A Four-Word Buddhist Teaching for Instant Calm and (Just Maybe) Lasting Peace | Bart van Melik

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

10% Happier with Dan Harris
Episode: A Four-Word Buddhist Teaching for Instant Calm and (Just Maybe) Lasting Peace | Bart van Melik
Date: February 27, 2026

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Overview

In this live episode, host Dan Harris interviews meditation teacher Bart van Melik, diving deep into Bart's guiding phrase: "Keep calmly knowing change." The conversation explores practical Buddhist wisdom for navigating uncertainty, the art of relating to others (even via complaining or humor), and how to gently introduce mindfulness to children. The duo also discusses the immense value of meditating in community. The episode concludes with Bart leading a brief dedication for peace.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of “Keep Calmly Knowing Change”

[03:45–06:40]

• Bart explains the origin of his tagline, citing Buddhist scholar Venerable Analayo’s summary of mindfulness:

  “If I had to sum up all of the Buddhist teachings on mindfulness in four words, I would go: keep calmly knowing change... The ‘keep’ is continuity. ‘Calmly’ is that kind, receptive attitude. ‘Knowing’ is being aware. And ‘change’ is just that truth of life, that flow that’s constantly happening, even right now.”
  (Bart van Melik, 05:12)

• Bart recounts the Buddha’s final teaching, paraphrased:

  “All things in the material and mental world come and go. Keep practicing wholeheartedly.”
  (Bart van Melik, 05:51)

• Embracing impermanence is challenging, especially amid loss and mourning, but tuning into the moment-to-moment flow is ultimately freeing:

  “Attuning to change is really freeing.”
  (Bart van Melik, 06:37)

2. Introducing Meditation to Children

[06:51–11:02]

• Bart answers a parent’s question about teaching mindfulness to kids by quoting his own son, Lou:

  “Every person is different. Not everyone is into meditation. Not every child is into meditation too.”
  (Lou, paraphrased by Bart, 07:22)

• Bart shares personal stories about:

  • Meditating with his young son, using the rise and fall of his son’s belly as an external anchor of awareness.
  • Mindfulness extending beyond the internal to include awareness of others and the “relational field” between people.

• On practicality with children:

  “I think the most important thing in terms of being with kids and taking this practice, bringing life into your practice, it’s really about being aware externally and how you are both impacting one another. That’s way more important than teaching your kids some techniques.”
  (Bart van Melik, 09:44)

• Suggests integrating mindfulness into enjoyable activities with children—e.g., mindful outdoor running—rather than forcing formal techniques.

3. Mindful Communication: Venting, Humor & Connection

[11:02–14:08]

• Audience listener Jamie asks about connecting through venting or complaining and whether it’s harmless or worth deeper scrutiny.

• Bart advises mindful self-inquiry:

  “The answer about harmless is where you’re coming from… see where you’re coming from. Has it become like a pattern? Maybe you could also just pause when you catch it and go like, why am I doing this?”
  (Bart van Melik, 11:46; 12:24)

• He emphasizes humor as a vital tool in challenging times but also encourages paying attention to how one’s words land with others:

  “Maybe play sometimes with not doing it… wait for the other person to say something.”
  (Bart van Melik, 12:53)

• Dan Harris brings up the Buddhist concept of “sampaplāpa” (useless speech):

  “If you check out the next time you have the urge to say something that, you know, doesn’t really matter, often the urge is, look at me.”
  (Dan Harris, 13:22)

  He adds it’s natural and sometimes connection-fostering but worth cultivating awareness around it.

4. The Importance of Community & Practice Dedication

[14:20–16:46]

• To close, Bart offers a mini-practice and dedication:

  • Return attention to the body—especially useful during fraught conversations.

  • Appreciate showing up in community:

    “The reason I’m on this path still is because of community. I would have definitely stopped meditating [without it].”
    (Bart van Melik, 15:07)

  • Practice recollecting and appreciating the good you do.

  • Concludes with a threefold wish:

    “May there be peace. May there be peace. May there be peace.”
    (Bart van Melik, 16:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Attuning to that [change] is really freeing.” (Bart van Melik, 06:37)
• “Every person is different. Not every child is into meditation too.” (Lou, paraphrased by Bart, 07:22)
• “I think the most important thing… is really about being aware externally and how you are both impacting one another.” (Bart van Melik, 09:44)
• “The reason I’m on this path still is because of community.” (Bart van Melik, 15:07)
• “May there be peace. May there be peace. May there be peace.” (Bart van Melik, 16:23)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:45 — What does “keep calmly knowing change” mean?
• 06:03 — Embracing impermanence—even in grief
• 07:18 — Tips for gently introducing mindfulness to children
• 11:02 — Venting, humor, and “useless speech” in Buddhist practice
• 13:22 — Dan's take on “sampaplāpa” and mindful communication
• 14:20 — Closing dedication and the role of community

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Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is warm, practical, and gently humorous, with both Dan and Bart advocating for flexible, embodied mindfulness. Bart’s four-word teaching delivers potent simplicity: staying calm, aware, and attuned to ongoing change is both instantly calming and a lifelong refuge. The importance of community—as support and as a shared field of practice—rings out as a central theme.

Bart’s closing invitation captures the heart of the episode:
“May there be peace. May there be peace. May there be peace.” (16:23)

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Transcript

[Bart Van Melick]

Foreign.

[Producer/Host Announcer]

This is the 10% Happier podcast.

[Dan Harris]

I'm Dan Harris.

[Producer/Host Announcer]

Hello everybody. How we doing today? I'm talking to a great meditation teacher named Bart Van Melick. We're going to talk about a host of fascinating issues. How to get out of your head and into your body. Whether it's okay from a Buddhist standpoint, to connect with other people through complaining or bullshitting. How to introduce meditation to your children. The immense power of practicing meditation with other people. And we talk about Bart's tagline, which is keep calmly knowing change. He'll explain that what you're about to hear is a live conversation that Bart and I recorded during one of our weekly live sessions for subscribers to the 10% with Dan Harris meditation app. Bart started us off with a guided meditation. You won't hear this because we clipped it out so we can get right

[Dan Harris]

to the Q and A, but this

[Producer/Host Announcer]

session began with Bart guiding us in a meditation. The theme of the meditation was keep calmly knowing change, but we talk a little bit about what that phrase means during the conversation. Before we get to the conversation, just quickly want to plug the app. If you sign up, you can come to our weekly live sessions where we meditate and then chop it up together. We also have a growing body of guided meditations from some of the best teachers on the planet. Plus we have community features that allow you to connect with me and our teachers and my team and one another. So this meditation thing can be less lonely. Sign [e-mail] There's a free 14 day trial if you want to check it out before you spend any money. One last thing to say though, before we dive in. Starting in March, we're going to go back to our regular cadence of episode drops. So we'll be dropping new episodes only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You may have noticed that we've been dropping some episodes on Sundays recently, but that era is coming to a close. We're going back to three a week, which will, I think, be saner for everyone. Okay, coming up after this, my conversation with Bart Van melick. The best B2B marketing often gets wasted on the wrong people. I can't tell you how often I'm scrolling and I get served ads for stuff I have no interest in. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over a billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. And that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, company revenue so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of all major ad networks. So seriously, all of them. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a $250 credit

[Dan Harris]

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[Producer/Host Announcer]

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[Dan Harris]

Let me ask you what may be an obvious question. What is the value of calmly knowing change?

[Bart Van Melick]

If we can attune to the flow of things, even just for a moment, we start to realize that clinging or holding on to things make no sense. I think that's why it's so suiting for some people to look at water flowing or really enjoying the flow of music. Because it really brings us into the present moment. And this practice invites you to not just be aware of what's going on, but how is it changing? And I actually got it from this modern day scholar and monk, the Venerable Analio. And full disclosure here. The reason I got it was in our teacher training. We had to read his whole dissertation, his PhD on the Buddhist teachings on mindfulness. But I remember from university in The Netherlands that PhDs always have a conclusion. So I went there and then he said, it goes something like this. I'm paraphrasing. If I had to sum up all of the Buddhist teachings on mindfulness in four words, I would go keep calmly knowing change. Keep is. Has that sense of the continuity. And keep remembering. To be mindful calmly is that kind receptive attitude. The knowing is being aware. And change is just that truth of life, that flow that's constantly happening, even right now. And then it said that the Buddha taught, I think 84,000 lessons. And then on his deathbed, he asked some of the people who were helping him out, like is everything clear? They said, yes, Venerable Sir. And then he passed away. By saying all things in the material and mental world come and go. Keep practicing wholeheartedly. So even there he was pointing to knowing change because it brings peace.

[Dan Harris]

It brings peace even though it is terrifying on some level, it is Especially

[Bart Van Melick]

when sometimes impermanence is really hard or the fact that we feel like we're not having control. A couple of years ago was the first time I actually mourned one of my best friend died. And that powerful change, it really takes a while to be with it. But this practice is really pointing to change happening moment to moment. And attuning to that is really freeing.

[Dan Harris]

I'm reaching for my phone, which I am not doing to check Instagram, I'm doing because this is where I have all the questions that were pre submitted from the audience. But let's see if we can hit a few questions.

[Bart Van Melick]

Sure.

[Dan Harris]

This one's from gw. Really enjoying listening to Bart's discussion from his most recent podcast. And this is back to the 2021 episode that you and I recorded together, Bart on relational Dharma. Yeah, GW says I have a 10 month old who's been a great motivator to increase my meditation and mindfulness practice. Does Bart have any tips about introducing meditation to children when they're a bit older, gently. Or any resources to point me in the right direction?

[Bart Van Melick]

JW Right. It's so cool that you have a 10 month old. I have an 11 year old and I already read that question. You know what I did last night? I asked Lou, my 11 year old, how would you answer this question? You know what Lou said? Jw he said every person is different. Not everyone is into meditation. Not every child is into meditation too. I would start by saying that. So I want to just pass on Lou's wisdom here. JW but you know, one thing I did when Lou was small was to use his belly as my object of meditation. And you know what's really cool about Buddhist teachings and that was in that dissertation by Analio was you're not just invited to practice to be mindful internally about your mind states. Kind of what we did in the guided meditation today, it's also about being mindful externally, even with the breath. The Buddha said that. So what I did when he was about that age, after he would be in bed and he usually started on his belly, especially in the summer. Not a lot of blankies. Or he was wearing that thing here, I can't recall what that's called in English. And then I would just start noticing his belly rise and fall. So I became aware of the breath externally. That became my anchor. And there that too, you could see it coming and going. And as a matter of fact, what I really appreciate about the Buddhist teaching is that it not only points to being aware of your Internal surroundings or what's going on externally. It's also about being aware of the relational field that you're co creating. Dan and I, and we're all creating, all 317 of us live right now. And even with the breath, the Buddha said that. And I remember thinking, how am I going to practice that? So on the number three line in New York, I would be squeezed in. I could feel my body breathe, but all of a sudden I felt body squeeze next to me, breathing as well. That's mindfulness of the breath, both internal and external. And the reason I'm saying it is because I think the most important thing in terms of being with kids and taking this practice, bringing life into your practice, it's really about being aware externally and both how you are impacting and together impacting one another. That's way more important than teaching your kids some techniques because as Lou said, not all kids are receptive. And a lot of kids that I taught have a conception of meditation being cross legged. And they would all go. And so just to teach them that there's other ways that you can be mindful is really helpful. So what Lou and I are doing, his New Year's resolution was running more outside. And then we'll do that mindfully because we both enjoy it. So when your kid grows older, I would suggest to do activities that you both really enjoy and then talk about what it's like to be really in the moment and then ask questions like, how do you feel afterwards? So that's how I've been playing the gentle bringing meditation into Lou's life. Because the last thing that I would want to do is to give him a sense of, oh, meditation is difficult or it's boring or I have to sit still because I don't think that's what meditation is about.

[Dan Harris]

That was a great answer. Here's a question from Jamie. I've noticed that one way I tend to connect with others is through venting or complaining. Lately though, I've become more aware of it and how it might portray me as more negative. Even though I feel like I'm generally pretty happy human, the things I complain about don't usually upset me deeply or even remotely. I think I'm more interested in generating a good conversation, relating to others, and lightening the mood with some dry humor. That makes me wonder whether this is just how I connect a personality trait or if it's insecurity showing up in disguise. Is it harmless or something worth looking at more closely.

[Bart Van Melick]

Oh, that's a full question I would Definitely look closely into it. The answer about harmless is where you're coming from. And I think humor, especially in these times, is so helpful. I've been consuming so much stand up comedy, you have no idea. I love your episode. I was there, by the way, live when you interviewed Pete Homes. Oh, I think we need humor, especially in these challenging times. So I would see where you're coming from. I think that's what's really important with this. But also just to know, like how you see this. Is it something you often do? Has it become like a pattern? Maybe you could also just pause when you catch it and go like, why am I doing this? And just see what happens. Could be a pause for a reflection. Jamie. Right. I think we can use more humor right now and lightness. But I would again, also be mindful externally and just notice how what you're saying is landing for the other person. And you can read that quite easily, I think. So that could be something to play with next time when you do this, Jamie, just really become aware of the nonverbal cues you're getting from the person you're doing this particular pattern with and just see. But also maybe play sometimes with not doing it. You feel the urge and you go, no, no, let's not do this. Maybe actually wait for the other person to say something. So, yeah, I would definitely look into that. That would be my suggestion.

[Dan Harris]

I agree with your suggestion. And just the one thing I'll add is our mutual teacher Joseph Goldstein likes to talk about this ancient Buddhist or poly. Poly is the language in which the Buddhist teachings were written down. And in Pali there's a word, some papalapa, which it means exactly what it sounds like, which is useless speech. Joseph's argument is that if you check out the next time you have the urge to say something that, you know, doesn't really matter, often the urge is look at me. So I'm not like totally against some bapa lapa. And sometimes it is a good way to foster connection, especially if it's harmless gossip or a dry joke or just like I keep up a non stop patter of nonsense with my wife and son all day long. I could probably turn down the volume on that, but I do think it has some utility.

[Producer/Host Announcer]

But checking it out.

[Dan Harris]

Yeah, can yield some interesting data.

[Bart Van Melick]

Yeah, I agree.

[Dan Harris]

I do, as said stated earlier, need to close a little bit early today. However, I do want to close, or actually you, Barbie, want to close with a dedication and I want to leave space for that.

[Bart Van Melick]

Okay, so we have like a couple

[Dan Harris]

of minutes yeah, please.

[Bart Van Melick]

All right. So the first thing I want to invite you into is to just come home to the body again. And also especially when you're interacting with people like JW with her 10 year old or Jamie with the Sam Papa Lapa going on sometimes, which we all do, I'm part of that team as well. It's really helpful to stay connected to the body and so from time to time just to come home to, oh yeah, I have this embodied experience that I can feel. And then maybe taking a moment to appreciate the fact that you are here in community. The reason I'm on this path still is because of community. I would have definitely stopped meditating. Maybe appreciating the fact that you have shown up right now. It's a really helpful practice to recollect the good that you do. May your time together be a cause and condition for inner and for outer peace. And just see what it's like to be mindful just for a few more moments and check if it's more oriented internally or maybe it's externally or both. Knowing you can always come home to this body, coming home to awareness because awareness will protect you. And finally, I love to close by saying three times, May there be peace. May there be peace. May there be peace. It was a pleasure being here. Take good care.

[Producer/Host Announcer]

Thanks again to Bart. Thanks to you for hanging out with us. Don't forget to check out my new app. It's called 10% with Dan Harris. You can get [e-mail] or wherever you get your apps. There's a free 14 day trial. I really love this app. I would love to have you as part of it. If you can't afford it, don't worry about it. You can just send us a note

[Dan Harris]

and we will hook you up.

[Producer/Host Announcer]

Last thing to say here. Thank you so much to everybody who works so hard on this show. Our producers are Tara Anderson and Eleanor Vasily. Our recording and engineering is handled by the great folks over at Pod People. Lauren Smith is our managing producer. Marissa Schneiderman is our senior producer. DJ Cashmere is our executive producer. And Nick Thorburn of the band Islands wrote our theme.