Smart strategies that emerged from a brutal year. Sam Sanders is an award-winning reporter, radio host and podcaster. He co-hosts the podcast Vibe Check with Zach Stafford and Saeed Jones. He also currently hosts The Sam Sanders Show from KCRW. Check out the album he mentioned in the episode, Caroline Rose’s The Art of Forgetting . This is part 2 in a 3-part series we’re running on grief. In this episode we talk about: The fact that there is no right way to deal with grief The ...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 873•Transcript available on Metacast A journalist explores one of humanity’s most brutal and unavoidable experiences. Cody Delistraty is a writer and speechwriter, most recently working as the culture editor at the Wall Street Journal Magazine. He has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and was the European arts columnist for The Paris Review. He has degrees in politics from New York University and in history from the University of Oxford. British Vogue named him a best young writer of the year, and he has...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Learn to find a feeling of protection and trust during a downpour of stressful thoughts or overwhelm. About Matthew Hepburn: Matthew is a meditation and dharma teacher with more than a decade of teaching experience and a passion for getting real about what it means to live well. He emphasizes humor, technique, and authentic kindness as a means to free the mind up from unnecessary struggle and leave a healthier impact on the world. Beyond Happier, Matthew has taught in prisons, schools, corporate...
Dec 08, 2024•6 min•Ep 871•Transcript available on Metacast This scientist says that walking is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Here are some ways you can incorporate it into your life. Today we're going to talk about something so obvious, but so incredibly powerful. Walking. This is the third of a three part mini-series we're doing focused on the benefits of spending time outdoors. Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Cen...
Dec 06, 2024•36 min•Ep 870•Transcript available on Metacast Buddhist megastars in conversation. Today, we’re dropping a recording of a live event we held earlier this year, during which Joseph Goldstein and Dr. Mark Epstein came on stage for a fascinating set of conversations. We did this event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Dan’s first book, also called 10% Happier. The night was structured like a late night show, so there was a monologue, and live music with the band Mates of State . Dr. Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist in private prac...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 869•Transcript available on Metacast How learning to apologize can upgrade your life. V (formerly Eve Ensler) is the Tony award-winning playwright, author, and activist. Her play The Vagina Monologues is an Obie award-winning, Olivier-nominated theatrical phenomenon that has been translated into 48 languages and performed in 140 countries. She is the author of numerous books, including the recently released bestseller Reckoning (2023) , heralded by the Washington Post as “gutting and gorgeous.” Other best-selling books include The ...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr•Ep 868•Transcript available on Metacast Rest is natural and needed. Appreciate and embrace the mammalian seasonal shifts. About Jeff Warren: Jeff makes meditation and practice accessible to diverse audiences in order to help people live more fulfilled and connected lives. He’s taught meditation to suspicious journalists, US Army cadets, burned-out caregivers, Arizona cops, formerly-incarcerated youth, virtuoso popstars, distractible teens, and every other conceivable demographic of freethinker, including squirmy six-year old kids.&nbs...
Dec 01, 2024•7 min•Ep 867•Transcript available on Metacast Practical tips for accessing the healthcare of nature no matter where you live. It’s very possible that you've heard the long list of physiological and psychological benefits that one can derive from getting out into nature. Those benefits include improved mood, boosted immune system, lowered blood pressure and more. That being said, 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. So today, we're going to talk to an expert about how to derive the many benefits of nature, no matter where you are. Dr...
Nov 29, 2024•29 min•Ep 866•Transcript available on Metacast A journalist-turned-Buddhist-nun shares six phrases – or mantras – to help keep your relationships on the rails. Relationships can be tricky. Especially if you find yourself upset with someone, and instead of talking it through, you let it fester until one moment you completely lose it and end up having to apologize. If you’ve ever felt like you had friction with the people in your life, or that you’ve been taken for granted, today’s episode offers you solid strategies to cope. Siste...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 865•Transcript available on Metacast A compendium of expert advice on handling all the complications — and pleasures — that the holiday season brings. I have whipped up a holiday survival guide for you, a series of evidence-based strategies for navigating what can be a tricky time of year. During the course of this episode, I'm going to talk about nine pain points, including navigating political differences around the dinner table, overeating, overwhelm, travel indignities, social anxiety, difficult family members, etc....
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr•Ep 864•Transcript available on Metacast When you’re faced with a difficult situation, respond rather than react by slowing down, taking a breath, & observing what you’re feeling. About Dawn Mauricio: Dawn Mauricio discovered the practices of Buddhist meditation in 2005, and from then on, did what any well-intentioned perfectionist would do — plunge in head first! Since then, she's graduated from several teaching programs, including Spirit Rock's four-year Teacher Training. Her teaching style is playful, dynamic, and heartfelt, and...
Nov 24, 2024•6 min•Ep 863•Transcript available on Metacast Scientific evidence that spending time in nature has profound impacts on your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. We’ve got something special planned for you today. We’re talking about the massive psychological and physiological benefits of being in nature. Nature impacts your mood. It has a whole long list of positive benefits for your nervous system, and even changes how you are with other people. In fact, as you'll hear today’s guest say, “nature is healthcare”. Dr. Dacher Keltn...
Nov 22, 2024•35 min•Ep 862•Transcript available on Metacast Radical strategies for the scarcity mindset. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, ...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 861•Transcript available on Metacast Evidence from the guy who pioneered the science. James Pennebaker is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his early research on expressive writing and health. More recently, he has pioneered ways to study people’s personalities and behaviors through the analysis of their language use. His text analysis program LIWC is used across disciplines. Author of over 300 scientific articles and 8 books, his research has affected our understanding and treat...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 856•Transcript available on Metacast An alternative for people who have trouble meditating on the breath. About Sharon Salzberg: Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness & lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture fifty years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. A co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, Sharon is the author of thirteen books, includin...
Nov 15, 2024•6 min•Ep 859•Transcript available on Metacast A crucial (and often misunderstood) concept in Buddhism: letting go. For this episode, Executive Producer DJ Cashmere interviewed a trio of brilliant Dharma teachers to get their advice about how to handle surrendering or letting go. This is the fourth in a series of 'correspondent' episodes , in which DJ identifies a pain point in his life and meditation practice, then goes out into the world to report on the best ways to address it. Kaira Jewel Lingo is a former nun in the Plum Village traditi...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep 858•Transcript available on Metacast What ancient Greeks and Romans figured out about stress reduction. You may have heard about stoicism, in the common parlance, as having a stiff upper lip, sucking it up, grinning and bearing it, suppressing your emotions, etcetera. Or you may have heard of Stoicism, the ancient Greco/Roman philosophy, that has become the de rigeur set of life hacks among millennial self-optimizers. In this episode, guest Nancy Sherman argues that Stoicism is way deeper than any of that. She will argue that...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 857•Transcript available on Metacast Discomfort with the unknown is a natural human response. This meditation will help you relax as you practice allowing the rhythm of life to unfold. 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 ...
Nov 08, 2024•6 min•Ep 856•Transcript available on Metacast How to get the practice into your molecules—not in some militaristic way, but in a way that feels easy and natural. Alexis Santos has been in the field of mindfulness and meditation since 2001. After graduating from Harvard University in 1995, he spent several years in medical school before leaving his chosen career as a doctor to seek out a different path. It was while traveling in India that he was introduced to insight meditation. Since that time, Alexis has practiced in many meditativ...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep 855•Transcript available on Metacast How optimizing this skill can change your life – and the world. Rabbi Sharon Brous has some extremely practical tips for how to improve what psychologists call your social health. She is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR , a Jewish community in LA. Her new book, a bestseller, is called The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Heal Our Hearts and Mend Our Broken World . Related Episodes: This Neurobiologist Wants You To Ask One Question To Reframe Anxiety, Depression, And Trauma | Dr. Bruce Perry (...
Nov 04, 2024•56 min•Ep 854•Transcript available on Metacast Unraveling one of our main sources of unhappiness. About Sebene Selassie: Growing up, Sebene felt like a big weirdo. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised in white neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., she was a tomboy Black girl who loved Monty Python and UB40. She never believed she belonged. Thirty years ago, she began studying Buddhism as an undergraduate at McGill University where she majored in Comparative Religious Studies. Now, Sebene is a teacher, author, and speaker who teaches that me...
Nov 01, 2024•6 min•Ep 853•Transcript available on Metacast The Buddhist case — and toolkit — for “don’t-know mind.” For this episode, Executive Producer DJ Cashmere interviewed a trio of brilliant Dharma teachers to get their advice about how to handle being wrong. This is the third in a series of 'correspondent' episodes , in which DJ identifies a pain point in his life and meditation practice, then goes out into the world to report on the best ways to address it. Kaira Jewel Lingo is a former nun in the Plum Village tradition started by Zen Master Thi...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 852•Transcript available on Metacast A Stanford innovation expert shares practical tips on future-proofing your mind. Frederik Pferdt was Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist, where founded Google’s Innovation Lab. He’s also taught classes on innovation and creativity at Stanford University for more than a decade. His new book is called What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready . In this episode we talk about: Why we are so resistant to change How to embrace the unknown Why and how to develop compulsive curiosity The value...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 851•Transcript available on Metacast Cultivating what’s good in us helps during times of both abundance and adversity. In fact, it’s when times are hard that we need it the most. About Kaira Jewel Lingo: At the age of twenty-five, Kaira Jewel Lingo entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and spent fifteen years living as a nun under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Now based in New York, she sees her work as a continuation of Engaged Buddhism as well as the work of her parents, inspired by their storie...
Oct 27, 2024•7 min•Ep 850•Transcript available on Metacast Why the man behind “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is a self-help junkie. Judd Apatow is one of the most prolific comedic minds in the industry. Recently, Apatow produced Peacock’s buddy comedy Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain and Universal’s romcom, Bros, starring and co-written by Billy Eichner. Apatow also directed, produced, and co-wrote with Pam Brady, the Netflix comedy The Bubble and produced and co-directed HBO Films’ Emmy®-winning documentary George Carlin’s American Dream ...
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep 849•Transcript available on Metacast What you resist persists. Buddhist strategies for acceptance and equanimity. Ofosu Jones-Quartey , a meditation teacher, author, and musician hailing from the Washington DC area brings over 17 years of experience in sharing mindfulness, meditation and self-compassion practices with the world. Holding a bachelor’s degree from American University and certified by the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, Ofosu is a graduate of the Teleos Coaching Institute and is the male voice on ...
Oct 23, 2024•58 min•Ep 848•Transcript available on Metacast “America's Government Teacher” has smart tips for staying calm in turbulent times. After years of serving as a high school government and law teacher, Sharon McMahon took her passion for education to Instagram, where more than a million people (who affectionately call themselves “Governerds”) rely on her for non-partisan, fact-based information. Sharon is also the host of the award-winning podcast, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting , where, each week, she provides entertaining yet factual account...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep 847•Transcript available on Metacast Co-opt the feeling of boredom and use it as feedback, instead of just wanting it to go away. About Joseph Goldstein: Joseph is one of the most respected meditation teachers in the world -- a key architect of the rise of mindfulness in our modern society -- with a sense of humor to boot. In the 1970's, he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Since its founding, thousands of people from around the world have come to IMS to learn mindfulness ...
Oct 20, 2024•6 min•Ep 846•Transcript available on Metacast Last month, Dan appeared on Impolitic With John Heilemann — the two guys are old friends — to talk through Dan’s strategies for staying sane in the homestretch of this anxiety-fueled, agitation-inducing, existentially unnerving election; why failure is often more productive and profitable (mentally, emotionally, spiritually) than success; how to maintain a sense of calm, balance, and serenity while working harder than, in Dan’s phrase, a “six-peckered goat;” and the career earthquake that’s led ...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep 845•Transcript available on Metacast How to handle other people's anger—and the anger that their anger might trigger in you. For this episode, Executive Producer DJ Cashmere interviewed a trio of brilliant Dharma teachers to get their advice about how to handle anger. This is the second in a series of 'correspondent' episodes , in which DJ identifies a pain point in his life and meditation practice, then goes out into the world to report on the best ways to address it. Kaira Jewel Lingo is a former nun in the Plum Village tradition...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 844•Transcript available on Metacast 
