From Panic to Peace: Ten Percent Happier’s Dan Harris
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Who is Dan Harris and why is he significant?
Hey listeners, welcome back to Infamous, a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Campsite Media. I'm Natalie Robomet. If you're like most people, life can be a little overwhelming. between money, career, relationships, trying to avoid politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table, it can all get too much sometimes. So Vanessa called Dan Harris of the book and meditation app 10% Happier.
What led Dan Harris to become a meditation advocate?
He teaches people how they can incorporate things like meditation into their lives to make real changes without doing anything extreme, like giving away all their possessions and joining a commune. But he didn't always do this. When Dan and Vanessa first met, he was a broadcast news reporter for ABC. From flying into war zones to talking to celebrities like Paris Hilton and 50 Cent, Dan did it all. They talk about how the same ambition that fueled his success also fueled some pretty self-destructive behavior and how he managed to turn things around. It's a fascinating conversation, and I hope you get as much out of it as I did. Oh, and by the way, just as Dan and Vanessa were wrapping up the interview, they decided they weren't quite done yet. So when you hear them say their goodbyes, keep listening. The conversation continues for another few minutes. And with that, here's the episode.
Dan Harris, my friend, an amazing newsman, now meditation guru. The infamous part of his life was the life he led before gurudom. And now he's just famous for 10% Happier, which is his podcast book, Substack, all off the idea that if you meditate, you can get 10% happier in your life. Not 20, as a force him to say, just 10, not 11, just 10. But he has had this incredible story of climbing the ladder at ABC News. He was there for 21 years covering high-stakes stories, reporting from extreme situations. So Dan, welcome to Infamous.
Hi, Vanessa. Thanks for having me.
Hi, thank you for coming on. Let's go all the way back. to probably when I first met you. You were a newsman. Tell us your story, how you got there.
Well, I graduated college in the middle of an ancient recession in 1993. And there were not that many jobs. And I kind of had the sense that I wanted to do something cool. I had gone to film school for a little while at NYU. That's cool.
How did Dan's career in news impact his mental health?
yeah well that was pretty cool but I what was not so cool is that I was not very good at making films but I did take a documentary class that I really liked and then I started doing some internships in TV news and I thought it was really cool it wasn't as glamorous as I thought especially in local news where I started but after having done some internships I graduated from college and then I took a part-time job at a local news station in Bangor Maine and And then ultimately they let me go on the air, even though, I mean, there's video of it. I just looked so young and inexperienced wearing my dad's blazers. And then I kind of worked my way south from Maine, from Bangor to Portland. And then I was in Boston for a while. And then when I was 28, I got this huge break, a call from the network, ABC News, and they said, come work for us.
And you said you were very excited about it. People can think about when they get their faces on the Jumbotron for like one second in a sports stadium. But you realized you could be on TV and your face would be there all the time. Yes.
Yeah. I'm embarrassed to admit, although I admit it freely, but it is embarrassing the extent to which A desire to be seen, a desire for notoriety really fueled many aspects of my ambition. I will say that there were other things in there, too. But there's no question that there's a thrill, especially back then when there wasn't social media, there was no real digital media. Getting on TV was like a huge deal. And that was important to me.
And so you're at ABC News and Peter Jennings, who you describe as this almost 007 style of newsman. I don't think it's so extreme to say he took you under his wing.
Not at all. He absolutely did take me under his wing.
He saw that you, too, were like a 007 type. Perhaps.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Dan Harris and why is he significant?
0:01–0:37
2
What led Dan Harris to become a meditation advocate?
0:37–2:56
3
How did Dan's career in news impact his mental health?
2:56–6:13
4
What was Dan's experience during his panic attack on live TV?
6:13–9:00
5
How did Dan's addiction to thrill affect his life?
9:00–13:26
6
What role did therapy play in Dan's journey?
13:26–15:23
7
How has Dan's perspective on life changed through meditation?
15:23–36:52