51 pages • 1 hour read
Dan Harris10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 2-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 2 Summary: “Unchurched”
In 2004, Peter Jennings assigned Harris to the religion beat for ABC News. Harris and his producer, Wonbo Woo, travelled the United States covering stories about the surge in Christian movements, the arguments over gay marriage, abortion, and whether faith should have a place in public life. While Woo tired of these mostly superficial stories, Harris resisted going deeper and confessed his “attitude about faith […] was one of disinterest bordering on disdain” (30). However, after getting to know Evangelist Ted Haggard, his view shifted.
Harris felt Haggard was an intelligent individual who was honest about the interior squabbles between factions in the Evangelical movement. Haggard was accessible and answered many of Harris's questions both on record and off, sometimes acting as an inside source. Haggard’s affability allowed Harris to become more comfortable around people of faith, which was a crucial step in Harris's personal journey; he realized he had been making broad assumptions about those who regarded faith seriously and that had led to bias. Thereafter, he changed his reporting technique to accommodate greater depth and inquiry in faith-based stories. With a new view to educate and inform, he began to cover the type of more complex stories Woo had originally encouraged.
However, in November of 2006, Harris and Woo were taken by surprise as Haggard was exposed for having a relationship with a male escort, who also supplied him with drugs. At first, Haggard denied his involvement but later admitted his culpability and stepped down from his role in the Evangelical community. Harris was taken aback by Haggard’s hypocrisy and his acquaintance’s sudden inaccessibility.
Important personal shifts occurred for Harris during this time, as Jennings—a significant mentor—died from lung cancer in 2005. Jobs were shifted at ABC News, and Harris became a reporter for Nightline. He was also introduced to and became involved with his future wife, Bianca, a pulmonary and critical care specialist. His new relationship brought him ease at home while his anxiety at work increased. For Harris's health and well-being, Bianca urged him to find a balance. However, he failed to see the root of his problem: “During this period, as I continued to deal with the aftermath of my panic attacks, […] it never once occurred to me that any aspect of the religious traditions I was reporting on could be relevant or useful to me personally” (39).
Then, he landed an interview with Haggard, and the disgraced pastor admitted his wrongdoing under Harris’s heavy questioning. In the end, although Harris recognized Haggard’s problems, he found he admired Haggard’s steady belief in God, even during a time of trial. He also realized that most people lived their lives guided by some sort of faith. Like Jennings had done with significant reports on religious figures, Harris longed to be curious about the world around him and to engage in deeper existential questions. He wanted to find an answer that went beyond the merely banal and find the sense of purpose he sorely lacked.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Genius or Lunatic?”
Harris believed his life had measurably improved from the days of his drug use and panic attacks. He was engaged to Bianca and now anchored the Sunday edition of World News Tonight. However, his worry regarding work had increased, particularly as it could be very unpredictable, depending on who was in charge. He continued to feel anxiety regarding his place among his colleagues, particularly noting the talent of his friend, fellow correspondent David Muir.
When a producer friend, Felicia Biberica, asked if he’d read Eckhart Tolle’s recent book, A New Earth: Awakening Your Life’s Purpose, which was about controlling the ego, Harris sought it out. Tolle is an Oprah-endorsed author who gained success when she featured his book The Power of Now on her show. Harris had mixed feelings about A New Earth, which seemed convoluted and relied heavily on pseudoscience. However, Harris did appreciate Tolle’s focus on the idea that there is a “voice in our heads […] engaged in a ceaseless stream of thinking—most of it negative” (56). The ego, Tolle argued, was insatiable, jealous of others, hooked on drama, and prone to disregard the present. Intrigued at how this related to himself, Harris decided to interview Tolle in the future for ABC.
In the meantime, Harris was trying to deal with surgery for facial melanoma that might permanently affect his appearance. Anxiety about this was coupled frustration frustrated he’d been passed over for the assignment of covering Barack Obama’s inauguration (62). His hot-headed reaction landed him a reprimand. Such experiences increased Harris’s desire for practical advice regarding how to handle his tendency toward expressing anger and frustration in outbursts. While Tolle offered a clear assessment of the human ego, he had no plan to combat the hyperactivity of the ego. So, when Harris sat down with Tolle for the interview he’d scheduled, he felt invested in Tolle’s answers. However, the interview proved unsatisfying as Tolle repeated the dictum that one should simply observe each thought without identifying with it, letting each flow one after another. By staying in the present, Tolle found he rarely got angry or upset as each event was impermanent. While Harris found Tolle genuine, he failed to receive his practical answer on how to achieve taming the voice in your head. As he expressed it, “It was as if I’d met a man who’d told me my hair was on fire, and then refused to offer me a fire extinguisher” (69).
Chapters 2-3 Analysis
Harris’s need to find a practical technique that will help mitigate his inner critic comes to the fore in these chapters. While he continues his self-effacing humor, his sincerity in trying to discover a place for spirituality in his life gives his quest a feeling of urgency.
One of Harris’s narrative strategies is to admit his continued misjudgment of others and his eventual acceptance of concepts with which he wasn’t originally aligned. Through meeting Haggard, his views on the devoutly religious change, and this moves him one step closer to finding his own path to well-being. Haggard is one example of the mentor figure in the hero’s journey. This narrative structure includes archetypal figures that help or hinder the protagonist along their journey. An important figure is the mentor, someone who gives guidance or tools to the protagonist early in their journey. Like Haggard, a mentor may only be able to provide partial advice, but they help guide the protagonist in the right direction. In this case, Haggard is a complex mentor because he engaged in acts that caused many in his religious community to lose faith in him. However, Harris’s ability to see past Haggard’s mistakes signals that Harris has already shed some of his stereotypes about people of religious faith. Tolle turns out to be a false mentor, which often appears in hero’s journey narratives; Harris hoped to gain wisdom from the popular guru but found that his approach offered no Practical Tools for Stress Management.
The theme of balance in mentorship is embodied in these chapters. Jennings, Haggard, and Tolle embody troubling contradictions, which, for Harris, makes them less than ideal role models in offering a practical guide for how to alleviate stress and gain happiness. Jennings, while intelligent and driven, was temperamental; Haggard, while affable, accessible, and devout, was hypocritical and sexually conflicted; Tolle, while understanding of the deep workings of the mind, was convoluted and confusing. Though each of these men is admirable to Harris, none exemplifies the balance he seeks. However, through them, Harris is able to home in on what he wants: to find a way to tame the negative voice in his head and engage in the present.
