Attachment, and Cultivating Nonattachment

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2022

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 view of yourself can lead to a lot of suffering. At the same time, there are clearly things that are sensible to be attached to – like our loved ones, a basic moral compass, and fundamentals like food and shelter. So, what’s the problem with attachment? On this episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick and Forrest Hanson discuss the problem with attachment, what differentiates healthy and unhealthy forms of attachment, and what we can do to relax attachment over time. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 2:10: Learning from Buddhism without trying to be a Buddhist 8:45: Two kinds of suffering 12:00: Distinguishing healthy desire and unhealthy desire 19:40: Markers of problematic attachments 24:10: Self-concept, and an example from Forrest of relaxing attachment 30:25: Balancing "Right View" and nonattachment 42:25: Pain and release 50:55: What’s useful for you? 55:45: Recap Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors: Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Try Splendid Spoon today and take meal-planning off your plate. Just go to SplendidSpoon.com/BEINGWELL for $50 off your first box Ready to shake up your protein Ritual? Being Well listeners get 10% off during your first 3 months at ritual.com/WELL. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Being Well, I'm Forest Hanson.
0:10.4	If you're new to the podcast, this is where we explore the practical science of wellbeing.
0:14.8	And if you've listened before, welcome back.
0:17.1	You might have heard the line, attachment is the root of suffering.
0:20.9	It comes from the Buddha, but you don't have to be a Buddhist to recognize that becoming
0:24.5	overly attached to a particular outcome, person or even view of yourself can lead to
0:30.4	a lot of suffering.
0:32.4	And there's this particular feeling of grasping or clinging, a kind of tightness that's
0:37.3	closely associated at least for me with stress.
0:40.8	But at the same time, there are clearly things that seem pretty sensible to be attached
0:44.6	to, right?
0:45.6	From our close relationship partners to friends and family to living as a reasonably moral
0:50.2	person in the world, and that's even setting aside the basic things like having enough food
0:55.2	or a secure place to live.
0:57.0	So what's the problem with attachment?
0:59.6	What differentiates problematic forms of attachment from more useful ones?
1:03.6	How can we recognize the difference between these two things and then the big question, what
1:07.9	can we do to become a bit less attached over time?
1:10.7	That's what we're going to be talking about today, and to help us learn how to do all
1:15.1	of that, I'm joined as usual by Dr. Rick Hanson.
1:18.3	He's a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and he's also my dad.
1:22.4	So dad, how are you doing today?
	...

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