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"The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence"

Aired on Monday, November 18th.

On this edition of ST, we speak with Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist and author whose books include "Buddha's Brain," "Just One Thing," and "Mother Nurture." Dr. Hanson, who is also the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and is an Affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center at UC-Berkeley, has a new book out called "Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence." As we read of this fascinating, thoroughly researched book at its publisher's website: "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 but slowly from the good ones. You can change this. '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. Dr. Hanson's four steps build strengths into your brain --- balancing its ancient negativity bias --- making contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In mere minutes each day, we can transform our brains into refuges and power centers of calm and happiness." Some fairly incredible claims in that citation, yes, but this well-regarded scientist/author makes his case for us on today's program. (And you can learn more about his book here.)

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.
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