Dan Harris: Fidgety Skeptic to Meditator

The journey to becoming "10% happier"

(ABC News) Part 1: How an on-air panic attack led ABC's Dan Harris to dive into America's self-help subculture. Part 2: ABC's Dan Harris explains how meditation and mindfulness have helped stop his emotions from running wild and out of control.

Ten Percent Happier?

Famous ABC News anchor Dan Harris crashed live on air, left TV, then authored 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works - A True Story.

Along with his follow-up, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book, this is a spiritual book written for and by someone who would otherwise never read a spiritual book much less actually meditate.

Both books are deadly serious and seriously funny looks at mindfulness and meditation as the next big public health revolution.

Harris always believed that the restless, relentless, impossible-to-satisfy voice in his head was one of his greatest assets. How else can one climb the ladder in an ultra-competitive field like TV news except through nonstop handwringing and hypervigilance?

For a while, his strategy worked. Then it didn't. Harris used to think that meditation was for people who collect crystals, play Pan pipes, and use the Sanskrit greeting Namaste without irony.

How I became cool and calm.

After he had a panic attack on live television, he went on a strange journey that ultimately led him to become one of meditation's most vocal public proponents.

Science shows that meditation can lower blood pressure, mitigate depression and anxiety, and literally rewire key parts of the brain, among numerous other health benefits.

Yet, there are millions of people who want to meditate but aren't actually practicing. What's holding them back? More

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