Just One Thing
Simple Practices from Dr. Rick Hanson
Being at Peace
Let It Flow
Can you stay mindful and peaceful when your thoughts and life get bumpy? In life there will be gain and loss, praise and blame, and pleasure and pain. If you let them flow, you can ride the waves of life with gratitude and grace, and without drowning.
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.
Notice You’re Alright Right Now
To keep our ancestors alive, the brain evolved strong tendencies toward fear. It’s important to regularly remind yourself that you’re alright right now.
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.
Accept Difficulty
When things are difficult, we often add a lot of unnecessary frustration, anxiety, and self-criticism by resisting the difficulty of them – often with an underlying attitude of “it shouldn’t be this way.” Find more peace by accepting difficulty instead of getting aggravated by it.
See the Big Picture
The tree or the forest? See the big picture. The vast majority of human acts each day are constructive: making meals, tending to children, saying hello, restraining anger, completing tasks, planting seeds, teaching, healing, nurturing, cooperating
Remember the Big Things
In every life, reminders arrive about what’s really important. While it’s good advice not to sweat the small stuff, we also need to nurture the large stuff.
Embrace Fragility
Be mindful of both actual and potential fragility in yourself and others. Do what’s in your heart about what’s fragile in our world. Be at peace with the inevitable: things fall apart. Yet there is something beautiful about this part of the truth.