Life’s Easier When You Surrender to What’s Already Good within You

What happens when important emotional needs go unmet, especially when we’re young? Even with loving parents and a relatively good childhood, we can carry a lingering sense that something is missing — leaving us feeling anxious, disconnected, or constantly seeking reassurance. In this week’s talk, I explore how these early experiences shape the brain, fuel craving, and influence our relationships today. Learn how we can begin to fill those empty places inside with the psychological nutrients w...

We all carry emotional baggage from the past. These old hurts, fears, insecurities, and patterns can continue to affect us long after the original experiences have passed. While mindfulness can help us relate differently to these painful experiences, what does it take to actually heal them? In this talk, I explored how to release the burdens of the past, identify the inner strengths and positive experiences that are best matched to our particular struggles, and how we can use these reso...

Life brings unavoidable pain, uncertainty, and loss, but it also offers countless opportunities to develop the inner resources that help us meet those challenges without becoming overwhelmed by them. In this talk, I explore how understanding our needs for safety, satisfaction, and connection can help us loosen the grip of craving and the suffering it creates. You’re welcome to join me live each week for these talks — for free — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-wit...

Life inevitably includes both change and loss, as well as sources of steadiness, meaning, and connection that endure. In this talk, I explore how we can meet the tangles of everyday life—difficult interactions, stubborn conflicts, painful patterns, and situations we cannot control—without either withdrawing from what matters or becoming consumed by it. You’re welcome to join me live each week for these talks — for free — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-ri...

Sometimes our anxiety is trying to tell us something important about a real threat, something we need to take care of, or someone we love. The trouble comes when anxiety keeps going long after it’s useful, turning into rumination, clinging, and worry about things we can’t control. This week I focused in on how to find a middle way with anxiety: listening to the useful signals without letting them take over. Listen in to learn ways to work with your anxiety: making room for unavoidable f...