10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works

Harris updates his findings in the epilogue, written in the fall of 2013. Here, he notes that studies on long-term meditators (215) show that enlightenment may be possible. Jud Brewer, a scientist from Yale, has found that “[i]f you give your brain enough of a taste of mindfulness, it will eventual create a self-reinforcing spiral—a retreat from greed and hatred that could […] potentially lead all the way to the definitive uprooting of negative emotion (in other words enlightenment)” (216).

Harris has realized his penchant, present throughout the book, of “clos[ing] [his] mind prematurely” (218) to both people and opportunities. Fighting against this while remaining wisely ambitious secures Harris’s promotion to co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline. It also suggests that he will keep seeking new experiences, new principles, and greater knowledge. Harris closes this last part of the 2014 edition with a recounting of pursuing an interview with a drug kingpin in Rio de Janeiro. As he sends the terrifying and armed man a mental dose of metta, he feels triumphant doing his job to the best of his ability. He also shows his knowledge and acceptance of self.