Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

By Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

Education Alternative Health

What's Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson about?

Forrest Hanson is joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson and a world-class group of experts to explore the practical science of lasting well-being. Conversations focus on the key insights from psychology, science, and contemplative practice that you need to build reliable inner strengths, overcome your challenges, and get the most out of life. New episodes every Monday.

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Highly Sensitive People, Ho...

11.27.2023

What can I do if my partner dominates conversations about our relationship? How can I navigate situations where I want to repair, but other people don’t? What’s a “highly sensitive person,” and how does it relate to conditions like complex ...

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson episodes:

11.27.2023 Highly Sensitive People, How to Repair, and When Your Partner Won't Stop Talking: November Mailbag What can I do if my partner dominates conversations about our relationship? How can I navigate situations where I want to repair, but other people don’t? What’s a “highly sensitive person,” and how does it relate to conditions like complex ...
11.20.2023 What Really Helps Trauma? with Dr. Jacob Ham In one of the most interesting conversations we've ever had on the podcast, Forrest is joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Jacob Ham to explore what really helps people work with - and be with - trauma. They begin with Dr. ...
11.13.2023 The Being Well Holiday Survival Guide Ah the holidays, that blessed time of year when we come together with our highly functional family systems to engage in some good, old-fashioned fun. If that sounded like a joke, this episode is for you. Dr. Rick and Forrest ...
11.06.2023 The Polyvagal Theory and Trauma with Dr. Stephen Porges Dr. Stephen Porges, the creator of the polyvagal theory, joins the podcast to walk us through how its lessons can be applied to recovering from traumatic experiences. Forrest and Dr. Porges simplify the polyvagal theory, discuss the three key states ...
10.30.2023 Mastering Change with Brad Stulberg We all know that change is inevitable in life, and getting good at changing is one of the most important skills we can develop. It’s also one of the most difficult to master. On today’s episode writer and coach Brad ...
10.23.2023 Good Parenting: Key Skills, Healthy Relationships, and Making the Choice On today’s episode Dr. Rick and Forrest focus on one of the most important decisions we’ll make in life: the choice to become a parent. They focus on what good parenting looks like in practice, the key difference in thinking ...
10.16.2023 How to Become Self-Confident In today’s episode Forrest and Dr. Rick explore how we can improve our self-confidence, allowing us to become more psychologically flexible and create healthy boundaries with other people. They explain why becoming better at something doesn’t always make us more ...
10.09.2023 How to Change Your Perspective How we view ourselves, other people, and the world around us has a huge impact on the emotions we feel, the choices we make, and the quality of the lives we lead. These are our perspectives, and they’re the foundation ...
10.02.2023 Creating a Healthy Relationship (with Yourself) with Najwa Zebian “The mistake most of us make is building our homes in other people. When we do that, we give them the power to make us homeless.” Poet, activist, and author Najwa Zebian joins Forrest for a conversation focused on discovering ...
09.25.2023 Authenticity: How to “Be Yourself” We’re often told to “be true to ourselves:” to line-up the person we are on the outside with the person we are on the inside. In a word, to be authentic. But what does it really mean to “be who ...
09.18.2023 Childhood Trauma, Self-Sabotage, and Therapy: September Mailbag Rick and Forrest open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners focused on getting the most we can out of therapy, processing old painful experiences, and sabotaging ourselves. They explore the self-fulfilling nature of fear, different forms of therapy ...
09.11.2023 Workaholism: Anxiety, Addiction, and Finding Balance in a Busy World In our productivity-obsessed, always-on world it’s easy for busyness to become a badge of honor. But sometimes that effort-ing transforms from the reasonable pursuit of our goals into workaholism: a compulsive, even addictive drive to work. In today’s episode Forrest ...
09.04.2023 Becoming Emotionally Agile with Dr. Susan David Forrest and Rick sit down with Dr. Susan David, the creator of the concept of Emotional Agility. Emotional agility is what allows us to navigate our complex emotions, make choices aligned with our values, and ultimately lead more authentic and ...
08.28.2023 Impermanence Anxiety: How to Live While Letting Go The only constant in life is change. Moments come and go, people enter and leave our lives, and we ourselves grow, change, and eventually pass away. While this is an obvious fact of life, we usually let it blend into ...
08.21.2023 Metabolism, Brain Energy, and Mental Health with Dr. Chris Palmer Dr. Chris Palmer, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins Forrest to discuss the relationship between metabolic function and mental illness. They discuss Dr. Palmer’s work with patients suffering from severe conditions like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, psychiatry’s ...
08.14.2023 Emotional Intelligence: Improving Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Empathy Emotional intelligence is considered an essential trait for everything from being a desirable romantic partner to having a successful career. But what do we really mean when we say “emotional intelligence,” and how can we become emotionally intelligent over time? ...
08.07.2023 Neuroplasticity Tools to Change Your (and your kid’s) Brain with Dr. Caroline Leaf Our thoughts, emotions, and experiences can reshape the very structure of our brains, allowing it to adapt and change over time. This is known as neuroplasticity, and while it’s present throughout our lives the younger we are the more powerful ...
07.31.2023 So You Want to Be a Therapist? Over the last 10 years interest in therapy has boomed, and with the greater demand for therapists more people than ever are considering pursuing a career in mental health. On today’s episode Forrest speaks to five therapists and therapists-in-training to ...
07.24.2023 Dan Harris: Mindfulness, Fear, and Love Without the Cringe Dan Harris joins Rick and Forrest for a wide-ranging, open, and personal conversation. They explore dealing with anxiety and fear, sustaining a mindfulness practice, and accepting our nature while leaning into a new version of ourselves. Along the way they ...
07.17.2023 Dealing with Criticism, Anxiety, and Dysfunctional Family Systems: July Mailbag Forrest and Dr. Rick open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners. They explore how we can thoughtfully take the input of other people, identify and meet our needs, deal with anxiety and the fear of failure, and approach ...
07.10.2023 Simplifying Self-Help: 7 Lessons for a Lifetime of Well-Being There is a lot of complicated advice out there (including on this podcast) for how to improve our well-being. In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick simplify the lessons they’ve learned from over 100 experts and 300 episodes. They explore ...
07.03.2023 How to Become Securely Attached In today’s episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick focus on one of the most common, and most important, questions they get about attachment theory: can we heal our attachment wounds, and become more securely attached? They explore the basics of attachment ...
06.26.2023 Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman The average human will live for roughly 4000 weeks. Foregrounding this can be a source of stress, leading us to constantly run from one task to another. Or, it can be a source of meaning and purpose, nudging us to ...
06.19.2023 Overcoming Procrastination: Unleashing Motivation and Creating a Pursuit Mindset We've all experienced that frustrating feeling of knowing that we should be doing something, and yet struggling to take action. Join Forrest and Dr. Rick as they explore how we can overcome avoidance and procrastination, unlock our motivation, and cultivate ...
06.12.2023 Staying Curious, Embracing Change, and Relating to Media with Michael Krasny Rick and Forrest are joined by award-winning journalist Michael Krasny for an episode focused on how to stay curious, navigate times of transition, and relate to the modern media landscape in healthy ways. They use Michael’s recent experience with “retirement” ...
06.05.2023 How to Change Your Life: Self-Efficacy, Learned Helplessness, and Growth Mindset If you’re tired of feeling stuck, this one’s for you. Dr. Rick and Forrest explore how we can overcome learned helplessness and change our lives by developing self-efficacy: the ability to influence our environments and control our motivation and behavior. ...
05.29.2023 How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome: Self-Doubt, Confidence, and Authenticity Forrest and Dr. Rick explore how to overcome imposter syndrome, the common psychological experience of self-doubt and feeling like a fraud. You'll learn why even very accomplished, capable people experience imposter syndrome, strategies to break free from the cycle of ...
05.22.2023 Self-Help Fads and Finding What Really Works with mindbodygreen CEO Jason Wachob There’s an enormous amount of advice out there in the self-help world…and much of it isn’t very good. Jason Wachob, the Founder and Co-CEO of mindbodygreen, joins Forrest and Dr. Rick to separate fact from fiction and clarify what really ...
05.15.2023 Attachment Theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy with Dr. Sue Johnson Dr. Sue Johnson, the founder of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), joins Dr. Rick and Forrest to explore how insights from attachment theory can transform our relationships. They discuss how attachment theory provides a map for understanding relationships, the challenges of ...
05.08.2023 Mailbag: Power in Relationships, Self-Worth, Motivation, and Personal Responsibility Forrest and Dr. Rick dive into the mailbag to answer questions from listeners. They explore age gaps in relationships, relating to people as ongoing processes, and avoiding having your personal growth practice turn you into a doormat. You’ll learn how ...
05.01.2023 How to Create Massive Change with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Forrest Hanson welcomes Dr. Benjamin Hardy to explore how we can create massive change by applying "10x thinking.” This mindset involves embracing a radically different version of ourselves and our lives, and they share how we can apply it to ...
04.24.2023 Learning from Nature with Mark Coleman Buddhist teacher Mark Coleman joins Forrest and Dr. Rick to share how we can learn from nature and incorporate it into our practice. Mark shares his insights and experiences from years of leading wilderness retreats, and explains how reconnecting with ...
04.17.2023 Releasing Obsessive Thoughts: Rumination, OCD, and Dealing with Fear Forrest and Dr. Rick delve into a frequently requested topic: how we can let go of obsessive and intrusive thoughts. They explore why we get trapped in certain thoughts, the negative effects of rumination, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They also ...
04.10.2023 Cognitive Bypassing: How to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life Cognitive bypassing occurs when we overthink to avoid feeling uncomfortable emotions like sadness, fear, or anger. In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick share their personal experiences with cognitive bypassing, and explore how we can step out of our heads, ...
04.03.2023 ADHD 2.0: Debunking Misconceptions, Revealing Hidden Strengths, and Effective Treatments w/ Dr. John Ratey ADHD is often misunderstood as a simple "lack of attention." But in this episode of Being Well, Forrest and Dr. Rick are joined by ADHD pioneer Dr. John Ratey to explore the true nature of this complex condition. They debunk ...
03.27.2023 How to Become Psychologically Flexible (from two formerly rigid people) Join Forrest and Dr. Rick, two “reformed rigid people,” as they explore how to become more psychologically flexible. Just as physical flexibility is the amount of stretch in our muscles, the ability they have to bend without breaking, psychological flexibility ...
03.20.2023 Complex PTSD and Learning to Live With the Past with Stephanie Foo Author Stephanie Foo joins Forrest to share her journey with Complex PTSD. They talk about what it was like to receive a diagnosis, the various techniques and modalities she used (and what really helped), the importance of social support, self-acceptance ...
03.13.2023 The Unconscious Mind: How to Access, Understand, and Use It Most of what's occurring in the mind lies outside our awareness. In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick Hanson explore the unconscious mind and the material we might find there. They talk about what the unconscious mind is, the purpose ...
03.06.2023 What We've Learned From 100 Experts On the (roughly) 300th episode of Being Well, Forrest and Dr. Rick share what they’ve learned from the many experts in psychology, personal growth, and mental health they’ve talked to on the show. They explore the importance of individual context, ...
02.27.2023 Somatic Psychology: Using the Body to Heal the Mind with Elizabeth Ferreira Somatic therapist Elizabeth Ferreira returns to the podcast and joins Forrest for a deep dive into somatic psychology. They explore what a somatic therapy session looks like in practice, how it differs from traditional talk therapy, the connection between the ...
02.20.2023 Daddy Issues: Attachment Wounding, Dealing with Common Symptoms, and Becoming More Securely Attached If you listen to a podcast like ours, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “daddy issues.” A more accurate way to understand daddy issues is as a form of attachment wounding, which describes situations where our adult relationships are affected ...
02.13.2023 What Addiction (and Recovery) Can Teach Us About Change with Eric Zimmer Eric Zimmer, a behavior coach and the host of The One You Feed podcast, joins Forrest and Rick to explore what really supports us in changing our ingrained patterns of behavior through the lens of Eric’s journey with addiction and ...
02.06.2023 Repairing with Family, Dealing with Difficult People, and Recognizing Power: Mailbag Dr. Rick and Forrest open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners related to how we can build better relationships (particularly with our families) and deal with difficult people. They explore the common traits of happy families, how to ...
01.30.2023 How to Navigate Common Arguments All of our relationships include some conflict, the big question is how skillfully we handle that conflict when it appears. Dr. Rick Hanson joins Forrest to walk us through some effective ways to deal with common forms of interpersonal conflict. ...
01.23.2023 Letting Go of Our Conditioning with Caverly Morgan The main topic we explore on the podcast, in many different ways, is change. How can we come to understand ourselves better, let go of who we were, and become who we wish to be? In this episode Dr. Rick ...
01.16.2023 The Keys to a Great Relationship Before becoming the “brain guy” Dr. Rick spent over 30 years working in private practice as a couples counselor and family therapist. Today we’re leaning on that experience, and learning what we can do to build healthier, happier, and more ...
01.09.2023 Becoming Our Best Selves with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Jordyn Feingold We often know what we “should” do, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do it. Today Dr. Rick and Forrest are joined by Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Jordyn Feingold to explore how we can learn to consistently ...
01.02.2023 Why Don't We Get Better? Forrest is joined by Dr. Rick Hanson to explore why we often struggle to change in the ways that matter the most to us, how much change is realistically possible, what makes change hard, the hidden barriers to real change, ...
12.26.2022 How to Reinvent Yourself (in 2023) We’ve come to the end of another year, and it’s a good time to take stock and consider how we’d like to grow and change during our next trip around the sun. In this episode, Forrest and Dr. Rick focus ...
12.19.2022 The Science of Stress with Dr. Elissa Epel We think of stress as “bad” for you, but what if some forms of stress could actually help us grow and change for the better? On today’s episode Forrest and Dr. Rick are joined by Dr. Elissa Epel, a psychologist ...

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