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10% Happier with Dan Harris

Don't Side With Yourself | Matthew Hepburn

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.612.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Work can be one of the most difficult places to apply meditative concepts such as mindfulness, patience, and kindness. But work can also be an amazing testing ground for your attempts at meditation and other forms of self-improvement.


Unlike many meditation teachers, Matthew Hepburn has spent a lot of time in the professional world. He has worked at Apple and in the service industry. He's also a long time leader at the Ten Percent Happier company and is the host of the new Twenty Percent Happier podcast. In this episode, Matthew talks about how to change your relationship to your thoughts; how to navigate the highs of praise and the lows of blame; how to handle relationships at work, including relationships that require you to give and/or receive feedback; and how to bring your mindfulness practice to your workplace, starting with something as simple as a cup of coffee.


And be sure to join Matthew in the seven-day Work Life Challenge, where you'll get the chance to practice a meditation related to your work life, led by Matthew or Dawn Mauricio, another TPH meditation teacher and recent podcast guest. Download the Ten Percent Happier app now to join the Challenge for free.


The "Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World," online benefit for the New York Insight Meditation Center is on November 13 and 14. Register here to participate.


Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/matthew-hepburn-396


Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the 10% happier podcast.

0:06.4

I'm Dan Harris.

0:09.0

Hey, hey, today we're talking about how to do one of the hardest but most rewarding things

0:17.2

for most human beings to get over yourself and see contentious issues from somebody else's

0:23.4

perspective.

0:24.4

My meditation teacher, Joseph Goldstein, has a pithy little exhortation that sums this

0:29.4

up nicely.

0:31.2

Don't side with yourself.

0:32.6

I love that expression.

0:34.5

In my experience, not siding with myself is especially hard in a work context.

0:39.6

I find my ego as the habit of digging trenches and refusing any offers of ceasefire.

0:46.3

In fact, work can be one of the most difficult places to apply any meditative concept, including

0:52.9

mindfulness, patience, or kindness.

0:56.6

Many of us may be diligent meditators or semi-diligent meditators or aspiring meditators

1:01.0

and we might find that we get on a good streak of meditation practice.

1:06.5

But then we're humbled to learn that we are consciously or subconsciously, more likely

1:11.3

ruling out work as a place to practice.

1:15.9

However, work can be an amazing crucible or testing ground or dojo for your attempts at

1:21.9

meditation or other forms of self-improvement.

1:24.8

We have the perfect guest today to discuss this.

1:28.4

Unlike many meditation teachers, Matthew Hepburn has actually spent a lot of time in the

1:33.5

professional world.

...

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