Episode 18: Gratitude




Being Well with Dr. Rick Hanson show

Summary: On today’s episode of the Being Well Podcast, Dr. Hanson and Forrest move on to the fifth of the twelve strengths they’ll be covering during this series: Gratitude. During this episode they explore the role of positive emotions generally, and particularly the value of “thankfulness.” 1:00: Why use “gratitude” as a blanket term for positive emotions? 1:45: What benefits do positive emotions have for mental health? 5:55: Why did you choose to focus your work on increasing positive experiences rather than reducing negative ones? 8:15: What are the psychological benefits of “thankfulness?” 12:20: Critiques of telling people to ‘just be grateful for what they have.’ 17:00: Dealing with blocks to thankfulness. 23:30: How can we become more thankful? 28:25: Using gratitude to move into agency. 31:00: Recap