It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm your host Dan Harris. Hello my fellow suffering beings how we doing A quick story before I dive in here.

Many years ago, my wife and I were in the middle of an infertility crisis.

And I was talking about this with Joseph Goldstein, the great meditation, teacher,

and friend of mine, and I was telling him how upset I was and he was

pretty sympathetic but then he said something that mildly annoyed me or maybe

confused me he said if it's not one thing it's another now initially I was a little put off by

this but as I've molded this comment over the intervening years I've

really come to see the wisdom of it I've always got some kind of problem usually

several of them honestly and even though I fantasize about how as soon as I solve

Whatever problem is on my plate right now life will be friction free the mind always finds something else to worry about.

I know plenty of people who've, you know, had huge success, made all the money they could possibly make

and are still worried about stuff.

So even though we have an awesome and healthy son, our

infertility crisis resolved successfully, it's not like my life is problem-free.

If it's not one thing, it's another. So today we're going to talk about how to

reframe your problems as puzzles, which according to my

guest can be a huge relief. It can also, my guest says, make you more creative, clearer, and

more persistent.

Just to say, before we dive in, I'm not a huge puzzle guy.

I never got into Wordle, for example.

But my guest, A.J. Jacobs, makes a very convincing case

for the benefits of developing what he calls a puzzle

...