A Radical Buddhist Approach To Making This The Best Year Of Your Life | Vinny Ferraro
About this episode
<p>Contemplating your own death can feel like a massive bummer at first, but there's good news: how you react to that inescapable fact really matters. </p> <p><a href="https://vinnyferraro.org/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer">Vinny Ferraro</a> has practiced insight meditation (vipassanā) since the mid-90s. He's the Guiding Teacher of the Big Heart City Sangha in San Francisco and has led a weekly sitting group for almost two decades.</p> <p>As a fully empowered Dharma Teacher thru Spirit Rock/IMS, he has taught residential retreats at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and the Esalen Institute. Currently, he leads Spirit Rock's <a href= "https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/a-year-to-live-yl6t25/?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Year to Live</a> course and teaches retreats and daylongs through Big Heart City and meditation centers across the country.</p> <p>He is a respected leader in developing and implementing interventions for at-risk populations. leading groups in schools, juvenile halls and prisons since 1987. He has led emotional intelligence workshops for over 100,000 youth on four continents.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Why it's important to think about your own death even if you're not expecting it anytime soon</li> <li>The distinction between the actual conditions of your life and how much you suffer</li> <li>A practice called the five Daily Remembrances, which Dan started doing himself right after we recorded this — and which has made a real difference for him</li> <li>And some of other practices they do in the class, including the "life review" and "housekeeping"</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong>Related Episodes:</strong></p> <p><a href= "https://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/vinny-ferraro" target= "_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Three Buddhist Practices For Getting Your Sh*t Together | Vinny Ferraro</a></p> <p><a href= "https://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/alua-arthur-archive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur</a></p> <p><strong>Join the waiting list for</strong> <a href= "https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/a-year-to-live-yl6t25/?_gl=1%2A16apfmp%2A_ga%2AMjEzNTMyOTM0NC4xNzM1MzA3NjUy%2A_ga_JJL3LQYNTV%2AMTczNTMwNzY1Mi4xLjEuMTczNTMwNzc2Mi42MC4wLjA.&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>A Year To Live</strong></a> <strong>at Spirit Rock.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Find out more about the</strong> <a href= "https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/young-adult-retreat-246r25-on-land/?_gl=1%2A1rfbgn%2A_ga%2AMjEzNTMyOTM0NC4xNzM1MzA3NjUy%2A_ga_JJL3LQYNTV%2AMTczNTMwNzY1Mi4xLjEuMTczNTMwNzk3Mi42MC4wLjA.&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Young Adult Retreat at Spirit Rock</strong></a> <strong>(taught by Vinny Ferraro, Matthew Brensilver, Cara Lai, and Hakim Tafari).</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Use code TENPERCENT for 10% off these two courses at Spirit Rock:</strong></p> <p><a href= "https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/anxiety-as-teacher-a-dharma-and-yoga-daylong-dj1d25/?_gl=1%2Aftjrn%2A_ga%2AMjEzNTMyOTM0NC4xNzM1MzA3NjUy%2A_ga_JJL3LQYNTV%2AMTczNTMwNzY1Mi4xLjEuMTczNTMwNzY2OC40NC4wLjA.&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Anxiety as Teacher: A Dharma and Yoga Daylong</a></p> <p><a href= "https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/cultivating-the-beautiful-factors-of-mind-204r25-on-land/?_gl=1%2Ac6487a%2A_ga%2AMjEzNTMyOTM0NC4xNzM1MzA3NjUy%2A_ga_JJL3LQYNTV%2AMTczNTMwNzY1Mi4xLjEuMTczNTMwNzg3NC42MC4wLjA.&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cultivating the Beautiful Factors of Mind</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Sign up for Dan's weekly newsletter</strong> <a href= "https://bit.ly/3QtGRqJ" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>here</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Follow Dan on social:</strong> <a href= "https://bit.ly/3tGigG5" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>Instagram</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/3FOA84J" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>TikTok</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Ten Percent Happier online</strong> <a href= "https://bit.ly/46TZglY" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>bookstore</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Subscribe to our</strong> <a href= "https://bit.ly/3FybRzD" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>YouTube Channel</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Our favorite playlists on:</strong> <a href= "https://spoti.fi/3Qa8kMT" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>Anxiety</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3MjtMxF" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>Sleep</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3QvyA5J" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>Relationships</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3QxZASc" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer"><strong>Most Popular Episodes</strong></a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href= "http://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/vinny-ferraro-a-year-to-live" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer">www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/vinny-ferraro-a-year-to-live</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Additional Resources:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Download the <a href= "https://my.meditatehappier.com/start/register?plan=com.10percenthappier.subscription_1year_9999.intro_7day_free" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Happier Meditation app</a> today. </li> </ul>
Listen to this episode in English to learn English
Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. A Radical Buddhist Approach To Making This The Best Year Of Your Life | Vinny Ferraro from 10% Happier with Dan Harris gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.
In the Hinto app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.
Episodes to Learn English
- What's Worth Living For? | Dr. Atul Gawande Sep 14, 2026
- Neal Brennan On: Talking Back to Your Inner Critic, Why Chasing Validation Doesn't Work, and His Harrowing Psychedelic Journeys Sep 11, 2026
- Top 10 Practices for Resetting Your Time, Space, Body, Inner Critic, and Social Life | Laurie Santos and Gretchen Rubin Sep 9, 2026
- The Science Of Building The Life You Want | Arthur Brooks Sep 7, 2026
- The Psychology Of Success | Guy Raz Sep 4, 2026
- When Life's Not Working, Don't Try Harder. Change Your Situation Instead. | Angela Duckworth Sep 2, 2026
- The Science of Habit Change, Why GLP-1s are Disrupting It, and How To Use It To Have Better Conversations | Charles Duhigg Aug 31, 2026
- Sara Bareilles On: The Feelings You Fear Might Destroy You, What Antidepressants Actually Did to Her Creativity, and Why There's Nothing to Fix Aug 28, 2026
- How To Handle AI Anxiety: A Computer Scientist and a Buddhist Teacher On Managing Uncertainty | Cal Newport & Matthew Brensilver Aug 26, 2026
- Longevity Secrets (And Controversies) From The Blue Zones | Dan Buettner Aug 24, 2026
- The Evidence for Aliens, the Afterlife, Bigfoot, Sea Monsters, and More | Miguel Sancho Aug 21, 2026
- You Can Stop Fixing Yourself: Buddhist Advice on Boundaries, Rituals, and Dropping Your Self-Aggression | Susan Piver Aug 19, 2026
- You Can Get Through It: How to Handle the Hardest Things That Will Ever Happen to You | Dr. Lucy Hone Aug 17, 2026
- The Science of Journaling: How 15 Minutes of Writing Can Free Up Your Brain, Improve Your Health, and Make You a Better Friend | Dr. James Pennebaker Aug 14, 2026
- The Non-BS Science of Manifestation: How Your Imagination Can Help With Pain, Anxiety, Conflict, and Recovery | Cassi Vieten Aug 12, 2026
- The Neuroscience of Likability, Social Connection, and Brain Health | Ben Rein Aug 10, 2026
- Self-Help Without Other People Is Just Selfish — and Here's the Science to Prove It | Dan Harris Aug 7, 2026
- Resetting Your Nervous System When You're Anxious, Hurting, or Just Powering Through | Johanna Franzel Aug 5, 2026
- For The Lonely, Suffocated, or Overextended: How To Balance Your Relationships When Others Won't Change | Nedra Glover Tawwab Aug 3, 2026
- When You Don't Know What You Actually Want: How To Say No, When To Say Yes, and The One Question That Cuts Through It | Yara Shahidi Jul 31, 2026
- You're Gonna Be Alright No Matter What: On Facing Anger, Aging, and Loss With Humor and Grace | Sylvia Boorstein Jul 29, 2026
- How To Read People, Calm Tension, Build Trust, and Ask For What You're Worth | John Richardson Jul 27, 2026
- That Feeling of "Always-Behind and Never-Enough"—Here's the Antidote | Ellen Hendriksen Jul 24, 2026
- Secrets From the Therapist's Couch: How Boundaries Actually Work, How To Come To Peace With Your Parents, and Why It's Not Too Late To Change | Lori Gottlieb Jul 22, 2026
- Joyful Anyway: Surviving the Sh*t Show of Regular Life | Kate Bowler Jul 20, 2026
- Why We Crave Gurus: A Skeptic's Reckoning With Belief, Bitcoin, and Burning Man | Vikram Gandhi Jul 17, 2026
- Anxiety, Overthinking, and Overwhelm: Buddhist Hacks For Changing Your Mind | Joseph Goldstein Jul 15, 2026
- Perfectionism, Burnout, and Self-Doubt: Break the Loop with the Science of Mattering | Gordon Flett Jul 13, 2026
- How a Group of Broke 20-Somethings Accidentally Launched the Mindfulness Movement | Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg Jul 10, 2026
- How To Communicate Effectively With Difficult People: When to Tell the Truth, When to Push Back, and Why Kindness Isn't the Same as Being Nice | Sharon Salzberg Jul 8, 2026