Love
“Love is a deep, powerful, often intense feeling of affection, caring, sweetness, and commitment. It is usually applied to others, though it is possible to feel love for the natural world, humanity as a whole, God (in whatever way you experience or imagine this), and oneself. Whether you feel loved or feel loving, love is love, whether it’s coming in or going out. When you’re resting in love, any knots of longing or clinging can loosen and fall away.”
*Excerpted from, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence
Dealing with Holiday Stress
What does it mean to have a simple holiday? For me it means having realistic expectations about what you can actually get done, and not over-committing. Alongside, keeping a sense of perspective and humor about the madness of parking lot traffic jams, weird in-law...Truly Happy Holidays – Spreecast
I did free video broadcast on Monday, November 25 at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern about Truly Happy Holidays. I covered some simple tips for lowering holiday stress, taking in the good this Thanksgiving, and the importance of Vitamin G: Gratitude! The broadcast was also...TedXMarin
I’m excited to share my @TEDXMarin talk on #HardwiringHappiness with you today!Modern Science Meets Ancient Wisdom
In the 21st century, modern brain science and ancient contemplative wisdom are illuminating each other. Besides being fascinating in its own right, this cross-fertilization and growing integration spotlights increasingly effective ways for using your mind to change...Handling Blocks to Any Inner Practice – Meditation, Yoga, Gratitude, Mindfulness
When you try to change your life for better, sometimes you bump into a block, such as distracting thoughts. Blocks are common. They’re not bad or wrong – but they do get in the way. What works is to explore them with self-acceptance, and see what you can learn about...The Importance of Gratitude and Gladness for a Happy Life
Gratitude and Gladness Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness about something you have been given. Gladness is a more general sense of feeling pleased, rewarded, delighted, or happy about something, without it necessarily being a gift. Much of the time these two sweet...Hardwiring Our Children’s Happiness
I’ve used taking in the good with young people in therapy and also spoken with parents and teachers who have used it with their own children or students. As with an adult, there are four ways to offer the HEAL steps to a child, while naturally adapting them to the...Turning a Negative Nelly Into a Positive Polly
I’ve been talking about ways to Hardwire Your Happiness on the blog lately. So I thought it would be great to give you a sense of how it feels to take in the good. If you are someone who usually focuses on the negative experiences in the world you can turn that...How to Build a Happier Brain – Atlantic Article Tweet
Here’s my latest article in The Atlantic – “How to Build a Happier Brain” – http://t.co/vHQ4IpAaPW — Rick Hanson (@drrhanson) October 24, 2013HH NYT List Announcement Twitter
Woohoo!! Check out #11! http://t.co/XlJDLT2o5D — Rick Hanson (@drrhanson) October 21,...Hardwiring Happiness: Being for Yourself, and the Three Ways to Practice with Your Mind
This is the second talk in the series on “Hardwiring Happiness”, based on my book of the same name. This talk was given at the San Rafael Meditation gathering on September 18, 2013.