10% Happier with Dan Harris

Plus: why the vastness of the universe should make you feel bigger, not smaller; where the atoms in your body come from; and what Hollywood gets wrong about aliens
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, a post he's held since 1996. His newest book is Lost in Space: 5,000 Facts for Navigating the Universe.
Born and raised in New York City, he attended the Bronx High School of Science. He earned his B.A. in physics from Harvard, an M.A. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin, and both an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in astrophysics from Columbia.
He's authored eighteen books, hosted Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) and its sequel Cosmos: Possible Worlds (2020), and served as Executive Science Editor on the original Cosmos revival, which won four Emmy Awards. He created and hosts StarTalk — an NSF-funded program pairing celebrity guests with science conversation — which runs as both a podcast and a National Geographic TV series.
In this episode we talk about:
Why knowing his calling at age nine shaped his happiness
Why seeking discomfort and learning new things keeps you growing
How to spot online "experts" who are really selling something
Why the universe can make you feel bigger, not smaller
Why most elements in your body were made inside stars
How mirrors left by Apollo 11 track the moon's slow drift
Why Hollywood's human-looking aliens make no scientific sense
Related Episodes:
Neil's first appearance on the show

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How a 10-second pause can quiet the urge for more, why contentment comes through subtraction, not addition, and why a gratitude list alone can't fix the feeling.
Vinny Ferraro has practiced insight meditation (vipassanā) since the mid-90s. He's the Guiding Teacher of the Big Heart City Sangha in San Francisco and has led a weekly sitting group for almost two decades.
As a fully empowered Dharma Teacher thru Spirit Rock/IMS, he has taught residential retreats at various centers and currently, leads Spirit Rock's Year to Live course. 
In this episode we talk about:
Why no moment ever feels quite good enough
Whether you actually need all that wanting to get things done
How to tell healthy desire from the compulsive kind
Why getting what you want so rarely delivers
Why "why am I like this?" might be the wrong question
How to stop turning other people's joy into a story about you
Why gratitude lists can still leave you reaching
How to turn a wandering mind into a ticker tape parade
Why we dodge the present moment like an old drug dealer
The ten-second pause you can slip into almost anywhere
The two-word rule for deciding what to say yes to
A walking phrase that makes everything feel panoramic
What to do with the sadness of remembering it all ends
Related Episodes:
Frank Ostaseski, What Death Can Teach Us About Living

Additional Resources: 
Vinny Ferraro's 

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Why "how am I feeling?" isn't always the right question, why resilience doesn't mean what you think it means, and how rituals can steady you.
Dr. Suzan Song is a Harvard- and Stanford-trained psychiatrist, humanitarian researcher, and adviser. For more than two decades, she has dedicated her work to building resilience in individuals and communities affected by adversity. She has a private practice in Washington D.C., is a professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, and is a sought-after speaker on the science of healing. Her new book is Why We Suffer and How We Heal: Using Narrative, Ritual, and Purpose to Flourish Through Life's Challenges.
In this episode we talk about:
How a violent attack on her father shaped her life's work
Why we recreate the painful situations we swore we'd avoid
Why chasing stability causes so much of our suffering
Three tools for hard times: narrative, ritual, and purpose
How to spot and rewrite the scripts running our lives
How people heal in countries with almost no therapists
Why validation has to come before asking someone to change
Why purpose is about being needed, not achieving more
Why she thinks we've gotten "resilience" all wrong

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Additional Resources: 
Run, Run Pure Beauty

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Buddhist advice on taking care of yourself so you can take care of the world, including what to do with your outrage, and why looking for the good on purpose isn't denial.
The news is painful right now. And for most of us, the options we reach for — doom-scrolling, rage-posting, or unplugging entirely — don't actually help. Meditation teacher and bestselling author Sharon Salzberg joins Dan to take live questions from the 10% with Dan Harris community on how to find solid ground when the world feels like it's on fire.
In this conversation, Sharon Salzberg and Dan Harris discuss:
How to feel your anger without being consumed by it — and why that distinction matters
What's usually hiding underneath the anger: grief, fear, and sadness
Why action is the antidote to despair — and what actually counts as action
How civil rights movement leaders sustained their effort in the face of uncertainty
How to handle guilt about not doing enough
Why "look for the helpers" is more than a platitude
Whether meditation can possibly be relevant in a full-blown poly-crisis — Sharon's answer may surprise you
Sharon Salzberg is one of the most influential meditation teachers in the Western world. She has been teaching for over four decades and is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. She is the author of many books, including Lovingkindness and Real Happiness. Find more of her guided meditations in the 10% with Dan Harris app.
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This episode is sponsored by:
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Buddhist advice on the feeling of "I'm not enough," the voice that says "if I don't do it, no one will," and tolerating uncertainty without impatience.
Santacitta Bhikkhuni trained as a nun in England & Asia, primarily in the lineage of Ajahn Chah and has also received teachings in the Shechen lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. She is committed to Gaia as a living being and resides at Aloka Earth Room, currently in San Rafael, California. She recently co-authored the book What Are You Waiting For? A Conversation about Buddhism between Two Old Friends. You can find more of Ayya's teachings in audio & video format, as well as ongoing events in-person & online.
In this episode we talk about:
Why self-improvement might be the wrong goal entirely
The upside of having your heart broken
Why patience isn't just for old ladies
How to actually tolerate uncertainty
The difference between reacting and responding
What waiting in line can teach you
The devotional practice missing from Western Buddhism
What it means to become part of the Earth's immune system
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