What Distraction Does to Your Brain—and How To Regain Cognitive Control | Adam Gazzaley

We’re almost at that time of year where we contemplate making New Year’s resolutions. So we decided to rerun an episode about the blazingly obvious fact that creating healthy habits can be infernally difficult. But why? And what are the best strategies for getting around this?    Katy Milkman has spent nearly two decades researching these questions. She's a behavioral scientist and professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She hosts a podcast called Choiceology and has written a book called How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. This episode explores why willpower is such an unreliable inner resource, why making habit change fun is such a powerful technique and key strategies from her quiver, such as “the fresh start effect,” “temptation bundling,” “commitment devices,” “piggybacking” and “giving yourself a mulligan.”    Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/katy-milkman-repost

20 Dec 20211h 8min

In this episode, Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett discuss the recent book they co-authored, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again. Robert Putnam is perhaps best-known for his seminal book Bowling Alone, about the increasing atomization and isolation of American society. He is the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University. Shaylyn Romney Garrett is a writer and social entrepreneur who holds a BA in History from Harvard.   Content Warning: There are multiple references to racism and racial violence in this episode. Click here to give a gift subscription to the Ten Percent Happier app. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/putnam-romney-garrett-405

15 Dec 202152min

If you want to make change in a world filled with all sorts of horrors and obstacles, does it help or hurt to stay cheerful while you go about your business? Robert Thurman argues passionately in favor of cheerfulness, although he will admit to still being miserable in his own way. This is an expansive conversation that covers everything from: what is nirvana to the Buddhist Four Noble Truths to why the Buddha was a scientist.  Robert Thurman is a legend. As a young Harvard student, he got into an accident and lost the use of one of his eyes. He dropped out and went on a spiritual quest that brought him to India, where he became the first Westerner to be ordained as a monk by the Dalai Lama, with whom he remains close friends. Thurman later disrobed, got married, and had a bunch of kids, including the movie star Uma Thurman. He also became an academic. He was a Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University until December 2020 and is the President of the Tibet House U.S., a non-profit in New York City dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization. He and his wife, Nena, also run an affiliated center, called the Menla Retreat, which is north of New York City.  Bob just turned 80, but he is very busy. He has a new book called Wisdom is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life. He also writes a regular newsletter for Substack and hosts The Bob Thurman Podcast. This is a wide-ranging interview with a fast-moving mind that talks about: bliss-void-indivisible, why we feel unsafe when we’re happy, and why Robert was happy to lose his eye. Robert also offers his frank reflections on the promise and limits of the dharma from someone who has been practicing and studying for sixty years. If you don’t understand every reference, try to let it wash over you because the net effect is pleasantly head-spinning.  Check out the Dalai Lama’s talk – “The Ultimate Source of Happiness,” which is free for everyone in the Ten Percent Happier app.

13 Dec 202139min

It’s hard to be a human. No matter how good things are for you, being alive is still hard; whatever your life circumstances are, we’re all subject to impermanence and entropy. This episode dives into a five-part Buddhist list for being stronger in the face of whatever life throws at you. And the person who will be walking us through this list has an enormous amount of standing to talk about strength.  Sister Dang Nghiem, who goes by Sister D, is a nun in the Plum Village tradition and a disciple of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She was born in Vietnam during the war, the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. Sister D experienced an unfathomable amount of loss before relocating to the US, where she became a doctor and later, after experiencing more loss, became a nun. She’s written several books. Her most recent is Flowers in the Dark. In this conversation, Sister D shares her story, and then walks us through The Five Strengths of Applied Zen Buddhism which include trust, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Content Warning: This episode covers difficult topics including death, mental illness, and sexual abuse.  The Anti-Diet Challenge has already begun, and today is the last day to join! If you’re not already a Ten Percent Happier subscriber, you can join us by starting a free trial that’ll give you access to the challenge, along with our entire app. Click here to get started.

8 Dec 202159min

This episode explores how to make the infernally difficult challenge of habit formation a little easier, with guest Richard H. Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017 for his pioneering work in the fields of behavioral economics and finance. Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Decision Research. He is also the co-author, with Cass R. Sunstein, of Nudge: the Final Edition. In this episode, Dan and Richard discuss what a nudge is as well as its opposite – which Thaler and Sunstein call sludge. They also discuss other fascinating concepts, including: choice architecture, mental accounting, libertarian paternalism, bounded rationality, and how the lessons of behavioral economics can lead to a happier life The Anti-Diet Challenge kicks off today in the Ten Percent Happier app. If you’re not already a Ten Percent Happier subscriber, you can join us by starting a free trial that’ll give you access to the challenge, along with our entire app. Click here to get started.

6 Dec 202140min

This episode is the second in our two-part Anti-Diet Series, and features guest Christy Harrison. Christy is an anti-diet registered dietitian and nutritionist, a certified intuitive eating counselor, and a certified eating disorders specialist who has struggled with disordered eating herself. She has come out the other side and written a book called Anti-Diet, and in this episode, she discusses how to transform your relationship with food and your body. This conversation explores Christy’s personal experience with disordered eating, the problems with and deep historical roots of diet culture, the scientific evidence against dieting, and the principles of intuitive eating. Content warning: This conversation touches on sensitive topics such as eating disorders and body image, some of which might carry an emotional charge for some listeners.    Christy is also the instructor in our brand-new Anti-Diet Challenge over in the Ten Percent Happier app. This seven-day challenge helps you build a better relationship with food and your body and is backed by science and supercharged with meditation. The Anti-Diet Challenge kicks off on Monday, December 6 in the Ten Percent Happier app. If you’re not already a Ten Percent Happier subscriber, you can join us by starting a free trial that’ll give you access to the challenge, along with our entire app. Click here to get started. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/christy-harrison-401

1 Dec 20211h 6min

Our guest for our 400th episode is actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who you may have seen on such shows as The Good Place, The Misery Index, and Legendary. Outside of her acting career, Jameela is known for launching a movement and platform called I Weigh. She's also the host of the I Weigh podcast, where she talks to everybody from Reese Witherspoon to Vivek Murthy, the US Surgeon General, to Gloria Steinem. This episode explores: how to develop what Jameela calls mental self-defense; how to be ruthless when it comes to personal boundaries; the difference between body positivity and body neutrality; how she handles the scrutiny and toxicity of social media; and how men can play a positive role in a world with profound double standards when it comes to looks. Content Warning: This episode touches on the topics of suicide, eating disorders, and sexuality. Any profanity has been bleeped out.   This episode is the first in our two-part Anti-Diet Series. In this series, you’ll not only have the chance to reconsider your relationship to food, eating, diet, exercise, and body image–you’ll also learn practical, research-backed tools for approaching all of these things in a healthier, more mindful way. It’s also the subject of our newest Challenge over in the Ten Percent Happier app. In the 7-day Anti-Diet Challenge, we are going to help you build a better relationship with food and your body. The Anti-Diet Challenge kicks off on Monday, December 6, in the Ten Percent Happier app. If you’re not already a Ten Percent Happier subscriber, you can join us by starting a free trial that’ll give you access to the challenge–along with our entire app. Click here to get started.

29 Nov 20211h 4min

It is a common desire to get out of our heads, to escape the internal noise, the chatter, the Sturm und Drang, the sound and fury, etc. You hear about it in pop songs and poetry, this urge to be blown away, to transcend. But how do you actually do it? Willa Blythe Baker can help answer this question and is a font of practical advice. She is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She has a doctorate from Harvard University and is the author of the new book, The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom. This episode talks about Willa’s new book and explores: what somatic mindfulness is; the four levels of your body; specific exercises for getting out of your head; and how to meditate without all the effort. This rangy conversation goes on all sorts of fascinating, esoteric digressions, but always comes back to the practical stuff. Subscribe by December 1 to get 40% off a Ten Percent Happier subscription! Click here for your discount. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/willa-blythe-baker-399

24 Nov 202149min