Election Stress Special (Bonus Episode!)
This 10% Happier episode features Dan Harris, Sharon Salzberg (Insight Meditation Society), JoAnna Harper (Against the Stream), and David Gelles (NYT reporter) discussing how meditation can alleviate "election stress disorder" and provide actionable strategies for managing anxiety and divisiveness.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Emergency Edition: Addressing Election Stress Disorder
How Meditation Helps with Anxiety and Catastrophizing
Re-establishing Commonality Amidst Divisiveness
Understanding and Practicing Loving-Kindness Meditation
Concrete Advice for Managing Election-Related Feelings
Connecting to Core Values and Practicing Forgiveness
Impact of Election Ugliness on Minority Communities
Mindful Approach to Voting and Civic Engagement
Navigating Media Consumption and Social Media Addiction
Buddhist Ethics: Right Speech in Difficult Conversations
Balancing Detachment and Engaged Buddhism
Parenting in a Politically Charged Environment
Integrating Short Moments of Mindfulness Throughout the Day
5 Key Concepts
Election Stress Disorder
A term coined by a therapist to describe the widespread stress, anxiety, and exhaustion many Americans feel due to the perceived ugliness of the election. Symptoms can include anxiety, powerlessness, anger, increased tension, difficulty sleeping, and physical ailments.
Prapansha (Proliferation)
A Buddhist term referring to the mind's 'imperialistic tendency' to take a small data point in the present and catastrophize, creating a 'horror movie' scenario in the future that is often unhelpful and drives anxiety.
Loving Kindness (Meta Meditation)
A meditation practice focused on systematically generating feelings of warmth and goodwill for oneself, close friends, difficult people, and eventually all beings. It helps re-establish a sense of commonality and caring, recognizing shared humanity without necessarily agreeing with or condoning others' views.
Mindfulness of Motivation
The practice of observing one's underlying intentions before speaking or acting, especially in challenging conversations. It helps clarify whether the goal is to win an argument, be seen as right, or seek mutual respect and resolution, guiding towards more skillful responses.
Right Speech
A precept in Buddhist ethics that provides guidelines for communication. Before speaking, one considers if the speech is true, useful, timely, kind, and not gossip or slander, aiming to foster constructive and compassionate dialogue.
10 Questions Answered
Meditation can help individuals understand painful feelings like fear and anxiety, recognize the mind's tendency to catastrophize, find small actionable steps, and return to the present moment through breath, reducing feelings of helplessness.
It's a practice, often part of loving-kindness meditation, where one reminds themselves that people with opposing views are also experiencing strong emotions and shared humanity, fostering a sense of commonality.
No, loving-kindness is not about giving in or abandoning one's principles, but about recognizing the shared humanity and vulnerability of others, fostering a sense of caring without necessarily liking or agreeing with them.
Focus on what's actually happening now rather than catastrophizing, look deeper into feelings to understand their root (e.g., helplessness), and identify small, actionable steps one can take to engage positively.
A mindful approach to voting involves being informed, focusing on grassroots actions in one's community, understanding what is within one's control, and recognizing the impermanence of election outcomes.
Self-monitor your consumption, set limits, take short breaks (e.g., three breaths), and be aware of your motivation for seeking information. If social media causes agitation without informing or making you wiser, consider disengaging from it.
Before speaking, consider if your words are true, useful, timely, kind, and not gossip or slander. This mindful filter helps to engage in more constructive and less inflammatory dialogue.
Cultivate self-trust through practice to remain grounded. Be mindful of your motivation for the conversation (e.g., mutual respect vs. vanquishing). Pay attention to physical agitation as a clue to step back or pause.
While historical Buddhist practices included detachment, modern 'engaged Buddhism' recognizes an obligation to participate in civil society and reduce suffering in the world, often by focusing on issues rather than personalities.
Parents should foster open communication and discussion, surround and support children with reliable people, and involve them in positive, local movements to bolster wholesome and skillful actions rather than focusing solely on negativity.
19 Actionable Insights
1. Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation
Engage in loving-kindness (meta) meditation to re-establish a sense of commonality and shared humanity, reminding yourself that others, ‘just like me,’ experience similar emotions and desires for happiness, even when you disagree with them. This practice fosters caring without requiring agreement or condoning views.
2. Ground in Present Moment
Counter the mind’s tendency to catastrophize and proliferate negative future scenarios by consciously returning to the present moment through your breath. This helps you recognize what is actually happening now versus what is conjecture, reducing feelings of doom and anxiety.
3. Mindful Engagement with Feelings
Practice mindfulness to navigate strong emotions by avoiding two extremes: being completely swept up and defined by feelings, or denying and dissociating from them. Instead, connect to your feelings without letting them consume or define you, allowing for a healthier response.
4. Look Deeper into Feelings
When experiencing painful feelings like fear or rage, look deeper into their nature to understand their underlying causes, such as helplessness or feeling unheard. This deeper understanding helps you address the root of the discomfort rather than just reacting to surface emotions.
5. Identify Core Values for Action
Connect with your core personal values to guide your actions and identify what you truly want to support and be active in. This helps you move beyond being swept up in political ‘sides’ and engage in meaningful ways that align with your authentic self.
6. Focus Energy on Controllables
Categorize situations into what you can control and what you cannot. Direct your energy and actions towards areas within your jurisdiction, especially local community efforts, rather than dwelling on things you cannot change, which helps reduce feelings of powerlessness.
7. Practice “Right Speech” Filters
Before speaking or posting, apply the ‘right speech’ filters: Is it true? Is it useful? Is it timely? Is it kind? Is it free of gossip or slander? Use mindfulness to guide your attention and ensure your communication is intentional and constructive, especially in difficult conversations or online.
8. Mindfulness in Difficult Conversations
During challenging conversations, be mindful of your motivation (e.g., do you want to win or find mutual respect?) and your body’s sensations (e.g., agitation). Use these internal clues as a ‘danger zone’ indicator to pause, re-evaluate, or politely extricate yourself before escalating.
9. Integrate “Short Moments, Many Times”
Incorporate brief moments of mindfulness, such as taking three conscious breaths, into your daily routine whenever you feel triggered or agitated. This practice provides immediate perspective, returns you to your body, and offers a choice in how you respond.
10. Address Helplessness with Action
Recognize that seeking excessive information can be an attempt to counteract feelings of helplessness. Instead of succumbing to apathy or cynicism, identify and commit to small, important actions that directly address the root of your helplessness.
11. Self-Monitor Media Consumption
Discipline yourself to self-monitor media consumption, especially regarding overwhelming or addictive news, by setting limits on how much you engage. If you feel overwhelmed, take a few breaths to step back and regain perspective.
12. Disengage from Agitating Social Media
If social media platforms are causing agitation rather than informing or making you wiser, consider disengaging from them. Instead, channel your energy into active, helpful engagement in the real world.
13. Embrace Impermanence
Remember that difficult events, like election outcomes, are impermanent and will pass. This perspective can reduce stress and attachment to specific outcomes, helping you recognize that life continues beyond a single date or event.
14. Cultivate Self-Trust Through Practice
Commit to consistent meditation practice (’time on the cushion’) to condition your mind for clear seeing and cultivate self-trust. This strengthens your ability to remain grounded and open-hearted, even when engaging with people who hold vastly different views.
15. Take Small, Meaningful Actions
When faced with uncomfortable feelings, tolerate them and look for a path to one small, concrete action you can take. Taking these small steps can lead to a greater sense of fulfillment than unproductive outlets like furious social media posts.
16. Focus on Issues, Not Personalities
When engaging in civic participation, particularly during elections, strive to focus on the underlying issues and policies that reduce suffering, rather than conflating them with individual candidates or personalities.
17. Parenting: Bolster the Positive
For parents, foster open communication and support for children, involving them in positive local movements or actions. Emphasize wholesome and skillful ways to engage, rather than focusing solely on negative or hopeless aspects of current events.
18. Practice Self-Compassion
Extend loving-kindness and understanding to yourself, especially when you feel you’ve ‘failed’ or acted imperfectly. Recognize that even with extensive practice, flaws are part of the human experience.
19. Support the Podcast
If you enjoy the 10% Happier Podcast, subscribe, rate it, and recommend it to friends to help them discover the show.
10 Key Quotes
The worst part of my own fear, when I get lost in it, is a certain sense of helplessness.
Sharon Salzberg
Prapansha, which means the imperialistic tendency of mind is amazing.
Joanna Harper
Just like me, these people have strong views. They may be wrong, but just like me, they're going through this too.
David Gelles
It's not a weakness. It's a tremendous power to have this sense of caring for others and yourself.
Sharon Salzberg
Hatred running the show as we've seen is not the right way to go and it's not what I'm interested in.
Joanna Harper
If we can hang in there with a really uncomfortable feelings, very often, there's a path to one small action we can take and, and another and another.
Sharon Salzberg
I am of the opinion that he is promoting and supporting a candidate and by extension, a, a policy and a platform that increases human suffering.
David Gelles
We can trust ourselves to not lose it, right? Like I can trust myself that I can hold.
Joanna Harper
I often describe it as like an inner meteorologist because you can be in the middle of a conversation and then you notice, oh, there's a hurricane that's about to make landfall here.
Dan Harris
Short moments, many times.
Sharon Salzberg
2 Protocols
Mindful Approach to Difficult Conversations
Sharon Salzberg- Be mindful of your motivation: What is the desired outcome (e.g., vanquish, be right, resolution, mutual respect)?
- Be aware of your body: Notice physical agitation as it begins to emerge, recognizing it as a 'danger zone' for continuing the conversation unskillfully.
Right Speech Guidelines
Joanna Harper- Is it true?
- Is it useful?
- Is it timely?
- Is it kind?
- Is it gossip or slander? (If yes, avoid speaking)