Brain Won't Stop? Here's How to Calm Down | Dan Harris
10% Happier with Dan Harris
10% Media, LLC
4.6 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On short-circuiting anxiety, breaking thought loops, and learning how to talk to yourself.
In this live Q&A, Dan covers:
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Why action is the best antidote to AI anxiety — and what's actually in your control
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How to use your meditation practice inside an MRI (and when it's okay to just get sedated)
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Joseph Goldstein's "dead end" technique for breaking out of repetitive thought loops
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Why certainty is not an indicator of truth — and how open-mindedness works in a polarized world
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The Buddhist take on alcohol, and Dan's surprisingly candid answer about his own relationship with substances
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How to stop feeding the need for external approval — without toxic positivity
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Why mindfulness in Pali literally means "remembering" — and why you'll always need to hear this stuff again
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Join Dan, Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren for Meditation Party, a 3-day immersive retreat at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, October 16–18, 2026. Register here.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. |
| 0:18.7 | Hello, everybody. How we doing? Today, I'm going to take your questions on a whole range of juicy subjects. |
| 0:25.2 | AI anxiety, specifically what to do when you're really worried that AI is going to take your job. |
| 0:30.3 | We talk about coping with an impending MRI when you're claustrophobic, and I'm going to be embarrassingly honest about my own experience |
| 0:38.8 | with that. We get into a technique from the meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein for breaking out of |
| 0:44.2 | mental loops that you've been in a thousand times. There's a great question about the need for |
| 0:49.2 | external approval, which is a former anchorman I have a lot of feelings about. And we wrap up with something I think |
| 0:55.7 | is actually very profound, which is why we need to hear the same things over and over before they |
| 1:02.0 | sink in. So what you're about to hear is a recording of a live session I did with some subscribers to |
| 1:07.6 | my newish meditation app, which is called 10% with Dan Harris. |
| 1:11.2 | We do these sessions every Tuesday afternoon. It's a great chance to meditate together, |
| 1:15.4 | to get your questions answered, and really to experience the power of the carpool lane, |
| 1:20.2 | which accelerates learning, growth, and happiness. The Buddha knew this, and so do modern psychologists |
| 1:26.0 | who call it social support. |
| 1:28.7 | Speaking of my app, very quickly, I just want to tell you we've got something very cool coming |
| 1:32.7 | up this summer. |
| 1:34.2 | As you may know, the Buddha came up with a kind of cookbook to help you lead a happy life. |
| 1:39.0 | It's called the Eightfold Path. |
| 1:40.5 | It's one of his foundational lists. |
| 1:42.9 | And this summer, over on the 10% app, Sharon Salzberg, |
| 1:46.7 | the amazing meditation teacher, will be leading an eight-part series on the eight-fold path. |
| 1:51.4 | Every Sunday, starting on July 12th, she's going to do a live session where she will guide a meditation |
... |
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