Rick Heller

This week we talk to Rick Heller about secular meditationRick Heller is the author of the new book, Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy — A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard.Rick leads weekly meditations at the Humanist Community at Harvard.Rick received a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MITIn This Interview, Rick Heller and I Discuss:The One You Feed parableHis new book, Secular Meditation: 32 practices for cultivating inner peace, compassion & Joy (A guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard)How in the brain, two negatives do not equal a positiveWhat a "Humanist" isA secular view of meditation & mindfulnessOther types of meditation other than breath focused meditationHow there's no such thing as an inherently negative stimulusWhat face meditation isHow the muscles in your face can affect your inner speechHow to relate to emotions with mindfulnessThat recognizing an emotion actually brings it's feeling back toward neutralWhat "positive equanimity" isThe difference between cognitive reappraisal and positive thinkingDifferent approaches to help us achieve "mindfulness of life"When you're more "in your head" about something than you are collecting sensory information about something, you're really just dealing with abstractionsSkepticism surrounding the concept of "no self" as a goal to pursueHis working definition of enlightenmentA secular version of the serenity prayerFor more show notes visit our websiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.