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Articles by Rick Hanson

Browse published articles attributed to Rick Hanson, with full-archive search.

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By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Is There Enough?

One slice of the pie of life feels relaxed and contented. And then there is that other slice, in which we feel driven and stressed. Trying to get pleasures, avoid pains, pile up accomplishments and recognitions, be loved by more people. Lose more weight, try to fill the hole in the heart. Slake the thirst, satisfy the hunger. Strive, strain, press. This other slice is the conventional strategy for happiness. We pursue it for four reasons.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,422 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are We Really So Separate?

Your brain evolved in three stages (to simplify a complex process): - Reptile - Brainstem, focused on AVOIDING harm - Mammal - Limbic system, focused on APPROACHING rewards - Primate - Cortex, focused on ATTACHING to "us"

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,369 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Accept Difficulity

Sometimes things are difficult. Your legs are tired and you still have to stay on your feet another hour at work. You love a child who's finding her independence through emotional distance from you. A long-term relationship could be losing its spark. It's finals week in college. You're trying to start a business and it's struggling. You've got a chronic health problem or a disability. Sometimes people don't appreciate your work. You're being discriminated against or otherwise treated unjustly. The body ages, sags, and grows weary.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,362 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are We There Yet?

We spend so much of our time trying to get somewhere. Part of this comes from our biological nature. To survive, animals - including us - have to be goal-directed, leaning into the future. It's certainly healthy to pursue wholesome aims, like paying the rent on time, raising children well, healing old pain, or improving education.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,349 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Busy, Busy?

This practice is definitely a case of teaching what you need to learn: I've been working through a big bucket of tasks lately with little chance to rest. (I console myself with knowing that the bucket is emptying a lot faster than it's filling with new tasks.)

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,344 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Who Are You Resisting?

I admit it: whether close to home or far away, I wish some people were different. Depending on who they are, I wish they'd stop doing things like leaving cabinet doors open in our kitchen, sending me spam emails, or turning a blind eye to global warming. And I wish they'd start doing things like being friendlier toward me or spending more money on public education. Even if it doesn't affect me directly, for their own sake I do wish that various people I care about were more energetic, less anxious, or less self-critical.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,336 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Full to the Rim?

Once upon a time, a scholar came to visit a saint. After the scholar had been orating and propounding for a while, the saint proposed some tea. She slowly filled the scholar's cup: gradually the tea rose to the very brim and began spilling over onto the table, yet she kept pouring and pouring. The scholar burst out: "Stop! You can't add anything to something that's already full!" The saint set down the teapot and replied, "Exactly."

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,283 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Down Deep, Do You Feel At Ease?

I've always liked lizards. Growing up in the outskirts of Los Angeles, I played in the foothills near our home. Sometimes I'd catch a lizard and stroke its belly, so it would relax in my hands, seeming to feel at ease.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,274 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Thinking Too Much?

The traditional saying that's this week's practice has been sinking in for me lately. Thoughts have been swirling around like a sandstorm about work, things I've been reading, household tasks, finances, conce s about people, a yard that needs mowing, loose ends, projects, etc. etc. The other day I told my wife: "I'm thinking about too many things." Know the feeling?

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,270 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

What’s Your Deepest Nature?

Throughout history, people have wondered about human nature. Deep down, are we basically good or bad?

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,269 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You All Over The Place?

Gravity and entropy are powerful processes in the natural world. Gravity draws things together, toward a center, while entropy scatters them into disorder. In much the same way, in our own lives, some things bring us to center, while others disturb and disperse us. In terms of centering, be aware of your whole body as you take a long slow breath, or think of something you're glad about. You'll probably feel more at home in yourself, more drawn into your own core rather than feeling like Garfield the cartoon cat, spreadeagled up against a pane of glass.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,266 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Who are you, deep down?

For many of us, perhaps the hardest thing of all is to believe that "I am a good person." We can climb mountains, work hard, acquire many skills, act ethically - but truly feel that one is good deep down? Nah!

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,253 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Getting Rope Burn?

As a rock climber and a parent, I know some physical kinds of clinging are good - like to small holds or small hands!

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,251 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Holding Onto Feeling Wronged?

First, it has two distinct meanings: * To give up resentment or anger * To pardon an offense; to stop seeking punishment or recompense Here, I am going to focus on the first meaning, which is broad enough to include situations where you have not let someone off the hook morally or legally, but you still want to come to peace about whatever happened. Finding forgiveness can walk hand in hand with pursuing justice.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,251 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Exaggerating Sticks While Downplaying Carrots?

"Tell the truth." It's the foundation of science, ethics, and relationships. But we have a brain that evolved to tell lies to help us survive. As I've written before, over several hundred million years our ancestors:

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,240 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Feeling Unneeded Pain?

Painful experiences range from subtle discomfort to extreme anguish - and there is a place for them. Sorrow can open the heart, anger can highlight injustices, fear can alert you to real threats, and remorse can help you take the high road next time.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,238 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are some things getting better?

There are always things that are getting worse. For example, over the past year, you probably know someone who has become unemployed or ill or both, and there's more carbon in the atmosphere inexorably heating up the planet.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,237 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

What's Left Out?

When I look back on mistakes I've made - like dumping my anger on someone, making assumptions in haste, partying too much, losing my nerve, being afraid to speak from my heart - in all cases a part of me had taken over. You know what I mean. The parts of us that have a partial view, are driven by one aim, clamp down on other parts, really want to have a particular experience or to eat/drink/smoke a particular molecule, yammer away critically, or hold onto resentments toward others.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,237 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Could it crack?

The truth of anything is like a mosaic with many tiles, many parts. One part of the truth of things is that they are robust and enduring, whether it's El Capitan in Yosemite or the love of a child for her mother and father.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,234 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Can You Be With The Whole Of Your Psyche?

When you're young, the territory of the psyche is like a vast estate, with rolling hills, forests and plains, swamps and meadows. So many things can be experienced, expressed, wanted, and loved.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,233 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Breathing?

[If for you the breath is associated with trauma and discomfort, you probably shouldn't try this practice in its form below. But you might adapt it to something that is more nurturing for you, such as a saying or image.]

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,227 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Nurturing Your Body?

Why? [Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture.] The easiest and usually most effective way to replenish your body is through good nutrition.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,213 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Do you believe in love?

Take a breath right now, and notice how abundant the air is, full of life-giving oxygen offered freely by trees and other green growing things. You can't see air, but it's always available for you. Love is a lot like the air. It may be hard to see - but it's in you and all around you.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,208 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Turning a Negative Nelly Into a Positive Polly.

I’ve been talking about ways to Hardwire Your Happiness on the blog lately. So I thought it would be great to give you a sense of how it feels to take in the good. If you are someone who usually focuses on the negative experiences in the world you can turn that around over time by Taking in the Good. I’ll suggest some prompts here that you can use in your everyday life to start changing the negativity bias in our lives into Teflon for the positive. Take my prompt and go through the first three steps outlined below on your own. STEP 1. Have a positive experience

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,207 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Feeling Cross?

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture, a book written for mothers - focusing on typical parenting situations and gender differences that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers and fathers, and by parents in same sex relationships.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,204 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Can You Come Home To Yourself?

Meditation is to the mind what aerobic exercise is to the body. Like exercise, there are many good ways to do it and you can find the one that suits you best.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,200 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Can You Stay Open To The Pain Of Others?

Humans are an empathic, compassionate, and loving species, so it is natural to feel sad, worried, or fiery about the troubles and pain of other people. (And about those of cats and dogs and other animals, but I'll focus on human beings here.) Long ago, the Buddha spoke of the "first dart" of unavoidable physical pain. Given our hardwired nature as social beings, when those we care about are threatened or suffer, there is another kind of first dart: unavoidable emotional pain.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,195 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Working Together?

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture, a book written for mothers - focusing on typical parenting situations and gender differences that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers and fathers, and by parents in same sex relationships.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,189 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Feeling Unneeded Pain?

Painful experiences range from subtle discomfort to extreme anguish - and there is a place for them. Sorrow can open the heart, anger can highlight injustices, fear can alert you to real threats, and remorse can help you take the high road next time.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,188 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Do You Care?

Compassion is essentially the wish that beings not suffer - from subtle physical and emotional discomfort to agony and anguish - combined with feelings of sympathetic concern. You could have compassion for an individual (a friend in the hospital, a co-worker passed over for a promotion), groups of people (victims of crime, those displaced by a hurricane, refugee children), animals (your pet, livestock heading for the slaughterhouse), and yourself.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,188 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Doing Too Much?

You may have seen the old Mickey Mouse movie in which he is working at a conveyor belt in a factory. More and more widgets come at him that he has to handle, and he gets increasingly frazzled as he struggles to keep up.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,181 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Do You Bear a Grudge?

Goodwill and ill will are about intention: the will is for good or ill. These intentions are expressed through action and inaction, word and deed, and-especially-thoughts. How do you feel when you sense another person taking potshots at you in her mind? What does it feel like to take potshots of your own? Ill will plays a lot of mini-movies in the simulator, those little grumbling stories about other people. Remember: while the movie is running, your neurons are wiring together.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,181 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Self-Nurturing?

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture, a book written for mothers - focusing on typical parenting situations and gender differences that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers and fathers, and by parents in same sex relationships.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,175 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Stressed or Upset?

There I was recently, standing in the shower, my mind darting in different directions about projects in process, frazzled about little tasks backing up, uneasy about a tax record from 2010 we couldn't find, feeling irritated about being irritable, hurrying to get to work, body keyed up, internal sense of pressure.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,174 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Do You Got To?

We're pulled and prodded by financial pressures, commuter traffic, corporate policies, technology, advertising, politics, and the people we work with and live with. As well, internal forces yank the proverbial chains, including emotional reactions, compelling desires, "shoulds," and internalized "voices" from parents and other authority figures. Sometimes these pressures are necessary, like a flashing light on your car's dashboard telling you to get gas. Even a broken clock is right two times a day.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,168 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Feeling A Little Sour?

Tone matters.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,168 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Got Cheese?

As the nervous system evolved, your brain developed in three stages: - Reptile - Brainstem, focused on avoiding harm - Mammal - Limbic system, focused on approaching rewards - Primate - Cortex, focused on attaching to "us"

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,167 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Are You Taking Care Of Yourself?

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture, a book written for mothers - focusing on typical parenting situations and gender differences that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers and fathers, and by parents in same sex relationships.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,164 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

What makes you feel threatened?

On a previous blog at the Huffington Post, I used the example of Stephen Colbert's satirical "March to Keep Fear Alive" as a timely illustration of a larger point: humans evolved to be fearful - since that helped keep our ancestors alive - so we are very vulnerable to being frightened and even intimidated by threats, both real ones and "paper tigers." With his march, Colbert was obviously mocking those who play on fear, since we certainly don't need any new reminders to keep fear alive.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,156 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Did You Truly Choose This Path?

The human body has about 100 trillion cells (plus another ten quadrillion microscopic critters hitching a ride, most of them beneficial or harmless). Each one of your cells has aims - goals, in a sense - controlled by its DNA: cells conduct processes aimed at particular functions, like building bones or gobbling up harmful invaders. Cells also work together in larger and larger assemblies in pursuit of broader goals, such as the 100 billion neurons in your brain that run the nervous system, which as a whole is itself the master regulator of the body.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,154 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Juggling Bricks?

I had a lightbulb moment recently: I was feeling stressed about all the stuff I had to do (you probably know the feeling). After this went on for a while, I stepped back and kind of watched my mind, and could see that I was thinking of these various tasks as things, like big rocks that were rolling down a hill toward me and which needed to be handled, lifted, moved, fended off, or broken into pebbles.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,151 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Can You Take a Moment?

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture - a book written for mothers - focusing on typical situations that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers during the years before their children enter grade school. These are most commonly the years when mothers (biological and adoptive) experience the greatest demands of parenting.]

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,142 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Do You Accept The Gift?

Life gives to each one of us in so many ways. For starters, there’s the bounty of the senses – including chocolate chip cookies, jasmine, sunsets, wind singing through pine trees, and just getting your back scratched. What does life give you? Consider the kindness of friends and family, made more tangible during a holiday season, but of course continuing throughout the year.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,142 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Wishing well?

Lately, I've been wondering what would be on my personal list of top five practices (all tied for first place). You might ask yourself the same question, knowing that you can cluster related practices under a single umbrella, your list may differ from mine, and your practices may change over time. In these JOTs, so far I've written about two of my top practices: - Meditate - Mindfulness, training attention, contemplation, concentration, absorption, non-ordinary consciousness, liberating insight

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,139 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Is It Hard?

Sometimes things are difficult. Your legs are tired and you still have to stay on your feet another hour at work. You love a child who's finding her independence through emotional distance from you. A long-term relationship could be losing its spark. It's finals week in college. You're trying to start a business and it's struggling. You've got a chronic health problem or a disability. Sometimes people don't appreciate your work. You're being discriminated against or otherwise treated unjustly. The body ages, sags, and grows weary.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,136 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

When Is It “Time To Fold ‘em?”

Most people, me included, are holding onto at least one thing way past its expiration date.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,136 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Is Your Mind Wandering?

Moment to moment, the flows of thoughts and feelings, sensations and desires, and conscious and unconscious processes sculpt your nervous system like water gradually carving furrows and eventually gullies on a hillside. Your brain is continually changing its structure. The only question is: Is it for better or worse?

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,131 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

Speak From Your Heart.

One Christmas I hiked down into the Grand Canyon, whose bottom lay a vertical mile below the rim. Its walls were layered like a cake, and a foot-high stripe of red or gray rock indicated a million-plus years of erosion by the Colorado river. Think of water - so soft and gentle - gradually carving through the hardest stone to reveal great beauty. Sometimes what seems weakest is actually most powerful.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,128 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

What's To Like?

Liking feels good, plus it encourages us to approach and engage the world rather than withdraw from it. Your brain continually tracks whether something is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. In essence, is it a carrot, a stick, or safely ignored? Naturally, we like - we enjoy - what's pleasant, dislike what's unpleasant, and wish what's neutral would get pleasant pronto.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,128 views

By Rick HansonRecently published1 topic

When Are You?

There’s a profound and miraculous mystery right under our noses: this instant of now has no duration at all, yet somehow it contains all the causes from the past that are creating the future. Everything arising to become this moment vanishes beneath our feet as the next moment wells up. Since it’s always now, now is ete al.

Primary topic: Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

1,123 views

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