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

I found it to be extremely intriguing and mind opening. I suffer from depression and panic disorder, this book has given me some insight and leads to future authors to check out.

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.

Enjoyed how skeptical the author was throughout this experience. Kept me entertained on learning more. Felt ten percent happier to enjoy continuing meditation on my terms.

Not my usual read, which was a nice change of pace for me. A great intro to meditation for the westerner, it felt very relatable.

Right book at the right time for me. Dan explains meditation in words and experiences that striving people trying to get ahead can understand, then manage better. It’s a validating look at our struggles with mediation from the inside out. This is a reminder that practice is worth the effort.

A journalist that likes his own vouce/writing. Way too long chapters for me, that flips from his memories to other memories, to god knows where he going with this now. I kept losing the focus of what the book was about. some good ideas lost in a jungle of essay writing about his journalist life. I kept hoping the chapter would end soon and the next would be enlightening. If you have a little knowledge of Buddhism, mindfulness then you do not need this bore read, author goes over many all ready widely known theories. But, hey, I now know the names of many of the past and present news readers in America. 10% happier???

I think this book could work great for someone who's the target, but I have come to realise that I am not.There is some useful stuff in here, and even some interesting stuff, but unless you either need to be convinced of Harris' credentials as a believer only in what empirically works before you'll take his word about his experiences with meditation, or you have a similar work hard party hard never live in the moment attitude to life, then large chunks of this book are going to pass you by. If you have any experience whatsoever with mindfulness or meditation and have discovered it helps you, then IMO you're not gonna learn anything you don't already know, and if you want to learn more about it, then you may well get frustrated with how much of this is biography.I neither know nor care who Dan Harris is, so I have no urge to read his life story. For me, there was way too much of him in this book, and I skimmed huge chunks because hoo boy, can he talk about himself! If you do care about this man's story in particular, or you recognise yourself in his life, then that might well add value for you. For me, it just added bulk.

I first encountered Dan Harris when he was interviewed by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, as he was advertising his new book Meditation for Fidgety Sceptics. I then heard a more full description of his journey, on the Crooked Conversations podcast - Can meditating make you happy? (from the Crooked Media stable) where he had a lengthy conversation with Ana Marie Cox about his journey into meditation.I purchased this book, rather than his current release to get more insight into the man. In this fascinating and brutally honest autobiography of his journey we learn about his first dabbles with meditation and how his journey into Buddhism unfolds.I have no desire to be a Buddhist but I am keen to find a way to calm my racing twenty first century brain. Dan doesn't give a step by step guide to meditating, but he has certainly whet my appetite to give it more than a passing thought.Very well written and accessible, which is to be expected from a lifelong journalist.

Interesting to read a book about Mindfulness written by someone who has found great benefit from the practice but is so resistant to the idea of a larger more 'all inclusive awareness'. I feel that had the author waited a little while he may have written a rather different book (he even intimates a changing awareness in his epilogue which was very encouraging to me).This book will be encouraging for those who seek the effects of Mindfulness practice as a way to reduce stress and anxiet, using it as a kind of'salve' in the form of 'brain exercises'. However I would encourage further exploration when you get the urge. I wouldn't recommend this book to those already using Mindfulness in their life as a regular practice....although there are a few good laughs!

It's important to remember that Mr. Harris is a news reader, not a writer. Although this fact will be hard to forget as you wade through this bloated, meandering, narcisstic autobiography. Either he had no editor, no ghost-writer, or he refused to take any writing advice were any offered.Chapter 7, "Retreat" is an exemplar. It is hate-filled nonsense, up until the moment of clarity which can be seen coming since the first sentence. Just awful. But he's so great, he saw the error of his ways and is just trying to enlighten the rest of us.Unless you're a fan of Dan Harris, just don't waste your time. This is particularly poor, high-school level writing. Almost entirely pointless.