After Dan Harris, then an ambitious rising star at ABCs news division, was left panting for breath during an on-air panic attack on Good Morning America in front of 5 million viewers, he realized that his life needed to change.

The occasional stage fright? That was routine. But this was something different. "I felt a bolt of fear rolling up my back, over my shoulders, and down my face, and I couldnt do anything to stop it," Harris told us.

Harris, now a Nightline co-anchor, wrote a memoir that happens to be one of the most accessible, sensible, and hilarious guides to meditation and mindfulness. 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually WorksA True Story, (which just came out in paperback) is an irreverent, painfully honest tale about Harriss journey from being an ambitious, self-lacerating newsman with a recreational drug habit, to becoming an ambitious, self-lacerating newsman with a meditation habit.

Harriss journey to mindfulness was unusual. Assigned to the religion beat at ABC, he had access to some of the biggest names in the quasi-religious self-help industrial complex: the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and Joe Vitale, author of the mega-popular The Secret. On camera Harris questioned the gurus and the philosophies they espoused to the masses, while privately he wondered, "What advice do they have for me?"

Harris was intrigued when he began to interview a group of rational Buddhists known as the Jew-Bus: psychotherapist Dr. Mark Epstein, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris, and mindfulness teacher Sharon Salzberg. But there was major stumbling block for Harris. The only route to mindfulness, the Jew-Bus explained, was through meditation. And meditation struck Harris, a lifelong atheist/agnostic, as "the distillation of everything that sucked hardest about the granola lifestyle."

He avoided meditation for months while marinating himself in the Buddhist teachings about mindfulness and the science behind it. One afternoon poolside on a vacation, he felt his resistance "starting to crack." Am I really doing this, he wondered as he returned to his room and set a timer on his phone. Commanding himself to breath in and out, and get in the game, dude, when he opened his eyes five minutes later he had changed his mind about meditation. "I didnt like it, per se, but I respected it," he told us.

Once he started practicing regularly, working his way up to 35 minutes of meditation a day, Harris found it was a value-add in three ways.

The result after countless hours of practice and a 10-day silent meditation retreat? "Improved relationships with colleagues, a better product," he says, "and making the overall day more heedful and successful on a lot of levels including less stress when Im home. My wife would give you the Still 90% a moron speech," adds Harris. "But Im trying."

Unlike past public health directives like oral hygiene or physical fitness, mainstreaming meditation, Harris believes, would actually change behavior and lower reactivity. "Think what that would do for parenting, for conflict in the workplace, for bullying in school," he says.

When we asked Harris if he thought novice meditators could do it on their own, he recommended finding a class. "That can have a HOV lane effect," he explained. "Even if you dont have a one-on-one relationship with the teacher, the practice can be so subtle and such lonely territory, that at least to be able to get up in a group setting and ask a question is very helpful."

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How A Media Star Found Mindfulness After A Meltdown In Front Of 5 Million Viewers

You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. -Eckhart Tolle

Were really hitting our stride for 2015 here atStarts With A Bang,and Im so pleased you shared this past week with me. If you missed anything, heres what weve been through:

These articles have all been a pleasure to be a part of,and as always, youve hadyour say as well. Lets take a look at what weve chosen asyourComments of the Week!

Image credit: E. Siegel.

From John Duffield on expanding spacetime: There is no evidence whatsoever that the 3D space of the universe is anything like the surface of a balloon. There is no evidence of any higher dimensions wherein the space of the universe somehow curves back on itself.

As another has said, the evidence that the Universe is like a balloons surface is tremendous, so long as youre willing to accept an analogy. Youre going to have to, frankly, unless you want to go and work through all the math associated with General Relativity, and be aware that all analogies have limitations. The reason the balloon is so attractive is because its familiar, its in areduced number of dimensions which makes it easy to visualize, and it gives you a reasonable analogy for why galaxies appear to recede from one another at faster speeds the farther away they are: because the fabric of space itself is expanding over time.

Image credit: NASA / WMAP / Universe 101, via http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_exp.html.

So you will have to accept an analogy, as well as the limits of that analogy. The point to this article was that there is no center tothe surface of a balloon, just like there is no center to the circumference of a circle, the surface of Earth, or now were coming up to three dimensions the physical Universe.

The part observable to us is centered on (well,near) us, but thats certainly not the entirety of the Universe. The key to understanding the expansion of space is to understand that any observer would see galaxies distributed and receding the same way we do, and the particulars of what we see alone are specific to our location; the generalities hold everywhere.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler.

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Comments of the Week #44: From the Universes center to where you are [Starts With A Bang]

LOS ANGELES "Empire" star Terrence Howard said his past arrests for domestic abuse allegations were a byproduct of his rough-and-tumble upbringing and "not knowing how to deal with frustration."

Howard was pressed Saturday during the Television Critics Assn. press tour on his past history of arrests and allegations of violence by his former wife, among other women. He stressed that no criminal charges have ever been filed against him. And he emphasized that he is now "married with a new wife and brand new baby. I've grown so much from anything that happened in the past."

Howard cited the spiritual author Eckhart Tolle in saying that he has sought "solutions to life's bigger problems."

"Empire" co-creator/exec producer Lee Daniels was vocal in his support of Howard. The two previously worked together on the 2013 film "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

"He is our leader, he has been front and center taking bullets for all of us," Daniels said. "I'm so proud to be working with him."

Daniels' declaration drew a round of applause from Fox execs and other associated with the show.

The off-screen behaviour of actors has come under heightened scrutiny in the wake of the mushrooming scandal of rape and drugging allegations levied against Bill Cosby by more than 20 woman during the past few months.

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Terrence Howard addresses domestic abuse allegations

WHAT I Know For Sure is the name of Oprah Winfreys monthly column published in her magazine, O. The columns idea came to Oprah in 1998, when she was giving an interview to Gene Siskel, Chicago Sun-Times film critic, during the promotion of the film Beloved. Siskel asked Oprah what she knew for sure? Stumped, Oprah found herself at a complete loss for words:

Uhhhhh, about the movie? I stammered, knowing full well that he was after something bigger, deeper, more complex, but trying to stall until I could come up with a semi-coherent response.

No, he said. You know what I mean about you, your life, anything, everything

Uhhhhh, I know for sure uhhh . I know for sure, I need time to think about that some more, Gene.

The conversation left such an impression on Oprah that she began to explore the question in her columns. A compilation of some of those columns, written over a span of 14 years, the book What I Know for Sure is a combination of self-help lessons, spiritual quotes and motivational stories, inspired by Oprahs life. It is divided into eight chapters titled Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity and Power.

Weight, for instance, is one of the issues addressed in the book. Anyone who is even slightly familiar with Oprah is probably aware that weight has been one of the most discussed topics in her talk shows, magazine, website and interviews, and now, in What I Know For Sure.

Thinking about her next meal, what to eat, what she just ate, how many calories or grammes of fat it contains, how much exercise she will need to burn it off in short, food is always on Oprahs mind. Having tried all kinds of diets from Atkins to the cabbage soup and egg diets, Oprahs story will resonate with anyone who is battling with body image and obesity issues. She now claims to have made loving and grateful peace with her body, which is a wise message to impart when ones senses are assailed by images of skinny models in a culture obsessed with being thin.

Spirituality is also a constant theme in What I Know For Sure. Oprah often quotes Biblical passages and invokes the spiritual teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Gary Zukav and Jesse Jackson, especially when confronted with difficult situations.

Then there are columns on subjects such as betrayal by friends and lovers, work-life balance, relationship with neighbours, ageing, the pursuit of ones passions, handling debts and the value of voting. Throughout the book, Oprah seems to be constantly saying, I have been through it, I know how it feels and you can overcome it because I have managed to. Such a message can be comforting in difficult and tenuous times. Coming from Oprah, someone who had her share of struggles, rose above them, and created a hugely successful career to become a globally influential person, the words should be taken seriously.

Gayle King and Maya Angelou are the two people most frequently mentioned in the book. King, Oprahs close friend, has helped her through sexual harassment and bad relationships. She is the one Oprah goes with on road trips and is basically the kind of friend everyone wishes they had. Oprah says that Gayle has been her biggest cheerleader and is one of the nicest person to know. Her bond with Gayle comes across as a heartening instance of resilient friendship.

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REVIEW: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey - Magazine - DAWN.COM