From the Blog
Writings on Well-Being Dr. Rick Hanson
Being Well Podcast: How to Create a Year You’ll Love
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore how we can put our key values into action in 2026.
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Enjoy Four Kinds of Peace
“Peace” can sound sentimental or clichéd but it’s what most of us long for. When you experience peace, enjoy it, let it sink into you, weaving its way into your brain so it increasingly becomes the habit of your mind.
Being Well Podcast: Becoming Self-Confident, Learning Healthy Relationship Skills, and Trusting Yourself: June Mailbag
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore how to deal with chronically negative people, managing avoidant tendencies that get in the way of us finding a great relationship, and becoming self-confident.
Meditation + Talk: Recognizing the Conditioned Mind
Have you ever noticed how the mind is continually asserting that you and life should be different: if X, Y, or Z would change, then you would finally be happy?
Get Out of the War
Conflicts with others are a normal part of life. But if we do this while swept away by anger, that’s not good for us or others.
Being Well Podcast: The Psychology of Manifesting: How to Create the Life You Want
Forrest and Dr. Rick explore “manifesting:” the idea that our thoughts impact the world around us, and by changing those thoughts we can change our lives.
Meditation + Talk: The Power of Directing the Attention
It’s easy for our attention to get pulled from one thing to the next. We forget that we have the power and choice to place our attention where we want it to be.
Trust In Love
Love is like air. It may be hard to see – but it’s in you and all around you.
Being Well Podcast: Understanding the Flight Response: Anxiety, Avoidance, and Feeling Safe
Dr. Rick & Forrest discuss understanding the flight response to stress, which includes feelings of anxiety and fear, avoidant behavior, & an underlying sense of insecurity.
Meditation + Talk: Coming Home to Equanimity
Equanimity embodies a balanced and centered state of mind, allowing us to be impartial and have a wise, informed understanding of life’s conditions.
Trust Yourself
See what happens when you bet on yourself, when you back your own play. See what happens when you let yourself fall backward into your own arms, trusting that they will catch you.
Being Well Podcast: Managing The Fight Response: Anger, Repression, and Self-Regulation
Dr. Rick and Forrest continue their series on the stress responses with the fight response to stress, exploring anger, repression, and self-regulation.
Meditation + Talk: From Autonomic to Volitional Attention
At the heart of meditation is the work of retraining our attention away from emotionally-charged thinking back to the experience of body or breath.
Love What’s Real
What do a healthy relationship, family, organization, or country have in common? They are grounded in what is real. They seek the truth, tell the truth, and learn from the truth.
Being Well Podcast: Everything You Need to Know About Therapy
In this mega-episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson explore everything you need to know about therapy.
Meditation + Talk: Exploring the Costs and Benefits of Anger and the Value of Forgiveness
Guest teacher sujatha baliga explores forgiving ourselves and others and letting go of anger once it’s no longer useful.
“Us” All “Thems”
Finding common ground with every person – especially those you fear or are angry with or who are simply very different from you – builds bridges among us, widens circles, and allows us to live together in peace.
Being Well Podcast: Dr. Peter Levine: Healing After Trauma
Somatic psychology legend Dr. Peter Levine joins Dr. Rick and Forrest to explore how we can use body-based approaches to recover from traumatic experiences.
Meditation + Talk: Forgiving Yourself, Encouraging Yourself
When we use forgiveness to move past our mistakes responsibly, we can start to encourage ourselves, cherish our achievements, and let go of that relentless pursuit of perfection.
Love the World
Humanity has great power for good and ill. As the earth heats up, as species go extinct and resources decline, it is critically important that a fourth major motivation guide our thoughts, words, and above all, deeds: Love the world.
Being Well Podcast: Recovering from a Challenging Childhood
Recovering from a challenging childhood as an adult can be a difficult process, which is what we explore on this episode.
Meditation + Talk: Wise Friendship: Nurturing Your Inner Ally with Dr. Diana Hill
What does it mean to be a wise friend to yourself? Dr. Diana Hill draws from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the kalyana mitta sutta, and personal experience to explore three qualities of wise friendship.