How To Feel Safer In A Chaotic World | Dr. Raj Panjabi

Hello, everybody, welcome to the Ten Percent Happier Podcast. I'm your host, Dan Harris. We live in an increasingly Uncertain. and uh unstable world, at least it feels that way. And quite understandably you might be tempted to approach this constant upheaval by trying to control everything compulsively or alternatively curling up into a ball of denial. Neither of these is a winning strategy, and

We are gonna talk to somebody today who has some much better ideas about how to navigate the Dumpster fire of modern life. His name is Dr. Raj Punjabi. He's a Harvard Medical School physician who also served as a senior director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the White House National Security Council under President Biden. Time magazine has listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Which is not bad. And his new book is called Safer, a Playbook, turning fear into action and crisis into community. Doctor Pajabi, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me on, Dan. Pleasure to have you on. Nobody's put me on any lists of uh one hundred most uh influential people. So I'm gonna just try to sit here and control my resentment. But very, very nice to meet you. I'm really interested in talking about the book. One of the things that you talk about is that in the face of uncertainty and upheaval,

A Common kind of signature move of a human. is denial. Why do we do that? Is there an evolutionary explanation?

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