Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 41: Robin Roberts, "GMA" Anchor, Cancer Survivor (Bonus Episode!)

Episode Date: October 17, 2016

"Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts has more than 30 years of experience in the radio and television business and said it was her "GMA" colleagues, George Stephanopoulos and our host Dan Harris, who first perked her interest in meditation a few years ago. Today, she says she can't remember not meditating because it's become so much a part of her daily routine. A devout Christian, Roberts also finds comfort in her faith and has overcome major health challenges, first survived breast cancer and then a battle with a blood and bone marrow disease called myelodysplastic syndrome. She's written about her experiences in her book, "Everybody's Got Something," which is also the name of her new podcast. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It kind of blows my mind to consider the fact that we're up to nearly 600 episodes of this podcast, the 10% happier podcast. That's a lot of conversations. I like to think of it as a great compendium of, and I know this is a bit of a grandiose term, but wisdom. The only downside of having this vast library of audio is that it can be hard to know where to start. So we're launching a new feature here, playlists, just like you put together a playlist of your favorite songs.

Back in the day, we used to call those mix tapes. Just like you do that with music, you can do it with podcasts. So if you're looking for episodes about anxiety, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes. Or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes, or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist for that. We've even put together a playlist of some of my personal favorite episodes. That was a hard list to make. Check out our playlists at 10%.com slash playlist. That's 10% all one word spelled out..com slash playlist singular.

Let us know what you think. We're always open to tweaking how we do things and maybe there's a playlist we haven't thought of. Hit me up on Twitter or submit a comment through the website. I will meditate for the rest of my life. I will be one of those that good Lord willing and Creek don't rise. I'm gonna be an old lady one day

and I'll be on my porch and they'll go, shh that old lady she meant dating, she meant dating again. From ABC, this is the 10% happier podcast, I'm Dan Harris. Hey guys, I've only done this once before when we had Elizabeth Vargason, who's the anchor of 2020, but here we go again, I'm gonna interview a colleague. This is GMA with Robin Roberts,

George Stephanopoulos, and Michael Strayhead. And the colleague this time is Robin Roberts, who if you watch Good Morning America, you know her. She's the co-host. I've worked with her for 15 years. And now the GMA, we can anchor Dan Harris. Good to see you, Dan. Hey guys, good morning. Great to see you. We're gonna start here. She's been through so many interesting things, which you'll hear about and what she wrote about in her book, Everybody's Got Something, which is also the name of a new podcast that she started but she's also a meditator which started a few years ago and she has some really interesting things to say about her practice so ladies and gentlemen I give you Robin Roberts how and when did I start meditating I was thinking about

that I think it's but it's been a couple of years it's it's it's odd because I can't really remember not doing it because it's so much a part of who I am. And I would have to say over those two years, I'm very consistent, but there have been gaps. And when I talk to people who have been doing it a lot longer than I have, they say the same thing. And it kind of takes the pressure off of you a little bit because at first, when I stop doing it for a day or two

I thought oh and then I'm like it's okay and I always come back to it and I always feel better for it You were in part the reason why I saw what it did for you also George step anopolis During the show you heard it yeah, a little Me may have heard of them We were doing the show and we love Good Morning America. And there's sometimes there's some subject matters that we're doing. I'm like, oh gosh, you know, but I get it, you know, and I was feeling that way.

And I was thinking, boy, if I feel this way, I'm going to turn the George and he's going to be just like, livid that we're doing this. And I turned to him, he's cool. Happ happens again. Look at him, he's cool. And I finally went to him and I was like, man, what is your secret? How are you able to not just blow a gasket because of some of the things that we're doing? And he said that he was meditating. And he told me about his guy, Bob Roth. And I thought, wow, I was seeing it effective because he used to be, I used to see George get a little wild up about some things.

And then I noticed that he wasn't doing that anymore. It was that tangible. And I was like, I want some of that. I want some of that. I'll have what he's having. And went there and there is some dedication to it in the beginning as you know you have to You have to commit a certain amount of time to be trained how to do it and they're all different levels of it

which is great and I have found that I We were talking about this before We were talking about this before. Am I seeing colors in my different person? I'm just more mindful of things. I'm just at the very least, at the very least, Dan, when I meditate, even when I feel I haven't gone deep.

Even if I feel like, oh, that I just fall asleep or, oh, I didn't really happen, I was thinking, I find benefits later in the day. I feel the effects of it later and It was really really cute. My partner Amber we were traveling out West and I was at work and had to go pick her up coming from work and and she's more she's more nocturnal than I am and I said you got to be ready. We're gonna come pick you up.

You know, I'm gonna pick you up at X amount of time. We gotta get to the airport. So I called her in the car, going to pick her up, and it was a parent that I woke her up. And I was like, we've got a flight, JFK. You know, I was very calm, and she rushed, and she got down the car, and she looked looked at me and she's like, I'm sorry I know we're gonna be cutting it close and I was like, it's okay and she looked at me and she's like, what?

I'm like, it's fine if we don't catch this flight, there'll be another flight and she kind of like, uh, who are you? And I did even realize that I had become this person. And we've thankfully made the flight, but she has noticed that things that I used to go off about, not to say that I still don't. And I think that's very important too. It's not like you, all of a sudden, or just, you know, like, oh please,

you know, opening the door for everyone. And just so so that's not the right example. The fact being, you don't, for me, I haven't become a different person, I'm just more mindful of the person that I've always wanted to be, and that's just bringing it down a notch. Yeah. No judgment here, because it's certainly true for me, but did you find that the old, you kind of lost her temper once in a while? Because I said, oh yeah. Oh yeah.

I'm not saying that I lost my temper last night. So I'm not saying, yeah. What'd you do? What happened? Somebody on, someone one of my colleagues kind of annoyed me and I dropped a few F-bombs. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I like you even more. I think people need to hear that. They need to know that even if you meditate, you will still drop an F-bomber to. It's okay. But I did find that I'm not as... I still have those moments just like you described, but not as many and I'm I catch myself before I Catch myself and even and I don't even feel that way anymore. I don't see no many times

I just don't have that in me and I think it's because there's this calm There's this calm that meditation has brought to my life So who is Bob Roth and what kind of meditation can you just explain all that? Sure, he's with the David Lynch Foundation. And he gave me a link to a video of some people that he has worked with. And there's some names that you would be familiar with, but I feel like I shouldn't drop a name. You're in a safe place. you can do whatever you want here. Ellen, Harry Sainteau.

Okay. So he's worked with some, Oprah. He's worked with some big people. And he's a really, he's a great guy. And so he brought me in and he's somebody who's been meditating, you know, the majority of us live. And this is transcendental meditation. Thank you, TM. Yes, it is. And I had to go and I have to

be okay, this is the no judgment zone. Okay, this thing I'm on. Okay, so I go to him and you have to say you got to go for three days for X amount of hours to really get immersed in what meditation is all about. That was four days. Mine had been three, it's three to four days. I thought mine was three, it could have been four. But it's an X amount of hours when you're there. Okay, so you gotta give like three or four hours.

It's a commitment. For three days, a commitment, especially for someone in the news business as we are. Anyway, so I get there the first day, and I'm like, you know, get to meet them, really like them, it's got a great vibe, great smile. I've met them till he's a very nice guy. Yeah, he is. But then you go downstairs and I'm not saying there's it gets, you know, that's just when he's going to give you what your mantra is because he's got to feel

what it is that your mantra should become. Can you explain to us what a mantra is? A mantra is what you say to yourself over and over again. It's silently. Silently. And you don't tell anybody what that name or phrase is. So even if I gave you 20 bucks right now. You're not, oh honey, you're gonna have a good, yeah. Hey, come on man. Throw some more zeros behind there.

Then we'll talk. Who do you think you're dealing with? Don't you know who I think I am? So you're in this moment and then that's when it gets kind of like, ooh, just I'm being honest. It's kind of like you're down there and the incense are burning and you got to sit and I'm thinking for a hot second, I'm like, oh gosh, what of what what are we doing here? And then you just let yourself go and he and he gets it too.

He kind of looks at you because I'm sure he's seeing a lot of people come in there who are saying what have I done it took that first time and it's almost and I don't want to say like your first high it was magical it was it trans I went to a different place. I've missed my mother and father, Dan. I never thought that I always dread it wouldn't be in my life anymore. And I was really struggling. And it was the first time I felt that peace again. It was a strange thing. I just felt not so much their presence, but I felt a calm that I had not felt in such a long time

because when my second diagnosis, my mother became ill, and she died shortly before my transplant for my low dysplastic syndrome, which is a form of blood cancer. Yeah, they call it a pre-lukemia. I know, there's nothing, to me there's nothing pre-to it, but that's, yes, that's what they call it pre-lead to leukemia and other illnesses. And this is on the heels of breast cancer in 2007, so yeah.

Yeah, that was in my... Hell, hell decade. I had a lot, and you can relate. I had a lot going on. So meditation, I am so thankful that I was introduced to it and it was at the right time. And there are other times when people had talked to me about it and I just, you know, I'm an athlete and I'm just, you need to just make excuses. Oh, that's not for me. It was the right time for me. And Bob really took time and made me understand and I felt it. And I can't say every single time I feel that depth.

It's a little bit how you're talking about how you're working on another project and wanting to see how you get to that next level when it comes to meditation. And I have found, as Bob said, it's a big pool and there's a deep end and there's a shallow end. And sometimes when I meditate, I feel that I'm not in the deep end and he said, it's okay. Even in the shallow end, you still got wet. You still got wet. And then you think about that and you're like,

that's right. I don't know why even the last thing you want to do, we always put pressure on ourselves about everything in life. Don't put pressure on yourself about meditation. You need to feed in the whole purpose of what you're meditating. And so I just cut myself some slack. And I'm just really grateful that it's,

that it's entered my life. I do it. I put a lot of pressure on myself on the on the meditation front and then I see how ridiculous it is and then I do it again. Just so everybody understands that like it's okay if you do it and see how dumb it is and then do it again. Yeah, again, and it's true and and and look there is no way as human beings we cannot have thought. It's gonna happen. We have thought. It's going to happen. We have thought. And I think that's what prevented me because I was thinking, how can I shut my mind off? How can I not have thoughts?

And I've learned that you can't completely do that, but all you do is recognize, and you know this, you recognize when you are having like, I'm sitting here right now and if I'm meditating and then I go, oh gosh, you know, I'm working out at five o'clock, I'm cooking dinner, what are, that you recognize it and then you just push it away. And you just keep doing that. And I am, I'm the last person that I thought would ever be somebody who would meditate. Because my mind is always racing. I have difficulty sleeping because my mind is always racing. I have difficulty sleeping because my mind is always

racing but I have found I'm still feeling like I'm a student where this is concerned I do it faithfully in the morning for 20 minutes and then two minutes coming out of it because you just don't want to just pop out of it so I do it for 20 I have it on my on my phone on my iPad and I need to do it in the afternoon and I remember hearing Giants Jerry Seinfeld talk about it too or 20, I have it on my phone, on my iPad, and I need to do it in the afternoon. And I remember hearing Jerry Seinfeld talk about it too, that he was doing it one time a day, and he was like, once he started doing it twice, that it just off the charts,

what things were happening for him and how he was feeling. He was like, why was I doing it? He said a lot funnier than I am. But why? You know, why was I doing it? He said a lot funnier than I am. But why? Why was I only doing it once a day? And Bob has been very patient with me. But I'm trying to, no matter what time it is that I walk through my door that second time, that in the afternoon, because my schedule is all over the place. No matter what time that is, just go right to my, you know, I don't have a meditation room, but wherever I'm going to meditate, just do it. Just go in, put my things away, you know, I don't have a meditation room,

but wherever I'm gonna meditate, just do it. Just go in, put my things away and say, I'm gonna do my second meditation right now. Take me back to that first time. You're down there in the room, it's a little weird, there's a little some incense going, you don't know who this guy is, and he's talking about a mantra and blah, blah, blah.

What happened? What is the actual exercise that he taught you and what happened in your mind as you were doing it? I trust. And I had to, there was a moment because of his sincerity and because of his, you know, telling me his story of how he began way back when. And then also how he began way back when.

And then also how he was describing it and just taking the pressure off of me, like, he was like, it may work and it may not work while you think it will. I didn't have any, he made it so I didn't have any expectations, like whatever was gonna happen was gonna be my experience. And that really helped me a great deal. But it was something, there was

something about him and also how he was so descriptive about it. Like when he told me about the big pool and he talked about how we are calm on the surface. But then underneath our legs are going crazy and how you'll see a duck and they'll seem like they're just gliding across the water, but then if you saw what was going on below the surface. So he really had a, and I'm a very visual person. So when he was making those kind of analogies and just trying to help me understand, but the biggest point was that he let me know that it was going to be my experience and that

you can't, you know, it's not a competition. I'm not in competition with you about how you meditate. I know you do a different form. And I like the fact that I didn't have to get in a certain position. I didn't have to, oh, I mean, for me, it was just more, for me, it was more realistic and more tangible to be able to achieve. And the actual exercise is just repeating this mantra silently to yourself. Sometimes at a different pace, sometimes when I find that I'm not, I'm having a little more difficulty in pushing away the thoughts that I need to slow down the mantra and sometimes

I need to speed it up. So there is a rhythm to it also. And the act of doing this in a way sort of blots out the chattering mind that is us nuts all the time and for you in that first experience it you described to me very powerful i saw colors i saw i might have seen my mom and dad in heaven i don't know i was just in this it was uh such a natural uh almost i hide that I, as an athlete, I would get from a great run, or just that everything was just kicking in at the right time. I remember Bob had ended it, and I was just, I was almost in tears

because it was just such a beautiful, absolute feeling that I was hoping that I would achieve. And I thought that that's what meditation was about. So it was great. And so there are a few days that I'm there with him and I'm doing it again. And it wasn't quite as deep the second time but still it was really really good. And then when it's like okay little little duckling go on on your own. And then it's 3 30 in the morning and I'm in my apartment building and I can hear the West Side Highway still at 3.30 in the morning, you hear cars going

and I'm trying to do the same thing. I'm like, oh, I got all excited. That's the first time on my own. And I was like, this isn't, this isn't, wow. But you have a follow up. You go back after a couple of weeks, you're on your own and Bob is there meeting. And it's like, he almost knows,

is like, so how to go. And I'm looking at him and I him like, that's a good thing. Get that high from the first time. And he just kind of reasons. And that's when he told me about the different depths. And I like the fact that every time I meditate, I get wet. And may not be soaking wet, might not be from head to toe, but I've dipped myself into the pool and It does make a difference and as you said earlier. It's it it's about the experience Quote on the cushion, but it's also about how it shows up in the rest of your life

Thank you, and you're seeing it, you know, you're seeing it. I'm so I mean Amber has seen it There they're different times that my friends will say to me. And they didn't know I was meditating. I was meditating. And they'll go, just have that look like, hmm, I'm like, what? Well, you, yeah, you're, um, and not that I was high strong, but I'm, I'm, you don't, I'm a very competitive person. Goes, goes back to my athletic days and everything I do. But I've been competition with myself. Goes back to my athletic days and everything I do, but I'm in competition with myself. I don't compete against others, but myself.

But I was always the type of person. I didn't take my vacation time. I was just so driven and this, that and the other. So my friends saw this other, and I love meditating on vacation. Love it! Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. And Bob said I would.

And they see me and they respect it too. And for on vacation with a group of friends, I'll go, Rob is meditating. Okay, so that's about, you know, let's be for all alone. They don't give me a hard time about it. They ask me questions about it. But it's just wonderful. I think it just, you know what?

I think it brought out the core of who I am. It just, I think it enhanced it. It didn't change, but I think what was in me all along, it just helped highlight it, helped bring out something. I love that. Actually, there's somebody, a prior guest on the podcast talked about the way to Beton's talk about meditation is a clearing away and a bringing forth which is a little

grandiose but actually I think that's there's something there like you're clearing away a lot of the garbage and bringing forth like what is under it and that's what you seem to be describing here. That's what I feel anyway. I feel that it just I would like to think that that was buried deep inside me and it did clear the way and it raised his hand and said, I'm here. This is who I am. I'm here.

And it's been, I will meditate for the rest of my life. I will be one of those that good Lord willing and Creek don't rise. I'm going to be an old lady one day and I'll be on my porch and they'll go, shh, that old lady she's meditating again. I think by the time you are an old lady, meditation will not be viewed as something weird. I think it's gonna be like everybody's doing it.

But haven't you seen it already? Oh yeah. The time that you've been involved? Yes, it is incredible. It's incredible. Sometimes I talk about it here. In some ways I feel like I'm fighting the last war because my whole book was, hey, this thing's not weird.

I'm not weird or I'm not that weird. And I'm doing it so you can do it too. And now I sort of feel like, I think a lot of people do still think it's weird, but there are more and more people, especially young people who are like, wait a minute, you're starting from a flawed premise. I don't think meditation is weird. Maybe I'm not doing it because I feel like I don't have the time or because I feel like I can't quote a quote clear of the mind. But you know, 50 cent does it. Ellen does it. Oprah does it. Jerry Seinfeld does it. The Marines do it. You know, Kobe does it. So I don't think it's weird anymore. So I think it's, we're in a sort of an interesting middle period.

Well, I hear a lot of people, I told you this, when I was working out, I was at my Pilates class and this woman comes up to me and she starts, doesn't know I know you or whatnot. And she starts talking about your podcasts and temperature's at happier and meditating and all those things. There have been many times, I think,

that you've really helped make it a conversation and you're honestly about it saying, you know, people, you know, I think in all the things that you revealed in your book and you revealed a lot that talking about the meditation aspect of it you gave us a gift. It's like, okay, I'm going to tell you what I've been through and what I'm going through, but here's this gift that helped me. And it wasn't just sharing your

story. It's like you said you were something that you wanted to give, and I think you really have given something to the meditation world, that it doesn't have that, you know, doodoo doodoo stigma to it. But there is something, you may think about with clearing around the cobwebs and things coming up. It's the oddest thing that something can bring you peace and energy at the same time. It's like, it calms me and yet I'm more energized. I remember when Bob told me, you're gonna have to get up,

I was already getting up at, you know, 3.45 or something, four o'clock. Four o'clock. And he said, you're gonna get up early. I'm like, you're great. Why am I going to get up earlier to meditate? That's gonna take more energy. And he said, I guarantee you,

you're gonna have more strengths from that. And it's been the case, so I get up earlier, but I feel better about it. But so I have the energy, but yet it also brings me down, but brings me up the same time. And it's hard to explain to people what that is. I think it's a phenomenal observation on your part. I'll offer up one possible explanation that was given to me by a neuroscientist, who's also a meditator, which is that the churning of the mind,

or what the Buddhist would call this, just they call it suffering, which is a complicated word, but basically, your non-stop conversation you're having with yourself, saps you of energy, because you're sucked into these vortices, vortices of anger and resentment

or worry or whatever. And that is just sucking energy out of your system. And actually, so that the 20 or 40 or 44 minutes or whatever amount of minutes you're doing of meditation, even if it's five, is five fewer minutes of that. Huh, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's why you hear a lot of people who do TM saying,

my 20 minutes a day or my 40 minutes a day, it's like having three hours of extra sleep. That is it. I never got chills right now because no one explained it to me like that, but that is so true. And that's how I feel. I feel that for some odd reason, I'm more rested and I feel like I did get that extra sleep.

And here my mind was, why am I going to wake myself up earlier? Isn't that going to do just the opposite? But I never heard it explain like that. And it does feel like I can do it. Sometimes I'm really so groggy when I wake up. Because it's especially when it's March madness. Because maybe I'm going to stay up late. I'm going to watch the you know, cause it's especially when it's March madness, cause maybe I'm gonna stay up late, I'm gonna watch the games.

And so it's like midnight and I'm like, oh yeah, I got it. And you know, alarm will go off about 315. I'm like, oh, Rob, just can't you just hit the snooze? And I know and I have my ritual and how I get up and you know, get the room a little bit in a certain shade, set up a certain way. Cause I don't wanna, I don't wanna feel like

I'm taking another nap. I don't, I want to feel it. And people often say that, why aren't you just sleeping? I don't know. It's, it's a, I'm not really sure, the consciousness. Sometimes I'm more conscious and sometimes I'm not. I love it when I hear the, the, you know, the, the chime from the meditation app when I hear that and I just, oh gosh,

I get, I'm happy right now, just thinking about it and how I come out of it. I'm like, oh my gosh, 20 minutes ago, I was so freaking tired. Like, if I could have, I would have called in sick the good morning Americans, help people, hey, buy a paper or something. Don't, don't, you know, like, leave me alone. I don't want to do it this morning. Check our website. Check our website. Yeah, that's how old I am, newspaper. Who picks up a newspaper?

Yeah, check our website. And I'm amazed in 20 minutes how tired I was and how I feel 20 minutes later. And it's not a power nap. It's not because I've taken it. It's just a place where my mind was able to really, and sometimes when I'm sleeping it doesn't shut down, but during meditation, I don't know why I'm able to, because I'm more conscious of wanting to just, you know, push away those thoughts.

Hey there listeners, while we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you'll like. It's called How I Built This, where host Guy Razz talks to founders behind some of the world's biggest and most innovative companies, to learn how they built them from the ground up. Guy has sat down with hundreds of founders behind well-known companies like Headspace, Manduke Yoga Mats, Soul Cycle, andoto-paxi, as well as entrepreneurs working to solve some of the biggest problems of our time, like developing technology that pulls

energy from the ground to heat in cool homes, or even figuring out how to make drinking water from air and sunlight. Together, they discuss their entire journey from day one, and all the skills they had to learn along the way, like confronting big challenges, and how to lead through uncertainty. So if you want to get inspired and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, check out how I built this, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon or Wondery app. So you, listeners may have noticed that you used words

like Good Lord and Heaven, you are a woman of faith. And I believe Presbyterian? Yes, Presbyterian. Yeah, and... Frozen Chosen Baby, whoa! Oh! And raised by parents of deep faith. So I wonder what is the interconnection if any here?

It's interesting that you say that because I know we have walked different paths where that is concerned and I respect the heck out of that. I never try and force my beliefs or there are wonderful people that I have spoken to who are non-believers. And I have wonderful conversations with them. I don't try and convert them. They don't try and convert me, but it's nice to have that conversation. My parents are very much about teaching their children to three D's, discipline, determination, and delord.

That's we went to church. And I fought it when I became an adult. I'm like, you made me go to church all those years. And so I kind of rebelled a little bit. And I felt lost. And to my parents credit, when I was a child, they were like, yes, you're going to go, because I'm the mama and I'm the daddy. When I became adult, they were going, hey, it's your choice. And I don't know where I would be without having faith in my life. I really don't know Dan. And my grandmother and my parents, parents on both sides. My father, my great grandfather was a preacher,

came from Alabama. Can you imagine a black man in the late 1800s, early 1900s preaching in Alabama and then he relocated his family to Akron, Ohio because of good year and the opportunities there. It's the unknown. I can't explain why. All I know is that I'm lost without it.

And it's okay. I don't think that it's a battle between being, you know, my meditation and my faith. It's not a competition. I look at them totally separate, but also there's this equal feeling of levity when I come out of church, or like after a prayer, much as after meditation. But I don't, it's not a battle between the two. And I think you can have one without the other.

You don't have to be a person of faith to meditate and vice versa. But I find it to be a great complement to one another. Yeah, I've heard from some of my friends of faith who also meditate that it makes their prayer life richer because they're not spending so much of that time figuring out there to do list or whatever. They're actually Listening or whatever the right verb would be mother Teresa described it as listening. Yeah, I can I can relate to that and I I feel that way too and

very every you know I too. After I meditate and I finish my daily rituals, getting ready and head out the door, every single day, before I head out the door, it doesn't matter if I'm in my own home or on the road or wherever I am. I say the prayer protection, the light of God surrounds me, the love of God invulnerable, the power of God protects me, the love of God unfolds me, the power of God protects me, the presence of God watches over me, wherever I am, wherever I am God is. And every, my mom, back to day, when I was little, I couldn't remember it. She said, it's the two-piece and the two-else. I remember, oh, yeah, the two-piece and two-else. And I wear the keywords, a bracelet, on my arm.

And I feel, I feel after, since my meditation, since that's entered part of my life, that part of my life, the prayerful part has been heightened. Yeah. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah, I mean, there was a, this is kind of apropos. There was a theologian here in New York City, I believe his name is Paul Knitter, who wrote a book called, Without the Buddha, I couldn't be a Christian. So I do, I do see how, how the link could, could be there. And just, just, just for the record, I guess nonbeliever is technically true in my case, but I would say more like agnostic or respectful agnostic, because I'm interested, you used the word unknown.

Like that is, that's to me, it's like the unknown. I don't know. I would never tell somebody what is true, capital T true. I just, I don't know. And you said your parents were like that too. You know my, well, my parents are a little bit more like on, well, at least my mother's a little bit more on the,

it's okay, yeah, it's in a true. I know, I know. But see, this is the, this is very, we are my parents, we went to church. You are, your family really does have an influence. And that's okay. It's great. But I did not know on when I used the word non-believer because when you were so kind

of being on my podcast, everybody's got something. Which we're going to talk about. No, I'm just kidding. But I remember so I was reading more about you. And it was a word in some of the articles. They're saying non-believer. And I was like, I don't think of Tannen's being, and not that I don't know what my idea of a non-believer is, but because I know you and I'm around you and how you are and what you're, you know,

your family and colleagues and that, it helped me understand that we gotta stop labeling things. We are who we are, we believe what we believe or don't believe in what we believe. What I have a problem with is when people try and force that belief on you. You can share it with me. I, cool, and it's not like I go around sharing the gospel. No, you don't.

I don't, but I feel that I live that. But I was, I did not, I don't know why. When I read that about you, I was like, oh, okay. Did not, did not know that. Yeah, I had a very secular upbringing. I tell the joke all the time that I had a bar mitzvah, but only for the money. So, I mean, that was definitely how I roll.

Ha, ha, ha, ha. But in an odd way, being into meditation and now trying to, like, kind of explore, like the, what I call it, the sort of the deeper end of the pool in my feeble ways, it makes you, in some ways, more open-minded. No, I'm not sure. I used to have lots of questions about the dogma uh... but i have all i i would never presume to say it's not true i just i don't know if it is true i just don't know yes i just don't know but with a lot of respect and curiosity well that's

my that's the new stance that i have and i think that that as a result in many ways of meditation and also being forced by peter jennings to cover faith in spirituality i have that's it yeah yeah difference from me no question uh... but but can we say we we remember like oh dad he got that's that's the time he's the he's a new religious guy he's a little bit of the course fine and like uh... he picked the small

the short straw that i'd and and and peter did it in 2002, and it was before, like the culture wars exploded in 2004 with, yeah, I mean, I was drinking out of a fire hose. It was amazing though, because I met all these people that I and I have friends of faith, which, you know, I grew up, I say this all the time, but I grew up in the People's Republic of Massachusetts,

and I was, you know, it's like, I didn't know, I mean, I had a rabbi, but I don't even think he believed. Like, it was, I was never exposed to it. So it was a real form of ignorance. And to go out into the country, spend a lot of time in the Bible about with people and not just interviewing, but breaking bread with them and spending time with them, that you just,

you can't come back. You know, I remember, you know, I think about the times that we've had conversations random over the years. And you were spending a lot of time in the Middle East. And I remember you coming back from a time. And I was wondering like, how do you go to Israel, these places with their bombings? And you know, the young people that are there and it must be horrible. And you said to me, no, because they know life can be over like that. So they live life to the fullest. They go out and they do these things and I was like, wow, that was not what I was expecting.

I was thinking that they'd be, hold up in a corner somewhere. And you said in many ways they're more alive than we are because they know it can. So it's been very interesting, the life experiences that ABC News has afforded both of us. But I remember you were traveling a great deal over there and then coming back and sharing that with me. In the run up to the war in Iraq 2003, you were the newsreader on Good Morning America and every day during the news segment of the show, I would from back then and i was at my morning conversation with raven uh... and and i i i was always struck

by uh... by just what you said that if you go into these war zones i i remember being in the west bank when the israeli's head in uh... invaded didn't like that term but uh... basically they had invaded the wrist bombings and all this stuff and that then they would do a cease fire for a couple of hours every few days and everybody come out and do their laundry and go shopping and it's like, yeah, you have to live. And that always really struck me.

But you are not off the hook, Robin Roberts. I have a many more questions for you just to, I know we're getting to our final moment. Everybody's got something. It's a book and a podcast. And the book really tells a searing story of what was, Okay, everybody's got something. Yeah, it's a book and a podcast. Yes. And the book really tells a searing story of what was, this is my term, a halacious year in 2012 for you

where you had had breast cancer in 2007 and thrived in the aftermath of that. I know you prefer thrive instead of survival, which I think is. I do, thank you. And then 2012, you're at the Oscars, because you host, you host the Oscars pre-show on ABC with real grace and glamour, I must say. And you feel lump in your neck. And this starts a big Odyssey.

Gosh, you know, it's funny because there's a picture in the hall here at ABC from the 2012, from the 2011, no, 2012 Oscars. And I see that picture and I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't know at that time. And I knew something was wrong and I knew, and I see that picture and it reminds me of leaving there, contacting my doctor, thinking first of all about the lump and the doctor

discounting that and saying, let's just take your blood and checking it and it just, it just snowballed into this condition, myelotisplacic syndrome that we talked about. And my mother passing shortly before, my transplant. And, and, and, and, and, and and and and and when i had breast cancer i knew about breast cancer i know many people had i had no i never heard of mds i didn't know you could donate your stem cells had no idea what a bone marrow transplants was your sister cell and who came in saved your life

a man sorry don't mean i will i will raise my hand to that because your witness can get a witness because people realize that a family member, that only three out of ten times they will be a match. Three out of ten. So 70% of the time you need the kindness of a stranger off a registry. The doctor said already check the registry.

There was no match. Two siblings had been eliminated. It comes down to my sister, Sally Ann. I remember going to to my mom at the time because we didn't know if Sally she was my last chance. And the doctors like do you or do you have any other family members or that. And I went to mom and she and my dad had been married 57 years. He passed away in 2004. Meded Howard University, sweetheart, the whole bit. And I go to mom and I go, does dad have any more kids?

And mom, mom, we don't know about, it's just a funny, oh mercy me, I'm like, hey, I'm fine from the life here. Let me know, any more brothers and sisters out there that you all have until you get a pass. And she was like, you know, and it came out that my sister Sally Ann was not just a match, she was a perfect match and had that.

But the whole purpose for the book, everybody's got something and the podcast is, so that was my something. You shared your something of what you went through with the panic attacks and all that you did. It's not, so what? We all have something. And I remember when I was younger and I'd come in and I was complaining about something, and as my mom said, oh honey, everybody's got something.

Like really, you're going to complain about that. Well let me tell you this. And I am convinced if everybody threw their problems in a big old bowl and you saw what everybody else was dealing with, you take your problem back, you'd realize, oh, damn, I had no idea that you were going to do that. And I just want to share with people and say, that's not the tragedy what it is that we've gone through, it's if we don't take the time to understand why. And what we're going to learn from it, and not just for ourselves, but to be able to teach

others and to make our message. Our message. And that's what I've tried to do with the podcast and the book is make my message and the message of hope and of there is no such thing to me as fearlessness. You just do it. If you're going to wait for fear to subside, go away. You're going to be waiting a long time, my friends. It doesn't go away sometimes, but it's just pushing through it.

I've just been very grateful. 2012 is a year I will never forget losing my mother, the closest person in my life, almost losing my life, thought I was going to. I remember our great Diane Sawyer. She did something with me and she would see how Diane, all these probing questions. She said, did you think you're going to die? Did you think you're and I thought about it. I'm like,

I know at times I wanted to. I was in so much pain and loss of my mom, of my health, of just like, I was like many know, like many people, gone through it once, thought it was behind me, get slapped upside the head again, and there's this, it's so debilitating. This disease, and when you have a bone marrow transplant, they, in essence, wipe out, not in essence, they wipe out your entire immune system for 10 days. I had chemo to wipe out everything. 10 consecutive days. And the last day that chemo is nicknamed the rabbit because it's a last one that goes in there that just races around your body. Anything left in here? Oh, you almost feel like it's looking at potholes like, oh, come on. I got and wipes out everything in your system. They insert these healthy stem cells.

Then you gotta pray to whatever it is, if you do pray to whatever or whomever, that your body accepts it. Your body accepts the host that's coming in, that you're the host. And all I can think about is, man, my sister and I didn't get along as kids. I hope our, I hope our, I hope our sales get along now because as kids, we fought like cats

and dogs right here as a part. And to, to be at that absolute low and to, um, to, to be here with you 2016 and it's like left foot, right foot, breathe, just keep moving, keep believing. And that's my, that's my message, that this two shall pass, and I have this great little plaque in my dressing room that says, this two shall pass, now would be good. Sometimes you're like, I understand it's gonna be,

can we get to the next? But I'm so grateful, and this is something that meditating has helped. When it's helped me stay, understand, even though when I said, now would be good because you want to move past what it is you're going through, I want to experience what I'm going through now. I don't want to rush through it.

The good and the bad. I don't want to rush through it anymore. I want to experience it and understand why it's been placed in my path. I get that fully. My last question for you is just, you mentioned the podcast, so the book is a memoir, and really just takes you through what was rough

does not even begin to describe time. And so then you started this podcast in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering. Oh, thank you for talking about them. I know your parents are, you know, well, my wife works there. Oh, yeah. Bianca, love, oh, and the people that she's brought

to my, in my path that I've met who have been just, you know, you've been a, just just, I just want to say quickly, my wife works there and, and with no naming names, but there's, there are times when she meets patients who are fans of yours And would like to connect with you and very quietly you have been I love it. I I hesitated to say anything because I get so much out of it But I love your wife and I'm glad that she's doing doing well with the health Battles that she's had

Memorialstone Kettering is the sponsor of everybody's got something. And I'm so grateful that they signed on because talk about everybody's got something. At that hospital, like all across the country, there's people in there was something. And I'm just really grateful of the partnership and how they they help everybody they helped me through my something that's for sure. And on the podcast you have guests come on who are every including magic Johnson his wife and India are re and and people and Tony Robbins and then in me rowback and I were on recently which will be posted you bring people on who have had issues in their life

and you talk about how they overcame it? Delilah, who I love, who I've listened to on the radio forever. And it was interesting because normally, she's sharing advice and she's like people are telling her their story, but to have her open up and talk about all the things that she's gone through and sharing. I also like the the there were these two wounded warriors, if you were, from the Invictus games. We matched them with the Tony Robbins story. And it was just really

great to see the wounded warriors, Tony Robbins, Tignotaro, who's this great comedian who comes who hails from Pascarars jam, Mississippi like I do. What a chance is that we were both gay, we both had breast cancer, and we're both from Paschars jam. That's a trifecta. But it was great to be able to learn. I think success leaves clues, and we're able to learn from one another, but I think it's also very helpful that people hear from these

others from all walks of life and understand, yeah, the something that we all have and the something that we have all in common is resiliency and just just hanging in there. And I just love that there's no rhyme or reason in to see it's like a kaleidoscope of different people and different challenges that they've had, including you and Amy, that was my favorite. I can't wait for everybody to hear that one. It was really fun to be on there. I think people who have listened to this

really are getting a sense of why you are such a star Robin Roberts. I mean, you are so candid and vulnerable in a way that is very useful to people to hear. You're deeply intelligent and curious and compassionate and funny. So thank you for coming on. I'd it's been a pleasure to work with you for 15 years and here's to many more. To many more. Thank you Dan, right back at your 10th full. So there you have it, there's another edition of the 10% happier podcast. If you like it, please make sure to subscribe, tell some friends about us, leave us a quick review. All of that really helps us keep the show going.

I want to thank you for listening. I also want to thank the people who make this podcast possible internally here at ABC News, Lauren Efron, Josh Cohan, Sarah Amos, Andrew Calves, Steve Jones, and the head of ABC News Digital Dance Silver. If you want to suggest topics we should cover or guess we should bring on the show, the best way to do that is hit me up on Twitter at Dan V Harris. I love hearing from you, and I really do listen to the suggestions so please keep them coming. And if you want to learn a little bit more about how to meditate you can check out the 10% happier app. We'll be back as we are every Wednesday with a brand new episode. Until then, take it easy. Hey, hey, prime members.

You can listen to 10% happier early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad free with 1-3-plus in Apple Podcasts. Before you go, do us a solid and tell us all about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash Survey.