10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works

Canadian American Peter Jennings (1938-2005) was a well-regarded journalist. He served as the head anchor for ABC News from 1983 until 2005, when he died of lung cancer. When Dan Harris was hired in 2000 at the age of 29, Jennings was 62. Harris saw the older Jennings as an idol and mentor, although he found it difficult that Jennings’s personality was often “mercurial” (7). While Harris admired Jennings’s belief in the integrity of the newsroom, intelligence, and conviction that it was essential to establish a trust with the audience, he disliked Jennings’s tendency to use material from correspondents’ stories for himself or make harsh last-minute edits right before they aired, throwing the news team into panic.

Jennings’s coverage of 9/11 was widely praised, and his style of reporting was considered the highest standard. His death from lung cancer made national news, and his life and work were acknowledged across the world. Harris noted that while Jennings could be a difficult boss, he also showed care and kindness. He called Harris’s parents personally to assure them of Harris’s safety in a warzone (13). It was Jennings who put Harris on the religion beat—an assignment that led to Harris ultimately discovering useful meditation practices. Upon Jennings’s death, Harris recalled, “Despite the fear and frustration he had provoked in me over the preceding five years, I felt enormous affection for him, and the night he died was one of the few times I could remember crying as an adult” (36).

As a young woman, American journalist Diane Sawyer (b. 1945) worked for President Richard Nixon and helped him write his memoirs. She then was a correspondent for CBS News and became co-anchor. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes. Five years later, she joined ABC News, where she co-anchored Primetime Live, 20/20, and Good Morning America with Charlie Gibson. She was present with Gibson when Harris had his panic attack on June 7, 2004.

Later, in December 2009, when Charlie Gibson left his role as head anchor, Sawyer was promoted to the position, leading the nightly broadcast of ABC World News. Harris expresses his admiration for Sawyer throughout 10% Happier, noting that she “represented the gold standard in professional diligence [… and was] one of the most fiercely intelligent and insatiably curious human beings I’d ever met” (170). When Sawyer approved Harris’s series on meditation for World News, Harris felt elated. Further, after his story aired, Sawyer wanted to learn more. He wrote, “If I could hook someone like her, it felt like a pretty good start” (178).

Ted Haggard is a pastor who was a significant leader in an Evangelical movement from 2003 to 2006. Haggard made national news when a male sex worker revealed that Haggard and he had been involved and that he helped Haggard purchase crystal methamphetamine. Harris met Haggard on his beat as a reporter on religion. The two had a nice working relationship, and Haggard often gave Harris an insider’s take on religious matters. Haggard was charismatic, intelligent, and friendly and reframed how Harris saw people who embraced religious faith. Harris was shocked by Haggard’s fall from grace but believed him when he said he “never fell away from God” (49). It was his involvement with Haggard that made Harris wonder about the bigger picture of spirituality.

Eckhart Tolle is a popular author of spiritual writing who was born in Germany. His books gained popularity when they were recommended by Oprah Winfrey, who featured The Power of Now in her magazine, O, in 2000 and selected A New Earth for her book club in 2005. While Tolle's work was extremely popular, Harris found A New Earth convoluted; he liked Tolle’s description of the restlessness of the mind but found many of his ideas reliant on pseudoscience. He met with Tolle and asked for practical advice regarding controlling the mind, but Tolle only replied that one should concentrate on the present moment. Later, Harris discovered that much of Tolle’s work relied on a secularization of Buddhist ideas.

Deepak Chopra is an Indian American author who is well known for his advocacy of the effectiveness of alternative medicine. A figure associated with the New Age movement, Chopra is a widely recognized and wealthy figure who often relies on pseudoscience in his argumentation for attainment of perfect health. In 10% Happier, Harris treats Chopra with deep skepticism, especially after he visits the Chopra center. He writes, “He claimed to live in a state of ‘flow’ and ‘effortless spontaneity,’ but he seemed pretty focused on mundane self-promotion to me” (78). Chopra doesn’t seem able to answer Harris’s questions regarding taming the mind. Later, Harris seems to dismiss him as being the benign end of the self-help money-making industry, but not really a spiritual guide of substance.

The Dalai Lama is the title given to the political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935), who became the 14th Dalai Lama at the age of five when he was recognized as the reincarnation of his predecessor. The Dalai Lama is a monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and lives as a refugee in India, where he runs the Tibetan government in exile, as Tibet has been under Chinese control since 1959.

The Dalai Lama is recognized as an influential spiritual leader worldwide; he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and a US Congressional Medal of Honor in 2006. The Dalai Lama is an international advocate for Buddhism and a proponent of the scientific study of the effects of meditation. Harris meets the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a reporter and learns about metta and self-compassion. Harris has also featured the Dalai Lama on the Ten Percent Happier app and podcast.

Mark Epstein is a private practice psychiatrist based in Manhattan and one of Harris's mentors in meditation. Epstein's work centers on the way Buddhism crosses boundaries with psychotherapy. After reading Epstein's books, Harris meets with him, and the two immediately become fast friends. Although Epstein remarks that the two are “really different” (95), he consistently is portrayed as giving Harris good advice that is empathetic and kind while still being practical. He prescribes things he thinks will be good for Harris, including meditation, getting involved with Goldstein and others, and going on the Spirit Rock retreat. When Harris goes through his crisis when Sherwood takes over ABC, it’s Epstein who imparts the wisdom to Harris that it’s fine to strive as long as you realize the final outcome can’t be controlled.

Tara Brach is an American psychologist and Buddhist meditator, who has written several books about how mindfulness aids healing. On first meeting, Harris finds Brach annoying, as she speaks in a “creamy cloying tone […] that was astonishingly affected” (111). Soon, however, he realizes he has misjudged her and finds her mindfulness technique called RAIN, which stands for "recognize, allow, investigate, and engage in non-attachment," to be “workable” (113). Using the Brach technique, Harris finds himself able to “ease [his] agita in the moment” while feeling a “sense of hope about better handling whatever garbage [his] ego coughed up going forward” (114). Harris's experience with Brach proves he can find help from unexpected sources and learn from others if he keeps an open mind.