Simple but powerful mindfulness exercises bring us a wide range of benefits. You don't have to sit in lotus position or become a Buddhist. Interest in mindfulness coming out of scientific research is making it mainstream.If I were to tell you that you can learn to release yourself from stress, improve your well being, increase your emotional intelligence, make better decisions and be happier and more successful just by sitting on your butt and watching your breath for a few minutes each day, would you be persuaded? Probably not. If you think about it, that's strange because you probably do sit on your butt for much of the day and you never stop breathing. So what's the problem?
I work from a spiritual, rational, and physical perspective that is holistic and based in a philosophy that includes all three metaphysical (aspects of being) and epistemological (aspects of knowing) planes. We cannot discount the importance of the spiritual and intuitions of the heart where we talk about and experience such things as trust, faith, hope, and love. I draw my philosophical understanding from my studies of intellectual history. I particularly draw from one of my favorite philosophers, Blaise Pascal, who gave me a good argument for a spiritual, rational, and physical perspective for my practice that includes a strong theological and scientific base.
There's increasing evidence that training attention with the right kind of attitude has many benefits. Much of the scientific work has been done on depression. People who attend a course for eight weeks, going to a weekly two hour class and doing around half an hour each day over the duration of the course, works at least as well as taking antidepressants. The effects are long lasting and can be seen in changes in the brain and continuing the habit has even greater benefits.
What happens when you stand in the queue waiting to be served? What happens when you're waiting for a bus? Well, for most of us, we get bored or frustrated and our mind goes for a walk. We start daydreaming, planning or worrying. We're distracted. The thing is, what's going on in our minds has an impact on our moods and then our mood effects our thinking. We create patterns of mood and habits of thinking which feed on each other. So often this causes us completely unnecessary stress.
Researchers have found that mindfulness has a number of effects on the brain. When we focus our attention on anything, this tends to reduce the amount of thinking going on. Then the mind and the body calm a little and we get the opportunity to begin to see our patterns of thinking and feeling. After a little practice we begin to be able to uncouple our thinking from feeding back onto the way we feel. This happens as we get into the habit of paying more attention to what's going on for us in the present moment. We begin to feel things more. We're more aware of what's actually going on for us. We're better able to take a step back from situations rather than get carried away by our habits of thought. This help us to be less reactive and take things more lightly. We're able to let go of unhelpful thinking and behavior and follow a more useful course of action.
Dr. Amen by no means argues that talk therapy is not effective for treating these empirically detected 'brain disorders'. His point is not that physical things can only be treated physically but to show a fascinating explanation of thought and behavior using the brain images. For example, his research shows that depression is associated with limbic system (an area of the brain) over-activity and that bonding can decrease this over-activity (Amen, 41). One example of this is that orgasm is like a mini-seizure in the limbic system and lessens deep limbic activity (Amen, 41). He found that when a patient who was depressed had a scan before and after having passionate sex with his wife his brain scan showed his limbic activity was significantly decreased (Amen, 41). He then goes on to explain how casual sex does not work and is so damaging for many females because they have a larger limbic system than males that bonds more deaply, crashing harder when a bond is broken. He also writes that healthy bonding between mothers and children, between family, friends, and even pets affects the limbic system positively.
It often may happen that you get worried out of minor issues arising in your daily life.On the other hand, do you get frustrated when things go haphazard? Do you think that you are not happy as much as others are? Do you get angry at the slightest mistake? If these entire attitudes have covered your life, then learn some positive thinking strategies to make life easier and happier.Only an optimistic person can lead a happy and peaceful life.Now you may ask what exactly the meaning of positive thinking is and how important it is. The answer to this is positive thinking is a process of thinking everything in life or surroundings from a positive or brighter side even if it reflects a negative tone.
Understanding there may be a physical problem with the brain is therapeutic and can help us to find more ways to improve our mental health. This book is a great read and a good reference for any specific illness or mental health problem. I also would highly recommend This is Your Brain on Joy by Dr. Earl Henslin with a forward by Dr. Amen. As well as good information and explanation of the parts of the brain (he uses a cartoon) and how they are related to different patterns of thought and behavior, there are a lot of good tips for helping with specific problems including many different treatments, what foods to eat, vitamins, aromatherapy, and cinematherapy.
[How To Make Positive Changes In Your Life]
I work from a spiritual, rational, and physical perspective that is holistic and based in a philosophy that includes all three metaphysical (aspects of being) and epistemological (aspects of knowing) planes. We cannot discount the importance of the spiritual and intuitions of the heart where we talk about and experience such things as trust, faith, hope, and love. I draw my philosophical understanding from my studies of intellectual history. I particularly draw from one of my favorite philosophers, Blaise Pascal, who gave me a good argument for a spiritual, rational, and physical perspective for my practice that includes a strong theological and scientific base.
There's increasing evidence that training attention with the right kind of attitude has many benefits. Much of the scientific work has been done on depression. People who attend a course for eight weeks, going to a weekly two hour class and doing around half an hour each day over the duration of the course, works at least as well as taking antidepressants. The effects are long lasting and can be seen in changes in the brain and continuing the habit has even greater benefits.
What happens when you stand in the queue waiting to be served? What happens when you're waiting for a bus? Well, for most of us, we get bored or frustrated and our mind goes for a walk. We start daydreaming, planning or worrying. We're distracted. The thing is, what's going on in our minds has an impact on our moods and then our mood effects our thinking. We create patterns of mood and habits of thinking which feed on each other. So often this causes us completely unnecessary stress.
Researchers have found that mindfulness has a number of effects on the brain. When we focus our attention on anything, this tends to reduce the amount of thinking going on. Then the mind and the body calm a little and we get the opportunity to begin to see our patterns of thinking and feeling. After a little practice we begin to be able to uncouple our thinking from feeding back onto the way we feel. This happens as we get into the habit of paying more attention to what's going on for us in the present moment. We begin to feel things more. We're more aware of what's actually going on for us. We're better able to take a step back from situations rather than get carried away by our habits of thought. This help us to be less reactive and take things more lightly. We're able to let go of unhelpful thinking and behavior and follow a more useful course of action.
Dr. Amen by no means argues that talk therapy is not effective for treating these empirically detected 'brain disorders'. His point is not that physical things can only be treated physically but to show a fascinating explanation of thought and behavior using the brain images. For example, his research shows that depression is associated with limbic system (an area of the brain) over-activity and that bonding can decrease this over-activity (Amen, 41). One example of this is that orgasm is like a mini-seizure in the limbic system and lessens deep limbic activity (Amen, 41). He found that when a patient who was depressed had a scan before and after having passionate sex with his wife his brain scan showed his limbic activity was significantly decreased (Amen, 41). He then goes on to explain how casual sex does not work and is so damaging for many females because they have a larger limbic system than males that bonds more deaply, crashing harder when a bond is broken. He also writes that healthy bonding between mothers and children, between family, friends, and even pets affects the limbic system positively.
It often may happen that you get worried out of minor issues arising in your daily life.On the other hand, do you get frustrated when things go haphazard? Do you think that you are not happy as much as others are? Do you get angry at the slightest mistake? If these entire attitudes have covered your life, then learn some positive thinking strategies to make life easier and happier.Only an optimistic person can lead a happy and peaceful life.Now you may ask what exactly the meaning of positive thinking is and how important it is. The answer to this is positive thinking is a process of thinking everything in life or surroundings from a positive or brighter side even if it reflects a negative tone.
Understanding there may be a physical problem with the brain is therapeutic and can help us to find more ways to improve our mental health. This book is a great read and a good reference for any specific illness or mental health problem. I also would highly recommend This is Your Brain on Joy by Dr. Earl Henslin with a forward by Dr. Amen. As well as good information and explanation of the parts of the brain (he uses a cartoon) and how they are related to different patterns of thought and behavior, there are a lot of good tips for helping with specific problems including many different treatments, what foods to eat, vitamins, aromatherapy, and cinematherapy.
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