Carlye Adler

After twenty years of on-again/off-again commitment to meditation, I decided that, perhaps, the best way to reignite my practice was with a beginner's mind, as well as a skeptic's mind. That is, after all, a fair way to approach most things, even those that have served you well for two decades.

Life is different now than when I was in my early 30's. My 90 -year-old parents need consistent care. My children are independent, with one now in college and the other driving. I can't log onto social media or the news without my blood pressure skyrocketing. I am suddenly besieged by anxiety, insomnia, a general depressive malaise, and a slowed metabolism. Needless to say, I need meditation. I just won't go to the well often enough. I treat it like a cheap gym membership - I do it now and then to say I've done it, but I am not being the kind of practitioner I have been and know I can be again. So...I started over. And I agreed to take a less dogmatic approach.

Enter Dan Harris, whose "10% Happier" podcast (and first book) has inspired me greatly because he's so candid, even a bit snarky, about all the trappings of mindfulness practice. He gets it. He realizes that 21st century Americans raised on satire and pharmaceuticals aren't going to blindly embrace a practice that requires slowing down, being present, and being wholly honest with how uncomfortable it can feel to sit with the hard stuff.

This book does a fine job of taking an approach that can help everyone from longtime Buddhists (like myself) to those new to secular meditation. There's no dogma here, only practice. I will say, there is a fair amount of "adult" language in the book, which didn't bother me, but if you're expecting Thich Nhat Hanh, well...imagine if Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Stewart were somehow cohabitating the same personage. That is to say, it's a little saucy - a nice mix of sincerity and sarcasm - and yet, Dan conveys a genuine knowledge and appreciation for meditation, offering a solid set of tools to engage a new practice. Or in my case, renew one that is struggling.

From pure mindfulness practice to compassion meditation, from the "I'm too busy" to "people will say I'm weird" excuses, Dan covers the landscape nicely, with humor and with heart. He does a fine job of reteaching this old dog some new tricks.… (mehr)