From the Blog
Writings on Well-Being Dr. Rick Hanson
Relax, You’re Going to be Criticized
Criticism is unavoidable. Sometimes we take being criticized with good grace, other times it stings, and sometimes both are true. Here are some tips for accepting criticism, learning what you can from it, and moving on.
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Being Well Podcast: How to Become a Disciplined Person
Forrest and Dr. Rick explore how to become a disciplined person, including how to make even frustrating tasks rewarding and learning to feel good when we do good.
Meditation + Talk: Confidence, Hope, and Fear with Ethan Nichtern
Confidence can be difficult to maintain in the face of challenges. Buddhism offers insight into the forces that shape our self-perception and well-being.
Enjoy The Freedom Not To
If you can’t say “no” – to others, and yourself – then your “yesses” will lose their meaning and power. The “freedom not to” gives you a feeling of ease.
Being Well Podcast: Psychological Defenses: How to Understand (and Change) Your Mind and Behavior
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore how our psychological defenses shape our actions, influence our relationships, and affect our overall well-being.
Meditation + Talk: 7 Practices for Dealing with Regrets
We all have regrets. Meditate on Resting in Contentment and Releasing Craving. Then learn 7 Practices for Dealing with Regrets.
Feel Whole
When you open to the whole of your experience you feel more at home in yourself. With moments of practice that add up over time, you feel more like a whole person, less fragmented. As this happens, you feel more fed and fulfilled – and more connected, more entwined with the world as whole.
Being Well Podcast: The Fawn Response: People Pleasing, Self-Abandonment, and Standing Up for Yourself
Dr. Rick and Forrest finish their series on the stress responses with the fawn response, which is an appeasement strategy where we try to manage stressful situations by giving others what they want.
Meditation + Talk: Healing Regrets
Regret can be a heavy burden. As we reflect on our mistakes and regrets, it’s essential to explore our underlying good intentions and embrace openheartedness.
Enjoy Sobriety
Enjoy healthy self-control, a centered enjoyment of life, and inner freedom. Think of sobriety in terms of the big picture, and in the context of a life well-lived. Sobriety is a gain – of health, self-respect, unclouded mind, peace with others and bliss.
Being Well Podcast: Elizabeth Ferreira: How to Create a Secure Relationship
Somatic trauma therapist Elizabeth Ferreira joins Forrest to explore how we can create a secure relationship.
Meditation + Talk: Love Refuses to Despair
Learn how to apply the wisdom of the Dharma to personal and global challenges. Meditate on Letting Go of Preoccupations and Resting in what’s good.
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.