Are You Letting Politics Make You Bitter Or Better? A Psychological Survival Conversation With CNN’s Van Jones

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Dan Harris, Health & Fitness, Mindfulness, Dharma, Mental Health, Meditation

4.6 • 12.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Recorded in January 2025 during the week of the Presidential inauguration, this conversation with CNN commentator Van Jones is less about politics and more about how we react to politics. You’ll hear the questions that Van always asks himself before he goes on air, what he considers to be his purpose on earth, and how he thinks about the future.

This conversation was part of a special Inauguration Week series which featured daily gatherings of the “Renegade Sangha,” as Dan calls it, including guided meditations led by Dan, and interviews with thinkers to help us make sense of the moment. To join future live sessions, become a paid subscriber at DanHarris.com. You’ll also get cheatsheets and transcripts for every episode, plus access to a community of other folks who take this stuff seriously.

Join Dan’s online community here

Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's the 10% Happier Podcast.
0:07.0	I'm Dan Harris.
0:08.0	Hello, everybody. To state the blazingly obvious, we're in a bumpy period in American public life.
0:24.9	This is true in many parts of the world, in fact.
0:28.1	So here's a provocative question for you.
0:30.5	You're going to hear this question posed by my guest today.
0:33.7	And here it is.
0:34.6	Are you going to let these times make you bitter or better? Said guest is Van Jones,
0:41.2	the CNN political analyst, who also happens to be a dedicated meditator. The format for this
0:46.6	episode is a little bit experimental. This is an interview I did with Van live on Substack the day
0:52.8	after Trump's inauguration. So a couple of things to note here before we
0:57.6	dive in. First, at the time we recorded this interview, we were talking about theoretical things
1:03.3	that might subsequently happen. At this point, though many of those things have actually
1:08.8	happened, that said, Van's overall advice and the major thrust of this interview,
1:14.3	which is about how to maintain your sanity and turbulent times,
1:17.8	all of that is evergreen.
1:20.3	The second thing to say here is because we recorded on Substack,
1:23.7	which at the time was a new to us platform,
1:26.6	the sound quality here is not the greatest.
1:28.5	We will improve that next time, I promise. Third and final caveat is you're going to hear me
1:34.5	reading a couple of questions and comments from the live audience during the course of my
1:39.4	interview with Van, which is all pretty cool and is a reminder for me to remind you that you should sign up
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from 10% Media, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of 10% Media, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.