Hello and welcome to Being Well, I'm Forest Hanson.

If you're new to the podcast, this is where we explore the practical science of wellbeing.

And if you've listened before, welcome back.

You might have heard the line, attachment is the root of suffering.

It comes from the Buddha, but you don't have to be a Buddhist to recognize that becoming

overly attached to a particular outcome, person or even view of yourself can lead to

a lot of suffering.

And there's this particular feeling of grasping or clinging, a kind of tightness that's

closely associated at least for me with stress.

But at the same time, there are clearly things that seem pretty sensible to be attached

to, right?

From our close relationship partners to friends and family to living as a reasonably moral

person in the world, and that's even setting aside the basic things like having enough food

or a secure place to live.

So what's the problem with attachment?

What differentiates problematic forms of attachment from more useful ones?

How can we recognize the difference between these two things and then the big question, what

can we do to become a bit less attached over time?

That's what we're going to be talking about today, and to help us learn how to do all

of that, I'm joined as usual by Dr. Rick Hanson.

He's a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and he's also my dad.

So dad, how are you doing today?

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