From the Blog
Writings on Well-Being Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well Podcast: Everything I Wish I’d Known: A Guide to Personal Growth
In this episode, Forrest focuses on the key lessons from 400 episodes of Being Well, giving you a tailored guide to personal growth.
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Speak Truly
Perhaps the most powerful tool for your mental health – and certainly for the health of your relationships – is to speak truly.
Being Well Podcast: Understanding Narcissism and Narcissistic Traits with Dr. Craig Malkin
On today’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Craig Malkin to explore narcissism and narcissistic traits. We talk about the different forms narcissism takes, the difference between narcissistic traits and narcissistic personality disorder, red flags, dealing with narcissists, treatment options, and finding the “right amount” of feeling special.
Meditation + Talk: Love and Power
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, Dr. Rick Hanson offered a meditation and talk on Love and Power.
Find Your Own Way
In the body or the mind, there is no life without goals. Trying to “transcend” goals is itself a goal. The only question is: Are your goals good ones?
Being Well Podcast: Dealing with Challenging Emotions with Mollie West Duffy
On today’s episode, we’re joined by the wonderful author, coach, and content creator Mollie West Duffy to explore how we can accept those big feelings, learn to live alongside them, and develop tools that help us deal with them more effectively.
Meditation + Talk: Joining and Separating in Your Relationships
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, Dr. Rick Hanson offered a meditation and talk on Joining and Separating in Your Relationships.
Feel Already Full
Craving is pointless; the truth is there’s always an underlying fullness already. While the truth of futility is that it is hopeless to crave, the truth of fullness is that craving is unnecessary.
Meditation + Talk: The Cradle of Relationships
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, Dr. Rick Hanson offered a meditation and talk on The Cradle of Relationships.
Being Well Podcast: How to Use Your Diagnosis (Without It Using You)
On this episode Dr. Rick and Forrest Hanson explore what a diagnosis is, how the diagnostic process works, the limitations of diagnosing someone, dealing with the emotions that come up, and how we can better think about and relate to receiving a diagnosis.
Don’t Quarrel
It’s one thing to stick up for yourself & others. It’s a different matter to get caught up in wrangles, contentiousness – in a word: quarrels.
Being Well Podcast: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy with Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu
On today’s episode, Forrest is joined by Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. They explore the history and current state of psychedelic research, their subjective effects, the necessity of the “trip,” how psychedelics work in the brain, why researchers are so interested in these substances, and what a psychedelic-assisted therapy session looks like.
Meditation + Talk: A Spacey Ecstatic Riff on Everything Is Relationship
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, Dr. Rick Hanson offered a meditation and talk on A Spacey Ecstatic Riff on Everything Is Relationship.
Feed the Mouse
When you feel fed – physically, emotionally, conceptually – you naturally let go of longing, disappointment, frustration, and craving. The hungry heart gets a full meal; goals are attained and the striving for them relaxes; one feels lifted by life as it is. What a relief!
Feeling fed also helps you enjoy positive emotions such as pleasure, contentment, accomplishment, ease, and worth. As researchers have shown, these good feelings reduce stress, help people bounce back from illness and loss, strengthen resilience, draw attention to the big picture, and build inner resources. And when your own cup runneth over, studies have found that you’re more inclined to give to others; feeling good helps you do good.
Being Well Podcast: Relating to Death, and Living a Better Life
On today’s episode of Being Well, Forrest and I talk about coming to terms with mortality, the reality of our limited time, and how we can use that knowledge to refine our focus and live a more fulfilling life.
Meditation + Talk: Being Nature
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, Dr. Rick Hanson offered a meditation and talk on Being Nature.
See What’s Likable
Liking feels good, and it encourages us to approach and engage the world. We’re wired to like some things, but our liking or disliking depends greatly on what we pay attention to and our own perspective.
Being Well Podcast: Changing Your Relationship to Shame
Shame is one of the most complex and difficult emotions we experience on a regular basis, and one that can have seriously negative impacts on our sense of self-worth and ability to experience healthy connection with others.
Meditation + Talk: Compassion in Society: Embodying the Changes We Want to See
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, guest teacher Lakiba Pittman covered the topic of Compassion in Society: Embodying the Changes We Want to See.
Enjoy Now
Since it’s always now, now is eternal. The present moment is continually passing away, so relax and be open to this moment. Not planning, not worrying, not lost in thought.
Being Well Podcast: The Grieving Brain with Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor
On today’s episode we’re joined by one of the world’s leading researchers on grief, Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor. We explore why grief is such a unique and intense emotion, how grief works in the brain, the problems with generalized models like the “five stages of grief,” and how we can learn to live with loss.
Meditation + Talk: Presence Infused with Heart
In this Wednesday Night Meditation, guest teacher Caverly Morgan covered the topic of Presence Infused with Heart.