Podcast Summary: Change Your Brain Every Day

Episode: Tana's Top Meditation to Overcome Negative Thoughts & Anxiety
Hosts: Dr. Daniel Amen & Tana Amen
Date: December 5, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Tana Amen's favorite meditation technique for overcoming negative thoughts and anxiety: Loving Kindness Meditation. Designed to help listeners foster positive emotions, decrease negativity, and cultivate emotional resilience, the episode blends practical instruction with motivational science, guiding listeners through each step of the meditation process.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Meditation Myth

• Addressing Misconceptions (00:14–00:38)
  • Many people struggle with meditation because they believe they're supposed to “think about nothing.” The instructor clarifies that meditation is not about emptying the mind, but about refocusing thoughts.

2. Introduction to Loving Kindness Meditation

• Overview and Research-Backed Benefits (00:40–01:20)
  • Loving Kindness Meditation focuses on cultivating goodwill and positive emotions, shown to decrease pain, social prejudice, anger, anxiety, depression, and even PTSD.
  • “Loving kindness meditation focuses on feelings of goodwill and positive emotions while decreasing negative ones.” — Meditation Instructor (00:40)

3. Settling the Body & Mind

• Physical Preparation (01:20–01:32)

  • Listeners are asked to find a comfortable, supported seated position.

• Breathing Deeply (01:23–02:07)

  • Instruction in diaphragmatic breathing: inhaling and exhaling slowly, with attention on the breath’s effect on the belly and heart region.
  • “Do that a couple more times. Let go of any worries or concerns.” — Meditation Guide (02:00)

4. The Loving Kindness Practice

• Step 1: Directing Kindness Inward (02:19–03:39)

  • Participants repeat affirmations toward themselves:
    • “May I be safe and secure.”
    • “May I be healthy and strong.”
    • “May I be happy and purposeful.”
    • “May I be at peace.”
  • Listeners are encouraged to truly feel the intentions as they repeat them.

• Step 2: Directing Kindness Toward a Loved One (04:05–05:23)

  • The same well-wishes are repeated for someone the listener feels gratitude for.
  • “Visualize this person and say, ‘May you be safe and secure...’” — Meditation Guide (04:20)

• Step 3: Directing Kindness Toward a Neutral Person (05:23–06:47)

  • Listeners bring to mind an acquaintance they feel neutral about, sending them the same affirmations.
  • Suggestions include everyday people, like someone at the dry cleaner or a teacher.

• Step 4: Directing Kindness Toward a Difficult Person (07:04–08:54)

  • The most challenging step: Send loving kindness to someone with whom there’s conflict, pain, or resentment.
  • “This is the most important part of the meditation. If it takes you a moment, that's okay.” — Meditation Guide (07:32)

• Step 5: Wishing Well to All Beings (09:06–09:24)

  • The meditation concludes by extending wishes of safety, health, happiness, and peace to all beings:
    • “May all be safe and secure.”
    • “May all be healthy and strong.”
    • “May all be happy and purposeful.”
    • “May all be at peace.”

5. Reflections on Forgiveness & Healing

• Embracing Forgiveness (09:39–10:19)
  • The instructor acknowledges the difficulty of extending kindness to those who’ve hurt us.
  • “Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools you have to heal yourself. And even though it's hard to forgive other people, if you can't do it for them, consider doing it for yourself.” — Meditation Instructor (09:49)
  • Letting go of anger “is one of the best things you can do for your physical health, your mental health, actually to decrease stress hormones for your heart, for chronic disease, for chronic pain.” — Meditation Instructor (10:07)

Memorable Quotes

• “Every day you are making your brain better or you are making it worse.”
  — Host (00:02)

• “People think they have to think about nothing...this is a misconception.”
  — Meditation Instructor (00:17)

• “Loving kindness meditation actually decreases symptoms of pain, social prejudice, anger, anxiety, and even depression and PTSD.”
  — Meditation Instructor (00:48)

• “Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools you have to heal yourself. And even though it's hard to forgive other people, if you can't do it for them, consider doing it for yourself.”
  — Meditation Instructor (09:49)

• “To let go of anger is one of the most challenging things, but one of the best things you can do for your physical health, your mental health.”
  — Meditation Instructor (10:07)

Notable Segments & Timestamps

• Dispelling Meditation Myths: 00:14–00:38
• Benefits of Loving Kindness Meditation: 00:40–01:20
• Guided Diaphragmatic Breathing: 01:23–02:07
• Self-Directed Loving Kindness: 02:19–03:39
• Extending Kindness to Loved Ones: 04:05–05:23
• Including Neutral People: 05:23–06:47
• Kindness Toward Difficult People: 07:04–08:54
• Universal Wishes: 09:06–09:24
• Forgiveness as Healing: 09:39–10:19

Tone & Style Commentary

The meditative guidance is gentle, reassuring, and invitational—giving listeners full permission to go at their own pace and revisit challenging segments. Tana Amen’s voice is compassionate and pragmatic, making the session approachable for both meditation newcomers and those seeking specific tools for anxiety relief.

Summary

This episode is a practical, science-informed invitation to rediscover emotional wellbeing through Loving Kindness Meditation. With careful instructions, scientific insights, and honest acknowledgment of emotional challenges, Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen provide listeners with a concrete tool for combating anxiety, negative thoughts, and stress—building not only inner resilience, but also deeper connections with others and the world at large.