10% Happier with Dan Harris

Gabor Maté, a retired physician and bestselling author on addiction, trauma, and ADHD, explores why scrolling, bingeing, and self-medicating can feel like pain relief. He gets into compassionate curiosity, conscious harm reduction, mindfulness, and five practical steps for breaking automatic habits. There’s also a lively look at ADHD, stress, reparenting, and responsibility without shame.

Bart van Melik, a New York meditation teacher rooted in Buddhist practice, tackles the stuff that keeps busy minds spinning. He explores forgiveness without force, boredom as something to investigate, ways to reconnect with the body, and how to work with anxious what-if thoughts. There’s also a simple calming breath practice and a big focus on kindness and community.

Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and bestselling author on happiness and meaning, explores why modern life can feel hollow. He gets into the doom loop of tech, the lost art of boredom, questions Google cannot answer, love and rejection as paths to depth, transcendence, beauty, suffering, and how work can become a calling.

Richard Davidson, pioneering neuroscientist at UW Madison, and Cortland Dahl, meditation teacher and contemplative scientist, explore what flourishing really means. They talk about anxiety that stops sticking, tiny daily practices, the four skills of well-being, loosening the grip of thoughts, finding purpose in ordinary chores, and how practice can reshape brain and biology.

Sam Sanders, a journalist and culture interviewer behind The Sam Sanders Show, joins for a lively conversation about “modern scriptures” and the art people return to for comfort. They dig into Ferris Bueller, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, warm sitcoms, emotional catharsis, watching with kids, and why going back to what nourishes you can matter more than reinvention.

John Green, bestselling author and YouTuber behind The Fault in Our Stars and Crash Course, talks about managing anxiety, depression, OCD, and intrusive thoughts. He gets into writing through despair, why tuberculosis became an obsession, how naming shame changes its grip, what chaplaincy taught him about faith, and how he keeps hope alive in a chaotic world.

Shankar Vedantam, journalist, author, and mind-behavior explorer behind Hidden Brain, dives into handling difficult people, breakups, and talking to strangers. He gets into why trying to fix a partner backfires, how conflict patterns take over, why closure is often a solo job, and how tiny chats with strangers can quietly change your day.

Sebene Selassie, a meditation teacher and writer focused on accessible mindfulness, leads a walking meditation for restless minds. She explores grounding before the first step, noticing the lift and placement of each foot, widening awareness to the body and surroundings, and letting thoughts drift by while returning to motion. A practical option for anyone who hates sitting still.

Ajahn Nisabho, a Theravada monk focused on purpose and mental well-being, and Ajahn Kovilo, a Theravada monk who teaches meditation and ethics, explore confession without self-punishment. They get into giving and receiving criticism, surviving the news without losing your mind, and why misery is not the best response to a messy world.

Marc Brackett, Yale psychologist and founder of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, explores how to handle stress, anxiety, anger, and social comparison. He talks about accepting feelings without judgment. He shares how to respond to other people’s big emotions. Plus: gratitude, self-talk, mindfulness, reappraisal, and the meta-moment.