tonight on "nightline" -- what we're learning now about the men in the cockpit of that missing malaysia airlines plane as we go on the air the cia is not ruling out an act of terror as this mystery deepens. we've got the latest on the stolen passports, the errant flight path, and the passengers. and then a news anchor having a panic attack on live television. >> it is too early to prescribe statins solely for cancer -- >> how my on-air meltdown sparked a personal breakthrough and set me on a bizarre, eye-opening journey from mega churches to self-help gurus to the vanguard of neuroscience. and ultimately to the secret to happiness. with katy perry, russell simmons, and the founders of twitter, even the marines.

what we all now know that could help everyone get a little bit happier, at least 10% happier. >> announcer: keep it right here, america. "nightline" is back in just 60 seconds.

good evening. we begin tonight with the latest on the baffling and evolving story of malaysia airlines flight 370, which disappeared en route to beijing with 239 souls on board. in the hours before we've come on the air there have been new developments but still no plane. here's abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross with the mystery of flight 370. >> reporter: tonight the mystery deepened, with authorities saying the plane may have veered far off course after turning off its transponder tracking signal. the flight, en route to beijing,

banked hard to the left and then flew for a full hour over hundreds of miles of land, never sounding an alarm, cruising low into the strait of malacca, a busy shipping lane near a tiny rocky island called pulau perak. no boat, no one on land reporting a plane down. >> it would certainly appear that either the flight crew or there's someone else in the cockpit that is making some decisions that don't really compute. >> reporter: late today a malaysian general said he had been misquoted about the plane going off course. all part of a fourth day of fruitless searching as malaysian authorities nevertheless expanded the search grid to take into account the possibility of an off-course vector. 22 aircraft and 40 ships are crisscrossing the area, looking for a needle in a haystack as the bbc's reporter described it. >> officials here are using their naked eyes to try to spot

anything in the water that seemed to be out of the ordinary. >> reporter: but the search has been in disarray from its start. with often incomplete or inaccurate information coming from malaysian authorities, only adding to the mystery. >> it's haphazard, it's scattershot. there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. and there doesn't seem to be any centralized control by the malaysian government. >> reporter: and now there is new attention focused on the pilots of the malaysian air 777 aircraft. >> hi, everyone. >> reporter: the captain, 53-year-old zahari ahmad shah, was a pilot's pilot, seen here on his own youtube channel at the controls of a flight simulator. >> this is a youtube video that i made as a community service. >> reporter: a 33-year veteran of the airline with more than 18,000 hours of flying. but his co-pilot, 27-year-old fariq abdul hamid, is much less experienced, and today the airline said it was investigating troubling reports he was a kind of airborne playboy, violating safety standards in the cockpit.

according to an australian news report, these two young women were invited by the co-pilot three years ago to ride with him in the cockpit on a flight to kuala lumpur. >> at one stage they were pretty much turned around in their seats talking to us, and they were so engaged in conversation. >> reporter: the homes of both pilots have now been searched but so far there's nothing about them that suggests foul play. but their backgrounds are coming into sharp focus along with the deepening questions about what happened to malaysia flight 370. for "nightline" brian ross, abc news, washington. >> thank you, brian ross. we will of course continue to cover this deepening mystery right here on abc. but now we are going to turn to a story we're calling "10% happier." we're trying something a little different on "nightline" tonight because i'm going to tell you a story about me. actually, it's not just about me because i found a way to make myself significantly happier and it could probably work for you too. i stumbled upon this whole thing as a result of a bizarre,

unplanned odyssey. and it all started with the most embarrassing day of my life. >> from abc news this is "good morning america." >> we're going to go now to dan harris, who's at the news desk. dan? >> good morning, charlie and diane. thank you. >> reporter: this is me ten years ago. and the reason this is the most embarrassing day of my life is not that it looks like i've been attacked by a blow dryer and a can of hairspray. no, it's that i am about to freak out on national television. >> health news now. one of the world's most commonly prescribed medications may be providing a big bonus. researchers report people who take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins for at least five years may also lower their risk for cancer. but it's too early to prescribe statins solely for cancer production. >> reporter: at this point i realize i'm helpless. so i bail right in the middle. >> that does it for news. we're going to go back now to robin and charlie. >> the control room, clearly taken by surprise, continues to roll video for the next story, about harry potter, which i was no longer able to read. >> all right. thanks very much, dan harris at

the news desk with some of the headlines of the morning. want to go to tony perkins now. >> once the fear subsided, humiliation rushed in. i know with rock solid certainty that i had just had a panic attack on national television. so why would i tell you this very embarrassing story? because that on-air meltdown was the culmination of something that had been building for years, something i never stopped to address. it's something we all battle, whether we have panic attacks or not. call it "the voice in your head." you know the voice i'm talking about. the often nasty inner narrator who discourages and derails you when you're considering going after opportunities in your life. that stew of urges and impulses that has you losing your temper and regretting it later or putting your hand in the fridge when you're not even hungry. and for many of us it's that nagging temptation to float off into our own heads instead of actually listening to people. >> kind of put me and the wife in -- >> it's a love story. >> reporter: my favorite comedian dave chappelle nailed it on his show.

>> monkey. nascar race. unicorns. >> reporter: in my case like many americans my inner voice was pushing me to succeed. >> annual new year's party in new york. >> reporter: this is me in my late 20s. >> thank you, dan. >> reporter: i had my dream job. but i also had doubts about whether i was good enough. >> it's hard to do that. i'm going to try it. three, two, one. >> reporter: my solution? become a workaholic. after 9/11 i volunteered to spend years in war zones where i covered the heroics of our men and women overseas and got a real taste of both the horror and the adrenaline of combat. >> to institute health care for -- >> reporter: now here i am back home. >> practice makes perfect, you know. >> reporter: i may look okay, but the guy you see here, he's having trouble getting out of bed. >> this tax debate is one of the clearest choices in this election. >> reporter: after years of always barreling forward, when i finally slowed down it was as if my mind revolted and i got depressed. and so in my free time i briefly but stupidly began

self-medicating, even using cocaine, which my doctor would later tell me almost certainly produced that on-air panic attack. that realization, that i'd been blindly letting my urges and impulses yank me around, became a turning point. eventually i would find the antidote to this kind of mindlessness, something that would, to quote the somewhat tongue in cheek title of a new book i've written, make me 10% happier. but to get there a few other things had to happen. >> we're going to take a closer look tonight at the continuing battle about teaching evolution -- >> reporter: coincidentally, it was around this time that my boss, peter jennings, assigned me to cover the religion beat. to be candid, i was not initially super interested in the subject. this was the last time i read scripture. my bar mitzvah. but here i am. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: among the believers, going to mega churches, mosques, and mormon temples. i made real friendships. >> each of us could learn

something from the others. >> reporter: and developed a newfound and lasting respect for the value of having a view of the world that's larger than just yourself. however, none of what i encountered spoke to me personally. that all changed, though, when one of my colleagues recommended i check out this rather odd little man. >> welcome. >> reporter: the best-selling oprah-approved self-help guru eckhart tolle. >> largeness arise which is different from thinking. >> reporter: tolle was the first person i ever heard talk about the voice in the head, which he says is so busy obsessing about the past or the future that you miss what's happening right now and make stupid decisions. like i had done when i got depressed and self-medicated with drugs. so i decided i need to meet this guy. >> do you stop thinking? how do you stop the voice in your head? >> you create little spaces in your daily life where you are aware but not thinking. for example, you take one conscious breath. >> reporter: unbreak my heart,

tolle. that's all the practical advice you've got? >> i can hear the cynics in the audience saying -- guys saying, i can awaken by taking a deep breath, what is he talking about? >> yes. that's the mind talking. so that's -- of course many people will have their mind commenting on what i'm saying and saying that is useless. >> that was exactly what my mind was saying. >> don't you ever get pissed off, annoyed, irritated, sad? anything negative? >> no. i accept what is. and that's why life has become so simple. >> somebody cuts you off in your car? >> it's fine. it's like a sudden gust of wind. i don't personalize a gust of wind. and so it's simply what is. >> and you're able to enjoy every moment? even if i started asking you a ton of annoying questions -- >> yes. that would be fine. so it's really -- >> don't tempt me. >> i walked out of the interview deeply confused by tolle but still very much intrigued by the

notion of defanging the voice in my head. as it happened, just a few weeks later i was moderating a debate for "nightline," and one of the guests was deepak chopra. the inspiration for the movie "the love guru." >> my goal is to get you to say gee, you are you. tm. >> i couldn't resist whipping out my little camera to ask if he had any practical advice. >> so your mind doesn't wander? you don't find yourself thinking about things that are in the past or in the future as opposed to in the present? >> i have no regrets about the past. i do not hold resentments or grievances that come from the past. and i don't anticipate the future. i live in the moment. >> okay. so what if the moment is horrible? what if you really have to go to the bathroom and there's no toilet nearby? or what if you're super hungry -- >> then i separate myself from the situation surrounding the moment. the moment is always free. it's the transformational vortex to the infinite. >> apparently, when one lives in the moment one becomes unafraid to use terms like

"transformational vortex to the infinite." with deepak not making any sense to me i decided to dive further into america's self-help subculture, where things only got we'd weirder. >> do you want to be a millionaire? >> what kind of business do you want to have? >> reporter: i met a gaggle of gurus, many of whom featured prominently in the best-selling book and dvd "the seeshlth." and their advice for dealing with the voice in my head was to force myself to do more positive thinking, which they promised could get me -- >> anything you want. >> reporter: this is joe vitale, who charges five grand for a ride in his rolls-royce. >> well, there are people who think i should charge a lot more than that. they think that's giving it away. >> reporter: and who in this interview, as you're about to see, folds like a cheap lawn chair. >> so what if i want a thing? a diamond necklace for my wife. i can get that by thinking about it? >> not just thinking about it. that's one of the biggest misconceptions of all time. you have to take action. >> isn't that a statement of the glaringly obvious? you think it's news to most

people that if you want something you have to want it and then try to get it? >> you know, when you put it that way it sounds silly and actually pretty brainless. >> after listening to me yammer on about all of this for months, my then fiancee bianca, who's a doctor, decided to intervene. she started giving me books to read. books that made me realize that all this stuff about the voice in the head and being in the moment, these are ideas that people have been talking about for centuries. from the buddha to sigmund freud to -- >> throw the ball! >> reporter: to coach tail frr from friday night lights." >> i suggest you wake up get your head in this game. >> reporter: i read tons of these books, stacks of them. and it's through this reading that i found something that does work. it's simple, scientifically tested, and completely free. the problem was it sounded totally unacceptable to me. up next, what i found at the end of my long, strange journey. it's the secret to success for everyone from executives to pro athletes, even marines.

it's been shown to rewire your brain for happiness. how i got there, and how you can too. when "nightline" continues. so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multi-car, paperless. you make a mighty fine missus, m'lady. i'm not saying mark's thrifty. let's just say, i saved him $519, and it certainly didn't go toward that ring. am i right? [ laughs ] [ dance music playing ] so visit progressive.com today. i call this one "the robox."

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welcome back. not long ago i found myself on a strange, unplanned journey. it started with an on-air panic attack and led to interviews with a gaggle of gurus, none of whom could give me any practical, actionable advice for taming the voice in my head. until finally i stumbled upon the last thing i ever would have expected. meditation. i always assumed meditation was for people who liked crystals, incense, and john tesh music. in other words, there was no way i was going to meditate. but then i heard about scientific studies showing that meditation can, among other things, lower your blood pressure and boost your immune system. and then i learned that meditation does not necessarily involve wearing robes, lighting

incense, or believing in anything in particular. people of any faith or no faith can do it. in fact, it's totally straightforward. there are basically just three steps. number one, sit upright. doesn't have to be cross-legged. you could do it in a chair, on the floor, whatever. two, just try to feel your breath coming in and going out. and three, whenever your mind wanders, which it will a million times, simply return your attention to the breath. so one day after i learned all of this i very reluctantly gave it a shot. >> breathe in. >> what kind of bird was big bird? >> breathe out. >> do i need a haircut? >> shrubbery. i like that word. >> reporter: in a way it was like the panic attack, my mind hurling a lot of crazy thoughts at me. >> idea for old school hip-hop show, rap van winkle. >> reporter: but this time i had a weapon. >> get in the game, dude. >> reporter: in those brief moments where i was simply focused on my breath -- >> breathe in. breathe out. >> reporter: it was like pressing the mute button on the voice in my head. >> where do gerbils run wild?

would i describe myself as more of a -- >> breathe in, breathe out. >> reporter: and it created space between the thoughts before they inevitably came marauding back in. meditation is like exercise for your brain. i'm not speaking metaphorically here. check this out. brain scans show that short daily doses of meditation literally grow the gray matter in areas associated with self-awareness and compassion and shrink the area associated with stress. as for me, it's not like my life has become a nonstop parade of rainbows and unicorns. i still sometimes let work stress me out and distract me. but my emotions and impulses no longer yank me around as much, which frankly is a superpower. meditation has also helped me slow down enough that the good stuff in my life has become much more vivid, from the fact that abc lets me be the co-anchor of "nightline" to simply eating cookies with my wife or playing with our cat. >> an important point here. it is possible to get happier in this way without going soft. these marines here are part of an experiment to see if

meditation makes more resilient warriors. >> first time they said to you we're going to teach you how to meditate, what was your gut reaction? >> this is going to be absolutely ridiculous. >> reporter: corporate executives are using it too. even the lead singer of weezer, who told me meditation helped him cure crippling stage fright. >> about eight years ago i started practicing two hours every day. and at first actually the unpleasantness got worse before i was going on stage. and i was wondering, is this really working? but i stuck with it. and now i feel so much calmer. >> reporter: and check out this list of other conditions meditation has been shown to be good for. there are no miracle cures, despite what you hear from the self-help gurus. i like to say meditation has made me roughly 10% happier. if it can work for a fidgety, skeptical news man, maybe you too should give it a shot. when we come back, more information about how you can do so. salesperson #1: the real deal's the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in

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if you want to learn more about how to meditate, which i like to say may make you 10% happier, you can go to abcnews.com, where i've written up some simple instructions which i call a three-step brain hack to happiness.

thank you for watching abc news tonight. "world news now" is coming up soon with your overnight breaking news. tune in to "gma" first thing in the morning. again, thanks for watching. good night. every day more americans choose abc news. america's number one news source. >> saturday nights mean it's time for "nightline" prime. and on the premiere we're taking you south of the border into the shady world of bootleg butt enhancements. you heard me right. bootleg butt

♪ ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i could and got her a subaru. (girl) piece of cake. ♪