10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story

I picked up the kindle version of this book when it was offered at a super low price, partly because I've been curious about meditation, partly because the idea of increasing my happiness by even 10% was very attractive, but mostly because I'd heard stories of Dan Harris' on-air panic attack and I was curious to learn more. This book is more memoir than how-to, and I'm okay with that. As an ABC viewer it was interesting to read stories of people I'd watched on tv for years. The writing style appealed to me - it is intelligent but self deprecating, with an off beat sense of humor. I enjoyed seeing how his journey (sorry for the woo woo word) progressed through stages, from skeptic to cautious interest to serious practitioner and near-believer. It made sense to me, and I recognized myself in many of his descriptions, especially the cacophony of my inner voice and the tendency to default to worst case scenario. I see this book as a stepping stone, an introduction to meditation. Its purpose is not to teach meditation, but to explain its benefits and convince the reader that meditation is worth pursuing. There were several insights that were clearly explained, and I've shared several aha moments from the book with those around me. (To me that's the sign of a good book; to my friends and family it's a bit of an annoyance.) I learned some important things that I've already tried to put to use, but I recognize that I need to study and practice more before applying these ideas can happen smoothly and instinctively. I have high hopes that it can be done - after all, if the guy at the beginning of this book could become the guy at the end, there's a good chance I can make some changes for the better too. One thing to note for kindle readers: the kindle told me I was at the end of the book and popped me to the "review me" screen, but curiosity led me to read through the acknowledgments. I was surprised to find an appendix after the acknowledgments. This is one of the biggest downfalls of ereaders, because with a physical book I would have seen the many pages remaining and investigated. Be sure to read the appendix! It distills the best of the meditation parts of the book into a manageable and encouraging guide.

Near the middle of this well-written, engaging, useful book, the author is describing persons at a meditation retreat as looking like they are from "the loony bin". It is a funny book, and I know he was going for humor, but.....please. (My mother, who was born in 1923, used this expression. No one should be using it in 2014.) Dan Harris is an intelligent reporter, knowledgeable about so many subjects, and I'm sure he must have an awareness of brain disorders and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, for which people often need to be hospitalized. If not, he can get info from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) about their excellent "Stigma Busters" program. (Maybe he could do a story about this for ABC.) As someone who has worked and volunteered in psychiatric hospitals for many years, it saddened me to see this carelessness and implied disrespect for people who, through no fault of their own, are ill. He wouldn't say cancer patients are from "a malignancy bin"!!! Language is powerful; there are many ways to be funny without harm. OK, off my soapbox. It really is a wonderfully informative book and it held my interest from page 1. I loved his personal story, and the honesty with which he moves it forward. He is great at description and anecdotes, and he writes about other people in the news business, and about meditation experts, with candor and just enough restraint. Highly recommended. Mary Lee Moser PS A week or so later--my husband is reading it now, and we have both started to meditate in the mornings, inspired by this book.

Dan Harris makes a huge contribution to the field of mindfulness meditation in 10% Happier. In a way that only a former war correspondent and Nightline news anchor could, Harris has created a lens to look at the phenomenon of mindfulness with a kind of sharpness that is unparalleled in popular or academic literature on this subject. With wit and humility, Harris openly shares his struggles with anxiety in his life and career in front of a camera. Starting with his on-the-air panic attack in 2004, Harris recounts how his ambition-fueled, perfectionist, non-stop work ethic left him subject to emotional meltdowns that led him to use cocaine to self-medicate. Forced to examine his inner life, he recounts his highs and lows navigating the maze of self-help and professional help to find inner peace without sacrificing his competitive edge. Along the way you are treated to gems of observation the likes of which you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in print, even in someone’s private email, but especially in a book so enthusiastic about mindfulness. Yet it’s Harris’ realism and, undoubtedly, his discipline at finding unique angles to report that makes this book so special. For example, commenting about something many people have probably thought but no one has dared to speak, he says: “Turns out, mindfulness isn’t such a cute look. Everyone is in his or her own world, trying very hard to stay in the moment. The effort of concentration produces facial expressions that range from blank to defecatory.” Then there’s this nugget, when he refers the practice of some of his fellow retreat participants to bow to a statue of the Buddha: “I’m still bowing to the Buddha, but mostly for the hamstring stretch.” As a psychotherapist and teacher of mindfulness-based counseling techniques, I am highly recommending 10% Happier to both my clients and student/colleagues. Here’s why. Harris is a synthesizer, rendering the dense subjects of mindfulness culture, science, and meditation-user experience into a three-part harmony that immediately makes you want to hear more. His stories pull you in. Before you know it, you’re in the story yourself, identifying with one of the zillions of facets that emerge in his writing. Whether it’s his reporting of and friendship with Ted Haggard, the fallen-from-grace evangelical church leader, or his confessions of insecurity working among television giants like Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer, Harris uses a running psychoanalysis of himself as the instrument which carries the reader deeper into contemplation of their own psyche. Admittedly, this book isn’t a how-to for meditation, nor is it a scientific discourse about neurobiology. (Bookstores are already filled with these.) But as I like to say about the healing work of psychotherapy, it moves the ball down the field. For experienced meditators, perhaps it challenges some of the sacred attachments (a nice way of saying “ruts”) you have in your current practice. For beginners, moving the ball down the field might look like the simple act of attending your first yoga session and having the confidence to know you don’t need to learn Sanskrit or wear spandex (but hey, spandex is cool too). After reading 10% Happier, I feel closer to the amazingly diverse and rich community of mindfulness practitioners that I might not have learned about if I kept my literary diet fixed on those from the same mindfulness “tribe” I’ve trained and practiced with. Thanks to Dan’s investigative narrative and personal prose, his book is a powerful resource to help you wake up from life on automatic. As Leo Tolstoy once said: “In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” Dan Harris will help you do this. 10% more.

If you are like me have this 'chatter' going on in your head - this book is so worth reading. The way it's written is to give you the 'why' before the 'how'. It's done this way so you find the scientific validation along with Dan Harris ability to write his impressions of finding his way about calming the chatter in his head. He calls it the monkey brain and I so get that. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an understanding of why we have the chatter and how to slow it down so we have time to 'respond' instead of 'react' to situations. For those with trauma, ADD, ADHD, or any of the other things that cause our brains to shift into overdrive - leaving us little time to actually 'think thru something' without the constant 'reviewer in our head' or are looking for a way to slow your brain down... read this book starting with page 1 to the end. It has helped me beyond words. And more importantly it has helped my relationship with my husband because he suffers from trauma. I bought this book to help me 'retrain' myself to work with meditation. I have to admit the first half of the book was interesting and for me.. I wanted the "meat" with the instructions and how it worked. That I found out happens in the last half of the book. However, even tho it was interesting to read the 1st half of the book - if I had known the 'meat' was the 2nd half I might have been tempted to skip the 1st part... DON'T... because Dan Harris puts it all together and you will get so much more out of reading the entire book. What he does is in the 1st half is talk about his whys, frustrations, questioning experts in the field and then what he learns from them. It all makes much more sense if you have this background and knowledge when you get to the 2nd half. Be brave and keep reading - in the end it will benefit you. Also, the great part that I learned about this book is a better word usage for talking about meditation to other people who have not experienced it. As Dan Harris states (paraphrasing here) Meditation has a bad PR wrap from the early folks who promoted it. Today it's being used by CEO, The Marine Corps, and other major companies where it has been proven to be more than beneficial. For me... it has given me new language to talk with people about meditation so it isn't so "woo woo or far out there" and it's more understandable. I've worked with meditation for over 25 yrs and have used it most of those years. After reading this book I'm back at my old schedule of meditation because it helps me deal with my world. It has reminded me that I do have the ability to 'respond' instead of 'react' inside my head so what comes out of my mouth - I won't have to eat or apologize later for because something hit a hot button for me or triggered something for me or I was just in one of those - leave me alone moods. So when I do 'react' I know its something that I need to work on so I can obtain a shift of perspective so that darn hot button isn't one in the future. Another way of saying that is I'm not on auto pilot when I respond - I have the ability to take a breath before speaking or understanding in an instant that I was ready to 'react' instead of processing and responding. If I could afford to give this book to people... it would be to our people who have served this country. I know that if they would read it - in some small way it would help them deal with what they saw and experienced. It's not a do all solve all - but it's a good easy step in the right direction.

About this time last year I decided I wanted to learn how to meditate. I came to the conclusion that my stressful work days and busy personal life filled with relentless obligations had started to make me lose my cool. Seemingly small things would cause me to erupt like a volcano and I would find myself wondering just what the hell happened a few minutes later. In short, I was becoming my dad who would yell obscenities for a few minutes in our kitchen just because he dropped his spoon. The thought of one day becoming that made me grimace. Plus I didn't want my wife being one of those women who complained about her husbands' temper during a girls’ night out. I knew I had to do something. My searches around the net for meditation information was more confusing than enlightening. Vague words like mindfulness, heart chakras, and loving-kindness were thrown around like crazy and then I tried to read one of the most critically acclaimed and loved books on being present and what I thought was about meditation but turned out it wasn’t, Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, only to be disappointed again by vague concepts, made up woo woo terminology that truly did not make any sense at all, and no concrete advice given to gain Tolle’s “enlightenment.” I lost count of the times I had to go back and re-read a sentence or even a paragraph just to understand what the heck Tolle was saying. Don’t get me wrong there were certainly strong points to the text but it just felt like I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get to something of practical substance. And then I found Victor Davich’s 8 Minute Meditation and Dan Harris’ 10% Happier and cut through all the crap and started meditating every day and have never looked back. I’m much more focused, creative, and relaxed than before. Don’t get me wrong it definitely took a while to get where I’m at. The first couple of weeks were a pain in the butt. Trying to get over the fact that yes my mind wanders and that it’s really not that big of a deal takes time. You learn to forgive yourself and you try to gain focus again, even if for only a short while. That’s really what meditation is all about and that’s why I couldn’t wait to read this book by Mr. Harris. I’m pretty sure his story of becoming a meditator is very similar to a lot of people’s out there, just on a much grander (and funnier) scale. I can relate to his panic attack that he suffered on air. I suffered one not that long ago in a hotel bedroom in Boise, Id. His search for help with his anxiety is also something I’m sure everyone has experienced only to be let down by traditional western medicine’s answer of a pill that will solve all your problems. And lastly I’m sure you’ll find, just as he did, that if you stick with it long enough this meditation thing really isn’t that complicated but that it really does have a lot to offer. So maybe you haven’t gone through all this stuff yet like Harris, myself, and a bunch of other people already have. First, count yourself lucky and second, save yourself the confusion and anxiety and just read this book in advance before you really need it. Like me, I’m sure you’ll be glad you did. Lastly take his instructions and tips at the end of the book seriously and practice them religiously. He’s giving you pearls here and these techniques and mindsets are a godsend. Thank you Dan for writing your hysterical, honest, and most importantly insightful story.

This was. Wry easy to read and gives practical advice and insights on meditation. I enjoyed the story telling mixed in with the how to meditate sections. This made the content easy to digest and hopefully remember. There’s a really good appendix with more of a step by step guide as well.

Dan Harris's 10% Happier is one of the greatest reading experiences with resonating practical usefulness I can recall having in a very long time. It did not take me a 10th of the book to say to myself, (if I could write, that is), "I could be writing this. This guy is me. I so recognize this man's experiences, though different in profession, etc..., that it, to use the cliché (though true), it was as though he wrote it for me. A well read person across many genres, but certainly my share of the so-called 'self-help' field, I can confidently say that Harris's writing style flows, his story line is well ordered, there is some suspense, hilarity, and some surprise turns and episodes. But, at the end of the day what makes the book so excellent is that is balances wisdom with practical realities. Too many seek the sole all-encompassing 'unifying theory' answer to challenges of faith or personal growth or neuroses, etc... In doing so, most run aground somewhere eventually. Harris looks at Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Mark Epstein, the cabal of "Jewish-Buddhists" like Kornfield, Salzberg, etc..., and arrives at, again, eminently practical and elegant case for what he calls a 'radical internal jujitsu move that (is) supposed to allow you to face the a--hole in your head, and peacefully disarm him".....meditation. Those disinclined towards or in any way previously turned off by "self-help", should know that this book, while qualifying sure, does not really fall into that "kind" of book. Sure it is, but its as much as anything a highly interesting memoir of am ambitious broadcast news journalist, war correspondent, former druggie and sufferer of anxiety and depression. While readers may have or not have the same or similar daemons its a great read. The practical utility of the call to practice mindfulness --- through meditation is proverbial icing on the cake. We live in a particularly buzzing, blooming, confusing world. Its increasingly difficult to travel it with equanity, grace, and serenity while maintaining great aims. One need not rush off to Indian subcontinent or rural US ashrams. One need not become an emotional drone. One need not, also, as Harris points out, be fooled or go broke over faux guru chasing. This book is more than worth the purchase. It can truly add to the welfare of its readers. For that reason, I will recommend it to friends and family as well.

I started this book thinking the premise was to present a way to "tame the voice in my head, reduce stress..." as the title states. The title has little to do with most of the contents of the book. Instead, it is a story of the author's life and experiences as becomes aware this is what he wants and he seeks this exact thing. The stories are humorous and kept me listening throughout the book, but I am left with a impression of the author, and none of what the book seemed to promise. Until the end, the author himself seems to have lost hope in finding a perfect solution, yet he proposes a list of his own, personally made up rules that summarizes his interactions in the last few pages. These rules are what he says work for him, and HE has found something like the title, so there. This is not a book about learning new ways to reach mindfulness of the present. This is the story of a person who was introduced to Buddhism and meditation and tried it out and thought it was pretty helpful, and hey you should try some of this stuff, but don't take it too seriously. As a book about the author, it is interesting. I realized that is all it would be early on, yet still feel empty at the end, wishing there was more meat rather than stories. I'm glad he got his dream job in the end, but that is nothing at all related to the title or what it promises. There is a short, free, follow-on to this book about how, after writing this, he failed at all of it and had it thrown back in his face (paraphrased from the description). I have not read it yet, although I eventually will: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00... As a final note, I listened to the audible book, and in the last two chapters the author's language randomly because FAR too foul to play in a house with children. A prisoner yelling, "suck my d---," and the word "F--k" are not what I expected from this book. Such lack of control added nothing to the book and made me question why I was still listening to it as it was obviously going to end without ever answering the title's question, anyway. (less)

I’ve read a few ‘Beginner’s guides’ to meditation but this is probably the most accessible, real world account of discovering and engaging in meditation practice. Mildly amusing and as much a memoir as a book on meditation it’s a practical guide to getting started, pitfalls and hints and tips to help you along the way. You do get the impression that he just happens to be mates with everyone who is anyone in the world of meditation but I can forgive that because of the way it is written.

An very helpful guide to be 10% happyer in your career and personal life. Not just theory but a bood story how to implement mindfulness in your daily life.

Un libro bastante útil para todas aquellas personas que estén interesadas en explorar los beneficios de la práctica de la meditación. Dan Harris sabe exponer de manera muy práctica y amena las dudas e inquietudes de una persona común y corriente pero con la suficiente calidad intelectual y consciencia como para darse cuenta de que existe otro camino para poder evitar caer en las trampas de la mente al enfrentarse a las vicisitudes de la vida cotidiana.

Eine interessante Geschichte mit einer schönen Message dahinter und praktischen Tipps, der Schreibstil ist sehr sehr lehrreich aber nicht trocken

Um irmão e amigo indicaram o livro. Nem sabia de que se tratava, mas o título é curioso. Quando comecei a ler, não consegui mais parar. Muito fácil leitura (o li em inglês), com certo humor, e autobiográfico. Através de suas atividades profissionais de investigação jornalística entre as diversas religiões, sempre com muito ceticismo, acabou encontrando a meditação para seu uso pessoal, e com isso sua vida mudou muito, para melhor. Achei inspirador.