Practical Wisdom with Dr. Rick Hanson
Led by psychologist and best-selling author Dr. Rick Hanson, these talks provide a down-to-earth way to develop greater resilience, compassion, and happiness. More at rickhanson.com
Episodes
35 episodes
Using Mindfulness When You're Triggered
What should we do when we get triggered — especially by other people? In this talk, I discuss how mindfulness, focused attention, open awareness, and non-clinging help us manage reactivity, reduce rumination, and relate more wisely to ourselves...
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42:18
Five Ways to Feel Less Anxious
When fear and anxiety feel woven into the fabric of everyday life — from global crises to personal health worries — it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless, or stuck in a loop of dread.So this week I explored how to meet anxiety with min...
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40:55
How to Trust Yourself
When you’ve been triggered enough times, it’s easy to start living smaller: avoiding certain conversations, second-guessing yourself, and staying inside an invisible cage that looks like caution but feels like contraction. In this talk...
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27:34
Good Intentions
When you pause and look honestly at your life, it can be hard to know whether you’re living from what truly matters—or just reacting to the world around you. So this week, I explored the nature of good intentions, choice, and values...
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42:50
Three Ways to Steady Your Mind
It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the chaos of modern life, and it’s hard to steady your mind when you’re distracted, stressed, rattled, or ruminating about the things you feel threatened about or resentful of.In this talk, I explored 3...
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42:47
How “Not Knowing” Dissolves Suffering
When we cling to what we “know,” we often suffer — because we narrow our perspective and can get trapped in a cycle of expectations and disappointments. This prevents us from seeing the true nature of our ever-changing reality, as well as the m...
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42:46
Finding a Way Forward through Grief
Grief can feel endless — looping, heavy, and hard to escape — especially when losses can’t be fixed. As we will all experience loss at some point, I thought I’d explore how to grieve without getting stuck. If we can pull ourselves out of rumina...
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45:33
Wisdom for Aging, Illness, and Mortality
Aging, illness, loss, and mortality can quietly haunt us — especially when they touch the people we love or our own bodies. In this talk, I explore how to meet these realities with compassion and wisdom, and how to rest in something deeper than...
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38:57
Science Says You Need Social Support
When you feel alone with your worries, disconnected from others, or burdened by old patterns you can’t seem to shake, it’s easy to think you’re supposed to handle everything by yourself. But science — and deep wisdom traditions — show that feel...
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18:35
Thankfulness for What Protects and Nurtures You
When life feels shaky, fast-moving, or overwhelming, it’s natural to look for something steady to rest in. And for most people, there actually is a lot that protects and nurtures you every day — it’s just easy to take it for granted.So t...
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39:19
Releasing Anxiety with Three Kinds of Insights
Many of us live inside an “invisible cage” made from old fears, guardedness, and habits of staying small. Anxiety shows up not only in dread and worry, but in all the subtle ways we avoid risks, silence ourselves, or brace for what might
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48:16
Empathy and Engaged Compassion
A lot of us feel overwhelmed these days — flooded by other people’s emotions, worn down by the suffering around us, or confused about how to stay open-hearted without burning out. In this week’s teaching, I talk about the real nature of empathy...
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24:24
Letting Go of Old Baggage for a Better Future
Many of us carry old regrets — choices we made as children or adults that still weigh on the heart. We replay mistakes, wonder “what if,” and feel guilty long after we’ve done the hard work of learning.So this week, I explored how to hol...
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34:42
Appreciating Your Own Generosity and Good Intentions
So often we judge ourselves harshly — reacting quickly, closing off, or staying angry even when we “know better.” But beneath every reaction, even the messy or neurotic ones, is a good intention trying to protect or guide us. In this talk, I ex...
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24:25
Making Your Own Life
Sometimes we can get stuck in our habits or our personal struggles, and we trap ourselves in a cage of our own making. OR, we see others who are unable to move forward and feel inclined to help them, but find they resist efforts to untangle the...
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48:47
How to Prevent and Release Needless Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal human experience — we all feel anxious or afraid sometimes — but excessive or chronic anxiety can wear us down and be detrimental to our long-term happiness and health. Plus, many of us are anxious about th...
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46:38
How to Shift Your Thoughts and Feelings about Others
It’s easy to feel hurt, frustrated, or reactive when others let us down — or when we’re caught in old patterns of resentment and blame. But we actually have the power to influence how we see, feel about, and respond to other people. So this wee...
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38:34
Finding What’s [Reassuringly] Reliable in an Unreliable World
In these turbulent times, it’s natural to feel shaken. Together, we can return to what is truly reliable—our present moment, our good intentions, our capacity to love, the steadiness of awareness, and the enduring ground of nature and the unive...
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45:17
What to Do When You Get Triggered
In this talk, I explore what it’s like for us when we get triggered—those moments when, all of a sudden, something takes over and we’re flooded with a strong, often old, emotional reaction. We’ll walk through how to recognize we’re triggered, p...
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31:55
Just Do the Right Thing
So often we get caught in worry, strain, and the constant pressure to do more — to fix everything, to control what we simply can’t. In this talk, I explore how to let go of what’s beyond our power, how to do the “next right thing” even when lif...
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39:04
How to Face Challenges without Suffering
So often we struggle with life’s challenges—reacting with stress, craving, or grasping—only to find ourselves adding suffering on top of difficulty.In this talk, I explore the Buddha’s essential teachings on dukkha (suffering), ...
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36:30
Why We Suffer—and How to Stop Adding to the Pain
We can’t stop life from bringing pain—loss, disappointment, aging—but we can stop piling extra suffering on top of it. In this talk, I explore timeless Buddhist wisdom and practical psychology for meeting life’s “golden win...
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47:50
How to Feel Lived by Love
Feeling isolated, burdened, or unseen? In a world that often feels fragmented and exhausting—with anxiety, stress, and a subtle sense that you’re not quite enough—you may long to feel more supported, connected, and grounded.So this week ...
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42:44