Point Books As 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
Original Title: | 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works |
ISBN: | 0062265423 (ISBN13: 9780062265425) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2014) |
Dan Harris
Hardcover | Pages: 256 pages Rating: 3.93 | 74159 Users | 5780 Reviews
List Containing Books 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
Title | : | 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works |
Author | : | Dan Harris |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 256 pages |
Published | : | March 11th 2014 by It Books |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Self Help. Psychology. Autobiography. Memoir. Audiobook. Personal Development. Health |
Relation To Books 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
Nightline anchor Dan Harris embarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get happier that is truly achievable.After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure, involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had both propelled him through the ranks of a hyper-competitive business and also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out.
We all have a voice in our head. It’s what has us losing our temper unnecessarily, checking our email compulsively, eating when we’re not hungry, and fixating on the past and the future at the expense of the present. Most of us would assume we’re stuck with this voice – that there’s nothing we can do to rein it in – but Harris stumbled upon an effective way to do just that. It’s a far cry from the miracle cures peddled by the self-help swamis he met; instead, it’s something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness.
10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.
Rating Containing Books 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
Ratings: 3.93 From 74159 Users | 5780 ReviewsWrite-Up Containing Books 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius.
Dan Harris is a television journalist and news-anchor for the ABC network. He currently is the co-anchor of the Nightline show and the weekend edition of Good Morning America. He has gone into numerous war zones around the world, bringing back incredible stories from the front. He found this type of reporting to be thrilling, and often brought on an emotional "high". When he came back home, however, he found the need to self-medicate, with cocaine or other drugs. At one point in his career he
I was prompted to read this book by Michael Pollan's descriptions of meditation in his book, How to Change Your Mind; in Pollan's book, mindfulness was a somewhat peripheral subject, but it was interesting to me to learn that brain scans of seasoned meditators revealed the same kinds of changes as those found in people on psychedelic drugs like psilocybin. So I did a search for "most accessible book about meditation" (because trust me, a lot of them are nearly impenetrable), and I found 10%
This bestseller annoyed me over and over. It's more of a memoir than a book about learning to meditate - something I do. But to read this book you must read about the life of this privileged rich white guy who has no social conscious and little interest in the people around him other than what he can exploit for a story. His arrogance is present in the subtitle - he reduced stress and kept his edge. But he never had an edge as far as I could tell. While the encouragement to meditate is positive,
He does a great job of demystifying meditation. In an enjoyable way he recounts his own experiences, from skepticism to belief in, & explains what he's learned from others along the way.
Dan Harris wanted to title this book "The voice in my head is an asshole." When I heard that line I knew I was in good hands. Harris, whose celebrity has escaped me since I don't watch much television, is the perfect blend of smart-ass skeptic and spiritual seeker. The great thing about this book (essentially a memoir) is that Harris is in perfect alignment with my own cynical view and utter fascination with the world of self-help and Buddhism. His writing is sometimes overly mocking in tone but
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