How To Achieve Inner Peace. No, Really. | Yung Pueblo

November 11, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

How to Actually Get Inner Peace (No, Really)

The word "inner peace" has been used so often in cheesy contexts that it's practically a spiritual cliché. But Diego Perez—who writes under the pen name Yung Pueblo and has sold nearly two million books—wants to rescue the concept from its own reputation. His new book Journey: The Year That Changes Everything includes a list of "11 Rules of Inner Peace," and in this conversation with Dan Harris, he walks through what that phrase actually means and how you might go about cultivating it.

What Inner Peace Is (and Isn't)

Perez is careful to define his terms. Inner peace is not a bulletproof bliss bubble or a state of perpetual calm. "It's not about me trying to rearrange the different pieces of my life so that finally it will unlock inner peace," he says. Instead, he describes it as "the ability to have a strong degree of self-awareness when you can see when the mind is creating tension and letting yourself have the spaciousness that you need to not immediately react to the negative things that are happening."

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What you'll learn

1 (00:03) **Introduction & Defining Inner Peace** - Dan Harris introduces the topic of inner peace and guest Diego Perez (Yung Pueblo), author of *Journey: The Year That Changes Everything*, which contains "The 11 Rules of Inner Peace."
2 (05:08) **Diego's Personal Practice & The "Superpower" of Slowing Down** - Diego describes the results of a 60-day meditation retreat, focusing on the practical skill of noticing and releasing tension.
3 (10:17) **Rule #1: Stay Honest** - The first rule is about radical, compassionate self-honesty as a foundation for growth.
4 (15:16) **Rule #2: Heal Your Past** - This rule addresses how past conditioning distorts present perception and limits your options.
5 (21:13) **Deep Dive: Emptiness, Ego, and Compassion** - Dan and Diego clarify the Buddhist concept of emptiness and how it leads to compassion, not nihilism.
6 (26:22) **Rule #4: Be Kind and Giving** - Diego frames generosity as a reliable path to receiving and a source of immediate inner peace.
7 (29:03) **Rule #5: Speak Your Boundaries** - This rule is the necessary counterbalance to being kind and giving, preventing people-pleasing.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Diego Perez Dan Harris

Show Notes

On pausing before you react, setting boundaries, healing your past, and not getting dragged into drama

Diego Perez is a #1 New York Times bestselling author who is widely known by his penname, Yung Pueblo. He has sold nearly 2 million books worldwide that have been translated into over 25 languages. Online he has an audience of over 4.5 million people and was named one of the Time100 Creators of 2025.

His writing focuses on the power of self-healing, creating healthy relationships, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. Much of Diego's inspiration comes from the many silent meditation courses he has sat in the last 14 years. Diego's new book is Journey: The Year That Changes Everything.

In this episode we talk about:

What Diego means by inner peace, and why it isn't bliss
What changed for Diego after a 60-day meditation retreat in India
Healing your past through slowing down, gratitude, and understanding impermanence
Why "you're not even real" leads to compassion, not nihilism
Why generosity is a more reliable route to happiness than manifestation
Setting boundaries without people-pleasing, and how the Buddha did it
Dropping drama, and asking "What happened to you?" instead
Pausing before you react, and why slowing down doesn't kill ambition
Why becoming more flexible and adaptable brings more inner peace