10% Happier with Dan Harris Folgen

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 essential to a well-lived life. She has thought deeply about what actually constitutes fun, and how we can best live a life that is conducive to fun. In other words, she argues that fun is a trainable skill. You may have heard of Catherine Price. She’s been on the show before. She wrote an excellent book called How To Break Up With Your Phone, which had a significant influence on me. We start our conversation by talking about ways to achieve what she calls “screen/life balance” during a time of pandemic and political upheaval, and then we flow directly into fun, which is something you can only have when you put your phone down. Where to find Catherine Price online: Website: http://catherineprice.com/ Sign up for the #FunSquad: https://mailchi.mp/screenlifebalance/funsquad Resources for Screen//Life Balance including a 3-day challenge and social media detox course: screenlifebalance.com Catherine's writerly social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherine_price Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_catherineprice/ Social Media "intervention feeds" (designed to help you catch you while you're mindlessly scrolling and help you re-direct your attention): Instagram: @screenlifebalance / https://www.instagram.com/screenlifebalance Twitter: @screenlifeblnce / https://twitter.com/screenlifeblnce Facebook: @slbalance / https://www.facebook.com/slbalance/ Books: http://catherineprice.com/books In case you missed it, we're running a podcast series to help you stay sane and engaged during this election season — without burning out. Every Monday in October, we'll discuss four tools from ancient teachings to help guide you through this especially challenging time. You can check out Monday's podcast episode for a taste of the Election Sanity Series. You can also visit tenpercent.com/guide to sign up for our limited-time email guide. We would appreciate it if you can take a few minutes to help us out by answering a survey. The team here is always looking for ways to improve. Please go to www.tenpercent.com/survey. Thank you. Other Resources Mentioned: Freedom (App Blocker): https://freedom.to/ Designing Your Life: https://designingyour.life/ The Book of Delights by Ross Gay: https://bookshop.org/books/the-book-of-delights-essays/9781616207922 Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://bookshop.org/books/flow-the-psychology-of-optimal-experience/9780061339202 Additional Resources: Ten Percent Happier Live: https://tenpercent.com/live Coronavirus Sanity Guide: https://www.tenpercent.com/coronavirussanityguide Free App access for Frontline Workers: https://tenpercent.com/care Center for Healthy Minds Join the Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovations for a week-long series of well-being events and discussions. Learn about the innovations and science behind creating a better world from mental health experts and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Oct. 5-9. Don't miss out – register now! https://mailchi.mp/centerhealthyminds.org/twwm-2020 Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/catherine-price-289

In an election season characterized by misinformation, mistrust, and now a positive covid test from the President-- we’ve been plunged headlong into a black hole of uncertainty. So here at the Ten Percent Happier podcast, we’ve decided to serve up some deep counter-programming. Unlike the campaign coverage you’ll get everywhere else in the universe, in this special “Election Sanity” series we won’t have arguments and we won’t talk polls. We’re going to help you navigate all of this tumult and toxicity in a way that allows you to be both engaged and calm. We’re building this series around an ancient Buddhist list (the Buddhists love listicles, as we’ve discussed on the show) called The Four Brahma Viharas. That phrase, Brahma Viharas, translates, literally into “divine abodes.” At first blush, the notion of divine abodes -- or heavenly mind states -- may sound a little grandiose. But I promise you this whole thing is actually very much down-to-earth. These are four mental skills that we can train through meditation. In Buddhist circles, the four skills are commonly referred to as: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy (which means taking joy in the happiness of others), and equanimity. I like to make them a little more user-friendly by calling them: friendliness, giving a crap, the opposite of schadenfreude, and staying cool. The proposition here is radical; instead of defaulting to hatred or indifference at this fraught moment in human history, can you cultivate the opposite? Science suggests the meditation practices designed to help you build these skills can have all sorts of physiological and psychological benefits. In this special series of episodes, we’ll show you how to practice, and also how to operationalize these skills in your life at a time when we— and the world— need them most. We’ll be dropping new episodes, with a different teacher, every Monday in October. Today we’re kicking off the podcast series with insight meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy. She’s been on this show before, and she’s also featured on the app, where she teaches guided meditations, and a whole course about using meditation to help you live an ethical life. She also recently co-wrote the handbook Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents, and is a founding member of the Meditation Coalition. In our conversation, JoAnna starts by giving us a user-friendly overview of the Four Brahma Viharas, and then we do a deep dive on the first of these mental skills: friendliness. And if this concept -- or the thought of applying it to a person you can’t stand -- makes you squirm...great. JoAnna’s here to argue that metta is an edgy-- and not at all corny-- practice. Where to find JoAnna Hardy online: Website: https://www.joannahardy.org/ Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannahardy65/ Dharma Seed: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/549/ To help you get the most out of this series, we're launching an email guide. Just like the podcast, this guide is free. You can sign up for it at https://tenpercent.com/guide. It will recap all of the podcast episodes each week. It’ll include helpful tidbits such as key terms and concepts; highlights from the immense wisdom our guests bring us around concepts like compassion, equanimity, kindness… and we’ll link to relevant meditations and talks in the TPH app. May you find it fruitful. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/joanna-hardy-288

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 your brain reacts to fear? Moreover, can you train courage? Abigail Marsh says yes; overcoming fear is a trainable skill. She’s an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown University. She’s also the author of the book Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between. This is a classic TPH podcast conversation: an ace scientist whose area of expertise illuminates key aspects of the human condition. Enjoy. Where to find Dr. Abigail Marsh online: Website: http://www.abigailmarsh.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/aa_marsh Book Mentioned: Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between by Abigail Marsh: https://bookshop.org/books/the-fear-factor-how-one-emotion-connects-altruists-psychopaths-and-everyone-in-between/9781541697195 We care deeply about supporting you in your meditation practice, and feel that providing you with high quality teachers is one of the best ways to do that. Customers of the Ten Percent Happier app say they stick around specifically for the range of teachers, and the deep wisdom they impart, to help them deepen their practice. For anyone new to the app, we've got a special discount just for you. If you're an existing subscriber, we thank you for your support. To claim your discount, visit tenpercent.com/reward  We would appreciate it if you can take a few minutes to help us out by answering a survey. The team here is always looking for ways to improve. Please go to www.tenpercent.com/survey. Thank you. Other Resources Mentioned: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: https://bookshop.org/books/the-goldfinch/9780316055420 Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg: https://bookshop.org/books/lovingkindness-the-revolutionary-art-of-happiness/9781611808209 The Overstory by Richard Powers: https://bookshop.org/books/the-overstory/9780393356687 Clara Barton: https://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/history/clara-barton.html  Additional Resources: Ten Percent Happier Live: https://tenpercent.com/live Coronavirus Sanity Guide: https://www.tenpercent.com/coronavirussanityguide Free App access for Frontline Workers: https://tenpercent.com/care Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dr-abigail-marsh-287