Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - What’s Good | Bonus Meditation with Oren Jay Sofer

Episode Date: April 23, 2021

Counteract negativity bias by appreciating the goodness in life: simple acts of kindness, moments of beauty, and even your own good efforts. 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. 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. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Kiki Palmer. I'm an actress, singer, and entrepreneur. On my 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. From ABC, it's the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey, hey, it's Friday. Today marks the end of our two week series on Hope. And for today, we're gonna bring back Monday's guest, Orange A Sofer, to lead us in a guided meditation on Hope. By the way, if you haven't heard Orange interview,

you should go back and check that out. It is full of, in my opinion, deep and relatable wisdom. Definitely helped me reorient my own relationship to the notion of hope. Anyway, enough for me, over now to Orrin. Hey, this is Orrin. It's easy to notice what's wrong or define something to stress about.

Meditation can help us to balance that negativity bias by appreciating the goodness that's already here and available in life. When we uplift the heart even a little we have more energy and strength to devote to the things we care about. So go ahead and find a comfortable posture where you feel at ease and alert. You can let your eyes close and turn your attention inwards. You might take a few slow deep breaths to shift gears and settle in, breathing in through your nose, and breathing out through your mouth long and slow. Each breath is a gift freely given.

We don't have to do anything to earn or deserve it. Just wait, and the body breathes in,breath as a gift. Uplifting the heart isn't about avoiding what's difficult, or pretending that everything's okay if it isn't. It's about noticing the things we ordinarily take for granted, and allowing them to nourish us. To start, you might think of something kind that someone said or did recently. Let that moment or person come to mind and let your attention linger there for a bit. Notice any feelings or sensations of ease or pleasure, however small, and really let that

in. just savor that moment. Another way to uplift the heart is to notice her own goodness. It's so easy to focus on our faults. Instead, see what it's like to bring to mind one thing that you appreciate about yourself. We're simply recognizing and focusing on one good quality that we value and want to strengthen in our lives. Taking even a few moments each day to uplift the heart can have a profound impact on your overall sense of well-being and on your ability to think clearly and positively about the future. When you're ready, you can let your eyes open. Go ahead and look around the room a bit if you like, and notice how you feel.

Thanks for practicing together. Take care. Thank you, Warren. And if you enjoyed meditating with Warren, you can find a longer version of the meditation. We just did along with several other brand new meditations on hope. In the 10% happier app. You can download the app today for free,

wherever you get your apps, and we'll see you back here on Monday for a brand new episode. 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 ad-free with 1-3-plus in Apple podcasts. Before you go, do us a

solid and tell us all about yourself by completing a short survey at 1-3-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 Life is 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, pure 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 Wondery App. on music or wonder-y-app.