Adopt the mindset that well-being is a ‘feel-everything’ program, not just a ‘feel-good’ one. This provides a larger context for processing all emotions, rather than avoiding difficult feelings.
Begin your practice by making friends with your current experience, rather than trying to bypass it or grasp for joy. An attitude of wanting or aversion to what’s present will work against accessing well-being.
Develop a wise relationship to whatever is happening in your experience, whether it’s physical pain or an old memory. The key to well-being is not what’s happening, but how you relate to it.
Shift your focus from your head, which often tries to solve problems and can lead to contraction, to your heart. This allows for spaciousness, ease, and relaxation, making your natural state of well-being accessible.
Cultivate authenticity by being genuinely present to where you are and having a connection to that state. This authenticity and connection foster an aliveness that serves as the beginning of opening to joy.
Actively foster a sense of spaciousness, acceptance, and compassion around whatever you are experiencing. Compassion is identified as a key doorway to awakening the heart and loosening things up.
Understand that pain, confusion, or ‘dukkha’ can become a doorway to joy. Suffering can lead to faith, which then can lead to gladness, joy, contentment, and ultimately awakening.
Apply wise effort by guarding against unwholesome states like greed, hatred, and delusion, and learning to overcome them when they arise. Simultaneously, cultivate wholesome states such as loving kindness, generosity, and compassion.
When a wholesome state arises, maintain and increase it by simply being very present for it without grasping. Mindfulness amplifies and enhances wholesome states by giving them life through non-attached attention.
Consciously and frequently think and ponder upon wholesome states, as this will become the inclination of your mind. This practice aligns with the neuroscience principle that ’neurons that fire together wire together,’ building positive habits.
Actively train your mind to be on the lookout for positive experiences, not just as thoughts, but by mindfully noticing the visceral feeling in your body. This counteracts the brain’s natural ‘Velcro for negative’ bias.
Cultivate well-being by bringing to mind something or someone you are grateful for and being very present for that feeling. The Buddha described being content and grateful as a ‘blessing supreme’.
Address fear directly by acknowledging its presence, naming it, and holding it wisely, rather than pretending it’s not there. This approach prevents fear from having undue power, allowing access to true, expansive well-being.
When addressing global issues, strive to be effective by not being overcome with fear, outrage, and anger. Instead, act from a place of love, gratitude, and by seeing the good in the world, which leads to more effective and inspiring actions.
When experiencing anger or outrage, delve beneath these emotions to connect with the underlying hurt and care. Anger often serves as a protection, but coming from a place of love and caring is more sustainable and magnetizing for action.
Recognize shame as a misunderstanding of ‘anatta’ or selflessness, realizing that feelings like ‘being a bad person’ are not your true identity. These feelings are temporary experiences that arise and pass, part of being human.
Cultivate forgiveness for past confusion in yourself and others, rather than assigning blame. Recognizing that actions often stem from a lack of clear understanding allows for healing and transformation of painful experiences into genuine compassion.
Once you gain awareness, understand that you have a choice in your actions and that these actions have consequences based on your intention. This clarity allows you to choose paths that lead to happiness and well-being rather than suffering.
Connect with the inner goodness or ’true nature’ that desires your happiness and well-being. Listen to this internal wisdom to guide actions that benefit both yourself and the world, allowing this goodness to motivate you.
Bring a sense of wonder, natural aliveness, and curiosity to your daily life, much like children do. This involves seeing everything as a miracle and being present for it when it arises.
Consciously pay attention to the gladness and upliftment that arises when you are performing a generous act. This gladness, connected with wholesome states, is described as an ’equipment of mind to disarm all hostility’ and provides inspiration.
Apply mindfulness to unwholesome states like sadness, worry, or anger by giving them space and not getting caught up in them. This wise mindfulness weakens these states and creates an opening.
Apply mindfulness to wholesome states like loving kindness or compassion by inclining your mind towards them and being truly present for them. This practice cultivates and strengthens these beneficial states.
Prioritize spending time with your family, especially children, as it’s an opportunity that should rarely be turned down. These moments can foster a sense of wonder and bring a good feeling to your entire system.
If you are a teacher, healthcare worker, or involved with the U.S. Postal Service, you can receive free access to the 10% Happier app. This initiative supports those on the front lines experiencing significant stress.
Become a paid subscriber to the 10% Happier app to support their free access campaigns for frontline workers and gain access to world-class teachers, meditation courses, and coaches.
Download the new ‘10% with Dan Harris’ app for a library of guided meditations covering stress, anxiety, sleep, and focus, plus weekly live Zoom community sessions and ad-free podcast episodes. A 14-day trial is available at danharris.com.
Consider attending a live stream event on October 1st from 7-9 p.m. EST with Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Sabine Selassie, and Dan Harris. This event is a benefit to support the New York Insight Meditation Center and Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.