | Sebene Selassie & Jeff Warren

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At a time of multiple, mutually-reinforcing dumpster fires, meditation can seem counterintuitive. Instinctively, many of us might prefer to rush to th...

The Upside of Desire | Cara Lai

15 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Buddhism/meditation circles, desire or wanting is often considered a no-no. But is this line of thinking sometimes taken too far — or simply misu...

The Brain Science of Enlightenment | Rick Hanson

13 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're going to nerd out about what enlightenment (or, if that word is triggering, let's just call it "high doses of meditation") can do to your ...

The Buddha's Four-Part Strategy for "Ultimate Happiness" | Sally Armstrong

08 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"Mindfulness" has become a buzz phrase. There are books on mindful parenting, mindful lawyering, even mindful sex. But what does the word even mean? A...

Why We're All Suffering from Racial Trauma (Even White People) -- and How to Handle It | Resmaa Menakem

06 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to think of racism as a virus that lives in your head. But my guest today makes a compelling case that it also lives, in very profound and o...

Can Faith Be Useful - Even for Atheists? | Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

01 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Faith is a loaded word in some circles, but in this episode, Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel makes her case for it - in ways that might surprise you. We also...

The Science of Happiness | Emiliana Simon-Thomas

29 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, at this fraught moment in history, we're bringing on a leading scientist to help us tackle one of the most pernicious misconceptions ...

How You Can Help Transform America's Racial Karma | Dr. Larry Ward

24 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What can you, as an individual, do to help break the cycles of rage, pain, fear, and violence that continue to grip America - and many other parts of ...

Why Your Bad Habits (and Addictions) May Be Getting Worse - and How Mindfulness Can Help | Dr. Jud Brewer

22 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Do you find yourself overeating during this stressful time? Maybe drinking or smoking more than you would like? What about shopping or gambling? And h...

The Dharma of Harriet Tubman | Spring Washam

17 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I had always known Harriet Tubman as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, repeatedly risking her own life to lead slaves out of the South. But in ...

White People, Drop the Shame and Get Curious | Shelly Graf

15 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we go there. All the way there. All those horrifying little thoughts that white people might have - eg: Have you ever felt superior t...

The View of American Turmoil from the Other Side of the World | Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

10 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We have spent the past few episodes talking with black and white Americans about race. But for this episode I wanted to get the view from outside. So ...

White People Talking About Whiteness | Eleanor Hancock

08 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many, if not most, white people don't think of themselves as racialized. Race, we might tell ourselves, is an issue for people who have different skin...

An Uncomfortable (But Meaningful) Conversation About Race | Lama Rod Owens

03 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many of us come to meditation for comfort. But, especially for white people, right now is a time to embrace our discomfort. Lama Rod Owens encourages ...

You Can't Meditate This Away (Race, Rage, and the Responsibilities of Meditators)

01 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There is fury in America's streets - and we, as meditators, have the opportunity to use our practice to do the hard work of seeing things clearly (inc...

The Dalai Lama's Advice for Right Now

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do we handle pandemic-induced anxiety or grief? What does a spiritual guru do to relax while on lockdown? We put those questions - and more - to H...

Holding it Together When Things Fall Apart | Pema Chodron

25 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pema Chodron has seemingly been trying to prepare us for this pandemic for years, through a series of popular books, with titles such as When Things F...