Can a Psychic Medium Improve Your Life? Wrestling With the Balance Between Open-Mindedness and Skepticism

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Frequent guest Sam Harris discusses life after quitting Twitter and the metaphysics of meditation along with special co-host and brother Matt Harris.  Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and author of five New York Times best sellers. His work covers a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, political polarization, rationality—but generally focuses on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. His books include The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up. Sam hosts the popular Making Sense podcast and is the creator of the Waking Up app, which offers a modern approach to living a more examined life, through both in-depth mindfulness training and secular wisdom. Sam has practiced meditation for over 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad. He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. In this episode we talk about: The psychological benefits of quitting Twitter Vipassana meditation vs. Dzogchen The practice of looking for the looker Sam’s views on the metaphysics of meditation and psychic powers Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/sam-harris-2023

6 Dec 20231h 4min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- What the ancient Greek philosophers discovered about how to do life better. Tamar Gendler is dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. Her Open Yale course “Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature” has hundreds of thousands of views. An updated version of this course will be available on the Coursera website this spring.  In this episode we talk about: The tension between our animal nature and our spiritual/intellectual nature How to define concepts such as “virtue”, “morality” and “the soul”  Whether living a moral life actually makes you happy  The similarities and differences between ancient Greek philosophy & Buddhism  And how Tamar has applied all of this to her own life Related Episodes: How (and Why) to Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz An Ace Therapist Gives Dan A Run For His Money | Dr. Jacob Ham Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/tamar-gendler

4 Dec 20231h 21min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- One's a legend, the other's a phenom. Together, they offer practical wisdom for maintaining your daily meditation practice, handling conflict, connecting with community, and understanding the limits of the mind. Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies, and the co-founder of Cloud Sangha. Diego Perez is a #1 New York Times bestselling author who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name, Yung Pueblo. Online he has an audience of over 3 million people. Diego’s books are Inward, Clarity & Connection, Lighter, and The Way Forward. In this episode we talk about: How and why to maintain a daily meditation practice The importance of community The limits of the thinking mind How to handle conflict How to love without being attached Related Episodes: Jack Kornfield talking about forgiveness and uncertainty on the pod Yung Pueblo’s past appearance on the pod Dan Clurman and Mudita Nisker on effective communication Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Further resources: Diego's latest book: The Way Forward  Diego’s Newsletter Diego’s Instagram Wisdom Ventures  A note on Cloud Sangha: Jack Kornfield is a co-founder of Cloud Sangha, where you can turn your challenges into compost for growth and change. Come use your real-life experiences to rehearse living mindfully so you can be the best version of yourself, more often. Join us online to navigate the ups and downs of life together, and find inner freedom along the way. Use the code "TENPERCENTHAPPIER" to receive 30% off. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/jack-kornfield-and-yung-pueblo

29 Nov 20231h 4min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A counterintuitive way to become more clear, creative, and persistent, via a writer who calls himself a “human guinea pig.” A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, podcaster, and human guinea pig. His new podcast “The Puzzler” is produced by iHeart and is in the Top 20 Apple Podcasts. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. Among his books are “The Year of Living Biblically” and “The Know-It-All.” He has told several Moth stories, has given several TED talks that have amassed over 10 million views. His latest book is “The Puzzler,” which Booklist called “ridiculously entertaining,” and The New York Times called “a romp, both fun and funny.”  In this episode we talk about: The “puzzle mindset” and how it can change the way you approach your problems  Creating a puzzle that will take billions of years to solve How puzzles can help us during dark times The dark side of the puzzling world How his gratitude project made him better at talking to himself  Learning to appreciate everyday objects and people he sees all the time How pretending to be a good person helped him actually learn to be one – most of the time Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/aj-jacobs-688 Additional Resources: Download the Ten Percent Happier app today: https://10percenthappier.app.link/install

27 Nov 20231h 13min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Buddhist strategies for navigating tumult— and even becoming a node of sanity amidst it all. Oren Jay Sofer teaches meditation and communication internationally and has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1997. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Born and raised in New Jersey, he is the author of several books, including the best-seller Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication as well as his newest book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love. In this episode we talk about: 26 qualities for both navigating and positively impacting a chaotic world What inspired the title of his newest book  Why the cultivation of attention and aspiration can be transformative tools How mindfulness isn’t just about feeling good Why joy can help us to persevere through challenges  And How to reframe the concept of devotion so that it can apply to your everyday life Related Episodes: Oren Jay Sofer, Practicing Mindful Communication  Why Buddhism Is Inherently Hopeful (Despite All the Talk of Suffering)  Rethinking Your Relationship to 'Stuff' | The Minimalists + Oren Jay Sofer Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/oren-jay-sofer-new-heart

22 Nov 20231h 7min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- This guest says you can thrive with anxiety. And the trick is learning to get comfortable with discomfort. Dr. David H. Rosmarin is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, a program director at McLean Hospital, and founder of Center for Anxiety, which services over 1,000 patients/year in multiple states. His most recent book is Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You. In this episode we talk about: The difference between anxiety and stress How anxiety and distress can, paradoxically, improve our relationships with ourselves and others Why he’s a proponent of exposure therapy How anxiety can be transmuted into love Why we often use anger to cover up fear and anxiety And the spiritual benefit of thinking the worst Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full Shownotes:https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/david-rosmarin

20 Nov 202353min

Today we are dropping down our feed a conversation that I listened to recently that had a huge impact on me. It's from a great show that I'm sure many of you have heard of, On Being with Krista Tippett. It's been around for decades, and it explores the question of what it means to be human, how to do life better, how to live with each other in complex times. Krista Tippett is a recent friend of mine, somebody who I have long admired and really, like – she was on the show just recently. They've got a new season of their show going right now, over on the On Being feed, which I highly recommend you check out. They're doing episodes on the intelligence of the human body, what AI might be calling us to as human beings, and much more.  They've also got a 20 year archive of conversations with people like Mary Oliver, John O'Donohue, and Desmond Tutu, which is pretty extraordinary. And this conversation, which, as I mentioned earlier, has had a big impact on me seems unfortunately quite relevant. It's about conflict and how to do it right: the difference between healthy conflict, which is an unavoidable part of life, and high conflict, which we see all around us these days, but which is avoidable.

17 Nov 20231h 5min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Practical tools for regulating your nervous system in stressful times.   Deb Dana is a licensed clinical social worker, clinician, and consultant who specializes in working with complex trauma. She is the author of Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory. In this episode we talk about: What polyvagal theory is The case for understanding our nervous system The practical tools and exercises for changing our nervous system and learning to become more regulated The fact that our nervous systems aren’t simply isolated, self-contained phenomena – they are social structures Our responsibilities for our own nervous system and the nervous systems of others Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/deb-dana-rerun

15 Nov 202358min