What can death teach us about living well? A pioneer in the field of end-of-life care joins us to explore the fear of death, anger, true courage, and acceptance in the face of it all. About our Guest: Frank is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and advocate for compassionate care-giving. In 1987, he co-founded the Zen Hospice Project, which helped establish a longstanding model for mindful and compassionate care. In 2005, he founded the Metta Institute.Frank is also the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, which is one of my favorite books.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.Key Topics:2:00: Frank’s recovery from multiple strokes.5:30: Fear and choice.  10:00: What death can teach us about ourselves.12:20: Supporting caregivers and spreading kindness.16:40: The fear of death. 23:30: Coming to terms with the deaths of those we love.27:00: Allowing.32:00: Meeting our defenses.36:30: Removing judgement from anger.43:00: Bringing wisdom to anger.44:45: Courage in the world.47:15: Coming together and falling apart.54:45: Accepting each other as is. Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to "transcend the self?" Today Dr. Hanson, Forrest, and Dr. David Yaden explore self-transcendent, or “peak,” experiences, which the famous psychologist Abraham Maslow defined as “moments of highest happiness and fulfillment.”As a note, David is referred to as a "PhD student" during the episode. Since it was recorded, he's gone on to earn his doctorate!About our Guest: David is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medicine who studies the varieties of spiritual and self-transcendent experiences from the perspectives of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Read David's paper on The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience here. New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:3:00: The two key characteristics of self-transcendent experiences.4:30: “Everyday” versions of peak experiences. 8:00: Self-transcendence and psychopathology.11:00: David’s account of self-transcendence. 13:50: The lasting impact of peak experiences. 17:00: Is there a “place” where self-transcendence occurs in the brain? 20:45: Making use of peak experiences.28:00: Should we seek peak experiences out? 36:00: Relaxing the sense of self. 41:30: A message to your younger self.43:30: RecapSupport the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Laurie Santos joins the podcast to share what the science says about how we can maintain our well-being during this difficult time.About our Guest: Laurie is a Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Her course “Psychology and the Good Life” is the most popular class in the university’s history. It’s now available for free online as “The Science of Well-Being." She’s also the director of the Comparative Cognition Laboratory at Yale, which explores the evolutionary origins of the human mindLaurie hosts the critically acclaimed podcast The Happiness Lab. We couldn't recommend it more highly, if you like our podcast you should definitely give it a listen.New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:2:00: Key resources for happiness during pandemic. 6:00: Understanding and combating logical errors. 10:00: How to stay strong during a crisis. 14:30: Developing an internal orientation toward positivity. 17:15: Key misconceptions about happiness. 20:30: Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.22:45: Self-compassion. 24:30: What can we learn from monkeys?31:00: Why didn’t “errors of reasoning” evolve out of us?34:15: Liking vs. Craving.37:00: The critical role of lasting learning. 48:00: A message to your younger self.Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we work with, and release, obsessive fear during this particularly anxiety-provoking time? Dr. Dan Kalb, an expert on anxiety disorders and OCD, joins the show to help us learn how. About our Guest:  Anxiety and worry are a part of life. But when they disrupt the normal flow of life, work and school are harder, family and social relationships suffer, and life is not as enjoyable. Dr. Kalb has been a practicing psychologist for over 25 years, and focuses much of his practice on working with people who suffer from this form of extreme anxiety, hoarding, or OCD. New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:1:45: What is an anxiety disorder?6:00: Mindfulness and being in the present moment.11:30: Releasing obsessions, and not becoming ensnared by negative thoughts.16:45: Acceptance, and useful vs. harmful self-reassurance. 24:30: Fears of death, and how to manage them. 29:30: Key techniques for releasing fear. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can we learn about ourselves from and through art? Sleeping At Last, an incredible musician, joins us to explore the Enneagram, the creative process, art and emotion, and how we can become ever more true to ourselves.About Our Guest: Sleeping at Last, also known as Ryan O’Neal,  is a well-known singer, songwriter, and composer who's written music for shows like Grey's Anatomy.  Over the last seven years Ryan has worked on his Atlas series, an ongoing project that includes an incredible series of songs based on the Enneagram of Personality, which is my favorite personality typing system.New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:3:00: Sleeping at Last’s background and artistic origin story.6:30: Music as a kind of journal. 8:30: How masks allow for vulnerability.11:10: Writing in theme, and finding safe spaces for emotion through art. 17:00: Sleeping at Last’s creative process. 20:00: The Enneagram. 25:00: Forrest and Type 630:30: Ryan and Type 9.33:50: 6 by Sleeping at Last38:15: Learning about people through art.43:00: Pressure. 44:45: Increasing creative output. 53:00: A message to Ryan's younger self. Listen to the fantastic Sleeping at Last Podcast! On it, Ryan explains the process and inspiration behind his music, and I couldn’t recommend it more strongly.Learn more about The Nine TypesSupport the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!Connect with the show: Visit us on the web Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the "highest happiness," and what can we do to achieve it? This is the second conversation with Dr. Hanson related to his new book Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness. Today we're focusing on the final four practices in the book: wholeness, nowness, allness, and timelessness. Neurodharma is now available! Click here if you'd like to learn more.New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:2:00: Why aim for “the heights of human potential” when the here and now already seems so challenging?7:30: Wholeness, Nowness, Allness, and Timelessness. 11:00: What is an aspect of awakening?14:20: The front edge of now. 17:00: The value of timelessness for a “normal person.”23:00: The elements of consciousness. 26:45: The inherent emptiness of things. 32:50: Avoiding the pitfalls of emptiness. 34:30: The apparent self. 38:00: Our relationship to changing the self. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout history people have sought the heights of human potential - to become as wise, strong, happy, and loving as any person can ever be. Call these peak experiences, sense of oneness, or enlightenment itself. And now, science is revealing how these remarkable ways of being seem to be based on equally remarkable changes in our own nervous system.What do those individuals have in common, how did they reach that summit, and what can we learn from them? That's the subject of Rick's new book: Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness. Neurodharma comes out May 5th, and is now available for pre-order. Click here if you'd like to learn more.New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:2:15: What is the upper bound of human potential, and why should we care?5:30: Different ways of knowing ourselves10:00: How can modern science contribute to personal growth?15:00: How is the brain of an “enlightened” person different from our own?20:00: The janas, and how they change the brain. 24:00: The seven practices of the highest happiness. 28:00: Experiencing the body as a whole. 35:00: Balancing me and we. 40:00: Egocentric and allocentric. Sponsor Message: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I want to express the profound gratitude I feel toward everyone who is serving others during this time of the Coronavirus pandemic. In particular, healthcare providers, first responders, and the whole ecosystem of helpers who have come together to support us all.I've received a number of truly humbling requests to offer a guided practice aimed at supporting the inner strengths those providers need so desperately these days. This meditation focuses on cultivating a feeling of both acceptance and calm strength. I hope you find it helpful.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes New Book: If you're interested in Dr. Hanson's work, you'll love his new book Neurodharma. It explores the new science and ancient wisdom for being as wise and strong, happy and loving, as any person can ever be. It comes out May 5th, follow the link to pre-order.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we continue to support others when our own well has run dry? Today we're exploring practices for managing and overcoming both direct traumatic stress and compassion fatigue, or "secondary traumatic stress." New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:3:00: The anxiety, outrage, and overwhelm of this moment.7:00: Finding refuge. 12:00: Refuge and purpose in the collective experience. 15:00: Surrendering to the moment as it is.17:00: Opening to the experience and letting it go. 22:00: Giving yourself permission to feel. 26:00: "Want to" and "have to."28:00: A message of gratitude. From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day  with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last month many people have been stuck at home - occasionally with people they'd rather not be around. Maintaining a healthy relationship can be a struggle under the best of times, let alone during times of stress. On this episode we explore how individuals and families can deal with the interpersonal stress that comes from being stuck together, and the sadness and loss that comes from being separated from things we love.New Sponsor: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Key Topics:3:00: The costs of sustained stress4:40: Unique pressures placed on relationships during this time. 8:00: Specific tools for maintaining a healthy relationship15:00: How we’ve been supported by our circumstances until now.17:15: Redefining ourselves during this time.24:00: Seeing your own good purposes. 26:00: Experiencing common humanity.From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Hardwire lasting change into your mind and heart in just a few minutes a day with Dr. Rick Hanson's new program: Just One Minute. Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price!Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices