Hey everyone, welcome to Being Well. I'm Forest Hansen. If you're new to the podcast,

thanks for listening today, and if you've listened before, welcome back.

The central topic that we explore on the podcast is how to change. How to let go of old things,

which might include patterns, behaviors, or even earlier versions of ourselves that are

holding us back in the here and now, and how we can step into new ways of being and doing.

In order to do that, we have to be psychologically flexible, just like how physical flexibility

is the amount of stretch in our muscles, the ability they have to bend without breaking

psychological flexibility is the same quality in our own minds.

Becoming more flexible includes being open to change and possibility in general, being

able to look at a thought or emotion and appraise it in different ways, getting comfortable,

dealing with different kinds of situations, and cultivating the ability to commit to that

which we know would probably be helpful, but which is often hard to do.

So today we're going to be talking about psychological flexibility, what it means to us, and how

we can develop it. And by us, I mean that today I'm joined by a clinical psychologist,

a best-selling author, and of course my dad, Dr. Rick Hansen. So dad, how are you doing today?

Honestly, I'm really good, and I know I typically say that, and it's true when I say it.

So I'm just saying that I'm really good, and I'm especially psyched about this topic.

Well, I'm really glad to hear that. Yeah, and I'd love to know like how you think about this.

There's so much in it. I mean, in evolution, and in our persons everyday life, there's a trade-off

between flexibility and speed, flexibility and automaticity, and flexibility very much kind of

implies a semi-deliberate process of choice, which is important, but it takes time.

You know, if you're walking down the path in the jungle, and suddenly there's a sound nearby,

...