Books have brought me comfort, humor, knowledge, inspiration, and a lot of joy. Here are my favorites from 2024 — from Fiction to Spiritual Growth to Science.
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
Twelve Good Things 2024
Each year I use an issue of the Just One Thing newsletter to offer Twelve Good Things that I think are really wonderful and worth your attention. May you and those you love and the whole wide world be truly well, truly happy, and truly at peace. —...
Being Well Podcast: Anxious and Avoidant in Relationship: The Pursuer-Distancer Dynamic
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore why we’re drawn to people who activate our insecurities, how anxiety manifests differently in those with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, and what we can all do to work with our natural tendencies more skillfully.
Meditation + Talk: The Power of No
Struggling with boundaries or overcommitment? Learn the power of “no” to reclaim space for what matters, assert your needs, and find peace and clarity.
See Progress
If you don’t see progress in your own life, then you will feel stagnant, or declining. Learn to notice the things that are improving all around you.
Meditation + Talk: Radical Equanimity and Wise Speech
Discover radical equanimity: practical tools to stay calm, centered, and connected—even when life’s chaos and challenges push your buttons.
Being Well Podcast: Why We Don’t Change (and what you can do about it) with Dr. Ross Ellenhorn
Dr. Ross Ellenhorn joins the Being Well Podcast to explore our resistance to change, and the many good reasons we might have to stay just as we are.
Being Well Podcast: Now What? What to Do When Things Fall Apart
Forrest and Dr. Rick explore a practical framework for navigating life’s most challenging transitions, including what to do when things fall apart.
Meditation + Talk: The Good That Is Still True
Feeling overwhelmed or downhearted by life? Explore simple, practical ways to face challenges, find the good, and build resilience with wisdom and compassion.
Being Well Podcast: How to Make Good Choices: A System for Decision Making
Forrest and Rick Hanson explore how to make good choices by developing a reliable system for making choices that aligns with your values and goals.
Meditation + Talk: BLACK EARTH WISDOM: Afro-Indigenous Ecological Thought and Practice
Leah Penniman weaves ancestral wisdom, mindfulness, and stories to explore humanity’s bond with the Earth, inspiring healing, gratitude, and ecological care.
Minimize Painful Experiences
Painful experiences range from subtle discomfort to extreme anguish – and there is a place for them. Sorrow can open the heart.











