Rick Hanson, PhD, looks at the psychological tension inherent in clinging and attachment to outcomes. As a rock climber and a parent, I know some physical kinds of clinging are good – like to small holds or small...
Category - Emotional Health
Rick Hanson, PhD
Key Insights | Happiness, Your Relationship to Self and Your Relationship to Others
If someone could figure out how to bottle “happiness” they would be rich beyond their wildest dreams. As much as happiness is natural for some, it’s not for others. Those fortunate enough to consider...
Lisa Brookes Kift, MFT
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Rick Hanson, PhD looks at why beating yourself up is so unhelpful and ways to avoid it. Most people know their less than wonderful qualities, such as too much ambition (or too little), a weakness for wine or...
Steps to Identify Your Unhelpful Belief Systems
The core beliefs that you carry can be insidious in how they creep into your your perceptions about just about everything. Do you struggle with anger, depression, anxiety, stress or recurring relationship problems and...
5 Ways to Stay Cool in the Face of Another’s Emotional Reactivity
I had an experience that tested my patience and challenged me to remain calm in the face of aggressive, critical words. My initial instinct was to fight back, defend and point out the ways in which this person had...
Lower the Pressure
Rick Hanson, PhD looks at stress management from a neuroscience perspective and how we can “lower the pressure” we put on ourselves. Why? Things come at us with so much urgency and demand these days. Phones...
Pet the Lizard
Rick Hanson, PhD takes a playful look at how we all can benefit from “petting our inner iguana” to calm our brains – and reduce fear, anxiety and trauma. I’ve always liked lizards. Growing up in the...
The Neuroscience of Gratitude
In The Impact of Gratitude on Health and Well-Being, Linda Graham, MFT offered a lot of practical benefits for people who practice gratitude daily. Here she looks more deeply at the neuroscience of gratitude. How does...
Linda Graham, MFT
Stay Right When You’re Wronged
Rick Hanson, PhD looks at ways to see things clearly, do what you can and let it go. It’s easy to treat people well when they treat you well. The real test is when they treat you badly. Think of times you’ve...
The Impact of Gratitude on Health and Well-Being
Dr. Robert Emmons’s research on gratitude began with a fairly simple experiment, asking one group of students to write down three “benefits” a day for 10 weeks – i.e, enjoying a haircut or a car...
