Practical Wisdom with Dr. Rick Hanson
Sep 30, 2026 · 32 min · 11 segments
Life inevitably includes both change and loss, as well as sources of steadiness, meaning, and connection that endure. In this talk, I explore how we can meet the tangles of everyday life—difficult…
Rick HansonHost
A common metaphor used by the Buddha was about getting tangled and then untangling, partly by recognizing the space between the threads.
And I want to explore with you four simple, powerful ways to disengage from, disentangle from different situations, different relationships, from disentangling from different aspects maybe of a particular relationship while staying engaged with other aspects of that relationship.
So I'm going to explore with you four really good ways to do this and also some ways to engage in, to rest yourself in that which is helpful and wholesome.
Recently, I got tangled in a situation in a team of people in which I was pressing too hard for certain good things to happen.
And, you know, there were interactions that were complicating things and tangling me up and in my mind even.
And there were different things that led me to do it, good reasons and not so good reasons.
And sometimes you recognize that you're tangled up in something because what you're trying to do isn't happening or your efforts are not helping.
Or you might be in a situation where you just start to realize that, you know, you're never gonna find any cheese [laughs] down that particular tunnel.
Or maybe you just start to realize that, you know, you're paying too high a price.
Yeah, maybe you could keep trying to squeeze a little more juice from that particular orange, but you're getting tired, it's stressful, and your energies, your time, your attention, maybe your money could be better spent elsewhere, more productively than over here where you're kind of caught up in something.
You might think about particular situations where you've gotten into a tangle with somebody, trying to make something happen that isn't happening, or maybe getting caught up in trying to make something happen inside their mind, and they don't want it to happen there.
Another example is getting caught up in a certain position about someone or something that you're really right about.
One of the markers of getting tangled up is a sense of contraction in your own body, and potentially with it, a kind of insistence, a certain must about things being a s- being a certain way or certain results occurring.
Caught in similar interactions again and again with your parents or your children or your siblings or relatives or the neighbor.
A common metaphor used by the Buddha was about getting tangled and then untangling, partly by recognizing the space between the threads.
And I want to explore with you four simple, powerful ways to disengage from, disentangle from different situations, different relationships, from disentangling from different aspects maybe of a particular relationship while staying engaged with other aspects of that relationship.
So I'm going to explore with you four really good ways to do this and also some ways to engage in, to rest yourself in that which is helpful and wholesome.
Recently, I got tangled in a situation in a team of people in which I was pressing too hard for certain good things to happen.
And, you know, there were interactions that were complicating things and tangling me up and in my mind even.
And there were different things that led me to do it, good reasons and not so good reasons.
And sometimes you recognize that you're tangled up in something because what you're trying to do isn't happening or your efforts are not helping.
Or you might be in a situation where you just start to realize that, you know, you're never gonna find any cheese [laughs] down that particular tunnel.
Or maybe you just start to realize that, you know, you're paying too high a price.
Yeah, maybe you could keep trying to squeeze a little more juice from that particular orange, but you're getting tired, it's stressful, and your energies, your time, your attention, maybe your money could be better spent elsewhere, more productively than over here where you're kind of caught up in something.
You might think about particular situations where you've gotten into a tangle with somebody, trying to make something happen that isn't happening, or maybe getting caught up in trying to make something happen inside their mind, and they don't want it to happen there.
Another example is getting caught up in a certain position about someone or something that you're really right about.
One of the markers of getting tangled up is a sense of contraction in your own body, and potentially with it, a kind of insistence, a certain must about things being a s- being a certain way or certain results occurring.
Caught in similar interactions again and again with your parents or your children or your siblings or relatives or the neighbor.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
