More on Meditation and Your Brain
Friday, October 16th, 2009 | Tags: meditation, mindfulness, neuroscience | Leave a Comment »The last Greater Good post discussed how years of meditation practice can physically alter the brain in ways that help us manage our emotions and boost our skills of attention. But if you haven't already been meditating for years, don't ...
Can Meditation Make Your Brain Stronger?
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | Tags: aging, meditation, mindfulness, neuroscience | 3 Comments »If we want to build up strong muscles, we assume we’ve got to hit the gym and lift some weights. But what if we want to strengthen our brains? Try meditation, according to a recent study. In the study, published in ...
Forgiveness and Mindsight
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Tags: Forgiveness, events, mindfulness | 1 Comment »This Friday, the Greater Good Science Center will be hosting “Forgiveness and Mindsight,” the fifth seminar in its “Science of a Meaningful Life” series. It’ll be an all-day event held at De Neve Plaza Auditorium on the UCLA campus. There’s ...
Aging in Reverse: A Review of Counterclockwise
Friday, September 25th, 2009 | Tags: aging, happiness, health, mindfulness, positive psychology | 1 Comment »In Counterclockwise, Ellen Langer, a renowned social psychologist at Harvard, suggests that our beliefs and expectations impact our physical health at least as much as diets and doctors do. She argues that, as we grow older, our physical limitations are ...
Military Intelligence Meets Emotional Intelligence
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | Tags: emotional intelligence, emotional literacy, mindfulness, positive psychology, violence | 4 Comments »The top story on the front page of today's New York Times reports that the U.S. Army is going to require that its soldiers--all 1.1 million of them--take an intenstive training course meant to strengthen their emotional resilience. "The training, ...
Testing Positive Psychology
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | Tags: Forgiveness, Generosity, compassion, development, gratitude, happiness, helping behavior, meditation, mindfulness, motivation, optimism, prosocial behavior, psychology, self-actualization | 1 Comment »Are there really steps people can take to increase their overall happiness and life satisfaction? For the past decade, researchers in the positive psychology movement have tried to identify effective, everyday strategies for making people happier. Recently, researchers Nancy L. Sin ...
What happens when compassion hurts?
Friday, May 8th, 2009 | Tags: Uncategorized, compassion, empathy, goodness, helping behavior, human nature, mindfulness, violence | 3 Comments »This is the edited transcript of a May 7 talk I gave to the nurses of UC Berkeley Health Services on surviving compassion fatigue. I’m going to warn you: This is a somewhat difficult talk, full of paradoxes. I’m going ...
Just in Time for Mother’s Day
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | Tags: children, compassion, empathy, family, health, meditation, mindfulness, parenting, psychology, trust | 1 Comment »It’s a shame Mindful Motherhood by Cassandra Vieten (New Harbinger, 2009) wasn’t around when I became a parent. I remember waking up to my crying baby and feeling a mixture of fatigue, confusion, and resentment as I rose from our ...
