Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 578: The Buddhist Way of Dealing with Stuff You Don’t Like| Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Accepting the unpleasant: easier said than done. Joseph demonstrates how to overcome reactivity and build the skill of acceptance.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 1970s, 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 from leaders in the field. Joseph has been a teacher there since its founding and continues as the resident guiding teacher. To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Accepting the Unpleasant,” or click here: "https://10percenthappier.app.link/content?meditation=296ad59c-5122-4d9f-b6fd-de245aa50ac0"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, hey, happy Friday. It's a bonus meditation time. As you know, we talked a lot about work on the show this week. Actually for the last two weeks, we did our work life series in occasional franchise. We run here on the show. So today, given the fact that we talked about a lot of difficult aspects of work, including jerks at the office,

today, we're gonna go back to basics with one of the core meditation teachers in TPH land, Joseph Goldstein, who's gonna guide us in a meditation designed to help us to greet whatever happens in our life with some degree of equanimity. To be clear, this does not mean being passive or resigned. It just means acknowledging what is happening right now, no matter how sucky it may be, and then responding wisely instead of reacting blindly. Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder

of the Insight Meditation Society and Barry Massachusetts, an amazing retreat center. He's also the author of numerous books on meditation, including a great book called Simply Mindfulness. And he's one of my favorite humans. Here we go now with Joseph Goldstein. One of the most challenging aspects of meditation practice is learning how to open to and accept

and be with unpleasant experiences. They may be unpleasant bodily sensations. They may be what we call a flick-to-veemotion, those emotions that are unpleasant, that causing suffering. In mindfulness practice, we want to acknowledge and open to each of these experiences. A very helpful mantra that I've used in this respect is it's okay, it's okay to feel this.

The sensation may be unpleasant, the sensation may be painful, and it's okay to feel it. We expand our capacity to be with unpleasant sensation, with greater equanimity, with greater openness, with less reactivity. As you begin the sitting, sit comfortably in a dignified posture with the back straight but not stiff, letting the eyes close gently, Simply, settle into your body, feeling the body in the sitting posture, and simply sit and I At different times, you may hear different sounds.

There may be loud sounds, there may be soft sounds, there may be pleasant, they may be unpleasant. Simply rest in the openness and be aware of how all sounds appear and disappear. And when they're no longer predominant, return again to the simple instruction, sit and know you sitting? When thoughts arise in the mind, as soon as you become aware that you are thinking, make a soft mental note of thinking. The idea in meditation is not to stop thinking, but rather to be aware when we are thinking. The idea in meditation is not to stop thinking, but rather to be aware when we are thinking, to see it as simply another object of mindfulness, noticing all the thoughts arise and pass away. 1.5% deurice. There will be many times when the mind seems to be carried away by trains of thought.

I would have a point you become aware that you've been lost for an extended period of time in that moment and becoming aware. Simply acknowledge that and begin again. Reconnect with your body breathing and continue with your eyes and reconnect again with the world around you. This concludes our meditation and will continue our exploration tomorrow. Thank you to Joseph. You can find more meditations like this one over on the 10% happier app. Just download the app wherever you get your apps to get started.

We'll see you back here on Monday with a brand new episode. This is really a wild one. We're going to talk to an inmate on death row, who is also a devout and dedicated Buddhist. Jarvis J. Masters coming up on Monday. 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 Wondery 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. all about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.