The author discusses the nature of happiness, its role in our evolution and the brain science behind happiness and suffering, and then goes on to lead the listener through 14 meditations and exercises designed to rewire that brain's neural pathways and open the door to more happiness. Read by the author. By the author of Just One Thing.

Autorentext

Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson, PhD, is a psychologist, a senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and a New York Times bestselling author. His books are available in 26 languages and include Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha's Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. He edits the Wise Brain Bulletin and has numerous audio programs. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he's been an invited speaker at NASA, Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities, and has taught in meditation centers worldwide.

Dr. Hanson has been a trustee of Saybrook University and has served on the board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center. His work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, and NPR, and he offers the free Just One Thing newsletter with 135,000 subscribers, plus the online Foundations of Well-Being program in positive neuroplasticity that anyone with financial need can do for free.

He enjoys rock climbing and taking a break from emails. He and his wife have two adult children.

Klappentext

Happiness is far more than a positive feeling that comes and goes. Science is now proving that happiness is a skill that you can develop.

Course objectives:

List some enduring benefits of happiness.
Describe the negativity bias of the brain.
Summarize how our brains can make us happy and also create suffering.
Practice guided exercises for tapping your innate capacity to nurture and encourage yourself.
Utilize meditation to shape your brain over time to experience more joy and be more at ease in everyday life.
Apply techniques that re-wire the neural pathways in the brain to experience deeper and more lasting happiness.
Bridging neuropsychology with the great contemplative traditions, Meditations for Happiness brings you a series of practices that allow you to literally rewire the neural pathways in your brain to experience deeper and more lasting contentment.

On part one, Dr. Hanson discusses the nature of happiness, its role in our evolution, how our brains both make us happy and create suffering, and how we can use and shape our brains over time to experience more joy and ease in everyday life. He then guides you step-by-step through more than a dozen meditations and exercises including:

A Happiness Trip-explore the many shades of positive emotions that relate to your happiness
Gratitude-an antidote to threatening thoughts and feelings
Taking Refuge in What's Reliable-root your happiness in the safe harbors of things you can truly count on
Coming Home to Happiness-a relaxing session to ease your body-mind back to its natural state of calm and contentment
"Emotions come and go, but true happiness endures," teaches Dr. Hanson. With Meditations for Happiness, he helps you build a foundation of skills for realizing the happiness you desire.