Bodhisattva Teachings: Bodhisattva teachings encourage addressing issues from compassion and understanding rather than viewing humans as the enemy. This approach promotes collective awakening and offers a strong response to personal and global crises through mindful action and love.
Bodhisattva teachings offer a powerful approach for addressing both personal and global challenges by emphasizing the need for compassion and understanding in times of crisis. Rather than seeing humans as the source of problems, these teachings focus on overcoming mental barriers like greed and hatred, fostering a collective awakening. This shift in perspective can lead to a more equitable and harmonious society, proving that compassion is strong enough to tackle the toughest of issues. Tara Brock emphasizes that evolving our consciousness through loving kindness can be a robust answer to our current world challenges, encouraging us to take meaningful action against the distress that surrounds us. By embracing these principles, we can move towards healing both ourselves and the environment we inhabit.
Compassionate Action: Compassion fuels meaningful action in activism. Historical figures like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. showed that love, not anger, enables real change, urging us to act from our hearts despite uncertain outcomes.
Compassion is a powerful driver for action, especially in movements advocating for change. Historical examples, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., show that grounding activism in love and meditation leads to impactful results. Instead of acting from anger or blame, which perpetuates violence, we should focus on caring and understanding. True progress comes when we act from an open heart, even amidst chaos. Outcomes may be uncertain, but what truly matters is how we approach our responses to challenges, using compassion as our guiding force. Inner peace fosters outward change. While we strive for progress, we have to remember not to be attached to results, acting with the belief that compassion can gradually lead to transformation in the world.
Mindful Compassion: By practicing mindfulness and compassion, we can overcome anger and divisions, fostering greater empathy and connection in our communities.
To navigate through difficult emotions and division in society, we can practice mindful awareness and compassion. By recognizing and accepting our feelings, we can move towards a greater sense of interconnectedness. This involves taking the time to listen to ourselves and others, allowing for deeper empathy and understanding, and ultimately transforming anger and blame into healing through kindness and support for one another.
Compassionate Connections: Compassion training helps us connect with our own pain and others, fostering understanding and healing amidst differences. It encourages valuing every life, essential for a respectful society and democracy.
Compassion is essential in healing and bridging divides. By recognizing our own pain and vulnerability, we can better connect with others, regardless of differences. Training in compassion allows us to act from care rather than anger. This creates understanding and cooperation, leading to a more respectful and democratic society where every life is valued. Practicing compassion helps us see beyond our stories and reminds us that underneath our differences, we all care about similar things.
Mindfulness & Compassion: Practicing mindfulness and compassion helps us understand ourselves and others, fostering deeper connections and reducing judgment, especially in a divided world.
Mindfulness and compassion are essential skills to cultivate in our lives. Practicing mindfulness helps us understand our inner thoughts and feelings, allowing us to face discomfort. Compassion arises when we recognize that everyone carries their burdens. By seeing the goodness in others and acknowledging their struggles, we foster connection and understanding, reducing judgment. Introducing concepts like meta (loving-kindness) strengthens our ability to appreciate others’ positive qualities. Even with those we disagree with, focusing on their kindness can keep our relationships healthy. In a divided world, embracing both mindfulness and compassion can create a more understanding and caring environment, where we strive to see beyond surface behaviors and connect through our shared humanity.
Empathy Expansion: Compassion should start small, growing toward difficult relationships while maintaining healthy boundaries. It helps dissolve separateness and enables wiser responses to harm without losing empathy.
Building empathy and compassion begins with easy connections, gradually extending to more difficult relationships. Practicing kindness towards ourselves and others, including those we struggle to understand, helps dissolve feelings of separateness. It's crucial, however, to maintain healthy boundaries while nurturing compassion, ensuring we can respond wisely to harmful behaviors without losing our sense of care or protection for others.
Strong Backbone, Open Heart: A strong emotional backbone paired with an open heart leads to clearer decisions, better performance, and deeper connections by following our true aspirations.
Having a strong emotional backbone allows us to set boundaries while keeping our hearts open, embracing compassion for ourselves and others. It’s essential to connect with our deepest aspirations regularly, as this understanding guides our actions and decreases anxiety. This journey leads to clearer decisions, better performance, and ultimately fosters deeper relationships, enhancing our well-being.
Compassion in Action: Compassion and connection are essential for fostering peace. Small acts of engagement and mindful communication can bridge divides and create a more just world. Understanding others' suffering can lead to belonging and a fearless heart. Every effort matters, no matter how small.
Engaging in the inner work of compassion and connection is vital for personal and collective peace. By understanding the experiences of those who suffer and actively participating in conversations with those of differing views, we can bridge divides. Small actions, like writing postcards or listening to others, can foster deeper connections. It's important to be mindful of our words and how we communicate, aiming to dehumanize less and promote healing more. When we stretch ourselves to care for others—especially those who seem different—we discover a sense of belonging and a fearless heart that fights against fear and isolation. Ultimately, this collective effort is essential in creating a more compassionate and just world. Remember, while activism can feel overwhelming, even small acts of kindness and understanding can create significant waves of change.
Mindfulness Insights: This podcast features Tara Brock discussing mindfulness, with links to notable interviews and a dedicated production team. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe for an ad-free experience and provide feedback through a survey, emphasizing the importance of exploring mindfulness further through expert insights.
In this podcast episode, the host expresses gratitude to Tara Brock for the enlightening conversation. For those interested in exploring similar topics further, the host shares links to interviews with notable figures like the Dalai Lama and Zen master Roshi Joan Halifax. The appreciation extends to the dedicated team behind the show, including producers, recording staff, and managers. The host encourages listeners to support the podcast by subscribing for an ad-free experience and invites them to provide feedback through a survey. Overall, the episode highlights the connection between mindfulness and various expert insights, encouraging deeper exploration into these themes.
Tara Brach Has A Counterintuitive Strategy For Navigating Tumultuous Times
Recent Episodes from Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Dr. Sanjay Gupta On The 5 Pillars Of Brain Health
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy Award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN podcast Chasing Life. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN’s reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN’s shows domestically and internationally. In addition to his work for CNN, Gupta is an associate professor of neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He is the author of four New York Times best-selling books, “Chasing Life” (2007), “Cheating Death” (2009), “Monday Mornings” (2012), and “Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain” (2020).
In this episode we talk about:
- Sanjay’s origin story and how he got interested in the brain in the first place
- The mysteries of consciousness
- We dive into his five pillars of brain health
- How you can grow new brain cells by moving the body (but in certain ways)
- Key skills for challenging your brain
- We hear about some meditation tips Sanjay picked up from the Dalai Lama
- Whether we should worry alone or with other people
- And lastly, why it’s so important for men to have vulnerable conversations with each other
Related Episodes:
The Dalai Lama’s Guide to Happiness
#230: The Power of Rest | Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
#614. Your Brain on Food | Dr. Uma Naidoo
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You Can’t Always Get What You Want: A Guided Meditation On Frustration | Bonus Meditation with JoAnna Hardy
This practice is an opportunity to take a break from *thinking* about frustration and feel a little bit of balance, ease, and patience.
About JoAnna Hardy:
JoAnna Hardy can talk about meditation to pretty much anybody. She not only teaches in traditional environments like retreat centers, but also in both schools and jails. JoAnna has been studying meditation for nearly two decades and she's done some amazing work ensuring that the practice is available to people who might not otherwise have access to it. JoAnna teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, at Spirit Rock, and is a Founding Member of The Meditation Coalition.
To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “When You’re Frustrated.”
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From "Good Inside with Dr. Becky": If You Think You're Bad at Meditation, Dan Harris Says You're Doing it Right
Bringing you an episode of Good Inside with Dr. Becky Kennedy.
Even if you don't consider yourself an anxious person, once you become a parent, it is easy to start worrying about the health and wellbeing of your child. But parents need to learn to manage their anxiety for themselves and their kids. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of his book, 10% Happier, Dan Harris joins Dr. Becky to dispel some of the myths about meditation and to show parents how meditation can be a practical strategy in their everyday lives.
Check out Dr. Becky's appearance on the 10% Happier Podcast here.
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Tara Brach Has A Counterintuitive Strategy For Navigating Tumultuous Times
A (potentially challenging) Buddhist recipe handling anxious times.
Tara Brach, a legendary meditation teacher, psychologist, and frequent flier on this show. She is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and has been active in bringing meditation into schools, prisons and underserved populations. She has also written several books including Radical Acceptance, Radical Compassion and Trusting the Gold.
In this episode we talk about:
- A Buddhist tradition known as the Bodhisattva teachings… which are quite radical… and which Tara thinks can vastly improve your life… and the health of democracy.
- We also talk about: why some people might think this stuff is too soft
- 4 practices to develop compassion
- A mindfulness technique known as RAIN
- How mindfulness can help you see what is beneath your anger
- Letting distress be a portal—and the amazing phrase, “action absorbs anxiety”
- How to get active when you have limited time
- And how to counteract the tendency to numb out
Tara also recorded a guided meditation based on this conversation, which you can find on www.DanHarris.com.
Related Episodes:
- The Dalai Lama’s Guide To Happiness
- Vitamin E: How To Cultivate Equanimity Amidst Political Chaos | Election Sanity Series | Roshi Joan Halifax
- A Counterintuitive Source of Hope | Sebene Selassie
- Best of the Archives: Making it RAIN | Tara Brach
- Can You Handle This? | Tara Brach
- How to Stop the War Against Yourself | Tara Brach
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The Harvard Scientist Who Says You Can Use Your Thoughts To Improve Your Health | Ellen Langer
The connection between your psychology and your health, and how to work with it.
Ellen J. Langer is the author of eleven books, including the international bestseller
Mindfulness, which has been translated into fifteen languages, and Counterclockwise:
Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. Most recently, she is the author of The
Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health.
Langer is the recipient of, among other numerous awards and honors, a Guggenheim
Fellowship, the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public
Interest from the American Psychological Association, the Award for Distinguished
Contributions of Basic Science to the Application of Psychology from the American
Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, and the Adult Development and
Aging Distinguished Research Achievement Award from the American Psychological
Association.
She is the author of more than 200 research articles and her trailblazing experiments in
social psychology have earned her inclusion in The New York Times Magazine’s “Year
in Ideas” issue. A member of the psychology department at Harvard University and a
painter, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In this episode we talk about:
- The power of placebos
- Why she isn’t a fan of positive thinking as it is talked about in new age circles
- Her version of mindfulness, which is quite different from the version we usually talk about here on the show, which comes out of Buddhism
- Psychological treatments for chronic illness
- Smart strategies for reframing aging.
- Why the world would be boring if you knew it all
- What she means by her concept of a “mindful utopia”
- And her favorite one liners
Related Episodes:
- The Science Of Manifestation: Can This Stanford Neuroscientist Convince A Skeptical Dan To Give It A Shot? | Dr. James R. Doty
- How to Get the Wisdom of Old Age Now | Dilip Jeste
- Tripping Out with a Legend: Jon Kabat-Zinn on Pain vs. Suffering, Rethinking Your Anxiety, and the Buddha's Teaching in a Single Sentence
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Full Shownotes: https://happierapp.com/podcast/tph/ellen-langer-832
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A Guided Meditation For First Thing In The Morning | Bonus Meditation with Alexis Santos
Start focused on what's truly important. When you pause to remember the big picture, your day can move forward grounded in integrity & wisdom.
About Alexis Santos:
Alexis has practiced and taught Insight Meditation in both the East and West since 2001. He has been a long-time student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya (a well respected meditation teacher in Burma whose teachings have attracted a global audience), and his teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity -- a style of practice that's particularly useful during our crazy lives. Alexis has completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training, teaches retreats across the globe, and currently lives in Portland, Maine.
To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “Wake Up With Perspective.”
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Natasha Rothwell (White Lotus, How To Die Alone) On: Loneliness, Envy, People Pleasing, And Finding Your “Hell Yes”
Natasha Rothwell created, executive produced, and stars in the highly anticipated series How To Die Alone.
Natasha is best known for her Emmy Nominated performance in HBO’s The White Lotus and is set to reprise her role as Belinda Lindsey in the third season of the series currently in production.
She is also known for her critically acclaimed work as a series regular, writer, director, and producer on HBO’s Insecure, for which she has won a Peabody Award and received the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy.
Having previously written for Saturday Night Live, and after penning screenplays for Netflix, Paramount, and HBO Max— Natasha’s original screenplay Black Comic-Con was selected for the 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
Her genre-bending feature, along with several other projects, are in development at her production company, Big Hattie Productions—founded in 2020 to focus on creating, producing, and developing projects that champion marginalized voices in subversive ways.
In this episode we talk about:
- Being alone vs being lonely
- How she handles her own tendencies toward people-pleasing and burnout
- Working with doubt, faith and the venerable cliche of “trusting in the universe”
- Envy (and how it’s a partner to the scarcity mindset)
- Therapy
- Meditation
- Why she loves RomComs — and her issues with them
- And we go Behind the scenes in a TV writer’s room — and why it’s even tougher when the character is you
Related Episodes:
Kryptonite for the Inner Critic | Kristin Neff
Self-Compassion Ain't Always Soft | Kristin Neff
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I Just Did A 10-Day Silent Meditation Retreat With Joseph Goldstein. Here’s What I Learned
Meditation retreats are the object of much intrigue and even suspicion. So today, we’re going to take you inside a 10-day silent meditation retreat that Dan recently did with his teacher, Joseph Goldstein. You’ll also hear from Senior Producer, Marissa Schneiderman, who was fresh off a retreat of her own, with meditation teachers Alexis Santos and Andrea Fella.
In this episode we talk about:
- The ups and downs of retreats
- Some famous Buddhist listicles, including the five hindrances
- The importance of repetition
- We’ll hear snippets of Joseph answering Dan’s questions
- We find out what “cowboy dharma” is
- What it feels like to wear shit colored glasses
- How to stop getting caught in a mind trap
- And lastly, we listen to voicemails and answer audience questions!
Related Episodes:
#377. A More Relaxed Way to Meditate | Alexis Santos
#327 Uprooting Your Delusions | Andrea Fella
How to Take Risks (an Experimental Episode) | Marissa Schneiderman
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Modern Life Numbs You. Here’s The Neuroscience Of Waking Up | Tali Sharot
It’s so easy, especially these days, to numb out. To get bored. To move through life on autopilot. There is even a scientific term for this: habituation.
Today we’re talking to a researcher who co-authored a new book about the neuroscience of habit and how to wake up again. To make things exciting. Or as she says, to “re-sparkle”.
Tali Sharot is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and MIT. She’s written several books including The Optimism Bias and The Influential Mind. Her latest, co-written with Cass Sunstein, is called Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There.
In this episode we talk about:
- What habituation is and what’s going on in the brain when it happens
- How it negatively impacts the joy we feel in life – and inversely – how it can make us stop noticing the bad stuff
- Key strategies for disrupting habituation and introducing change and variety into your life
- The interesting relationship between creativity and people who habituate slowly
- How habituation impacts our relationships
- Why it’s important to break up the good experiences, but swallow the bad whole.
- How to wake up from a “technologically induced coma”
- How people emotionally habituate to dishonesty and lying
- And lastly, we talk about the dangers of habituating to a slow, incremental rise in tyranny – and how dis-habituation entrepreneurs can help
Related Episodes:
#345 How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman
Making and Breaking Habits, Sanely | Kelly McGonigal
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A Reformed Skeptic Leads A Loving-Kindness Meditation | A Meditation Party Retreat Bonus with Dan Harris
Recorded live at the Omega Institute, Dan leads us through a loving-kindness meditation, followed by discussion with retreat co-leaders Jeff Warren and Sebene Selassie.
For more information on the next upcoming Meditation Party retreat, including scholarships available for BIPOC participants, visit Omega Institute.
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