Synopses & Reviews
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times bestselling 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 100,000 subscribers.
Synopsis
See Through The Lies Your Brain Tells You
Why is it easier to ruminate over hurt feelings than it is to bask in the warmth of feeling loved? Your brain was wired in such a way when it evolved, primed to learn quickly from bad experiences, but not so much from the good ones. It's an ancient survival mechanism that turned the brain into Velcro for the negative, but Teflon for the positive.
About the Author
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.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction xxv
Part One: Why
CHAPTER 1: Growing Good 3
CHAPTER 2: Velcro for the Bad 17
CHAPTER 3: Green Brain, Red Brain 32
Part Two: How
CHAPTER 4: HEAL Yourself 59
CHAPTER 5: Take Notice 76
CHAPTER 6: Creating Positive Experiences 91
CHAPTER 7: Brain Building 111 Hans_
CHAPTER 8: Flowers Pulling Weeds 125
CHAPTER 9: Good Uses 147
CHAPTER 10: 21 Jewels 172
Afterword 221
Reference Notes 225
Bibliography 247
Index 263