Sam Harris

Mindfulness vs. Happiness, Part 1

ALMOST ALL OF YOUR SUFFERING COMES FROM YOUR THOUGHTS.

We all get stuck in the past.

We worry about the future.

We’re full of anxiety.

It can consume us.

And makes us ungrateful for what is happening now.

In fact, you could say that the root of all our unhappiness is our thoughts.

So how can we get more present?

It’s not something that happens automatically.

You have to practice every day.

On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I dive deep into the idea of eliminating suffering with an expert in meditation: Sam Harris.

“To truly be indifferent between a good thought and a bad thought- that’s the real superpower.” @SamHarrisOrg

Sam Harris is a New York Times best-selling author, podcast host, and creator of the Waking Up Course. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.

Sam explains how experiencing unconditional love got him interested in meditation and how he reframes the “bad things” that happen to him in life.

So get ready to learn all about consciousness on Episode 823.

“Consciousness itself is not actually changed by its contents.”@SamHarrisOrg

Some Questions I Ask:

When did you get into meditation? (6:00)
Had you ever felt unconditional love before taking MDMA? (10:30)
When did you start to focus on the desire to be happy? (15:50)
Why do so many people believe so firmly in religion? (19:30)
How do we unlock our consciousness? (32:40)
If you could control your thoughts, what would you want to think? (41:00)

In this episode, you will learn:

The goal of meditation (14:00)
The main tool we have is human conversation (18:00)
The only important thing in the universe (30:00)
How to reframe anxiety (35:00)
Why worry is pointless (45:30)
Plus much more…

Show Notes:

Get the Waking Up Course
1. Visit https://www.wakingup.com/redeem
2. Enter your email address
3. Wait for 4 digit code to arrive to that email address (this verifies that you are the owner of the email address)
4. Enter the 4 digit code
5. Enter the unlock code: GREATNESS
6. Download the ‘Waking Up’ app from your phone’s app store
7. Register the app with the same email address you used in Step 2. You will be asked to verify your email address again inside the app
8. If you are financially unable to pay for the app, we can provide a free year of service. Please send an email to info@wakingup.com

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Sam Harris

Transcript of this Episode

Music Credits:

Music Credit:

We Were Infinite – Inukshuck

The Flash Music – A New Beginning

Summit of Greatness 2025 Early Bird Now Open! | September 12-13 | Los Angeles, CA

Sam Harris

Mindfulness vs. Happiness, Part 1

ALMOST ALL OF YOUR SUFFERING COMES FROM YOUR THOUGHTS.

“To truly be indifferent between a good thought and a bad thought- that’s the real superpower.” @SamHarrisOrg