Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - A Meditation For When You Need To Make A Big Decision | Bonus Meditation with Oren Jay Sofer

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

When you feel anxious about a difficult decision, meditation can help take the edge off and put you in touch with your own wisdom as a guide.About Oren Jay Sofer:Oren Jay Sofer teaches mindfulness, meditation and Nonviolent Communication. He has practiced meditation since 1997, beginning his studies in Bodh Gaya, India and is a long-time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michele McDonald, and Ajahn Sucitto, and is a graduate of the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training program. Oren teaches retreats across the country and works as Senior Program Developer at Mindful Schools, teaching and developing curricula for one of the international leaders of mindfulness in education.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Making A Tough Decision.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey everybody, happy Friday, time for a bonus meditation. We all know, of course, how much it sucks to get into a fight with somebody with whom we're close. It turns out, however, there's a meditation for that. It comes from the great Orin Sofer, who also teaches the Emotions course over on the 10% Happier app, so go check that out. I should also say Orin is a new dad.

Congratulations to Orin's family. Of course, this means there's now a new person in the world who Orin will love and probably get into a fight with at some point. So this meditation may have even deeper meaning for him at some point in the not too distant future. A little background on Orin, he teaches mindfulness meditation and also non-violent communication

in secular and Buddhist contexts. He's a long time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michelle McDonald and Ajahn Suchito and a graduate of the IMS Spirit Rock Vipassana Teacher Training Program. He's also the author of a great book called Say What You Mean, A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication, which is a practical guidebook

for having more effective conversations. Here we go now with Oren J. Sofer. Hey, this is Oren. If we're aware, life is a series of choices, one moment after another. Meditation can help take the edge off some of the anxiety around making a decision, and put us in touch with our own wisdom as a guide. So let's practice together. Find a comfortable posture. You can let your eyes close or keep them open.

Next, let's bring the attention to any areas where you might be holding stress or tension in your body and see if we can soften and relax there. Let's turn to a challenging decision that you're facing in any area of your life. First, take a few moments to consider Let's start with the first option. So if you choose this route, what does it accomplish? What are the primary, most fundamental benefits this first option might bring about? Once you've identified that, take a few more moments to feel or sense how important this is. How do you know that this matters? Not intellectually, but in your ready, go ahead and turn your attention to the second option.

What's important here? What are the goals or deeper needs behind this one? What's its purpose at the most basic level? And once again, after you have a sense of that, take some time to feel how important this is. How do you know this matters? Again, not intellectually, in your guts, deeper down in your bones. So now, with as open a mind as possible, consider the first option. When you imagine taking this course of action, does it feel like a yes or a no? What's your gut say?

Then consider the other option. When you imagine taking this course of action, does it feel like a yes or a no? What's your gut say? Having gone through the process this far, do you feel ready to decide? Are things trending in one direction? And if so, how's that feel? feel. If a decision isn't clear yet, give it some more time if you can. Sleep on it. When you're ready, you can let your eyes open.

I'm wishing you well with whatever you decide. Big thanks to Oren. We'll see you right back here on Monday for a brand new episode. If you like 10% happier, and I hope you do, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey.