Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques29 Sep 2025

232. Pause, Don’t Panic: Finding Calm in High-Stakes Moments

To connect with others, you have to get out of your own head.

Whether presenting to millions on live television or talking to just one person, Dan Harris knows that the quality of every interaction depends on the presence you bring to it.

Harris is a former national news anchor for ABC News and is now the host of the 10% Happier podcast and author of 10% Happier and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. As he knows from experience, there’s power in “Waking up to something fundamental, that the mind is out of control, and you don't want to be owned by it.” How do we break the pattern of being controlled by our thoughts? Mindfulness and self-awareness, he says, put “distance” between us and our “thoughts and urges and emotions,” enabling us to connect with ourselves and others with greater consciousness and clarity.

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Harris and host Matt Abrahams discuss how mindfulness can transform our communication, sharing strategies for deeper listening, responding versus reacting, and reflecting what others say back to them. “Relationships are the most important aspect of your happiness,” Harris says. The quality of those connections goes up when “you’re “less stuck in your own head.”

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Chapters:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:10) - On-Air Panic Attack
(03:18) - Managing Communication Anxiety
(04:20) - Nervousness Before Live Audiences
(06:07) - Meditation Misconceptions
(09:55) - Responding vs. Reacting
(12:26) - Mindfulness & Productivity
(15:30) - Lessons from Interviewing
(17:38) - The Final Three Question
(25:45) - Conclusion

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