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MindFull of GOOD

Dr. Rick Hanson's Occasional Collection of Good, Free Stuff

NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

The Attention Economy: How Self-Help Drifts Away from Science

"If there's an asymmetry of power, there needs to be an asymmetry of moral duty."
— DR. RICK HANSON

Forrest and Dr. Rick explore how well-intentioned self-help advice can drift away from science under the incentives of the attention economy, where overclaiming, alarmist framing, and “this one simple trick” outperforms nuance. They talk about how authority gets manufactured, how the algorithm encourages overclaiming, and how “theories of everything” lead to misinformation. Dr. Rick and Forrest discuss whether seemingly harmless pseudoscientific practices can create a slippery slope, lowering the importance of material evidence and acting as an on-ramp to more consequential misinformation.

NEW FROM THE WEDNESDAY TALK/MEDITATION:

Five Ways to Feel Less Anxious

When fear and anxiety feel woven into the fabric of everyday life — from global crises to personal health worries — it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless, or stuck in a loop of dread.

So this week I explored how to meet anxiety with mindfulness and compassion, find real refuges that steady the heart, take meaningful action without burning out, and hold life with a wider wisdom perspective.

ALSO NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

Building the Habit of Excellence with Brad Stulberg

Top performance coach and author Brad Stulberg joins Forrest to reframe and reclaim excellence. Brad explains how real excellence – involved engagement with something you care about – is the healthy middle path between over-the-top hustle-culture and detached nonchalance. They discuss the current culture of pseudo-excellence, the risks and rewards of caring deeply, how modern life can derail us, and how the real prize is the person you become while trying to reach your goals. Brad shares practical tools to build the habit of excellence: clear aims, micro-milestones, consistency over intensity, constraint-based discipline, and connection.

NEW ARTICLE FROM FORREST HANSON:

Why Are Self-Help Gurus So Interested in Quantum Physics?

If you’ve spent any time in the self-help world, you’ve probably bumped into breathless claims about “quantum” this and “energy” that – usually followed by a pricey course promising to unlock your limitless potential. In this week’s newsletter, Forrest digs into why so many gurus reach for quantum physics, what The Secret and the Law of Attraction actually get wrong, and how we can hold onto what’s genuinely helpful about mindset and meaning-making without disappearing into pseudoscience. If you care about personal growth but also like your feet on the ground (and your science grounded in, well, science), this one’s for you.

ASK RICK:

Can we hardwire our brains to be grittier the same way we can hardwire them to be happier?

My hyper succinct two word answer is: “You bet!”

And to expand a bit: any kind of learning – including emotional, social, motivational, and character learning – must involve changes in the brain.

"This means that grit – resilience, determination, persistence, hardiness, courage – gets developed through changes in neural structure and function."

We develop more grit through having repeated experiences of determination, endurance, resolve, perseverance, and sheer survival that get woven into the fabric of the brain – and thus one’s life.

RICK'S PICK:

BOOK: Songs of Awakening

MindFull of Good is a free newsletter that highlights new and free content from Dr. Rick Hanson and the Being Well Podcast as well as other free offerings to fill yourself up with good.

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