Speaking from an open heart can seem so vulnerable yet be the strongest move of all. Naming the truth has great moral force.
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: Improving Focus and Fixing Your Attention Span
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore improving focus and fixing our attention spans in a world that is constantly trying to distract us.
Meditation + Talk: Living Your Values: Finding Peace and Resilience in a Chaotic World
Dr. Daniel Ellenberg shares how to navigate chaos with clarity and compassion, and take action without burnout or hardening your heart.
Relax, You’re Going to be Criticized
Criticism is unavoidable. Sometimes we take being criticized with good grace, other times it stings, and sometimes both are true. Here are some tips for accepting criticism, learning what you can from it, and moving on.
Being Well Podcast: Protecting Yourself from Narcissistic People with Dr. Ramani Durvasula
Dr. Ramani Durvasula, one of the world’s leading experts on narcissism and narcissistic abuse, joins Forrest to help us learn how to understand, identify, and recover from relationships with narcissistic people.
Meditation + Talk: How to Prevent Life’s Wear and Tear – and Release the Past
In this talk, Dr. Rick Hanson discusses how our mental reactions to life’s inevitable challenges often cause more suffering than the original problem and offers practical strategies to break this cycle and reduce unnecessary suffering.
See Beings, Not Bodies
When we encounter someone, the mind summarizes and simplifies tons of details. Though fast and efficient this process has lots of problems. As our ancestors evolved, rapid sorting of friend or foe was very useful but is it still.
Being Well Podcast: What to Do When Your Worst Fears Come True: Mailbag
Dr. Rick and Forrest open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners, many of which focused on anxiety experiences and when our worst fears come true.
Meditation + Talk: Finding an Authentic Core of Calm Strength
Feeling stressed and uncertain? Explore how to navigate difficult emotions without being overwhelmed, and create an authentic feeling of calm.
Love Someone
What can you do when there’s nothing you can do? Love Someone. Sometimes something happens. Perhaps your cat takes a turn for the worse, there’s a money problem, or it’s on a larger scale: maybe there’s been an election and you’re grappling with its
Being Well Podcast: Learning to Trust Yourself: How to Stop Self-Abandonment
In this special episode of the Being Well Podcast, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore becoming more self-reliant and learning to trust yourself.
Meditation + Talk: Interbeing and the Beloved Community
Explore the deep connection between Black History, mindfulness, and Buddhism with Dr. Anne Roise, and discover how spirituality and activism intertwine for change.