Sharon Salzberg – Metta Hour – Ep. 234 – Dan Harris

For episode 234, Sharon speaks with author and podcast host, Dan Harris.

Dan is the author of the #1 New York Times best-selling memoir, 10% Happier, about a fidgety, skeptical news anchor who finds meditation. He’s also the host of the Ten Percent Happier podcast and the co-founder of the Ten Percent Happier meditation app. For 21 years, he worked at ABC News, where he anchored such shows as Nightline and the weekend editions of Good Morning America.

In this episode, Dan and Sharon discuss:
  • The new edition of Ten Percent Happier
  • What has changed in the meditation space in the last decade
  • The line between cynicism to skepticism 
  • The climate of despair and nihilism
  • Working with the inner critic
  • Dan’s drug-fueled panic attack on-air
  • Big life changes are not often a straight shot
  • Dan’s path finding meditation
  • The Jew-Bu movement towards Asia
  • The connection of Dan’s father and Joseph Goldstein’s family
  • Dan meeting Mark Epstein
  • The first time Sharon saw Birkenstocks
  • Dan’s first meditation retreat
  • How lovingkindness has affected Dan
  • “The Way of the Worrier” list from Ten Percent Happier
  • Dan’s son teaching lovingkindness meditation

Dan closes the conversation with a guided lovingkindness meditation. You can learn more about Dan’s work and get a copy of Ten Percent Happier, the newly reissued book on his website.

Listen to more from Sharon Salzberg:
Jump into the first episode of the Real Life Series with Jon Kabat-Zinn
Tune into Ep. 1 of the Metta Hour to learn about The Buddha Within
Listen to Joseph Goldstein’s Meditative Story, Hosted By Rohan Gunatillake
Hear from Tara Brach and Sharon Salzberg in Ep. 56 of Metta Hour
Sharon Salzberg