From the Blog

The first question regarding intention is, for what? All the great wisdom traditions of the world, and all the great moral philosophers, have grappled with this question.

Practicing gratitude is an especially beneficial way to counter painful emotions and stress. Here are some thoughts and exercises about being grateful.

Learn about the long-term results effects of chronic sympathetic nervous system activation, a simple but comprehensive strategy for dampening the sympathetic nervous system and fueling the “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system and more.

This is a brief article outlining the basic steps of training your brain to retain positive experiences.

Here is a list of several insights on spiritual practice from a neuroscience perspective.

Neuroscientists have treated mice with 30 minutes of light therapy for 20 days to mimic meditation to test the effects of their behavior.

Key points about the brain and how the mind and brain can change each other.

Of course, the first question regarding intention is, for what?

All the great wisdom traditions of the world, and all the great moral philosophers, have grappled with this question. What should we want?

Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius are interviewed by Patrizia Collard from the School of Psychology, University of East London, UK.

We spoke about how Western Buddhism, transcendental learning and gratitude for opportunity all play an important role in getting in touch with your faith and finding true purpose and happiness in life.

Our intentions arise in the brain, are represented in the brain, and are pursued in the brain. Where else? Therefore, a basic understanding of how intentions work in the brain – and thus in your mind – is a very useful thing to have.

Any form of psychological development requires two fundamental activities/skills/functions: being with what is and working with what is.

Is there a particular type of mindset keeps us from finding true happiness ? For our ancestors to survive, they learned to find the bad in situations. In today’s modern age, the human mind is still programmed to latch onto the bad even though that mindset is unnecessary.

The innate neurological circuitry of your mind poses a very real challenge: positive stimuli tend to roll through it while negative stimuli get flagged and captured and deferred to. But you can consciously override those tendencies in simple and effective ways each day, by focusing on positive experiences, valuing them, and helping them sink in.

”Without gratitude, life can be lonely, depressing and impoverished. Gratitude enriches human life. It elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms, and those who practice it will experience significant improvements in several areas of life including relationships, academics, energy level and even dealing with tragedy and crisis.”

Using the will means helping yourself to want the good thing, to stick with your good resolutions and intentions easily, without white-knuckling. It’s a combination of virtue and good purposes.

In this episode – we go deep on mastering the superpower that underpins all other powers, how your brain’s automatic survival mechanism tilts you towards unhappiness, growing the mental resources to deal with the biggest challenges of your life