Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - How to Keep It Together When the Shit Hits the Fan | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

During major life transitions your emotional and mental world can kick into overdrive. Learn how to stay in the eye of the hurricane.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 1970's, 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 “Calm in Big Transitions’’. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you been considering starting or restarting your meditation practice? Well in the words of highway billboards across America. If you're looking for a sign, this is it. To help you get started, we're offering subscriptions at a 40% discount until September 3rd. Of course, nothing is permanent. So get this deal before it ends by going to 10% dot com slash 40. That's 10% one word all spelled out dot com slash 40

for 40% off your subscription. It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Friday everybody, it's time for a bonus meditation. One of the reasons we call meditation a practice is that it actually is. A practice you're practicing to keep it together when things happen in your life and things always happen. The world is out of our control and we're going to be faced with lots of big changes in our life. So meditation really is a way to boost your muscles of calm and

resiliency and that's what we're going to do today. Today's meditation is from my God Joseph Goldstein and it's a way to way to boost your muscles for staying calm, no matter what's going on. I want to be clear, you're not always going to get this right, either in the meditation or in real life, but I believe, and there's evidence to support this, that if you do this practice with some regularity, you will boost your odds of keeping it together. A little bit more about Joseph. He's one of the most respected meditation teachers

in the world, a key architect in the rise of mindfulness in our modern society. And he's got a great sense of humor. And then 1970s, he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society, which is an extraordinary institution based in Barry, Massachusetts. He did that alongside Sharon Salisberg and Jack Cornfield since its founding thousands of people from around the world have come to IMS to learn mindfulness.

Joseph has been there since the founding and he continues to be the resident guiding teacher. So here we go now with Joseph Goldstein. Hello, this is Joseph. In the midst of big life transitions, it's not unusual for different and sometimes difficult mind states to arise. Maybe states like doubt or uncertainty, or we may be feeling worried or anxiety or fear. Sometimes it's obsessive planning that takes over the mind in times of these transitions. Mindfulness practice can help us work with these different mind states and emotions,

and help to keep the mind open and spacious in these transition times. So we'll begin by settling into the awareness of the body, the body posture, to sit and know you're sitting. You may feel the sensations of the body breathing, opening to different sensations in the body, and staying alert and mindful for the arising of thoughts, or images or emotions. And pay particular attention to the feeling of doubt or the feeling of uncertainty that may arise. Reminding yourself that it's okay not to know. If you begin to experience feelings of worry or anxiety or fear, make, the object of meditation, where we open to these feelings, even though they're unpleasant, we open to them with mindfulness and with awareness, or worry feels like this. Anxiety feels like this.

Fear feels like this. Can you stay mindful of all these different states, not getting lost or carried away by them, but simply seeing them as different thoughts and emotions arising and be with the many transitions in our lives. It helps us be with them with greater balance, with greater equanimity, with greater ease. When you're ready, you can open your eyes, connecting again with the world around you, and paying attention to all of these various emotions that arise in times of big transitions, And realizing that we can practice with them both in our formal meditation and in our daily lives in the world. I look forward to seeing you next time. Thank you, Joseph.

If 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. And we'll be right back here on Monday for a brand new episode with an extraordinary human being, a Lua Arthur. She's what's called a death doula. She sits with people and helps them make the transition out of this world. And she works with families as well. And she is going to talk about how

thinking about death which most of us don't want to do can actually make your life right now way better. 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. by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.