Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What does mindfulness really mean? According to one fourth-grader, "Not hitting someone in the mouth." Legendary meditation teacher @SharonSalzbergVideo joins @RickHanson and me to discuss how we can work skillfully with anger, fear, and reactivity without becoming doormats or numbing ourselves out through the lens of her new children’s book Kind Karl.
We explore the protective function of anger, and how we can create more space by relating differently to our thoughts, emotions, and sense of self. Sharon shares a Buddhist lens that links anger and fear, and how looking closely at “what’s in the anger” can help us get clarity without collateral damage. Along the way, we talk about the difference between healthy moral anger and the habit of anger, how to extract the positive energy from difficult emotions without getting burned, and how lovingkindness and self-compassion can be active, strengthening forces.
About our Guest: Sharon Salzberg is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, a world-renowned teacher of mindfulness, and author or co-author of 14 books including her seminal work Lovingkindness and her first children’s book Kind Karl: A Little Crocodile with Big Feelings.
I'm not a clinician, and what I say on this channel should not be taken as medical advice.
Key Topics:
0:00 Intro and Sharon’s new children’s book
1:30 Rick and Sharon’s personal history
3:40 Making abstract concepts direct and simple
6:00 “Mindfulness means not hitting someone in the mouth.”
12:30 Equanimity, reactivity, and our relationship with pleasure and pain
27:30 Ad: Caraway
29:03 Healthy moral anger and outrage
34:17 How mindfulness decenters the self
43:53 Decoupling identity from states of suffering
50:23 Dissolving boundaries, self protection, and loneliness
1:03:09 Recap
Sponsors:
Over 100,000 people have given their Caraway Kitchen products a 5 star rating, and Caraway’s cookware set is a favorite for a reason. Visit Carawayhome.com/BEINGWELL or use code BEINGWELL at checkout.
Subscribe to Being Well on:
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/being-well-with-dr-rick-hanson/id1120885936
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5d87ZU1XY0fpdYNSEwXLVQ
Who Am I: I'm Forrest, the co-author of Resilient (amzn.to/3iXLerD) and host of the Being Well Podcast (apple.co/38ufGG0). I'm making videos focused on simplifying psychology, mental health, and personal growth.
Subscribe to Rick on YouTube: youtube.com/@RickHanson?sub_confirmation=1
Get Rick's Free Newsletters: rickhanson.com/writings/newsletters-from-dr-rick-hanson
Follow Rick Here:
🌍 rickhanson.com
📸 instagram.com/rickhansonphd
You can follow me here:
🎤 apple.co/38ufGG0
🌍 forresthanson.com
📸 instagram.com/f.hanson
What does mindfulness really mean? According to one fourth-grader, "Not hitting someone in the mouth." Legendary meditation teacher @SharonSalzbergVideo joins @RickHanson and me to discuss how we can work skillfully with anger, fear, and reactivity without becoming doormats or numbing ourselves out through the lens of her new children’s book Kind Karl.
We explore the protective function of anger, and how we can create more space by relating differently to our thoughts, emotions, and sense of self. Sharon shares a Buddhist lens that links anger and fear, and how looking closely at “what’s in the anger” can help us get clarity without collateral damage. Along the way, we talk about the difference between healthy moral anger and the habit of anger, how to extract the positive energy from difficult emotions without getting burned, and how lovingkindness and self-compassion can be active, strengthening forces.
About our Guest: Sharon Salzberg is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, a world-renowned teacher of mindfulness, and author or co-author of 14 books including her seminal work Lovingkindness and her first children’s book Kind Karl: A Little Crocodile with Big Feelings.
I'm not a clinician, and what I say on this channel should not be taken as medical advice.
Key Topics:
0:00 Intro and Sharon’s new children’s book
1:30 Rick and Sharon’s personal history
3:40 Making abstract concepts direct and simple
6:00 “Mindfulness means not hitting someone in the mouth.”
12:30 Equanimity, reactivity, and our relationship with pleasure and pain
27:30 Ad: Caraway
29:03 Healthy moral anger and outrage
34:17 How mindfulness decenters the self
43:53 Decoupling identity from states of suffering
50:23 Dissolving boundaries, self protection, and loneliness
1:03:09 Recap
Sponsors:
Over 100,000 people have given their Caraway Kitchen products a 5 star rating, and Caraway’s cookware set is a favorite for a reason. Visit Carawayhome.com/BEINGWELL or use code BEINGWELL at checkout.
Subscribe to Being Well on:
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/being-well-with-dr-rick-hanson/id1120885936
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5d87ZU1XY0fpdYNSEwXLVQ
Who Am I: I'm Forrest, the co-author of Resilient (amzn.to/3iXLerD) and host of the Being Well Podcast (apple.co/38ufGG0). I'm making videos focused on simplifying psychology, mental health, and personal growth.
Subscribe to Rick on YouTube: youtube.com/@RickHanson?sub_confirmation=1
Get Rick's Free Newsletters: rickhanson.com/writings/newsletters-from-dr-rick-hanson
Follow Rick Here:
🌍 rickhanson.com
📸 instagram.com/rickhansonphd
You can follow me here:
🎤 apple.co/38ufGG0
🌍 forresthanson.com
📸 instagram.com/f.hanson
