From the Blog
Writings on Well-Being Dr. Rick Hanson
Being Well Podcast: Dr. Becky on Becoming the Person (and Parent) You Needed
Dr. Becky Kennedy joins Forrest for a conversation about building better relationships, with ourselves, our partners, and our children.
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Meditation + Talk: How to Be a Good Listener – and Help Others Listen Better to You
Discover the power of deep listening to heal disconnection, reduce conflict, and nurture meaningful relationships—with clarity, empathy, and lasting well-being.
Being Well Podcast: Working with Your Parts: Complex PTSD, Dissociation, and Hypervigilance with Elizabeth Ferreira
Somatic therapist Elizabeth Ferreira joins Forrest to discuss complex PTSD, dissociation, and working with challenging emotions.
Rick’s Recommended Books of 2024
Books have brought me comfort, humor, knowledge, inspiration, and a lot of joy. Here are my favorites from 2024 — from Fiction to Spiritual Growth to Science.
Twelve Good Things 2024
Each year I use an issue of the Just One Thing newsletter to offer Twelve Good Things that I think are really wonderful and worth your attention. May you and those you love and the whole wide world be truly well, truly happy, and truly at peace. —...
Being Well Podcast: Anxious and Avoidant in Relationship: The Pursuer-Distancer Dynamic
Dr. Rick and Forrest explore why we’re drawn to people who activate our insecurities, how anxiety manifests differently in those with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, and what we can all do to work with our natural tendencies more skillfully.
Meditation + Talk: The Power of No
Struggling with boundaries or overcommitment? Learn the power of “no” to reclaim space for what matters, assert your needs, and find peace and clarity.
See Progress
If you don’t see progress in your own life, then you will feel stagnant, or declining. Learn to notice the things that are improving all around you.
Meditation + Talk: Radical Equanimity and Wise Speech
Discover radical equanimity: practical tools to stay calm, centered, and connected—even when life’s chaos and challenges push your buttons.
Being Well Podcast: Why We Don’t Change (and what you can do about it) with Dr. Ross Ellenhorn
Dr. Ross Ellenhorn joins the Being Well Podcast to explore our resistance to change, and the many good reasons we might have to stay just as we are.
Being Well Podcast: Now What? What to Do When Things Fall Apart
Forrest and Dr. Rick explore a practical framework for navigating life’s most challenging transitions, including what to do when things fall apart.
Meditation + Talk: The Good That Is Still True
Feeling overwhelmed or downhearted by life? Explore simple, practical ways to face challenges, find the good, and build resilience with wisdom and compassion.
Being Well Podcast: How to Make Good Choices: A System for Decision Making
Forrest and Rick Hanson explore how to make good choices by developing a reliable system for making choices that aligns with your values and goals.
Meditation + Talk: BLACK EARTH WISDOM: Afro-Indigenous Ecological Thought and Practice
Leah Penniman weaves ancestral wisdom, mindfulness, and stories to explore humanity’s bond with the Earth, inspiring healing, gratitude, and ecological care.
Minimize Painful Experiences
Painful experiences range from subtle discomfort to extreme anguish – and there is a place for them. Sorrow can open the heart.
Being Well Podcast: Rethinking Productivity with Cal Newport
Cal Newport joins the podcast to explore slow productivity, deep work, and how we can achieve more by doing less.
Meditation + Talk: 4 Ways We Can Respond After the Election
Feeling unsettled? Remember: be kind to yourself, protect your peace, stay informed, and focus on what you can control. Find comfort in connection & small joys.
Take Heart
What do you do when the bottom falls out? Take heart. By “taking heart,” I mean several related things: Sensing your heart and chest, finding encouragement in what is good both around you and inside you, resting in your own warmth, compassion, and
Being Well Podcast: Relationship Mailbag: Finding Yourself, Boundaries, and Attachment
Dr. Rick and Forrest answer listener questions focused on navigating relationship challenges, including distinguishing between healthy/unhealthy desires and finding yourself after a breakup.
Meditation + Talk: What to Do If You’re Feeling Disgusted
Explore how to handle feelings of disgust mindfully, keeping a moral view without disconnecting. Discover practical steps to foster compassion and clarity amidst challenges.
Don’t Be Intimidated
Humans are vulnerable to being alarmed, manipulated, and even intimidated by threats, both real ones and “paper tigers.” Understanding how your brain became so vigilant and wary, and so easily hijacked by alarm, is the first step toward gaining more control over that ancient circuitry and is less rattled or distracted by exaggerated, manageable, or false alarms.
Being Well Podcast: Healing Your Inner Child
Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore what the inner child really is, how it manifests in our lives, and practical ways to work with this important part of ourselves, including healing your inner child.