#382: Stoicism 101 | Nancy Sherman
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
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.
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How to Meditate with No Agenda | Bonus Meditation with Jeff Warren
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Free your creativity with this light meditation and see where the momentum takes you.
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#381: What Does it Actually Mean to Be a "Whole Person"? | Scott Barry Kaufman
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
In this episode, we’re going to demystify concepts such as: self actualization, personal growth, authenticity, and bringing your “whole self” to the table.
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#380: Psychedelics and Meditation | Michael Pollan
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Michael Pollan has done more than perhaps anybody else in recent history to change the conversation on the use of psychedelic drugs, or plant medicine. He is author of the best selling book called How to Change Your Mind and he recently followed up with another book called This is Your Mind on Plants. Pollan is also the co-founder of the University of California Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, along with another recent podcast guest, Dacher Keltner.
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Accepting the Unpleasant | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Accepting the unpleasant: easier said than done. Joseph demonstrates how to overcome reactivity and build the skill of acceptance.
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#379: How to Get the Wisdom of Old Age Now | Dilip Jeste
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Happiness levels are really high when we’re young. They then steadily dip through our 20s, 30s, and 40s, and bottom out in our early 50s–at which point, they make a sharp and sudden rise. Then, through our 60s, 70s, and 80s, they are way above where we were in our youth.
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#378: Life, Interrupted | Suleika Jaouad
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Here’s a thought experiment: how would you handle it if you got a terrible diagnosis?
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High-Fiving the Inner Critic | Bonus Meditation with La Sarmiento
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Today’s meditation is animated by two profound insights. The first is that we don’t just tend to listen to our inner critic–we tend to believe it. And the second is that the path forward requires us to treat our inner critic with compassion and kindness.
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#377: A More Relaxed Way to Meditate | Alexis Santos
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
A common problem among type-A people is trying to win at meditation. But the practice doesn’t work like that. If you over-effort, if you try to make something happen, it’s pretty much guaranteed not to happen. What is guaranteed is that you will suffer. Meditation is like a video game where you can’t move forward if you want to move forward too badly.
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#376: Letting Go of Perfectionism | La Sarmiento
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between kindness and what our guest, La Sarmiento, calls “radical kindness,” how to muster the strength to be kind to annoying people while setting appropriate boundaries, the difference between radical compassion and what the Tibetans call “idiot compassion,” and their experience of learning to accept themselves in a culture that is not always so welcoming.
info_outlineYou 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, in fact, Stoicism is kind of the opposite of all the above. It’s a way to truly know your patterns of thought and emotion. Nancy is a Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. She is an expert in ethics, the history of moral philosophy, moral psychology, military ethics, and emotions. Her most recent book is called Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience.
In this conversation we cover the basics of Stoicism, how and why capital “S” Stoicism is often misinterpreted, a meditation practice called “premeditation of evils” (which is far more practical than it may sound), and another practice designed to make you feel “at home in the world."
Please note: This interview includes a brief reference to suicide.
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Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/nancy-sherman-382