Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 548: An On-the-go Strategy for Reducing Judgementalism | Bonus Meditation with Jay Michaelson

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

A busy city is an ideal place to cultivate loving-kindness and powerfully connect to those around you while you’re out and about.About Jay Michaelson:Dr. Jay Michaelson is a Senior Content Strategist at Ten Percent Happier and the author of seven books on meditation, including his newest, Enlightenment by Trial and Error.  Jay is also a columnist for The Daily Beast, and was a professional LGBTQ activist for ten years. Jay is an ordained rabbi and has taught meditation in secular, Buddhist, and Jewish context for eighteen years.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Loving-Kindness in the City,” or click here: https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=8466115b-afe5-4323-8827-a8296031502d.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it even mean to live a good life? Is it about happiness, purpose, love, health, or wealth? What really matters in the pursuit of a life well lived? These are the questions award-winning author, founder, and interviewer Jonathan Fields asks his guests on the Top Ranked Good Life Project podcast. Every week, Jonathan sits down with world renowned thinkers and doers, people like Glenn and Doyle, Adam Grant,

Young Pueblo, Jonathan Height, and hundreds more. Start listening right now. Look for the Good Life Project on your favorite podcast app. This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey, there. Happy Friday. It's time for a bonus. I personally have found it to be incredible

and incredibly humbling to notice when I'm just walking around in daily life how judgmental I am of everybody who crosses my path. How many assumptions I make? Seeing this and shaving down on it can be super useful as it can help us be less blinded by bias and also turn down the volume on a background static of toxicity. So today we've got a free range on the Go technique for this. Our teacher, DuJour is Jay Michelson who is a senior content strategist at 10% happier. Jay is the author of seven books on meditation and is also an ordained rabbi who has taught meditation in both secular, Buddhist, and Jewish contexts for 18 years. Here we go now with my friend Jay Michelson.

Hi, this is Jay. I live in a big city, one of the biggest, in fact, New York. And while people often ask how it's possible for a meditation teacher to live in the noisy pushy city, actually, I find the city a great place to meditate on the go. There are many city practices I love, and this one, cultivating loving kindness, is one of my favorites. Let's give it a try. The best place to do this meditation is out in the city itself.

You could be sitting at your favorite cafe, looking at people coming and going, or on the bus or in the park, anywhere really. You don't even need to be still. As long as you watch where you're going, or going to keep our eyes open for this one. You can even be part of the rush yourself. To begin, whether you're sitting or standing, take a moment to just ground in the body. What does that mean? It means just taking a second to center yourself using your physical body as an anchor, noticing the weight on your feet or on your butt. Maybe noticing the sensation of a single breath coming and going. Here you are. That's all. Try that for a bit.

Okay, let's get to it. First, notice someone nearby. Doesn't matter who. Just get a quick look at them, whether they're still or in motion. Maybe register what they're wearing, what they look like. And now the fun part. We're going to just imagine a story. Suppose they're checking their phone, for example. I wonder why. Texts from a loved

one? Anxious news about a friend in the hospital. Of course, we have no idea, which is exactly the point. We almost never know what's going on for the people right around us. It's easy to form judgments, make assumptions, and even to get annoyed at total strangers. At least here we're being honest about the fact that we're making all this stuff up. So back to that person. Chances are, at some point in their life, they lost someone they once loved. Maybe a parent, maybe a grandparent or a friend. Can you open your heart a bit to this total stranger, imagining them in that difficult situation?

So open, tender, vulnerable. Next, imagine them in a moment of joy, maybe with a lover or a friend or at a music concert or some happy occasion like a birthday. We're going to stay with this person, but we don't know. And just imagine them happy. And let's extend them a little wish of loving kindness. Nothing major, just a little wish of goodwill, hoping that the moment they're in now has little joy, or contentment, or consolation, or peace. And with that, we'll come back to our own experience, our own body and mind, checking in, seeing how we feel.

I really love this practice. First, I love people watching and imagining things. But more deeply, I find it cures loneliness and opens my heart. Have a kind and open day. Thank you to Jay, and we'll see you right back here on Monday for a brand new episode. Hey, hey Prime members! You can listen to 10% happier early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with 1ondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Before you go, do us a solid and tell us all about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.