Understanding facial expression gives us a chance to feel connected to others. Try to open to and receive the faces of others.

Rick Hanson
Author / Psychologist
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Biography
Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages, and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He's the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 15 million times. His free newsletters have over 260,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those in need. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in Northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.
Articles
Being Well Podcast: Self-Compassion: How to Make it Work For You with Dr. Chris Germer
Dr. Chris Germer, co-creator of the Mindful Self-Compassion program, joins Forrest to explore how we can work with the deeply ingrained shame that gets in the way.
Meditation + Talk: The Sacred Power of Friendships
In a time of widespread loneliness and isolation, it’s crucial we recognize that our “friendship net worth” matters deeply.
One Breath at a Time
To know yourself more deeply, track the breath inside yourself. Inhale, oxygen surges into your brain and activates and accelerates the heartbeat. Exhale, you activate the soothing peaceful nervous system. In the breath you are home in this moment, this Now.
Being Well Podcast: Understanding and Overcoming Social Anxiety: Attachment, Exposure, and Confidence
Whether you experience feelings of social
anxiety or are trying to understand a friend who does, this episode will help you feel more confident and connected.
Meditation + Talk: Feeling Already Enough in Your Relationships
When we realize that we already have enough connection, love, and worth, we can stop craving and chasing more and start feeling at peace in our relationships.
Have Compassion
To have compassion is to have the wish that beings not suffer combined with feelings of sympathetic concern.
Being Well Podcast: The Dark Triad: Dealing with Toxic People
Dr. Rick and Forrest unpack the Dark Triad of personality traits – narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sociopathy – and explore how these traits can manifest in everyday relationships.
Meditation + Talk: How to Feel Already Content
Learn how to break free from the loop of craving and chasing — living more in the present without getting weighed down by stress and disappointment.
Give No One Cause to Fear You
Much of the time the fear we trigger in others is mild but people can feel threatened by stimuli they’re not actually aware of.
Being Well Podcast: How to Build a Securely Attached Relationship with Julie Menanno
Forrest sits down with marriage and family therapist Julie Menanno to explore one of the most crucial aspects of healthy relationships: secure attachment.
Meditation + Talk: Ways of Cultivating Insight
Cultivating Insight can offer real relief from suffering and frustration, and get us out of patterns that no longer serve us. Learn how with Oren Jay Sofer.