Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson - Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

Latest Episodes:

Radical Compassion with Tara Brach Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do We Control Our Happiness? Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

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.

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Deal with Dissociation Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

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:

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Cope During a Pandemic with Dr. Bruce Perry Jan 18, 2021

Show notes

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:

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being More, Doing Less Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

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:

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Optimism and Influence with Dr. Tali Sharot Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

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

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guided Practice: Achieving Your New Year's Resolutions Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

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.

Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Connect with the show:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Make 2021 Your Best Year Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

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:

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facing Your Dreaded Experience Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

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

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Does Therapy Work? Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

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:

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices