[Video] Rick Hanson: Why Positive Experiences Don’t Always Lead to Lasting Change

Having insights and breakthroughs can be genuinely encouraging experiences — for ourselves, and those we may work to support — but all too often they seem to pass without creating any meaningful change. On the other hand, negative experiences tend to stick with us. 

In this 3-minute video, Dr. Rick Hanson — the renowned expert on mindfulness and neuroplasticity — explains why this is so. Drawing on the brain’s negativity bias, he describes why positive experiences tend to wash through us without leaving a lasting trace, and what it actually takes to slow that process down so they can begin to build something durable over time.

On-Demand Workshop with Rick Hanson!

We’re thrilled to share an 90-minute on-demand workshop with Rick Hanson — Creating Lasting Change in Therapy: Neuroplasticity for Resilience and Inner Resources | Learn more and register here >>

On-Demand Workshop with Rick Hanson!

We’re thrilled to share a 90-minute on-demand workshop with Rick Hanson — Creating Lasting Change in Therapy: Neuroplasticity for Resilience and Inner Resources.

In this 90-minute experiential workshop, Rick Hanson explores how therapists can help clients move beyond temporary insight and support healing that becomes more deeply rooted, embodied, and lasting over time. Drawing from neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive neuroplasticity, he shares practical approaches for helping clients build resilience, strengthen inner resources, and cultivate enduring emotional well-being.

In this workshop you will learn:

  • How neuroplasticity shapes emotional healing, resilience, and long-term growth
  • Practical ways to help beneficial experiences become more deeply internalized and embodied
  • How therapists can support clients in building lasting inner resources such as calm, self-worth, compassion, confidence, and resilience
  • How to work with pain and difficult emotions while also strengthening positive emotional resources
  • Experiential practices for helping clients “take in the good” and cultivate enduring emotional capacities

Plus:

  • Get lifetime access to the recording and transcript

Learn more and register for the On-Demand Workshop >>

About Rick Hanson, PhD

Rick Hanson, PhD is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and NYT best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages, and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He’s the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well Podcast – which has been downloaded over 25 million times. His free newsletters have over 260,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those in need. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in Northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.

Learn more at rickhanson.net