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In this book review I am summarizing the key points from 10% happier by Dan Harris. Have you ever wondered why you should meditate? Have you been interested in starting a meditation practice or mindfulness practice but have been thrown off buy the spiritual or mystical jargon surrounding meditation? Do not fear, in 10% happier by Dan Harris he distills meditation to is core essence. Meditation, is simply exercise for your brain that can make you 10% happier. However, just like going to the gym meditation only helps if you consistently meditation everyday. Therefore, I hope after watching this video you know the answer to the question, “Why you should meditate everyday?”

If you can’t sustain it, it’s not worth it. 

Pavan Mehat

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I was inspired to make this blog post after finishing a hospital on call shift as part of my Chilliwack ICC Clerkship program at UBC Medical School. I talked about this briefly in my video above, but I wanted to expand on one salient point I discussed. We as humans, like any other animal, are hardwired to decrease suffering. Yes it would be nice if we just ate rabbit food for the majority of the day to stay lean and fit. However, since we have recourse to enjoy pizza, and hamburgers ( I have never met someone who didn't enjoy these foods), we will not needlessly suffer. I can't even count the multitude of times I have sworn I was never going to eat pizza or another burger again only to find it on the plate for my next meal! 

Willpower is excellent and it is an absolutely essential ingredient in the early stages of promoting positive behaviour change. But if we rely on will power for long term sustainable change we will falter. We need to emphasize skill power over will power. 

What is skill power you may ask? It is the use of appropriate planning and organization to make change easy and automatic and therefore sustainable. Focus on the word appropriate. This doesn't mean you control every aspect of your meal prep and know exactly what you are going to eat. However, what I find extremely helpful is having 1-2 flex meals that you can always lean on when you are really hungry, tired, rushed for time, or a combination of all the above. 

In the video above I discussed my initial experience (spoiler alert I loved it!) at the Float House Abbotsford.  However, since I had the pleasure of enjoying my third float session, I wanted to reflect on my experience of incorporating regular flotation sessions into my routine as a third year medical student clerk at UBC. 

The simplest way I would describe flotation therapy is mindfulness or meditation on steroids. The combination of the near elimination of sensory input and the length of time are a very powerful combination that expedite learning and relaxation. In an ideal world I would do floats every two weeks but that is not realistic given my current demanding schedule. Nevertheless each float is better than the last.