<p dir="ltr">How do you stay calm when the stakes are sky-high — like your kid's health, your partner's wellbeing, or the future of the planet? How do you face chronic pain without falling into self-pity? And how do you actually turn meditation from a good intention into a real habit?</p> <p dir="ltr">In this bonus episode, Dan sits down with the brilliant meditation teacher and author <a href="https://www.sebeneselassie.com/">Sebene Selassie</a> for one of our weekly live sessions — a combo of guided meditation and audience Q&A that usually happens for subscribers over at <a href="https://www.danharris.com/">DanHarris.com</a>. We're sharing this one for free so you can get a taste.</p> <p dir="ltr">Together, Dan and Sebene dig into:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">Practicing non-attachment when life feels anything but abstract</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">Meeting chronic pain and illness with compassion (without spiritual bypassing)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">The real psychology of habit formation — and why it's not your fault if you struggle to "just meditate"</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">What the Buddhist teachings actually say about impermanence, rebirth, and the self</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">You'll also hear a grounding 10-minute guided meditation, some laughter (including a cameo from Sebene's dog, Chacha), and a reminder that you don't have to do this practice alone.</p> <p dir="ltr">Join Dan live every Tuesday at 4pm ET for these weekly meditations and Q&As — plus access to all our guided meditations — by signing up at <a href="https://www.danharris.com/">DanHarris.com</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Related Episodes:</p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.danharris.com/p/sebene-selassie-on-resiliency-rewriting?r=4o5o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false"> Sebene Selassie On: Resiliency, Rewriting Your Patterns and Finding a Teacher Who Speaks to You</a></p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.danharris.com/p/how-to-handle-toxic-thoughts-sebene?r=4o5o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false"> How To Handle Toxic Thoughts | Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren</a></p> <p><strong><br /> <br /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Tickets are now on sale for a special live taping of the 10% Happier Podcast with guest Pete Holmes! Join us on November 18th in NYC for this benefit show, with all proceeds supporting the New York Insight Meditation Center. Grab your tickets <a href="https://www.nyimc.org/event/great-cosmic-joke/">here</a>!<br /> <br /> Tickets are now available for an intimate live event with Dan on November 23rd as part of the Troutbeck Luminary Series. Join the conversation, participate in a guided meditation, and ask your questions during the Q&A. Click <a href="https://troutbeck.com/culture/luminaries-series-conversation-meditation-with-dan-harris-2025/"> here</a> to buy your ticket!<br /> <br /></p> <p dir="ltr">Join Dan's online community <a href="http://www.danharris.com/">here</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow Dan on social: <a href="https://bit.ly/3tGigG5">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://bit.ly/3FOA84J">TikTok</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Subscribe to our <a href="https://bit.ly/3FybRzD">YouTube Channel</a></p> <p dir="ltr">To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit <a href="https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris">https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris</a><br /> <br /></p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to our
Actionable Insights
1. Recollect Daily Impermanence
Daily recollect the Five Remembrances (aging, sickness, death, separation from beloved, heir of karma) to come to terms with life’s truths, enhancing capacity for love and appreciation.
2. Care, Don’t Attach
Learn to care deeply about high-stakes situations while simultaneously understanding their impermanence, allowing for non-attachment without indifference.
3. Feel Emotions, Drop Story
When facing pain or difficult emotions, prioritize feeling the raw emotions (grief, upset, sadness) without getting lost in comparative stories or judgments; focus on the raw feeling, not the narrative.
4. Practice Self-Compassion
Engage in self-compassion by practicing mindfulness (awareness without judgment), recognizing common humanity in suffering, showing self-kindness, and extending compassion to systemic challenges.
5. Use External Motivation
If you are externally motivated, create external accountability or community structures (e.g., classes, workout partners, group sits) to help establish and maintain habits like meditation.
6. Start Small for Habits
To overcome habit formation challenges, start with very small commitments (e.g., one or two minutes of practice) and be flexible with your approach, as humans are wired for short-term wins.
7. Cultivate ‘Okayness’
Practice radical acceptance or ‘okayness’ with whatever is happening, including uncomfortable states like sleepiness or physical pain, as a form of non-attachment that can be applied to other life aspects.
8. Release ‘Should Be’
Let go of the idea that things ‘should be’ a particular way, both internally and externally, to avoid contention with reality and practice non-attachment.
9. Ground in the Body
Rest your attention on the body, feeling whatever is in contact with the earth or surface beneath you, to gather and center your awareness.
10. Gladden Mind for Meditation
Before meditating, bring to mind something or someone that makes you genuinely smile or happy, like a funny memory or video, to tend to your attitude.
11. Question Busy Mind
When your mind is particularly busy during meditation, ask yourself ‘What’s happening right now?’ and ‘Can I be with this? Can I allow this?’ to ground awareness.
12. Habit Struggle is Normal
Before self-criticism, acknowledge that struggling with habit formation is normal and not your fault, as humans are not naturally wired for easy habit adoption.
13. Appreciate Your Practice
Take a moment to appreciate yourself for showing up and making time for practice, cultivating more spacious awareness in your life and carrying that out into the world.