Clinging is never relaxed and has a sense of strain. As you cling less, it becomes natural for one to lighten up, have more compassion and forgive.
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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: Navigating Parenthood — What Every Parent Needs to Know
Forrest explores parenthood and becoming a good dad with his father, clinical psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson.
Meditation + Talk: Steadying Your Mind through Finding Wholeness and Stillness
Feeling Anxious? Learn two powerful practices that anchor you more firmly in the present moment and help with steadying your mind, with Dr. Rick Hanson.
Being Well Podcast: How to Live in an Anxious World: Uncertainty, Agency, and Resilience
Dr. Rick and Forrest tackle the anxiety and uncertainty so many are feeling about the state of the world.
Meditation + Talk: Three Ways to Steady Your Mind
It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the chaos of modern life. Learn 3 practical ways to bring calm, clarity, and presence into your daily routine.
Ask Questions
Ask questions – it’s one of the best ways to listen well. It shows you’re paying attention, it gets things out in the open and it slows emotional conversations.
Being Well Podcast: Embracing Perfectionism with Katherine Morgan Schafler
Forrest explores how we can harness perfectionism’s strengths without getting captured by its vulnerabilities with therapist and author Katherine Morgan Schafler.
Meditation + Talk: Bottom-Up Healing and Growing
A “bottom-up” approach to challenges allows us to observe and engage with our emotions for deeper understanding and personal growth.
Hold Wants Lightly
Be aware of wanting inside your own mind. List wholesome wants that you would like to pursue more. Your wholesome wants will help crowd out the unwholesome ones.
Being Well Podcast: The Shadow: Individuation, Wholeness, and Becoming Your True Self
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore one of the most interesting concepts in psychology: Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow and becoming our true self.
Meditation + Talk: Cultivating Patience with Loving Strength
Patience brings peace and allows us to pause and respond mindfully rather than react unskillfully—learn to apply it to your own inner and outer experiences.
Find Stillness
Wherever you find stillness enjoy it and let it feed you. Stillness is a source of clarity and peace. In stillness, you can find a refuge and some quiet amidst the noise. Give yourself the space, the permission, to be still in your mind.