By taking care of the basics, everything else usually takes care of itself.

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 25 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: Managing the Freeze Response: Dissociation, Emotional Shutdown, and Creating Safety
In one of our favorite episodes to date, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore managing the freeze response in detail.
Meditation + Talk: The Deep Peace in Approaching Your Life as an Offering
When we approach life as an offering, we let go of the constant striving and struggling and we open to a deeper sense of peace, acceptance, and reverence for the gift of existence itself.
Don’t Rain On The Parade
Are you too quick with doubt, limitations, cost analyses, reasons why not? If you pour cold water over your hopes and dreams, you’ll never know the warmth and light that might spread if you’d let them catch fire.
Being Well Podcast: Working with Irrational Fears, Setting Healthy Boundaries, and Understanding Therapy: March Mailbag
Forrest and Dr. Rick open up the mailbag and answer questions about working with irrational fears, creating separation from our thoughts and feelings, and setting healthy boundaries in dysfunctional families.
Meditation + Talk: Finding Contentment – Wherever You Are
In this weekly live meditation and talk from Dr. Rick Hanson, he focused on Finding Contentment – Wherever You Are.
Give Them What They Want
It’s easy to give someone what they want. It is a matter of what you want to give. It can be stressful when others want things from you. There’s a sweet spot from which you can respond with both compassion and ease.
Being Well Podcast: Things We Wish We Knew in Our 20s
On today’s episode of the Being Well Podcast, Dr. Rick and Forrest share (roughly) 10 things they wish they’d known in their 20s.
Meditation + Talk: Eat the Meal, Not the Menu
In this weekly live meditation and talk from Dr. Rick Hanson, he focused on Eat the Meal, Not the Menu.
Accept Them as They Are
In what ways do you wish that people were different? See what it feels like to stop resisting what another person is like while also taking care of your own needs in the relationship. Acceptance is a gift that gives back.
Being Well Podcast: Healing Self-Abandonment: Anxious Attachment, Healthy Boundaries, and Creating Strong Relationships
On today’s episode, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore self-abandonment, including anxious attachment, healthy boundaries, and creating strong relationships.
Meditation + Talk: The Power of Wishing Others Well
In this weekly live meditation and talk from Dr. Rick Hanson, he focused on The Power of Wishing Others Well.