Endorsements

These are great practices – wise and straightforward, scientific and nourishing. They can transform your life.
– Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of The Wise Heart, A Path with Heart

If you are looking for bite-sized daily practices that can open your heart and clear your mind, Just One Thing deserves to be at the top of your reading list. Grounded in fascinating science, psychological understanding and timeless wisdom, this book offers a rich assortment of entirely simple, doable ways you can find more happiness and ease.
– Tara Brach, Ph.D., author of Radical Happiness: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha

Just One Thing is more than just one more thing for you to read…it is Rick Hanson’s gift of four decades’ of learning about how to live with wisdom and peace.  This book is filled with a year’s weekly reflections as small, easy to understand lessons on how to live a meaningful life that will offer you new insights that will surely enHanson your life!  These small essays explore the essential questions of our times:  How do we find inner clarity in the face of outer turmoil?  How do we feel less stress and learn to be more at home in our own skin?  This gem of a book is filled with treasures that will build your relationships with others—and with yourself!  I loved soaking in the clarity and sincerity of these offerings that invite us to enter life with more vitality and to live each day to the fullest. Feast on these pages and enjoy!
– Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., Clinical Professor, UCLA School of Medicine. Executive Director, Mindsight Institute. Co-director, UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Author: Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation and Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind

By giving us simple practices to re-wire our neural networks, Rick Hanson is literally re-minding us about what is truly important.  I plan to devote a week to each of the fifty-two practices, taking this next year to cultivate the compassion at the heart of this book.
– Gordon Peerman, D.Min., author of Blessed Relief: What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists about Suffering

Most people want to be happier, healthier, less stressed and more self-accepting, but it’s often hard to find time to work toward these goals.  The brilliance of this book is that it gives powerful, targeted practices that can be done easily throughout the day to help people reach their highest potential.
– Kristin Neff, PhD., Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin, author of Self-Compassion

Delightfully clear and practical, this book distills profound insights from ancient wisdom traditions, modern psychology, and cutting-edge neurobiology into simple techniques anyone can use to live a happier, saner, more rewarding life. I felt more awake and alive after reading just a few pages.
– Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School; author, The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems

Rick Hanson brings his compelling perspective—he is both a neuropsychologist and an experienced meditation practitioner —to this pragmatic consideration of wisdom practices. Down to earth and inspiring, Just One Thing is a companionable guidebook for inner travelers on a path of transformation, written by one who knows the territory well.
– Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness and Lovingkindness

The word that comes to mind reading this gently wise book is kindness. Rick Hanson has a kindness that pervades the pages as well as a grounding in science and spirituality that is rare. Peace and subtle change can arrive for you as you read and put into practice the compassionate and simple but powerful ideas and practices contained in Just One Thing.
– Bill O’Hanlon, featured Oprah guest and author of Do One Thing Different

Is it improper to be begged by someone you don’t know to buy a book? Then call me improper because I am begging you to give yourself the miracle of Rick Hanson’s grounded science and earthy spirituality. Keep this book close by while giving copies to everyone you love.
– Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Life Organizer 

Rick Hanson has done the work of us—distilling decades of self-inquiry and key psychological research into 52 essential skills for healthy, happy living. This deceptively simple book is a trustworthy guide to living our lives more deeply and fully.  Read, practice, and your brain will surely return the favor.
– Christopher K. Germer, PhD, author, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Just One Thing is full of simple, down-to-earth steps you can take to experience greater happiness and love in your life. Based in brain science but written beautifully from the heart, this book is a gem.
– Marci Shimoff, author of Happy for No Reason

What a way to go through life! Simple yet profound practices that train the brain, open the heart and enhance well-being. Rick Hanson provides the map. If you follow it, you’ll surely increase your happiness and awaken your joy!
– James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy: Ten Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness

All of these tiny “prescriptions,” each one wrapped around a nugget of wisdom, make a happy life seem feasible and within easy reach.
– Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D., author of Happiness Is An Inside  Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life

Just One Thing is a very wise, sincere, and heartfelt offering to living well. Rick Hanson skillfully guides you through 52 accessible and down to earth practices that can transform your outlook in life and health.
– Bob Stahl, Ph.D., co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook and Living With Your Heart Wide open: How Mindfulness Can Free You from Unworthiness, Inadequacy, and Shame

This gem of a book is the perfect follow-up to Rick Hanson’s brilliant Buddha’s Brain. In Just One Thing, we are offered dozens of easy-to-learn practices that slowly work their magic on our brains, making it possible for all of us to dwell in the peaceful contentment of a buddha. Just One Thing is one of those rare books that becomes a lifelong companion—never far out of reach.
– Toni Bernhard, author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers

With Just One Thing, Rick Hanson has written a superb book that takes on the huge challenge of trying to live well and makes it doable by offering a sensible “divide and conquer” approach. Each of the 52 chapters defines a clear target and, utilizing Hanson’s  excellent and practical methods, encourages a gentle and regular practice of focus that fosters the gradual evolution of frames of mind and skills that can truly make a difference.  Hanson’s  ability to inspire the reader  with powerful  insights, enlightening research findings, compassion, and a mindful clarity of purpose make this one of those uncommon books I will enthusiastically recommend to those who want to take their quality of life to a higher level.
– Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and author of Mindfulness and Hypnosis and Depression is Contagious

This book provides finely chiseled stepping stones on the path to lasting well-being and fulfillment. Rick Hanson has honed them with his unique, trustworthy blend of wisdom, clarity, and great love.
– Raphael Cushnir, author of The One Thing Holding You Back: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Connection

An “owner’s manual for the brain” written in the simple intuitive language our brains understand — short, pithy, easily-digestible nuggets that you can feel and remember. Extrapolating from neuroscience, skillfully sychronizing it with the insights of psychology, and dharma, Rick did the practice of describing his practice here, and it shines through every page — sane, helpful, deeply reassuring, and yet strong, clear, and penetrating — a helpful guide you can trust.
– Terry Patten, author of  Integral Life Practice

Just One Thing is just the thing for people who have full lives, and can sometimes find only brief interludes for reflection and self-improvement. But don’t be fooled: these bite-size chapters hold scientific insight, practical tools, and simple, direct, profound wisdom that will nourish your brain and your being as you navigate through daily life.
– Cassandra Vieten, PhD is director of research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and author of Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life and Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Child’s First Year.

Just One Thing is a brilliant, concise, and wise recipe book for people who want to live with greater ease, joy, and skill. It clarifies the five foundations of living a great life and provides powerful practices to help people live more fully. While the form in which Just One Thing is written may appear simple, the messages are deep, profound, and useful. I highly recommend this book to anyone who dreams of thriving.
– Daniel Ellenberg, Ph.D., President, Relationships That Work

Rick Hanson speaks from experience. He offers us simple, accessible and fun insights and exercises that have real psychological benefits and practical value for a better life.”
– Elisha Goldstein, PhD, author of The Now Effect and co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

Anyone who thinks neuroscience is for the erudite will be pleasantly surprised by Rick Hanson’s new book. Just One Thing has many, many things in store for readers, especially those interested in maximizing their brain potential, and in fact their life potential in general. Hanson not only presents a vast array of tried-and-true wisdom, but spells out how each principle can be applied day by day, and backs everything up with scientific understanding.
– Stan Tatkin, Psy.D., Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA School of Medicine. Author of Wired for Love: How Understanding Your Partner’s Brain Can Help You Defuse Conflicts And Spark Intimacy

Just One Thing is just about everything you could want from a self-help book! It offers fascinating bits of information from recent neuroscience about our brain and nervous systems, along with simple exercises that can help us overcome our inherited programming. Just One Thing is a singular gift to us all!
– Wes Nisker, Buddhist meditation teacher, author, performer