Being Well With Dr. Rick Hanson

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 conversation

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 wi

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 calm

How have children experienced this year's challenges, and how can we get better at talking with them about race and racism? Today we’re focusing on trauma, resilience, and effective coping, and particularly on the unique challenges experienced by young people and their parents. About our Guest: Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith is a child clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma and issues of race. She is a senior fellow of Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and is both a professor and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wright Institute.  Here's Allison's wonderful article on parenting during overwhelming times that I referenced during our conversation. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:25: Honoring the small challenges alongside the big ones.  5:30: What challenges are children facing this year? 7:30: How are children processing our challenges differently from adults? 9:50: Helping children manage this tim

How can we maintain contentment, calm, or inner peace, while still aiming high, pursuing good goals, and experiencing natural frustration and anger? And is contentment even a good goal when there's so much injustice out in the world? Rick's Course: If you'd like to learn how to change your brain for the better, check out Rick's Positive Neuroplasticity Training. It's a six-week online course that will teach you how to beat your brain's negativity bias, and have more confidence, compassion, and inner peace. Use coupon code BEWELL50 at checkout for $50 off the purchase price. Key Topics: 1:45: Why contentment matters. 4:30: Can we be content when things are hard? 6:00: Being skeptical of the “wanting mind.” 8:30: How can we return to contentment when moved from it? 12:10: What’s wrong with being driven? Does contentment make us lazy? 16:20: Self-actualization and taking action from a place of fullness. 19:00: Staying content while performing basic tasks. 21:50: Contentment vs. complacency.  25:20: Content while

How can we find happiness even when times are challenging? Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar joins us to explore authentic happiness, accepting difficult emotions, and giving yourself permission to be human.  About our Guest: Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is the bestselling author of six books, founder of the Happiness Studies Academy, and former professor of two of the largest courses in Harvard’s history. Learn more about his Certificate in Happiness Studies program here. Use the code HAPPY for a 10% discount.  Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 2:45: Unhappiness in spite of success. 4:15: How do you define happiness? 5:50: Combining self-actualization with in-the-moment happiness.  8:45: Accepting our painful emotions.  10:10: Giving ourselves permission to be human. 19:10: What did students learn in Tal’s courses that they didn’t expect?  22:30: How to make hard personal choices.  28:00: Authenticity and comparison.  30:15: Does pursuing happiness actually

Today, we're exploring the single most important skill we will ever teach on this podcast: How to change the brain in lasting ways. The dirty secret of the personal growth industry, and self-help and psychology more broadly, is that most of what we learn doesn't stick. So, what can we do to achieve the ‘holy grail’ of personal growth – lasting change in our hearts, minds, and behaviors?  Rick's Course: If you'd like to learn more about how to change your brain for the better, check out Rick's Positive Neuroplasticity Training. It's a six-week online course that will teach you how to beat your brain's negativity bias, and have more confidence, compassion, and inner peace. Use coupon code BEWELL50 at checkout for $50 off the purchase price!  Key Topics: 3:30: What is neuroplasticity? 8:00: The power of deliberate practice.  9:30: Meditation and the brain.  12:45: Why is it so hard to change? The negativity bias.  19:45: Human exceptionalism and energy conservation.  23:00: An experiential example.  30:30: How t

What are the consequences of growing up inside an abusive family, and what can we do as adults to heal old wounds? Today we're joined by Pete Walker, a practicing therapist and expert in Complex PTSD. About Our Guest: Pete is a licensed psychotherapist practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area, who specializes in helping adults who were traumatized in childhood. He’s the author of three books, including Complex PTSD : From Surviving To Thriving. It’s a practical, user-friendly self-help guide to recovering from the lingering effects of childhood trauma, and to achieving a rich and fulfilling life as an adult. Pete has a variety of resources on his website, including his 13 Steps of Emotional Flashback Management.  Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Timestamps: 3:00: What distinguishes CPTSD from PTSD? 5:55: CPTSD as “developmental trauma disorder” 8:55: Presence of the bad vs. absence of the good.  11:40: The importance of empathy.  13:35: “They’r

What makes for a great team – whether personal or professional – and how can organizations and individuals create a more psychologically healthy environment?  Many of us have been fortunate enough to be on a really great team…and most all of us have probably been on a bad one. So, what makes for a great team – whether personal or professional – and is it as simple as just being good at your job, or is there more to it than that? It turns out one of the key factors is called psychological safety, which we'll be learning about today with the help of a world-class expert. About our Guest: Dr. Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, where she studies teaming, psychological safety, and organizational learning. She’s the author of six books, including her most recent book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth.  Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podca

Sharon Salzberg, one of the most prominent teachers of mindfulness in the West, joins us to discuss how we can create real change in our hearts, minds, and lives.  About our Guest: Sharon Salzberg is a central figure in the field of meditation, a world-renowned teacher and NY Times bestselling author. Her 11th book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, comes out September 1st. She's also the host of the fantastic Metta Hour podcast.  New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!  Key Topics: 2:45: Sharon’s experience over the last few months. 4:30: Feeling the breath. 6:20: Sitting with painful feelings.  7:15: Turning toward the good, and metta. 10:15: “Mindfulness to change the world.” 13:30: Key skills from Real Change.  18:00: Dealing with burnout and overwhelm.  24:30: Grief. 28:00: Effective compassion vs. empathic overwhelm. 33:00: Generosity, and giving to fill

In part two of our conversation, we explore some of the key psychological skills that lead to a truly great relationship informed by 35 years of couples counseling experience.  The Relationships Workshop: Join Rick for a live, online relationship workshop that will teach you how to have more fulfilling, effective, and joyful relationships than ever before. Follow the link to learn more, and podcast listeners can enter code BEWELL50 at checkout for $50 off the purchase price!  Key Skills: 3:00: Give your full attention.  6:30: Tune into your body.  7:20: Cultivate interest.  11:00: How can we know if we’re actually empathic? 13:00: Your attention is yours.  16:00: Accepting some level of discomfort.  17:45: Getting comfortable with people wanting things from you.  21:00: Three stories of relating. 22:30: Fulfilling relationship tasks.  24:30: Changing our relationship to criticism.  30:30: Chronic giving, and setting firm boundaries.  37:30: Cultivating a stronger sense of self.  44:30: Talk about what matters

We all want great relationships - ones that are fulfilling, loving, stable, and fun. This is the first of two episodes focused on becoming a 'great relater.' Today Dr. Hanson and Forrest focus on understanding our individual attachment style, and how we can work through our personal material.  The Relationships Workshop: Join Rick for his online relationship workshop that will teach you how to have more fulfilling, effective, and joyful relationships than ever before. Follow the link to learn more, and podcast listeners can enter code BEWELL50 at checkout for $50 off the purchase price!  Key Topics: 0:25: Staying content while  striving for achievement.  4:00: Information on the relationship workshop.  6:20: Who helps you feel enlarged?  7:55: Rick makes fun of Forrest…and managing different levels of standard.  9:00: Building a good relator. 10:15: Attachment theory 17:00: Getting less attached to our attachment style.  19:15: Insecure attachment styles.  23:00: What issues does anxious attachment create? 26

In the second episode related to the pitfalls of self-help, we explore how individuals and environments can manipulate others by making them feel like something is wrong with them.  This is a self-help podcast. And there's a lot to like about self-help! But it has it's issues as well. Today we're exploring our exploration of those issues by focusing on painful forms of comparison and the natural vs. supernatural frame. Key Topics: 2:45: Being goal directed vs. self-acceptance.  6:50: Exploitative practices and the fragile psyche.  10:20: Relating to “problems” in healthy ways.  14:20: Comparison and creating a sense of lack.  16:30: Identifying good teachers and communities. 21:30: Comparison. 24:00: Separating means and ends.  26:00: How to deal with comparison.  30:30: How much do we actually control? 33:00: The Secret, and the natural vs. supernatural frames.  39:15: Cheapening the truly transcendent.  Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. From D

Dr. Stephen Porges joins Rick and Forrest to explore his Polyvagal Theory, which explains how we can use the systems of the body to completely change our relationship with stress.  About Our Guest: Dr. Stephen Porges is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological states in our psychological experiences. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Topics: 1:45: Summary of Polyvagal Theory. 6:00: Evolutionary neuro-biology: the three systems of the body. 15:15: The adaptive nature of the three systems. 19:45: Shutdown, trauma, and constructing a narrative.  23:00: Challenges of COVID to the social engagement system 28:15: How to intervene in the body. 33:00: Being stuck with problematic people. 35:30: Using the br

Do self-help environments force us into inauthentic happiness? And how can we move away from the false front, and into more authentic expression? This is the first of a series of episodes dedicated to some of the self-help community's pitfalls.  This is a self-help podcast. And there's a lot to like about self-help! But it has it's issues as well. Today we're exploring one of them: toxic positivity and forced happiness. New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!  Key Topics: 3:00: Rick’s personal experience inside the personal development world.  8:00: Things that tend to limit abuses of power.  10:00: The democratization of self-help, and related pitfalls.  18:00: Act, scared self, and true being.  21:00: Where does toxic positivity appear? 26:00: The importance of authenticity. 29:30: The false front.  32:30: Encouraging other people to be fully authentic.  Support the Podcast: We're n

We're halfway through a very strange year, and it's a good time to take stock, check in with ourselves, and establish some new commitments – even if they’re as simple as being kind to ourselves.  One way we can reclaim our experience of agency is by finding where we do still have influence over our outcomes. And that’s what we’ll be exploring today: how to start anew under the circumstances we find ourselves in.  New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!  Key Topics: 3:45: Hope and disappointment.  7:30: Reckoning, repentance, and renewal.  11:00: Controlling what you can.  14:00: Coping with self-criticism and shame.  18:30: How to approach the future.  20:45: Building key habits.  24:00: Changing our identity in order to change our behavior.  26:30: Forrest's changing identity - moving into empathy.  29:30: Using key phrases.  31:00: Rick's changing identity - feeling like a good pers

Is it possible to "do no harm," and should we even try? Dr. Hanson and Forrest explore what it means to do no harm, and the inner resources that allow us to do as little as possible. New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!  Key Topics: 1:10: Reckoning and repenting in this moment.  4:45: What does it mean to truly do no harm? 6:45: How does doing no harm help us “be well?” 11:30: Reasons to take a collective perspective.  16:15: Grappling with the reality of causing harm.  19:00: The importance of repair. 22:30: Extending repair to yourself.  29:30: Are there necessary harms? 33:00: Resources that allow us to do less harm.  40:30: What happens when we stop being a danger to others? Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. From Dr. Hanson: Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Ric

What can we do to combat, unlearn, and ultimately unburden ourselves from the influence of systemic structures of racism - both out in the world and inside of ourselves? About Our Guest: Erin is the CEO, principal coach, and founder of Community Equity Partners, and the senior advisor at the Equity Lab. Erin works with educational, non-profit, government, and tech organizations that are committed to creating equitable and inclusive practices.  Key Topics: 1:10: Finding hope and awakening in the moment. 6:30: "Unburdening" ourselves.  9:15: Overt vs. covert structures and systems of racism.  16:15: Key moments that lead to waking to systemic racism.   23:30: A message to your younger self.  Sponsors: Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price! From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-lo

What is intergenerational trauma, how does it influence our lives today, and what can we do to heal and persevere when things get tough? The events of the past few weeks have cast the importance of healing the wounds of the past into stark relief. Today we’re exploring how the traumatic past, including that handed down through the generations, can influence our lives today.  About Our Guest: Dr. Sherri Taylor is an assistant professor of somatic psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and also teaches in the clinical psychology doctoral program at The Wright Institute.  Sponsor Message: Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price! 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

Racism and racist structures place an enormous mental health burden on the people they persecute. Dr. Alfiee joins me to discuss the mental health consequences of institutional racism, unique challenges faced by marginalized youth, disparities in access to mental health services, and the importance of "naming and claiming."  About Our Guest: Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble is a licensed psychologist who spent 20 years in academic medicine. She's the lead author of The Handbook of Mental Health in African American Youth, the host of the podcast "Couched in Color with Dr. Alfiee," and the founder of the mental health nonprofit the AAKOMA Project. To join me in donating to the AAKOMA Project, follow this link. CNN Townhall with Dr. Alfiee. Key Topics: 3:30: The impact of institutional racism on mental health. 7:00: Forms of exposure to racism. 9:45: Allostatic load, weathering, and secondary traumatic stress. 15:30: Ways to manage traumatic stress. 19:45: Confusing stress and anxiety. 22:30: The importance of accurate