10% Happier — How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually-Work — Dan Harris
Buch-Review — Hannes Kleist — 13.12.2019
An entertaining journey of an ABC news anchor who found his way to mindfulness mediation after a public breakdown on life TV.
3. Genius or Lunatic?
We “live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation,” he wrote.
So true. I used to spent 80% of my spear time in my head thinking about where I fucked up, playing different endings or worrying about the future.
“You simply observe that it’s another thought. And by knowing that it’s another thought, you’re not totally identified with the thought.”
It’s as simple as that. Observe what your brain and body are doing. Takes A LOT of practice, though. I have 1000 hours of meditation under my belt, and I am mindful perhaps 1% of the time.
They say it takes 10,000 hours to mastery.
4. Happiness, Inc.
“I have no regrets about the past,” he said, “and I don’t anticipate the future. I live in the moment.”
That’s enlightenment. Simple as that.
5. The Jew-Bu
His basic message was that the best self-help program was developed 2,500 years ago — a worldview that, oddly enough, held that there is actually no “self” to “help.”
This is hilarious.
I am working on the selfness for a few weeks now. No luck so far. :-(
6. The Power of Negative Thinking
The point of mindfulness was to short-circuit what had always been a habitual, mindless chain reaction.
“Short-circuit” is a wonderful way to put it.
The idea of leaning into what bothered us struck me as radical, because our reflex is usually to flee, to go buy something, eat something, or get faded on polypharmacy. But, as the Buddhists say, “The only way out is through.” RAIN. R: recognize A: allow I: investigate N: non-identification “Recognize” was self-explanatory.
Sounds simple. Is hard in practice.
9. “The New Caffeine”
The brain, the organ of experience, through which our entire lives are led, can be trained. Happiness is a skill.
There you go: 10,000 hours, people!
11. Hide the Zen
When you are wisely ambitious, you do everything you can to succeed, but you are not attached to the outcome — so that if you fail, you will be maximally resilient, able to get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fray. That, to use a loaded term, is enlightened self-interest.
What a wonderful world.
Hannes also shares sales strategy and tutorials for startups on YouTube and at his consultancy’s blog.
