pixel
Talk + Meditation: How to Heal the Emotional Baggage You’ve Been Carrying
October 10, 2026

We all carry emotional baggage from the past. These old hurts, fears, insecurities, and patterns can continue to affect us long after the original experiences have passed. While mindfulness can help us relate differently to these painful experiences, what does it take to actually heal them? 

In this talk, I explored how to release the burdens of the past, identify the inner strengths and positive experiences that are best matched to our particular struggles, and how we can use these resources to gradually change the brain, heal old wounds, and move forward with greater freedom and peace.

Mindfulness can help us become less caught up in painful memories and reactions. But what if we could go further — and actually change the emotional patterns that keep those old wounds alive? That’s what we’ll explore in much greater depth in my six-week course, The Healing Link, where you’ll learn practical, neuroscience-informed ways to use positive experiences to heal the negative.

Click here to join the free Wednesday Meditations – which are open to everyone!

Talk: How to Heal the Emotional Baggage You’ve Been Carrying

Download the Talk: Audio| Transcript
Time codes & main topics:

00:00 – How Do We Heal Emotional Baggage?
05:16 – Why Childhood Experiences Stay with Us
10:30 – How Linking Positive and Negative Experiences Works
12:13 – Overcoming Craving with Contentment
15:08 – Releasing Resentment and Ill Will
18:30 – Healing Remorse Through Self-Forgiveness
22:18 – Reaching the Younger Parts of Ourselves
27:38 – Finding the Antidote to Self-Doubt
32:19 – Using Positive Experiences to Heal Old Wounds
34:56 – Dealing with Negative People
40:14 – Understanding the Lasting Impact of Childhood
41:57 – Having Compassion for Everyone’s Hidden Struggles

Steady, Quiet, and Whole: A Meditation for Inner Peace

Download the Audio of this Meditation

In this guided meditation, Rick Hanson invites you to steady your attention, quiet your mind, and settle into a deeper sense of wholeness. Through mindful breathing, letting go of striving, and resting in spacious awareness, you’ll explore what it’s like to feel peaceful, content, and unified — just as you are.

These teachings are offered freely, at no charge. 

And if you like, you may wish to participate in the age-old tradition of generosity through making an offering yourself – called “dāna” – to support Rick and the Wednesday Meditations. Generosity itself is a beautiful practice that opens and gladdens the heart, relaxes the contraction of “self,” and ripples out into the world to touch many people – and perhaps, eventually, even oneself. 

Make a Donation:

These teachings are offered freely.

Donations to support these teachings are received with much gratitude!
Sign Up to Join Me Every Wednesday, for Free
6-7:30pm PT / 9-10:30pm ET

Can’t make it live? Sign up to receive access to the recordings.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*
The Foundations of Well-Being - Resilience Courses and Emotional Intelligence Courses

6-Week Live Course Starting October 16th

The course that reaches the wounded, younger layers inside you — filling what's been empty and soothing what's been hurting — so that healing and change finally last.

Just One Minute - Best Well-Being Courses

Build a Happier, Healthier Mind in Just a Minute or Two a Day

57 Practical, Positive Ways to Feel Better Now

Recent Wednesday Meditations

Get Rick’s Free Weekly Newsletter

Get a weekly practice and the latest Being Well Podcast delivered right to your inbox.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name