Dr. Rick Hanson and Self-Development

Dr. Rick Hanson is an author plenty of readers already recognize, and much of that comes down to how easily he connects with the people who pick up his work. He holds a Ph.D., and he has landed on the New York Times best-seller list. Writing is one of the main ways he carries his ideas about personal development out into the world, and by that measure he has reached a wide audience. He has produced four books along with other reading guides.

The four titles are Hardwiring Happiness, available in 14 languages; Buddha's Brain, which has been translated into 25; Just One Thing, also out in 14 languages; and Mother Nurture.

As a psychologist, Hanson spends his time teaching the practical skills people use day to day: how to build well-being, how to keep growing emotionally, and which techniques actually help. The methods carry over into family life, friendships, romantic relationships, and parenting. Meditation matters to him personally, and he has practiced across several traditions. He sat on the board of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center for nine years, from 1999 to 2008, and ran weekly sessions in San Rafael, California.

Away from his career he keeps a full set of interests. Sailing, reading, rock climbing, and travel all appear on the list, as does simply spending time with friends and family.

He grew up near Los Angeles in a close family, and by his own account he was a shy kid. He started at UCLA at 16 and graduated summa cum laude in 1974. His record there put him among four students in his senior class chosen for the UCLA Alumni Association, a rare distinction.

Hanson is also a husband and father. Becoming a parent changed how he saw the whole enterprise. It turned out to be far more complicated than it looked from the outside, rewarding but not simple, and he and his wife wanted a way to tell other parents the truth about it and walk with them through the harder parts. That impulse produced Mother Nurture, a book that gets into the real pressures families carry and how to pull a household back together. It digs deeper than most parenting books tend to. His other writing grows out of the same personal development work, and pieces of it have run in well-known newspapers and magazines.

The years right after UCLA were busy. He founded a seminar company, did probabilistic risk analysis alongside a mathematician, and worked as a managing consultant, all within a short span. At the same time he was studying for a master's in developmental psychology at San Francisco State University. In 1991 he earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute, where his dissertation carried the title "Gratifying Control: Mothers Offering Alternatives to Toddlers."

His clinical practice has brought him families, couples, adults, and children. He assesses clients' psychological well-being and looks at the surrounding pieces of their lives, including how they are doing at school or work, their temperament, and more. Years spent as a school psychologist across a number of schools gave him knowledge he now shares with parents, children, and development specialists. For a long stretch he helped the board of FamilyWorks, an agency serving families in Marin County, California, and he has served as a trustee at Saybrook University.

Hanson has built a life with a lot in it, and he is not slowing down. The achievements are there, but what stands out is how much of his energy goes toward helping other people and getting the most out of his own days. In the personal development field, he is someone worth paying attention to.

- Cara Havens