Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Guided Meditation: Remembering Your Goodness (Bonus!)

Episode Date: June 5, 2017

In conjunction with Sharon Salzberg's new book, "Real Love," the folks at the 10% Happier app recorded a series of six audio meditations that can be used as a complement to the book or as standalone. The first of this series is being made available right here on the 10% Happier podcast and is about connecting with your own goodness. If that sounds gooey, Sharon breaks it down for us in her inimitable style, showing us how recognizing the good is a healthy counter to habits of self-criticism and negative thinking. This meditation and five more from Sharon are available on the 10% Happier app. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It kind of blows my mind to consider the fact that we're up to nearly 600 episodes of this podcast, the 10% happier podcast. That's a lot of conversations. I like to think of it as a great compendium of, and I know this is a bit of a grandiose term, but wisdom. The only downside of having this vast library of audio is that it can be hard to know where to start. So we're launching a new feature here, playlists, just like you put together a playlist of your favorite songs.

Back in the day, we used to call those mix tapes. Just like you do that with music, you can do it with podcasts. So if you're looking for episodes about anxiety, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes. Or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes, or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist for that. We've even put together a playlist of some of my personal favorite episodes. That was a hard list to make. Check out our playlists at 10%.com slash playlist. That's 10% all one word spelled out..com slash playlist singular.

Let us know what you think. We're always open to tweaking how we do things and maybe there's a playlist we haven't thought of. Hit me up on Twitter or submit a comment through the website. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Kiki Palmer. I'm an actress, singer, and entrepreneur. I'm a new podcast, baby, this is Kiki Palmer. I'm asking friends, family, and experts,

the questions that are in my head. Like, it's only fans only bad. Where did memes come from. And where's Tom from MySpace? Listen to Baby, this is Kiki Palmer on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast. All right, we've got another in our series of free guided meditations for you. This one's from the legendary Sharon Salisberg who is releasing a new book called Real Love, which is about the fact that just as you can practice mindfulness and concentration and calm you can actually practice compassion and love, which is a pretty revolutionary headline. We should say that if you like this guide and meditation we've got a whole series of guided meditations based on this new book from Sharon on the 10% happier app here, Sharon.

This meditation was inspired by the first section of my book, Real Love. Because many of us find ourselves ruminating on the things we regret, and the mistakes we've made, sometimes, predominantly, sometimes almost exclusively. We experiment with this kind of exercise to broaden our perspective. It will help you redirect your attention and remember your basic goodness or worth. The point is not to deny your mistakes, but to understand that if you keep rehearsing them, analyzing them, creating stories around them, you're going to be reinforcing the pain and alienation they've already caused you. When you can recognize and reflect on even one good thing about yourself, you're building

a bridge to a place of kindness and caring. Standing in that place increases your ability to look honestly and directly at whatever's difficult and gives you the energy and the courage to move forward. Because this is a reflective exercise, we actually use something like the feeling of the breath as an anchor for our attention so that we move from that awareness of the sensations of the breath to the reflection and periodically check back in with the breath. And certainly if you become lost, you become distracted, you should get what you're reflecting on, you can come, you should get what you're reflecting

on, you can come back to the breath. However the breath is actually appearing. And we find the place where the breath is most predominant for us. This is where we rest our attention. So let's begin. You can sit comfortably in a relaxed, easy posture. If you wish, close your eyes or keep them just a little bit open. Find that place where the breath is clearest for you or strongest for you.

Perhaps it's the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen. Bring your attention there and just rest. See if you can feel just one breath. Without concern for its already gone by, without leaning forward for even the very next breath, just this one. Now bring to mind one thing you've done or said recently, that you feel was kind or good. It doesn't have to be newsworthy. Maybe smiled at someone or listened to their story. Maybe you let them know that you're not good at it. Maybe you let them know that you're not good at it. Maybe you let them know that you're not good at it. Maybe smile to someone or listen to their story.

Maybe you let go of your annoyance at a slow checkout clerk. Maybe you're generous. Maybe you sat down to meditate. Maybe you thanked the bus driver. It's not consider arrogance to consider these things. It's nourishing and replenishing to take delight in the good that moves through us. When you might think of a quality or skill in yourself that you like or appreciate, perhaps you're enthused about helping others learn or committed to practicing patience towards your difficult neighbor. Let's pause here for a moment and check back in with the feeling of the breath.

If you still find yourself caught up in self-criticism, turn your attention to the mere fact that you have an urge toward happiness. There is kindness and beauty in that. Or simply recall that all beings everywhere want to be happy. Everybody wants to be happy. Never feel ashamed of your longing for happiness. Recall that this is your birthright. Seeking happiness is not the problem. The problem is that we often do not know where and how to find genuine happiness. And so we make the mistakes that cause suffering for ourselves and for others.

But that urge toward happiness itself is rightful. And when we support it with mindfulness, it can become like a homing instinct or a compass pointing us toward freedom. If any impatience or judgments emerge during this meditation, don't feel as though you failed. This is entirely natural. Simply allow the negative reaction to Abbb as a wave on the beach and see if you can return to the positive contemplation of yourself. Remember the breath, the in-b eyes, or lift your gaze. Notice how it feels to have this more complete and truthful and integrated sense of yourself.

And see if you can bring forth some of that feeling into your day. Thanks to Sharon and remember you can hear more free guided meditations from Sharon based on her new book on the 10% happier app. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and add 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. Like the short and it's full of a lot of interesting questions. What does happiness really mean? How do I get the most out of my time here on Earth? And what really is the best cereal? These are the questions I seek to resolve on my weekly podcast, Life is short with Justin Long. If you're looking for the answer to deep philosophical questions like, what is the meaning of life? I can't really help you.

But I do believe that we really enrich our experience here by learning from others. And that's why in each episode, I like to talk with actors, musicians, artists, scientists, and many more types of people about how they get the most out of life. We explore how they felt during the highs, and sometimes more importantly, the lows of their careers. We discuss how they've been able to stay happy during some of the harder times, but if I'm being honest, it's mostly just fun chats

between friends about the important stuff. Like, if you had a sandwich named after you, what would be on it? Follow Life is short wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to Add Free on the Amazon Music or Wondering App. or Wondry app.