Hardwiring Happiness

'A book to savour, to practise, and take to heart' Professor Mark Williams 'As clear and inspired as it gets' Ruby Wax Four steps to counterbalance your brain's negativity bias and learn to hardwire happiness in only a few minutes each day. Recent scientific breakthroughs have revealed that what we think and feel changes the brain. Dr Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness is the first book to show how to transform the simple positive experiences of daily life into neural structures that promote lasting health, contentment, love and inner peace. To keep our ancestors alive, our brain evolved a ‘negativity bias’, which lets positive experiences flow through it like water through a sieve. Yet positive experiences are the building blocks needed for health, happiness and fulfilling relationships. Drawing on neuroscience and the contemplative traditions, Hardwiring Happiness shows how to overcome that negativity bias and get those good experiences into the brain where it can use them, providing the tools we need to heal old wounds, develop our inner resources and, ultimately, transform our lives.

'A book to savour, to practise, and take to heart' Professor Mark Williams 'As clear and inspired as it gets' Ruby Wax Four steps to counterbalance your brain's negativity bias and learn to hardwire happiness in only a few minutes each day. Recent scientific breakthroughs have revealed that what we think and feel changes the brain. Dr Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness is the first book to show how to transform the simple positive experiences of daily life into neural structures that promote lasting health, contentment, love and inner peace. To keep our ancestors alive, our brain evolved a ‘negativity bias’, which lets positive experiences flow through it like water through a sieve. Yet positive experiences are the building blocks needed for health, happiness and fulfilling relationships. Drawing on neuroscience and the contemplative traditions, Hardwiring Happiness shows how to overcome that negativity bias and get those good experiences into the brain where it can use them, providing the tools we need to heal old wounds, develop our inner resources and, ultimately, transform our lives.

With New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Hanson's four steps, you can counterbalance your brain's negativity bias and learn to hardwire happiness in only a few minutes each day. 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 and slowly from good ones, but you can change this. Life isn't easy, and having a brain wired to take in the bad and ignore the good makes us worried, irritated, and stressed, instead of confident, secure, and happy. But each day is filled with opportunities to build inner strengths and Dr. Rick Hanson, an acclaimed clinical psychologist, shows what you can do to override the brain's default pessimism. 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. You'll learn to see through the lies your brain tells you. Dr. Hanson's four steps build strengths into your brain to make contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In just minutes a day, you can transform your brain into a refuge and power center of calm and happiness.

With New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Hanson's four steps, you can counterbalance your brain's negativity bias and learn to hardwire happiness in only a few minutes each day. 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 and slowly from good ones, but you can change this. Life isn't easy, and having a brain wired to take in the bad and ignore the good makes us worried, irritated, and stressed, instead of confident, secure, and happy. But each day is filled with opportunities to build inner strengths and Dr. Rick Hanson, an acclaimed clinical psychologist, shows what you can do to override the brain's default pessimism. 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. You'll learn to see through the lies your brain tells you. Dr. Hanson's four steps build strengths into your brain to make contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In just minutes a day, you can transform your brain into a refuge and power center of calm and happiness.