THE MORNING SHOW
with
Patrick Timpone

Rick Hanson

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

Grounded in brain science, psychology, and contemplative wisdom, ‘Hardwiring Happiness’ shows readers how to build a better brain from the inside out, using the hidden power of seemingly ordinary experiences. By taking just a few extra seconds to stay with a positive experience – from the pleasure ofa deep breath to a sense of calm, satisfaction, and love – you turn good moments into a great brain, full of strength, health, and happiness. That’s what it means to take in the good.

Why is it easier to ruminate over hurt feelings than it is to bask in the warmth of being appreciated?

Because your brain evolved to learn quickly from bad experiences but slowly from the good ones.

You can change this.

Hardwiring Happiness lays out a simple method that uses the hidden power of everyday experiences to build new neural structures full of happiness, love, confidence, and peace. Dr. Hanson’s four steps build strengths into your brain— balancing its ancient negativity bias—making contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In mere minutes each day, we can transform our brains into refuges and power centers of calm and happiness.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist, a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and a New York Times best-selling author. His books include Hardwiring
Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he’s been an invited speaker at Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. He has several audio programs and his free Just One Thing newsletter has over 100,000 subscribers.

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rick hansen, phd and hard wiring our brain for happiness, july 10, 2014