A great comment from Katie B.

 My friend, Katie B. wrote such a great response to my call to Meditation that I have decided it deserves a post of its own.  So here, with permission is her comment:-

Katie Bestevaar	4 Jan 2021, 16:14 (8 days ago)
to me

Dear Ann,

The Dan Harris mentioned in your blog post is the same one who, in 2005, stopped in the middle of a news

report (on Good Morning America I think) with a panic attack. He’d been a journalist in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.,

seen far too much, and on his return to America eventually found it hard to get up in the morning, was self-medicating with cocaine etc., and had undiagnosed PTSD. He froze for some minutes - seen by 5 million Americans, and much more later on,

He saw heaps of doctors etc., and meditation was recommended - he thought it was all brown rice, socks and sandals, and listening to Enya, so resisted it, but it is now his life. He’s married to a doctor (something specific but I forget what) has a son and some cats, and I believe they’ve taken on a relative’s child as well. 

He’s written Ten Percent 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 - about which Elizabeth Gilbert wrote : An enormously smart, clear-eyes, brave-hearted, and quite personal look at the benefits of meditation” - also available as an audiobook (gonna tell Kim about that) and co-wrote Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics.

Dan eventually founded Ten Percent Happier, a great little app. Plenty of stuff to access free, from 1 minute to 5 minute to as-long-as-you-fancy meditations, some singles, some courses. I did lots of them, then paid for a year’s subscription, and today started the New Year’s Challenge, which is to do 15 meditations over the next 21 days, starting today.

Thought you might like it. They had a half-price offer, so I bought one for Anna and Marty to share, if they want to.

There are so many good people associated with Ten Percent Happier - Judson Brewer, a neuroscientist and addiction specialist, Joseph Goldstein - the creator of the term mindfulness, I believe, Sebene Selassie, a 3-time cancer survivor, courses on compassion, ethics, healthy eating, handling stress, coping with chaotic times, and heaps more.