
Mike D On: The Value of Failure, the Addictive Power of Adrenaline, and How a Beastie Boy Got Into Lovingkindness
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Today’s show features one of Dan’s personal musical heroes, Mike Diamond — “Mike D” from the Beastie Boys. Their conversation is wide ranging and covers topics from the role of failure in achieving success to Mike’s personal meditation practice. They say, “never meet your heroes”, but Mike D doesn’t disappoint in this smart and thoughtful discussion. Mike D formed the Beastie Boys with Adam Yauch, aka MCA, in the early 80’s, winning a number of Grammys and spanning a multi-decade career. In 2018, along with his bandmate, Adam Horovitz, Diamond co-authored Beastie Boys Book, which told the story of the band in its own words and reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. A limited series of live shows, in which the two brought stories from the book to life, was captured in the 2020 film Beastie Boys Story. Content Warning: The content is a little mature at points so take care if you’re listening with kids. In this episode we talk about: How Mike reconciles the misogyny of the Beasties early work The evolution of the band — and how they freed themselves from feeling imprisoned by their own personas The role of failure in achieving success The value of taking risks in creative endeavors Watching his late bandmate, Adam Yauch, find Buddhism, and how that impacted their music The addictive nature of adrenaline when performing The role meditation and yoga played for Mike as he tried to calibrate the highs and lows while on tour — and how these practices also now play a role in parenting his two kids How he works through self-judgment while meditating How he and the other surviving bandmate, Adam Horovitz, managed their grief in the wake of the untimely death of Adam Yauch And how a Beastie Boy came to embrace, of all things, loving-kindness Full Show Notes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/mike-diamond-597
8 Maj 202356min

The Selfish Case for Being Ethical | Eugene Cash
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Virtue is a tricky topic. It’s often sold to us by religious leaders who are thundering judgmentally, and sometimes hypocritically, down to us from the mountaintop. But from the Buddhist perspective, there is actually a deeply self-interested case for ethics and virtue. The Buddhists are not trying to get you to follow a bunch of very specific rules: they are trying to get you to do no harm because that will make you happy. This is part two of our series on a venerable Buddhist list called the Noble Eightfold Path. The three middle items on the list all have to do with ethical conduct. They are: right speech, right action, and right livelihood. Our guest today, Eugene Cash, is gonna talk about this stuff in super practical, non-dogmatic and non-preachy ways. Cash has been a Buddhist teacher since 1990. He's the founding teacher of San Francisco Insight and a senior teacher on the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. His teaching is influenced by many streams of Buddhism— Theravada, Zen and Tibetan. In this conversation we talk about: How to make terms such as virtue and ethics more attractive to skeptics Eugene's case that being ethical is in your self-interest His idea that kindness can actually be hard-nosed and tough How the Buddha could be hard on people when it was helpful for those people How to use right speech skillfully Why he says that practicing right action all day long is his idea of fun The technical versus the holistic understanding of right livelihood The difference between “being present” and “presence” And what has kept him devoted to the eightfold path for so many years Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/eugene-cash-595
3 Maj 202342min

Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Why Having a “Cosmic Perspective” Will Help You Do Life Better
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Today’s guest is the legendary astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, the host of the Emmy nominated podcast, Star Talk, and the recipient of 21 honorary doctorates. He also has an asteroid named in his honor. Tyson’s latest book is right up our alley on the show. It's called Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization and it’s basically about how taking a scientific perspective can improve your life—and the world. In this episode we talk about: Applying a scientific lens to our emotions The importance of intellectual humility How the knowledge of death brings meaning to life Neil’s long view of social media Whether we are living in a simulation Neil's personal mental health regime And whether there is intelligent life in the universe Full Shownotes:https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/neil-degrasse-tyson-594
1 Maj 20231h 8min

The Buddha’s Eight Part Recipe for Happiness | DaRa Williams
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- This episode kicks off our series on the Eightfold Path which will continue on Wednesdays for the next two weeks with Eugene Cash and Joseph Goldstein. DaRa Williams is a trainer, meditation teacher and psychotherapist and has been a meditator for the past 25 years. She is a practitioner of both Vipassana and Ascension meditation and is a graduate of the Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training Program and is an IMS Emeritus Guiding Teacher. In this episode we talk about: The first two components of the Eightfold Path: Right View and Right Thinking How the Eightfold Path has played out in DaRa’s life The notions of Intuition, Clear Seeing, and Openness And the very tricky skills of renunciation and fostering non-attachment to outcomes Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dara-williams-592
26 Apr 202350min

Michael Imperioli (From The Sopranos and White Lotus) Knows a Shitload About Buddhist Meditation
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. -------- Actor Michael Imperioli is best known for a string of memorable onscreen performances that include Goodfellas, The Sopranos, and most recently on The White Lotus. What you may not know is that he has a deep Buddhist practice and has actually grown into something of a meditation teacher. In this episode we talk about: The classic celebrity life crisis that brought Imperioli to Buddhism The importance of consistent practice as a way to get familiar with your mind so that your thoughts and emotions and urges don't own you The specific Tibetan Buddhist tradition Imperioli practices and what his daily practice looks like Whether meditation helps him be more creative How acting and meditation are similar Whether getting older affects our ability to grok impermanence Why Imperioli started teaching meditation online How to meditate off the cushion in daily life Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/michael-imperioli-591
24 Apr 202358min

The “Performance Whisperer” George Mumford Has Deep Strategies for Flow and Success
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. ---- Perhaps nobody is better at helping people unlock themselves than the Buddhist meditation teacher George Mumford who taught meditation to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. He's also worked with inmates, police officers, and corporate executives. There’s a reason why they call him the “Performance Whisperer.” George has an incredible story: he began teaching mindfulness and meditation after kicking a serious drug habit, leaving a career as a financial analyst, and then earning a master's in counseling psychology. He's got a new book, it's called Unlock: Embrace Your Greatness. Find the Flow. Discover Success. His first book was called The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance. If you want to hear him talk about that book, we've put links in the show notes to his prior appearances on this podcast. In this episode we talk about: What it means to be in flow and why many of us may be achieving that state more than we think How to challenge negative self-talk The importance of gratitude The importance of service The importance of making mistakes (as George says, “no struggle, no swag”) How to recognize what he calls your hideouts Why he identifies as an empath and why he believes this may have played a role in his addiction And George’s take on often misunderstood terms such as love, hope, and faith Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/george-mumford-589
19 Apr 202356min

Gretchen Rubin on: How To Use Your Five Senses To Reduce Anxiety, Increase Creativity, and Improve Your Relationships
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Today’s guest is a happiness expert and devout non-meditator. In her latest book Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, she describes how a routine visit to her eye doctor made her realize she’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. Gretchen Rubin is the author of many books, including the New York Times bestsellers Outer Order, Inner Calm; The Four Tendencies; Better Than Before; and The Happiness Project. Her books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, and have been translated in more than thirty languages. She also hosts the top-ranking, award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin. In this episode we talk about: What led Gretchen to explore the five senses How we often take our senses for granted How our senses work with the brain to impact our perception The relationship between the senses and nostalgia The surprising power of ketchup and vanilla when it comes to the sense of taste The sense of hearing and what she calls her “Audio Apothecary” How to be a better listener The interplay between the senses of taste and smell The sense of touch and the use of comfort objects Why she decided to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art everyday to explore the five senses And how she uses the five senses to boost creativity Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/gretchen-rubin-588
17 Apr 20231h 7min

From the Metta Hour Podcast with Sharon Salzberg | "Real Life" Book Preview
You may have heard our interview with Sharon Salzberg earlier this week where we talked about openness, not believing the stories you tell yourself, and why the most powerful tools often seem the most stupid at first. I’m a big fan of hers and everything she does, so we wanted to give you a special preview of her new book, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom. In Real Life, Sharon sets a path out for us, merging the insights of inspiring voices with her own teachings to: Uncover a deeper sense of ourselves Expand our vision of what’s possible for ourselves Align our words, hearts, and actions with our core values Navigate loss without getting stuck in bitterness or disconnect Carry a sense of community with us, even in stormy times Recover from the emotional effects of crisis Learn the art of letting go and beginning again Build emotional intelligence to face times of difficulty without fear Seek out joy in everyday life, even when things don’t go our way Befriend ourselves on the journey of being human Embark on the journey to embody a life of curiosity, authenticity, and freedom. So enjoy this excerpt from her book, Real Life.
14 Apr 20231h