Rick Hanson
PhD
Free
Rick Hanson : Bio Expert
Rick Hanson Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Neuroscience, Meditation
- Best Sellers
- Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
- Career Focus
- Author, Speaker, Meditation Teacher
- Affiliation
- Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley, Cognitive Neuroscience Society, APA, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence.
You can follow Rick on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rickhansonphd.
Free Articles & Book Excerpts
Free Audio & Video Samples
Rick Hanson Audio & Video Programs
Buddha's Brain on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/buddhasbrain
The Enlightened Brain Online Course
http://bit.ly/RickHansonAudio
Awaken Your Brain
http://bit.ly/RickHansonAudio
Stress-Proof Your Brain
http://bit.ly/RickHansonAudio
Meditations for Happiness
http://bit.ly/RickHansonAudio
Meditations to Change Your Brain
http://bit.ly/RickHansonAudio
Rick Hanson Books
Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572246952?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwrickhanson-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1572246952
Mother Nurture
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000620?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwrickhanson-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000620
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
What Happens When You Look At Someone?
When we encounter someone, usually the mind automatically slots the person into a category: man, woman, your friend Tom, the kid next door, etc. Watch this happen in your own mind as you meet or talk with a co-worker, salesclerk, or family member.
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Be Mind Full of Good
It's kind of amazing: right now, what you think and feel, enjoy and suffer, is changing your brain. The brain is the organ that learns, designed by evolution to be changed by our experiences: what scientists call experience-dependent neuroplasticity.
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Grow A Key Inner Strength
We all have issues - including demands upon us, stresses, illnesses, losses, vulnerabilities, and pain. (As Alan Watts put it: "Life is wiggly.") Of course, many of our issues - in the broad sense I'm using the word here - are related to important sources of fulfillment, such as starting a business or raising a family; still, there's some kind of challenge.
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Don't Rain On The Parade
Let's say you've had an interesting idea or moment of inspiration, or thought of a new project, or felt some enthusiasm bubbling up inside you. Your notions are not fully formed and you're not really committed to them yet, but they have promise and you like them and are trying them on for size. Then what?
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Change the Channel
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Welcome Joy
Positive emotions – such as feelings of gratitude, love, and confidence – strengthen the immune system, protect the heart against loss and trauma, build relationships, increase resilience, and promote success. Based on studies that have already been done, if a drug company could patent a happiness pill, we’d be seeing ads for it every night on TV.
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Article
Who’s Left Off Your Gift List?
Can you remember a time when you offered a gift to someone? Perhaps a holiday present, or a treat to a child, or taking time for a friend – or anything at all. How did this feel? Researchers have found that giving stimulates the same neural networks that light up when we feel physical pleasure, such eating a cookie or running warm water over cold hands. Long ago, the Buddha said that generosity makes one happy before, during, and after the giving.
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Article
Make Good Bargains
Life is full of tradeoffs between benefits and costs. Sometimes, the benefits are worth the costs. For example, the rewards of going for a run - getting out in fresh air, improving health, etc. - are, for me, at least, worth the costs of losing half an hour of work time while gaining a pair of achy legs. Similarly, it could well be that: getting a raise is worth the awkwardness of asking for one; teaching a child good lessons is worth the stress of correcting her, and deepening intimacy is worth the vulnerability of saying "I love you."
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Article
What's weighing you down?
On the path of life, most of us are hauling way too much weight. What's in your own backpack? If you're like most of us, you've got too many items on each day's To Do list and too much stuff in the closet. Too many entanglements with other people. And too many "shoulds," worries, guilts, and regrets.
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Article
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.]
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Article
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.
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Article
Love Your Neighbor
This practice might sound extreme or pushy, and I want to tell you what I mean by it.
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Websites & resources
SelfGrowth-published websites, downloads, and contributor profile websites connected to this expert.
Website
WiseBrain.org
WiseBrain.org brings you skillful means for happiness, love, and wisdom – from the fertile common ground of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice.
June 8, 2011
Website
RickHanson.net
We all want greater happiness, love, and wisdom. RickHanson.net is full of tools and information from psychology, brain science, and the contemplative traditions to help reduce stress, sorrow, fear, and anger; to promote well-being and personal growth.
June 8, 2011
Other highlights
View all upcoming teaching and speaking engagements at http://www.rickhanson.net/teaching/calendar.