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Just One Thing |
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Simple Practices for Resilience and Happiness from |
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DR. RICK HANSON |
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Each year I use an issue of the Just One Thing newsletter to offer Twelve Good Things that I think are really wonderful and worth your attention.
May you, those you love, and the whole wide world be truly well, truly happy, and truly at peace. |
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— ONE — |
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The Global Compassion Coalition |
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The Global Compassion Coalition is working to build a better world, with compassion and justice at its heart. Please With a community of a hundred and fifty thousand (and growing), we're connecting inner and outer, the personal and the political, so that people and the planet are truly thriving. Together, we can be strong enough to make the world we long for.
In 2025, we’re launching a major campaign to rehumanize the global systems that are causing so much needless suffering. Please join us! |
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— THREE — |
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The Foundations of Well-Being 2.0 |
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Life keeps throwing us challenges, and so many of us are just trying to survive it all. That's why I created the Foundations of Well-Being back in 2015, and updated it with a 2.0 version in 2023. In it, I take you through a whole year of growing inner strengths and practical life skills so you can start thriving amidst life's challenges with confidence, joy, and ease. We're starting a new cohort in January, and if you sign up by this Friday, you can save 50%. |
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— FOUR — |
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Get to Net Zero Yourself |
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For all our efforts, humanity is producing more greenhouse gasses than ever. Sure, we should pressure companies and countries to change. But they keep blocking emissions reductions and making money as fast as they can while the planet burns up.
Meanwhile, as much as we try to have a greener lifestyle, we each have an unavoidable carbon footprint—about 20 metric tons a year of CO2 equivalents for the average American.
Individually, you and I can’t change Exxon Mobil or Saudia Arabia. But for less than half a dollar a day, we can each compensate for our personal carbon footprint through legitimate “offsets,” like donating to plant trees or protect wetlands from the developer’s bulldozer.
With others, I’m helping to build a global movement of eventually hundreds of millions of individuals who make a moral commitment to being Net Zero themselves. At scale, this could impact 5-10% of annual greenhouse gasses, year after year after year. This might seem unrealistic, but it’s a lot more realistic than hoping that the fossil fuel industry and its political allies will act against their own profit interests.
It’s easy to feel helpless, and just tune out and give up. They want you to do that. But you have the power to compensate for your unavoidable carbon footprint. This is individual moral action, not companies gaming the carbon markets with wildly inflated offsets. And together, we can become a mighty political force on the world stage, saying: “I’ve Done My Part - Now Do Yours!" |
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— FIVE — |
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Rick's Recommended Books of 2024 |
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For a deep dive into inner practice, I heartily recommend anything by Stephen Snyder and Henry Shukman, such as Trust in Awakening or Original Love.
For fiction, my wife once wanted to give me a book. The staffer pointed to their well-stocked shelves, and then asked her what I liked. Jan said, “Well, he likes books with good writing, and characters you can like, and a moral trajectory . . . and a happy ending.” “Hmm,” the staffer replied, “we don’t have many of those."
But there are still some! Anything by Peter Heller is really good, and I particularly like The Dog Stars and Celine. This year I read the whole Vorkosigan Sci-Fi series, which combines page-turning space opera with deep insights into character and enduring love. I also really liked A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Titanium Noir, A Gentleman in Moscow, and all of Martin Clark’s legal novels. The Maltese Falcon is weirdly fun and interesting. The Arkady Renko detective novels are phenomenal, with the first one - Gorky Park - set in the crumbling Soviet Union and later books now in Russia. With the series on TV, I had to reread Shogun, still a magnificent journey into complex medieval Japan.
And I keep coming back to Where Have You Been?, about major 20th-century authors. I don’t have any background at all in literary analysis, but it’s simply a delight to follow Michael Hofmann’s gorgeous, exuberant, brilliant cascades of words.
Last, if you want real news, subscribe to Science magazine. Really. Each week you’ll get wide-ranging interesting articles written for an educated general audience plus research papers (most of which I skip). Long after the latest political carnival has left town, the beautiful steady accumulation of knowledge will endure. Thank you, scientists! |
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— SIX — |
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Worthy Nonprofits |
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BRITE Initiative is near and dear to my heart. Their school in Haiti for kindergarten through 8th grade serves children who would not otherwise get a decent education. They have about 100 students who still need support for this school year, and you might like to join me in sponsoring one of them.
Buddhist Global Relief is also close to my heart. Over 90% of what’s donated to them goes directly to feeding people, operating schools — including for girls who would otherwise suffer a terrible fate — and demonstrating the power of boundless lovingkindness.
And Mwanzo in rural Kenya with its founder Loyce Ong’udi is doing extraordinary work. Their slogan is “hope has a home here”—profoundly true in a setting in which hundreds of people will turn out to celebrate the graduation of children from kindergarten. |
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— EIGHT — |
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The Good News That's Still True |
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Life can get pretty overwhelming. We all carry burdens, and it’s easy to feel stuck or weighed down by everything that’s happening—personally and globally. In one of my favorite Wednesday Talk + Meditation episodes this year, I shared a perspective that’s been helpful for me when things feel tough: a way to deal with the hard stuff while also opening up to the good things that are still true. |
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— ELEVEN — |
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Free Online Meditation Groups |
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Much research has shown that meditation is a powerful way to develop greater resilience, compassion, and happiness – as well as strengthen the immune system and promote other health benefits. You can join me for free every Wednesday as I offer a talk and meditation that draws on modern psychology, brain science, and the teachings of the Buddha. My good friends Michael Taft, Stephen Snyder, and Tara Brach also offer meditation sessions you may want to check out. |
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— TWELVE — |
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The Best of Science News! |
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Every week in my newsletter I share a science news article that has gotten my attention and I find fascinating. Here is a list of some of the best from this year, plus a new one at the top:
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As we head into the holiday season, I'd like to send twelve times warm wishes to you,
Rick
P.S. For a baker’s dozen, I highly highly recommend the Being Well Podcast hosted by Forrest Hanson alongside a recurring mystery guest (me!). The podcast has been downloaded over 15 million times and we've explored topics like how to improve our relationships, deal with anxiety, heal from trauma, break old patterns, motivate ourselves, and more. I know you’ll like it! |
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JUST ONE THING (JOT) is the free newsletter that suggests a simple practice each week for more joy, more fulfilling relationships, and more peace of mind. A small thing repeated routinely adds up over time to produce big results.
Just one thing that could change your life.
(© Rick Hanson, 2024) |
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