Psychology Of Stress In Rick Hanson's 'Just One Thing'

Shayne Jackson

Psychology of stress

Fall 2015

Due: 11/23/15

Hanson’s “Just One Thing” Reflection Paper I can see why the book would be incredibly life changing for many people; especially if you consider yourself to be a “spiritual” person. Rick Hanson’s book “Just One Thing” is, I confess, not a book I would have picked out for myself. Psychologically the way it progresses is done well and done correctly, seeming to reflect Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The first thing the book has you do is, as this portion of the book dubs it; Part one: Be Good to Yourself. This part of the book makes you focus on the thing that destroys us the most; ourselves. This chapter first has you focus on your own metal stability. Once this is done you move on to

He has you do this with part three. Doing things such as having patience by remembering what it is like on the receiving end of being rushed, and drawing on inner strength by telling yourself that you are strong enough and listing your strengths “Tell yourself that you are strong. That you can persist, cope, and prevail.” (Page 92). Once you are strong enough, at this point in the book, part four has you go out into the world, or as it calls it: Engage the World. It requests that you feel ok with not knowing answers to life’s questions while being skeptical and goes on to say in quite a few chapters to know your internal and external limitations “All you can do is tend to the causes—but you can’t control the results.” (Page 152) and be open to change and know that not everything in the world needs to be petrifying. It ends with the usually preached and rarely practiced message to be generous. Part five stays true in its message of: Be at Peace. Rick Hanson ends his novel off with the message of, albeit a bit cliché; love. Give love and receive love. Doing this will bring inner peace. He ends it by stating “If you choose just one thing from this book of practices, let it be love.” (Page

However I will say that this book was definitely a quick read. I found that most of the activities were not somethings I needed doing, because they have already been done. Those activities include things like: Don’t Take It Personally, Be Generous, Be Mindful, and others of that nature. Others activities seemed ludicrous in nature; such as: Notice You’re All Right Right Now. I thought to myself that I, personally, would not need it. I self-reflect quite often, and one thing about me I am aware of is that I am certainly not a stressful person. This very fact has gotten me out of trouble; and into it on several occasions. People, especially a few teachers, have told me that this would eventually lead to my downfall. That my lack of sense of urgency would come to haunt me. I looked inside myself and knew that they were right, and objectively I knew that that fact was true and their prediction inevitable. So I decided I needed to change. So I did. I am the type of person who can only change if they want to. Others trying to motivate or stress me out, usually get pushed to the side or into the back of my mind. I know all about breathing and staying calm. I learned that simply being calm and showing no emotion works and works well. It is incredibly amusing when people who are made or stressed and doing the exact opposite of that. I have taken psychology class before this current one. I will say it has brought new information