Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

We're all searching for fulfillment in one way or another. Today Dr. Rick and Forrest Hanson discuss how we can find and maintain it, and if it's truly possible to be fulfilled all the time. We're exploring how we can relate to our low moments amidst a "good vibes only" culture, what gets in the way of fulfillment, and the importance of respecting individual differences in nature. Here's the video about fulfillment on Forrest's channel that we refer to during the episode. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 1:45: Fulfillment: “Climate” rather than “weather.” 3:20: Context for the episode: Forrest’s video. 5:00: Authentic fulfillment in the self-help space. 9:15: The tyranny of low expectations. 13:20: Eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing. 15:30: Pitfalls of chasing fulfillment. 17:40: The importance of nature, individual variation, and circumstance. 27:00: What are the upper reaches of possibility? 29:50: Dealing with “low fulfillment” moments. 38:30: What tends to lead to fulfillment…and dealing with existential dread. 43:30: Finding meaning amidst meaninglessness. 48:05: Recap From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Just One Thing: Dr. Rick Hanson offers 3 free, regular newsletters with a variety of tips, practices, videos, meditations, and other helpful resources you can use in everyday life to grow the good that lasts. Learn more and sign up here. Sponsors: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though there’s no lack of advice out there, changing in lasting ways is hard. Today Forrest and Dr. Rick Hanson are joined by Dr. Katy Milkman, an expert on the science of change, to explore how we can build better habits, sustain motivation, and change for good. About Our Guest: Dr. Katy Milkman is a Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research explores ways that insights from economics and psychology can be harnessed to change consequential behaviors for good. Katy is the author of the bestselling new book How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, and is also the host of the popular podcast Choiceology with Katy Milkman. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 2:30: Why is it so hard to change? 5:35: Using Rick as an example of changing a habit. 10:10: Short-term costs vs. long-term benefits. 13:45: Are we more motivated by carrots or sticks? And which sustains motivation better? 21:00: Fresh start effect. 24:00: Our bias against change. 27:30: Making internal changes. 30:30: How much can we change our nature? 36:00: Changing internal factors. 41:15: Tracking the things you’re trying to change. 45:00: Nature vs. nurture. 48:30: Durable behavior change. 55:30: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Follow Forrest on Instagram Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we’re hurt in our relationships, it’s normal to experience resentment. We don’t talk about resentment very much, we’re more likely to talk about anger, fear, or sadness. But resentment is a combination of all of those difficult feelings that causes as much harm to our relationships – and to our own well-being – as any other emotion. In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick Hanson explore resentment: where it comes from, what it does, and what we can do about it. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 2:00: What is resentment, and what function does it serve? 5:50: Resentment as repressed emotion. 9:00: Resentment and power differences. 11:10: Aspects of resentment. 12:40: Costs of resentment. 18:50: Given the costs, why do people hold on to their resentment? 22:20: Resentment connects us to people. 28:30: Healthy aspects of resentment. 31:00: Feeling "good enough." 34:00: Working with resentment: what do you want your experience to be? 42:00: Resentment as an indicator of unresolved communication. 44:30: The social functions of resentment. 48:00: Metta as an antidote to resentment. 54:30: Disentangled forgiveness. 57:00: Recap. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Just One Thing: Dr. Rick Hanson offers 3 free, regular newsletters with a variety of tips, practices, videos, meditations, and other helpful resources you can use in everyday life to grow the good that lasts. Learn more and sign up here. Rick's Wednesday Meditation Group: Join Rick for a free online weekly meditation, talk, and discussion every Wednesday from 6-7:30 pm PT/9-10:30 pm ET. Follow the link to learn more. If you can't join live, the sessions are recorded for later viewing. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tara Brach joins Dr. Rick Hanson to help us learn how to "trust the gold:" recognizing and appreciating our essential human goodness, while resting in the key refuges of truth, love, and freedom. About our Guest: Tara is the founder and guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. Tara has taught all over the world, and is the author of four books, including her most recent book Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness. You can also find Tara through her Tara Brach podcast. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 2:05: What does it mean to “trust the gold?” 6:05: Blocks to seeing our true goodness. 9:50: The impact of childhood. 13:05: Objection #1: Fears of falling into narcissism or arrogance. 18:30: The benefits of satisfying our needs. 21:20: Objection #2: Fears of laziness and lack of success. 25:15: Two paths to trusting the gold. 30:10: “Deal with the bad, turn toward the good, take in the good.” 34:00: Letting in love. 39:55: The three kinds of gold. 44:50: Offering kindness. 47:25: Trauma, and trusting our goodness when we feel unclean. 54:25: Recognizing bad behavior while also trusting inner goodness. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most personal growth content out there suggests having a "never give up" mindset. But the truth is that a big part of life is deciding when it's time to stop investing our limited effort into that job, skill, or relationship that's no longer serving you. Today Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest explore how to determine when it's time for things to end, dealing with disappointment, giving ourselves credit for our good efforts, and getting excited about what's to come. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 2:15: Being sure you’re not ending too soon. 4:50: Improving distress tolerance vs. protecting yourself. 9:50: Trusting the past. 13:30: What keeps people stuck: sunk cost fallacy. 14:30: The longing for a just world. 16:50: Dealing with disappointment. 22:00: Optimism, and turning toward the future. 24:30: Understanding the limitations of our environment. 27:15: Redefining success. 30:05: Knowing you gave things your best effort. 32:00: Impulsivity. 33:30: Unilateral virtue. 37:30: Finding your five. 39:30: Helping other people feel heard. 42:45: Being clear about the “last chance.” 45:30: The fear of change, and turning toward the future. 52:45: Recap. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forrest is joined by pioneering psychologist Dr. Katherine Kinzler to explore how our speech shapes our social identity, and the views we hold about other people. A big part of human nature is to rapidly sort people into two groups: “like me,” and “not like me.” Our general tendency is to gravitate toward people we perceive as “like me,” and avoid and oppose people we perceive as “not like me.” We use many different kinds of markers to determine which group a person belongs to: markers like perceived race, gender, political affiliation, and social class. But there’s an often-overlooked factor that might influence how we view ourselves and others even more powerfully: the way we speak. About Our Guest: Dr. Kinzler is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, and the leader of the Development of Social Cognition Laboratory. She’s also the author of the wonderful book How You Say It: Why You Talk the Way You Do―And What It Says About You. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Ideas: 2:25: Why language is such an important signifier of identity. 8:15: Why the brain cares so much about categories. 10:50: Brain plasticity and early language acquisition. 13:50: Language bias and dialectical prejudice. 19:15: Interventions for limiting linguistic prejudice. 23:00: How dialect changes as identity changes. 28:50: Consequences of dialectical prejudice. 34:30: Dialectical prejudice in the courtroom. 36:30: What can we do about dialect prejudice? 40:50: Positive results of bilingual exposure. 45:00: Becoming a better communicator. 49:00: Katherine’s “wave a magic wand” change. 51:30: When to start talking with kids about language. 53:00: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life includes many major culminating moments: we finish the big work project, receive the award, watch the kids leave home, go on the vacation, win the title, or enter retirement. These experiences can come with enormous fulfillment…for a while. And then, we might ask ourselves: Now what? Today Rick and Forrest explore that question, including how we can relate to the past, integrate learning, turn toward the future, and age well through life. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics 1:15: Context for the episode. 4:20: Our culture’s constant focus on “what’s next?” 9:30: Cognitive bias, and the brain’s “anticipation machine.” 13:45: Developmental stages of life 17:40: Stages of integration and disintegration. 27:30: The opportunities of old age. 31:45: Rick’s reflections on aging. 35:15: Bowing to past selves. 41:40: Giving our full effort. 44:00: Being a mentor, and having things to care for. 47:45: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have different parts inside of us. This is perfectly normal, not psychotic. But our relationship with some parts is often better than others, and a wonderful path to healing and growth is to repair our relationship with all of our parts. That's the premise of Internal Family Systems Therapy, and today Forrest is exploring this powerful modality with the founder of IFS: Dr. Richard Schwartz. It's a special episode that includes a live demonstration of an IFS session between Forrest and Dr. Schwartz. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:00: Internal Family Systems' origin story. 4:30: An introduction to IFS. 12:40: Allowing the Self to help itself. 14:20: Richard and Forrest do a mock IFS session. 17:40: The "Manager" gets in the way. 18:20: "Direct access" to the "Protector" part. 24:00: Integrating the "session." 27:15: Speaking from our parts. 29:15: "No bad parts." 33:00: Working with our exiled parts. 35:10: Anger toward our parts, and self-compassion. 37:30: IFS' de-pathologizing stance, and place in the medical model. 39:40: Psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. 42:15: Trauma work, and being with the younger self. 47:45: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the common topics on the podcast is developmental psychology: how what happened to us as a child can influence our lives today. Alongside that, there can also be a lot of value in reconnecting with the person we were when we were young, before the world got in the way. This can give us a sense of our true nature, and new ideas for how to become an ever-more-complete version of ourselves out in the world. Follow this link to watch the conversation on YouTube! Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:10: Uncovering our true nature. 4:20: Our cultural view of children. 7:20: “Feeling down” into younger layers. 13:30: What were you like when you were young? 18:20: A process of contacting your true nature. 25:00: What were your innate desires? 34:00: Compassion for our source. 39:00: Guiding questions, and the layers of self we can access. 43:00: The core needs of most young people. 51:40: Writing a letter to your younger self. 53:00: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People generally think of self-compassion as a "soft" emotion that helps us comfort, reassure, and nurture ourselves. Today a pioneer in the field of compassion research, Dr. Kristin Neff, joins the show to explore the fierce side of self-compassion, including how it can help us draw healthy boundaries, take necessary action, and stand against injustice. About Our Guest: Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She conducted the first empirical studies on self-compassion almost twenty years ago, and is the author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. On June 15th she'll be releasing her new book: Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power and Thrive. Watch our conversation on YouTube here! Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:50: How is fierce self-compassion different from “typical” self-compassion? 5:50: The balance of fierceness and tenderness. 7:45: The importance of fierceness for women. 17:15: Practices that support fierce self-compassion. 20:30: Applying fierce self-compassion internally. 25:40: The harms of traditional gender role socialization. 32:10: What behaviors were you rewarded for? 34:45: Research on the value of self-compassion. 40:40: The impact of self-compassion on motivation. 45:15: Committing to our own well being. 50:45: How men can support women. 55:00: A message to your younger self. 57:15: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Build healthy habits with Most Days! Download it in the App Store or go to MostDays.com/beingwell for more information. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the most important moments of our lives are crossroads of different kinds. There’s a big decision, and we have to pick one thing over another. Today Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore how to make the important decisions in life. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:00: Common themes in big decisions. 5:00: Balancing short- and long-term decisions. 10:15: Knowing your own nature, and having different priorities. 17:20: Using analysis to inform intuition. 21:15: Identifying the “parts” of a decision. 22:50: Analyzing costs and benefits. 33:00: Write it down. 36:20: Working backwards. 40:30: Getting clear on what you want. 42:30: Thinking over the long haul. 43:30: The three circles. 45:00: Finding “comps.” 50:30: The calculus of a decision. 59:00: Affective forecasting Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Build healthy habits with Most Days! Download it in the App Store or go to MostDays.com/beingwell for more information. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this conversation from the Life After COVID Summit, Dr. Joanne Cacciatore joins Forrest to help us put the past in perspective, and relate in healthier and more whole ways to the many things we've lost over the past year. Last weekend Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson were joined by 11 world-class experts for a FREE three-day online event to explore how we can recover from old wounds, build key strengths, and create a better future together. Over 10,000 people joined us for the Summit, and we received incredible feedback. If you missed it, all of the conversations will remain freely available through May 25th. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:00: Mortality salience. 5:00: Putting “little stresses” in context alongside the big ones. 6:40: The problems with “getting back to normal,” and our new opportunities. 12:10: Remember what has happened, and turning toward grief. 15:30: Practices that support us during grief. 20:30: The importance of social support. 26:50: How we can support people who are grieving. 30:15: Should we name the people who are no longer here? 31:55: Understanding the trauma associated with grief. 39:50: Working with anger. 43:40: Using the body as a tool for healing. 48:00: Caregiver fatigue. 53:30: Survival guilt. 57:30: Advice for the future. 59:20: Recap Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Build healthy habits with Most Days! Download it in the App Store or go to MostDays.com/beingwell for more information. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re focusing on a topic that’s been particularly important over the last year: how we can deal more effectively with life's major disruptions. This includes recovering from setbacks, finding the opportunities, and even getting the most out of disruptions that are positive. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 0:55: “One mistake after another.” 1:55: Life After COVID Summit. 5:30: The opportunities in major disruptions. 9:00: The impact of social environments on our self-identity. 11:10: The Theory of Positive Disintegration. 13:30: Framing disruption as a normal feature of life. 18:30: Examples of normal disruptions that occur in life. 21:45: The importance of social support. 23:30: Practices to limit the harm during a moment of disruption. 31:15: The necessity of eventually processing the emotion. 36:00: Taking the time you need. 39:15: Moving into action. 42:20: Integrating a disruption. 47:50: Orienting toward change. 52:00: Mindfulness of contraction and expansion. 54:20: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Build healthy habits with Most Days! Download it in the App Store or go to MostDays.com/beingwell for more information. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We usually experience ourselves as being one "self," but we all have different characters, different "parts," running around inside our heads. And our relationship with some parts is better than others. Today's guest, Susan McConnell, joins Forrest to explore Somatic Internal Family Systems, a powerful form of therapy that helps us bring those parts together as a unified self. About Our Guest: Susan is a senior trainer for the IFS Institute, and has taught Internal Family Systems both in the United States and around the world since 1997. She developed the Somatic IFS approach, which is a synthesis of Susan’s forty years of study, teaching, and clinical practice. Her new book Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy, came out late last year. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 3:50: The Internal Family Systems model. 8:00: The Self, and relationships between our parts. 14:30: Common parts that people tend to have. 18:30: The “spiritual bypass.” 22:45: Using the body to become aware of our parts. 30:15: The benefits of somatic psychotherapy. 33:40: The five practices of somatic IFS. 39:15: Unifying the parts. 41:20: The Six F’s for finding protector parts. Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry Shukman, the guiding teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center, joins Rick and Forrest to explore self-transcendent experiences, relaxing self-identification, and the warm heart at the core of Zen practice. About our Guest: Henry Shukman is a writer, poet, and Zen Master of the Sanbo Zen lineage. He’s published nine books to date which have won numerous awards, and writes regularly for Tricycle, The New York Times and other publications. His most recent book is One Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:50: How Henry came to meditative practice. 3:30: Henry’s self-transcendent experience. 7:20: How Zen practice has changed Henry’s experience of himself. 10:35: Gradual cultivation, sudden awakening. 14:30: The role of transcendent experiences. 18:50: The importance of virtue. 21:40: Unethical behavior among contemplative teachers. 22:40: The risks of “seeking” self-transcendent experiences. 27:00: A framework that supports awakening. 31:00: Where it’s valuable to rest our awareness. 35:30: Practicing when there’s suffering associated with the container of the body. 41:10: Non-separateness, and relaxing identification with self. 47:15: Fear around not-self. 48:10: “The apple falls away from the tree.” 51:15: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Jennifer Ashton joins Rick and Forrest to discuss everything you need to know about the current state of the pandemic. This includes what vaccinated people should feel comfortable doing, the J&J vaccine pause, how to think about risk, and how we can support our mental health during the New Normal. About Our Guest: Dr. Ashton is the Chief Medical Correspondent for ABC News, and has appeared on the ABC Network up to 14 hours a day in order to bring viewers important medical information. She is in regular contact with public health officials, including the Surgeon General and Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Ashton is also the bestselling author of six books, including her recently published book The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 3:10: Why can’t we just go back to the “old normal?” 6:10: Being realistic about uncertainty. 7:45: The J&J vaccine pause, and why this is encouraging. 11:15: How to think about risk. 14:30: What should vaccinated people feel comfortable doing? 18:30: What else can we do to support our health right now? 20:25: The communication challenges of the pandemic. 24:40: How to “think like a doctor,” and approach new medical information. 27:30: Respecting the common good with our choices. 33:50: Mental health during a pandemic. 37:00: The RAIN method. 40:20: Compassion, grief, and interconnection. 44:00: The lack of preparation, and hopes for the future. Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the "point" of meditation, and how can we build a practice that works for us? In this episode Rick and Forrest clear up some common misconceptions about meditation, explore major forms of meditation, and share how you can get more out of your practice. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:15: Forrest’s history with meditation, and some of the benefits of practice. 5:30: What’s the “point” of meditation? 11:30: Skepticism toward narrow views of meditation. 14:10: Do you have to be “spiritual” or “religious” to meditate? 14:45: Three breaths practice. 16:30: Secular vs. spiritual orientations toward meditation. 17:45: The two major tools: insight vs. “calming” meditation. 20:40: Virtue, concentration, and wisdom. 23:20: The tendency to “skip” to insight. 26:30: Why Rick meditates. 32:30: What does it mean to be an “intermediate” or “advanced” meditator? 34:15: What are some of the forms meditation can take? 47:45: Recap As a quick note, there's a little background noise at some moments during the episode. Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last year we’ve all been through a lot. In addition to the many major costs, there have been smaller, subtler costs as well, including a pervasive feeling of anxiety. In this episode, Rick and Forrest walk through a normal experience of anxiety and offer some suggestions for how to overcome it. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 3:30: Accepting the presence of anxiety. 6:30: Recognize what’s alright right now. 10:00: Finding heart, and connecting with other people. 18:30: Take action. 26:30: Appreciating the biological part of anxiety. 32:00: Surrendering to what will happen. 37:00: What enables surrender? 41:20: Recap. Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we bring useful qualities of contemplative practice into our normal, everyday lives as people living in the real world? Senior meditation teacher and author Stephen Snyder joins us to explore that overarching question, alongside a variety of topics related to “not-self,” the true nature of the self, and self-transcendence. About our Guest: Stephen is a senior meditation teach who has been practicing meditation since 1976. He’s the author of three books, including Buddha’s Heart. Stephen is also a lawyer by trade, and has practiced law on behalf of a number of Zen masters and Buddhist organizations. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:35: Stephen’s background in Buddhism. 6:30: A brief background in types of Buddhist practice. 10:30: Bringing practice into our work life. 14:00: Why do contemplative teachers behave badly? 17:50: Personality and the self. 20:00: “Not-self” and the end of suffering. 23:20: Why would we want to “transcend” the self? 26:10: Maintaining practice during a normal life. 29:45: Do we have a “self,” and the fear of emptiness. 33:30: Suffering attached to the self. 35:30: What do we get out of practice? 39:30: The purpose and limitations of meditation. 41:45: The threat of change. 44:10: The “brahmavihārās,” and Buddha’s Heart 47:00: Practices for self-development. 52:30: What’s ‘in’ a self-transcendent experience? 56:30: Ways to experience self-transcendence. 1:02:10: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Start a new healthy habit with Seed! Visit seed.com/beingwell and use code BEINGWELL to get 20% off your first month of Seed’s Daily Synbiotic. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the hardest, and most important, parts of creating great relationships is setting healthy boundaries with other people. Boundaries expert Nedra Glover Tawwab joins the show to explore how we can trust our instincts, work through codependency, and build better boundaries. About Our Guest: Nedra has been a therapist for 13 years, and focuses on helping people build better relationships by teaching them how to implement healthy boundaries. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Psychology Today, Self, and Vice, and she’s the author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, on sale now. You also might have encountered Nedra’s work on Instagram, where she has an extremely popular page that shares wonderful content. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts including Nedra during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:40: What drew Nedra to her work on boundaries. 4:25: Early signs that your boundaries are strong or flimsy. 6:20: Honoring the needs of children. 8:45: Trusting your instincts. 11:40: Codependency. 13:05: How healthy boundaries support intimate relationships. 15:15: Distinctions between different kinds of boundaries 17:20: Working with feelings of selfishness. 19:45: Walking through a process of setting a boundary. 23:30: Anxiety associated with setting boundaries. 26:00: Dealing with people who won’t change. 30:40: Self-esteem and self-worth. 35:55: Fear and guilt. 39:50: Teaching people that boundaries are okay. 44:30: Respecting the boundaries of other people. 46:30: Accepting and letting go. 51:00: Creating healthy internal boundaries. 54:00: A message to your younger self. Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The creator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dr. Steven C. Hayes, joins the show to help us explore how to use techniques from this powerful approach to therapy to address major challenges and improve our wellbeing. About our Guest: Dr. Steven C. Hayes is Nevada Foundation Professor in the Behavior Analysis program at the Department of Psychology of the University of Nevada. He's the creator of ACT, and the author of 44 books and over 600 scientific articles. His most recent book is A Liberated Mind: How To Pivot Toward What Matters, an essential guide to ACT. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts including Dr. Hayes during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:25: The basics of ACT. 5:30: The Lord of the Rings and psychological flexibility. 7:15: Accepting our own history. 10:45: How can we accept painful things? 13:45: Language, technology, and how it gets in the way. 18:00: Coming into the present moment. 21:00: Determinism, autonomy, and agency. 26:30: How can we make change last? 29:30: Steven’s experience with accepting tinnitus. 34:45: How to keep growing when the world pushes back. 45:30: Giving people an opportunity to impress you. 49:00: Dealing with anger. 53:30: Pitfalls while using ACT. 56:10: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we bring together psychological science and contemplative practice, and what can we all learn from the world’s great wisdom traditions? Dr. Roger Walsh, a professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology, and expert on the world's great wisdom traditions, joins the show to help us explore this central question. About Our Guest: Roger is professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as professor in the religious studies program at UC Irvine. His scholarship has had a huge impact on the fields he’s participated in, and he’s the author of a number of wonderful books. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:35: What drew such a successful academic toward contemplative practice? 7:30: Conflict and synergy between psychological science and contemplative practice. 10:30: The challenges of translating ancient wisdom. 12:25: The maturation of spiritual faith. 16:30: What helps people move from one developmental stage to another? 22:00: The gradual process of self-development. 25:15: Commonalities among the world’s many wisdom traditions. 33:00: Things that hold us back. 39:45: Therapeutic lifestyle changes. 44:00: What can we do for the world? 50:50: Many small impacts. 53:00: Non-judgementality and non-attachment. 58:00: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever heard of the marshmallow experiment? The 10,000 hour rule? How about the Dunning-Kruger effect, the Stanford prison experiment, or willpower fatigue? These are some of the most well-known pieces of research from the social sciences. And they all share one problem: they're wrong. Or, at least, they're really misunderstood. On this episode of "10 Good Minutes," Forrest explores social science's Replicability Crisis, and asks whether you can actually trust the research that goes into Being Well. If you'd like to watch this episode rather than listen to it, Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch the video over there. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Cited Research: Kruger, J.; Dunning, D. (1999) "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.” Nuhfer, Edward; Cogan, Christopher; Fleischer, Steven; Gaze, Eric; Wirth, Karl. (2016) "Random Number Simulations Reveal How Random Noise Affects the Measurements and Graphical Portrayals of Self-Assessed Competency.” Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Peake, P. K. (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Tyler W. Watts, Greg J. Duncan, Haonan Quan. (2018) Revisiting the Marshmallow Test: A Conceptual Replication Investigating Links Between Early Delay of Gratification and Later Outcomes. B. Nyhan , J. Reifler. (2010) “When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions.” Wood, T., Porter, E. (2018) “The Elusive Backfire Effect: Mass Attitudes' Steadfast Factual Adherence.” Brown NJ, Sokal AD, Friedman HL. (2013). The complex dynamics of wishful thinking: the critical positivity ratio. Haney, C., Banks, C., & Zimbardo, P. (1973). Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison. Baumeister, R.F. (2002) Ego Depletion and Self-Control Failure: An Energy Model of the Self's Executive Function. Carter E.C., Kofler L.M., Forster D.E., McCullough M.E. (2015) A series of meta-analytic tests of the depletion effect: Self-control does not seem to rely on a limited resource. Brown N.J., Sokal A.D., Friedman H.L. (2013). The complex dynamics of wishful thinking: the critical positivity ratio. Ericsson, A. K. (2008) Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During this time of increased isolation our needs for connection are harder to meet than ever. Today Rick and Forrest are exploring how we can use the psychological technique of "attunement" to connect better with others, and meet our own need for connection. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:15: Moments that satisfy our need for connection. 5:45: The “Still Face Experiment” 8:55: Attention, availability, responsiveness. 10:35: Which relationships fill you up? 13:50: What is attunement? 18:40: The “emotional risk” of attunement. 24:30: Paying attention. 31:20: Being open to being changed. 33:10: Do I matter to you? 37:30: Availability and co-regulation. 41:15: “Our interactions are systems.” 42:30: Rick pushes back a bit on co-regulation. 44:50: The impact of our nature on how we view interactions. 47:45: Becoming responsive. 52:40: Communicating wants and needs. 57:40: Respecting your own needs. 59:15: The impact of social power and privilege on our interactions. 1:04:30: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone has needs, there’s no avoiding them. In order to "be well" we need to meet those needs. But being "needy" is often viewed as a weakness, and accepting that we have needs can be painful. On today's episode, Rick and Forrest explore how we can accept our needs, identify the needs that are most important to us, and build the resources to meet our needs and the needs of other people. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:30: The three core needs. 5:00: What it feels like when you don’t meet your needs. 8:45: The pain of not meeting needs for connection. 13:30: Rick’s story of coming to terms with being “needy.” 20:00: Admitting our needs. 27:00: Identifying our primary needs. 31:00: Forrest and Rick process an interaction. 37:45: Trying on different ways of being. 39:45: Key suggestions for identifying needs. 44:45: Resilience through meeting needs. 46:30: Meeting the needs of other people. 54:30: Healthy boundaries. 1:04:00: Recap Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch his newest video over there. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Relationships are hard, and making them last is even harder. Today we’re exploring how we can be happier and healthier in all of our relationships with a wonderful clinician, teacher, and researcher: Dr. Stan Tatkin. About our Guest: Dr. Stan Tatkin is an expert on human behavior, and particularly the unique dynamics found in couples relationships. He’s the creator of PACT: the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy, and the author of six bestselling books, including Wired for Love and We Do. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:45: The importance of attachment. 5:30: What happens when children are neglected? 9:00: Finding safety in our relationships. 13:30: How to build safety through physical cues. 19:10: Apology, and building a culture in our relationships. 23:00: Finding common principles. 31:00: Dealbreakers, and entering relationships intentionally. 37:00: Fairness in our relationships. 45:30: Being and staying interested. 49:15: Trusting your partner’s experience. 54:50: The most important characteristics in a life partner. 57:00: What’s the most important thing you do each day for your own well-being? 58:30: A message to your younger self. 1:00:00: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We generally focus on topics related to mental health, but there's nothing like a pandemic to throw the importance of our physical health into sharp relief! Today Forrest is joined by Dr. Tim Spector to explore the importance of personalizing your nutrition, how our diet can help fight COVID, and why most everything we've been told about food is wrong. About Our Guest: Dr. Tim Spector is professor of genetic epidemiology and Director of the TwinsUK Registry at Kings College, London. He’s also one of the leaders of the COVID Symptom Study, and one of the founders of the health science company Zoe . He's the author of The Diet Myth, and his most recent book is Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told about Food is Wrong. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:05: What is the microbiome? 4:10: How diet interacts with your unique microbiome. 6:45: The PREDICT 1 study, and the limited impact of genetics. 9:30: Why personalized nutrition is so important. 12:00: The meaningless nature of calorie counts. 17:00: Running experiments with your nutrition. 22:30: Microbes and mood. 24:40: Intermittent fasting. 30:15: The role of processed food. 35:15: The microbiome and COVID. 41:00: Polyphenols. 43:00: Vitamins and COVID. 48:50: Recap If you're interested in any of Zoe's offerings, Tim offered the discount code BEINGWELL35 for our listeners. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are times in our lives when we recognize that something’s got to change. Today Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore a big question: What goes into making who we are, and how can we give ourselves the freedom to grow and change over time? Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts during this FREE three-day online event to explore our life after COVID. Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 2:00: What does “self-concept” mean? 6:00: Where does self-concept come from? 11:30: Different ways to understand childhood development. 17:00: Why is it so hard for people to change? 26:00: Social forces that prevent us from changing. 33:00: Three case studies of personal change. 34:00: Who owns the problem? 38:30: Do you really want it? 44:30: We can change if we’re willing to take risks. 52:00: Trusting yourself, and feeling validated. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tara Brach joins Rick and Forrest to explore how we can find more compassion and acceptance while maintaining our motivation to change ourselves, and our world, in positive ways. About Our Guest: Tara is the founder and guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C., and has a doctorate in clinical psychology. She is the author of three books: Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, and most recently Radical Compassion, and leads one of the largest mental-health and Buddhism-focused podcasts in the world. Key Topics: 2:00: Why “radical?” What does it mean to have “radical compassion?” 6:30: Practical applications of “no self.” 9:00: Maintaining “less self” while also being motivated to change. 10:30: How can we “accept ourselves” while also wanting to change in positive ways? 12:30: What gets in the way of compassion and self-acceptance. 17:15: The “trance” that keeps us away from compassion. 20:00: The RAIN meditation. 27:15: Making it easier to nurture ourselves. 32:15: “After the rain.” 34:00: Can, and should, we find acceptance and compassion for people we disagree with? 41:45: Coming to terms with our participation in systems of oppression. 48:50: Hope during challenging times. 52:30: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With so much challenging stuff going on in the world around us these days, it's natural to ask a simple question: how much control do we have over how happy we are? On this episode of "10 Good Minutes," Forrest explores the research behind happiness, reveals the most important factors, and gives some practical advice for maximizing sustainable well-being. If you'd like to watch this episode rather than listen to it, Forrest has a new YouTube channel! Subscribe to the channel, and watch the video over there. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Research: Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change Our podcast episode with Dr. Lyubomirsky. Twin studies find that identical twins raised in different households are more similar in their level of happiness than fraternal twins raised in the same household. Emotional well-being decouples from income at ~$75,000/year. BRAND NEW research suggests that "experienced well-being" continues to rise as income increases above $75,000/year. Circumstantial factors that most consistently predict high subjective well being. Connect with the show: Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we’re presented with challenging circumstances it’s natural for us to cope with them through a wide variety of behaviors. Today Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore one of the most common coping mechanisms: dissociation. This includes what it is, the function it serves, the experiences that can lead to dissociation, and what we can do about it. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:00: What is dissociation? 9:35: “Fragmentation and separation.” 11:45: Recovered and implanted memory. 17:45: Why do people dissociate? 22:10: Common symptoms of dissociation. 29:30: The risks of over-pathologizing. 31:40: Coming into your own life. 36:20: Growing self-worth as an antidote for dissociation. 40:15: Challenges of mindfulness for dissociation. 43:00: Focusing on an aspect of experience. 46:30: Enjoyment as a grounding experience. 48:55: “Our nature is to be associated.” 51:30: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this timely episode, Dr. Bruce Perry joins the podcast to explore how we can limit the long-term impact of stressful events, and heal from past traumatic experiences. About Our Guest: Dr. Bruce Perry is one of the world’s leading experts on childhood trauma, and his clinical research and practice focuses on examining the long-term effects of trauma in children, adolescents, and adults. He is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, and the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog. Life After COVID Summit: Join Dr. Rick Hanson, Forrest Hanson, and a roster of world-class experts including Dr. Perry during this FREE three-day online event to explore our "new normal." Click here to learn more about the Summit and register now. Key Topics: 1:15: Pandemic fatigue. 4:45: Experiencing acute stressors alongside chronic stress. 7:20: Practices to help yourself de-stress. 11:30: The impact of stress on our ability to regulate ourselves. 13:30: How to limit the long-term impact of stressful events. 18:40: How we can explore traumatic material without re-traumatizing ourselves. 23:30: Avoiding helplessness, and experiencing control and agency. 25:30: Dissociation as a coping response. 31:00: Disruptions of attunement. 36:00: Caregiver fatigue, and caring for ourselves. 41:30: The pandemic’s impact on people who have been previously traumatized. 44:00: A wish for the future. 46:00: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re somehow both more efficient than ever before, and, at the same time, busier than ever before. All of the many ways that we’ve found to optimize our performance has led to much more "doing," and not nearly as much "being." Today Rick and Forrest explore how we can get more in touch with being, and how by focusing more on "being" we might even be able to "do" more than ever before. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Ideas: 1:10: Rick making dad jokes. 2:00: The difference between “doing” and “being.” 6:20: Getting wrapped up in doing that crowds out “being.” 10:15: Craving in the brain. 15:05: How to grow what we want to be. 21:40: Allowing “being” to create friction-less “doing.” 25:45: How to get in touch with the feeling of “being.” 31:50: Internal resistance to being. 35:30: Who are you when you’re not scared? 41:15: Recap Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What allows people to push on even during the darkest times? And how can we use that answer to influence our behavior, or the behavior of other people? Today Rick and Forrest are joined by Dr. Tali Sharot to explore the optimism bias, how optimism can exist alongside negativity, and how we can influence others more effectively. About our Guest: Dr. Sharot is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, and the director of the Affective Brain Lab. She’s also the author of a number of wonderful books, including The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, and The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Ideas: 1:30: What is the optimism bias, and how does it appear in people’s lives? 3:30: Where does the optimism bias come from? Did we evolve it? 8:45: How can someone cultivate an attitude of optimism? 13:00: Bringing good things into our awareness. 16:30: The negativity bias vs. the optimism bias. 19:30: Negativity, positivity, and memory. 23:00: The impact of surprise on our memory. 27:30: What helps us change our behavior and form new habits? 30:00: Changing behavior and beliefs on a national scale. 34:30: What really influences people's behavior? 40:00: Is human nature more positive or more negative? 44:00: Recap From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you want to achieve in 2021? In this short episode, Dr. Rick Hanson walks you through a guided practice focused on helping you achieve your goals. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have something we want to do "someday," but for most of us "someday" just never seems to come around. Here's how to make 2021 the year you finally put all the pieces together, and achieve the goals you've set for yourself. Key Topics: 4:00: What leads to change that lasts? 5:40: Do you really WANT to change? 9:00: How to change your self-concept. 14:00: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” 16:00: Small changes that lead to big ones. 20:00: Appreciating the finite nature of life. 22:30: “What do you want to give as a gift to the person you will be tomorrow?” 25:30: What makes for a good resolution? 29:00: Using Forrest as a guinea pig: setting good goals and maximizing your resolutions. 33:00: Picking very clear commitments, and making things simple. 34:30: Thinking about how it would feel at the end of 2021 if you accomplished what you set out to do. 41:00: Finding consistent effort. 45:00: Summarizing the key questions. 48:00: Recap. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have things that frighten us. But some fears can become so core to who we are that we start to organize our lives around not having to experience them. In this not-to-be-missed episode, Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore how we can identify and face our "dreaded experiences," which exert a quiet power over our lives. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:40: What is a “dreaded experience?” 6:40: The three step process of a dreaded experience. 9:10: The critical distinction between “event” and “experience.” 12:20: Forrest’s dreaded experiences. 16:30: Normal avoidance vs. making yourself small. 18:15: Where do dreaded experiences come from? 24:10: Starting to risk the dreaded experience. 29:00: Ways to start safely facing fears. 38:00: Identifying your dreaded experience. 41:20: Being seen as your whole self. 46:30: Our journey of growth. 49:30: Recap From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does talking to a therapist have such a huge impact on people's lives? On the first edition of "10 Good Minutes," Forrest Hanson dives into the research behind the key factor in any therapeutic relationship. If you enjoy this episode, you'll love our Patreon account! Studies: Psychotherapy is as effective for the treatment of depression as medication. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is particularly effective when it comes to treating depression and anxiety disorders. Only a few of the studies demonstrating therapy’s effectiveness provide evidence without bias, and there’s a lot of publication bias. Psychotherapy changes how clients use their brains in meaningful ways. Therapeutic outcome doesn’t seem to be affected by how experienced the therapist is. The strength of the alliance established between therapist and client is a key factor. Empathy appears to be a key factor in the formation of a strong alliance and therapeutic outcomes more generally. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Want fresh, delicious, simple dinners delivered right to your doorstep? Check out HelloFresh, America’s #1 meal kit, and use code beingwell90 to get $90 off including free shipping! Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does power corrupt? Where does compassion come from? And do positive or negative emotions serve as the basis for our true nature? Today we're exploring these questions with Dr. Dacher Keltner, a world-class expert on emotion, power, and morality. About Our Guest: Dr. Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. He’s also the founder and co-director of the Greater Good Science Center. Dr. Keltner is also the author of three books: Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct, and most recently, The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence. Here's the referenced research from Dacher on emotion and facial expression. Key Topics: 2:15: What is an emotion, and how many emotions are there? 7:45: The complex weave of positive emotions. 11:30: Why did we evolve positive emotions? 15:00: The influence of compassion. 20:45: Power dynamics, and in-groups vs. out-groups. 25:30: How and why power corrupts. 33:30: Are we only nice to other people because we have to be? 38:45: Finding awe in mystery. 44:00: Committing to daily practice. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a long, strange, challenging year. As we get toward the end of it, and look forward to 2021, it feels appropriate to start by taking a look back and seeing what, if anything, we can learn from the year that’s gone by. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:30: The importance of internal resources. 4:15: "It can happen to us too." 6:00: Putting more effort into what’s local. 8:30: Interdependence and interconnection. 12:30: Appreciating the pains that aren’t happening. 17:30: Seeing clearly and allowing yourself to take appropriate action. 22:30: Your compassion is not dependent. 25:45: Avoiding playing into grievance theater. 30:40: Nonattachment. 33:00: Focusing on what really matters, and being fed up. 38:45: Lessons from our listeners. 43:30: What’s still here? From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're all subject to forms of bias and prejudice. On this episode, Forrest and Rick are joined by Dr. Jack Glaser, an expert on intergroup bias and racial prejudice, to explore what we can do to overcome our innate tendencies. About the Guest: Dr. Jack Glaser is a Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies intergroup biases and the unconscious operation of stereotypes and prejudice, and is particularly interested in racial profiling. Jack is also the author of Suspect Race: Causes & Consequences of Racial Profiling, and is on the board of the Center for Policing Equity. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:15: Jack’s history, what drew him to the study of bias. 4:50: What is implicit bias? 10:30: What’s the purpose of bias, where does it come from, and what consequences does it create? 18:15: How individual biases scale up to groups and systems. 23:10: The myth of meritocracy. 25:30: Assimilation, accommodation, and bias. 27:25: Errors of attribution. 30:00: The lens we view our world through, and “alternative facts.” 36:00: Can we become less biased? 42:45: Can we deliberately override our biases through effort? 48:45: Fighting bias is an ongoing process. 50:30: Bias under pressure, and what we can do. 1:01:10: “The brain does crazy stuff sometimes.” 1:03:00: Recap From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's short episode, Dr. Rick Hanson leads a guided meditation aimed at experiencing gratitude and finding the small pleasures in life. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Forrest's Website Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holidays are coming up, and for many people they’re likely to be very different this year from usual. Experiencing sadness or disappointment around the holidays is normal even among the best circumstances, and we're far from those. On this episode, Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore how to work with this year's natural feelings of sadness and disappointment. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 4:50: A therapy session focused on sadness with Rick. 9:30: Associations between current sad experiences and our past material. 11:45: A process for experiencing and working with sadness. 17:45: Imagery to aid experiencing. 19:00: Helping sadness soften and release. 24:30: Non-judgement 28:40: Identifying underlying beliefs. 29:40: Letting in good experiences alongside challenging ones. 33:10: Finding the root experience, and communicating our needs. 37:00: Sadness vs. depression. 41:30: Dealing with disappointment. 45:00: Finding agency in a moment of disappointment. 48:10: “Strong hopes, weak expectations.” 50:20: Recap. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Forrest's Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learning is the single most important skill: if you know how to learn, you can get good at anything else. Today we're joined by Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, to explore the 20 hour rule, the problems with 10,000 hours, cognitive biases, and how you can learn anything more quickly. About our Guest: Josh is the author of three bestselling books: The Personal MBA, The First 20 Hours, and How to Fight a Hydra. The Personal MBA is a #1 international bestseller, and he's also responsible for one of my favorite TED talks which has more than 22 million views - The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:15: Why focus on business and learning? 5:30: 20 hours vs. 10,000 hours. 9:00: The power law of practice. 11:30: Precommitment, and making it through 20 hours. 15:00: The importance of deliberate practice. 17:00: Fast feedback loops. 19:45: Breaking big tasks into small tasks. 26:40: Responses to threat, and how our psychological state impacts learning. 32:30: Cognitive biases and social proof. 38:40: “Commitment and consistency” bias. 46:00: Recap. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you live in the United States – and probably for many people who don’t – it’s been a bit of a stressful week. Today Dr. Hanson and Forrest talk about relaxing anxiety, weathering the storm, and taking in the year as a whole. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:30: Where do we want to allocate our attention? 5:00: Rational, appropriate stress and anxiety. 8:00: The cost of ‘negative’ emotions. 12:30: Practices of calming stress. 14:45: Giving yourself grace, and accepting some amount of stress. 17:40: Deal with the bad, turn toward the good, take in the good. 22:15: Seeing what is true. 26:45: Being happy when others are not. 36:40: A practice for calming and centering. 44:45: Learning from the hard parts of practice. If you'd like to learn more about Jaimal Yogis, here's his website. Overcome Anxiety: Let go of anxiety and grow a greater sense of calm strength with Rick's Dealing with Anxiety program, which offers 5 powerful practices for managing stress and worries. Save 10% with coupon code BEINGWELL. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second part of our 10 most essential lessons for a great life, we explore accepting difference, open heartedness, healthy skepticism, embracing life, and impermanence. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:30: Different people are different. 10:00: Open your heart. 13:45: Open heartedness as a ‘field.’ 19:20: Cultivate a stance of healthy skepticism. 27:00: Honor the gift of your life. 33:00: All things end. 37:00: The feeling of one minute. Overcome Anxiety: Let go of anxiety and grow a greater sense of calm strength with Rick's Dealing with Anxiety program, which offers 5 powerful practices for managing stress and worries. Save 10% with coupon code BEINGWELL. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the most essential lessons we've ever learned? Today we're exploring the first half of our 10 most important practices, skills, techniques, and reflections for the long road of life. Today we cover getting on your own side, the impact of childhood, widening your view, slowing down, and taking in the good. A quick summary of Rick's approach to taking in the good. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:30: Introduction: The view from the porch. 4:10: Get on your own side. 7:10: Respect the impact of childhood experiences. 13:20: Widen your view. 21:10: Grow the space between stimulus and response. 30:00: Take in the good. 44:00: Recap and ending. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About the Episode: Studies show that Americans feel less connected and more divided than ever before. Celeste Headlee, an award winning journalist, joins us to explore how we can navigate the many hard conversations that are happening these days. About our Guest: In her 20-year career in public radio, Celeste appeared on NPR, PRI, CNN, and the BBC. She has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought for Georgia Public Broadcasting, and anchored shows including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition at NPR. Celeste is also the author of two wonderful books: We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter and Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. Here's a summary of George Lakoff's framing theory that was mentioned during our conversation. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:30: “Pandemic okay.” 4:45: Being a good talker vs. being a good conversationalist. 7:15: Why intelligent people can struggle to be good conversationalists. 11:30: Working with the inevitable presence of bias. 14:15: Facts, feelings, and frame theory. 18:00: Metacognition and confirmation bias. 22:45: Do facts change people’s opinions? 24:45: Making it easy for people to change their mind. 31:00: Maintaining our mental health inside hard conversations. 35:45: “Bothsides-ism” 40:00: How to engage when someone’s argument isn’t based on facts you agree with. 45:00: Doing less to do more. 50:00: The power of weak ties, and the negative impact of too much tech. 53:00: A message to your younger self. Overcome Anxiety: Let go of anxiety and grow a greater sense of calm strength with Rick's Dealing with Anxiety program, which offers 5 powerful practices for managing stress and worries. Save 10% with coupon code BEINGWELL. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s one thing to use some of the tools that we talk about on this podcast when things feel stable and are going “good enough.” It’s another to apply them when the world feels threatening. Today we’re learning how to have more 'equanimity,' which is what allows us to maintain our composure, presence of mind, and perhaps even wellbeing under challenging circumstances. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:30: How do we define equanimity? 4:00: Psychological experience of equanimity. 4:30: Hedonic tone. 8:00: Brain science behind equanimity. 11:30: Liking and wanting. 14:30: Equanimity in secular Buddhism. 15:30: Equanimity, privilege, and gaslighting. 22:00: Dealing with unfairness. 26:30: Responding to painful experiences in the moment. 30:30: The ‘four foundations’ of equanimity. 35:30: Manage aversion. 37:30: Grow the good. 39:15: Find what endures. Overcome Anxiety: Let go of anxiety and grow a greater sense of calm strength with Rick's Dealing with Anxiety program, which offers 5 powerful practices for managing stress and worries. Save 10% with coupon code BEINGWELL. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we be more productive, and improve our ability to focus on the things we really care about, without it becoming a source of stress? Chris Bailey, who TED described as "possibly the most productive person you could ever meet," joins us to explore how to get your brain to focus. About our Guest: Chris is the bestselling author of Hyperfocus and The Productivity Project, and his website A Life of Productivity has a small army of devoted readers. Chris' wonderful TED talk, How to Get Your Brain to Focus, touches on many of the topics we explore in this episode. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 3:15: What does it mean to be productive? 5:00: A year of productivity. 7:00: What is the goal of productivity? 10:45: Defining success, and the Rule of Threes. 15:30: Our negative attitudes toward productivity. 18:30: Defining and finding intentionality. 22:40: Productivity benefits of meditation. 31:20: Finding fulfillment and working calmly. 36:15: Maintaining focus and productivity during challenging times. 41:30: The TV and your attention. 49:00: How to build our capacity for focus. Overcome Anxiety: Let go of anxiety and grow a greater sense of calm strength with Rick's Dealing with Anxiety program, which offers 5 powerful practices for managing stress and worries. Save 10% with coupon code BEINGWELL. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Want fresh, delicious, simple dinners delivered right to your doorstep? Check out HelloFresh, America’s #1 meal kit, and use code beingwell90 to get $90 off including free shipping! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices