Rick Hanson's Blog, page 107
June 27, 2014
Using Imagery to Change Your Brain
Q: Is there any evidence that just reading the words which describe an experience will bring activity to the corresponding part of the brain?
A: There is a lot of fMRI research in which the prompt to the subject in the scanner is reading a text. Many of the texts used are emotion words or passages. So there are many examples of reading producing brain activity that is consistent with the experience the subject reports while reading the text.
More specifically, if you mean reading about an exper...
June 23, 2014
Expressing Your Intentions
Once your intentions are clear, the next question is: How to express them?
There are many ways, including:
As thoughts in your mind
As an image
In writing
As a collage with words and images
Through physical expression, posture, movement, dance
As a sense of being
When you think intentions, you know them to yourself. Putting them in explicit words is usually helps create real clarity in your mind. Some intentions co-exist as equally vital, but many times it’s important to establish what your top prior...
June 20, 2014
Friday Favorite
Here is an amazing video of a solo climb by Catherine Destivelle. Enjoy!
The post Friday Favorite appeared first on Dr. Rick Hanson.
June 16, 2014
The Nature of Enlightenment
Q: What does it mean to be enlightened – does it mean being free of suffering? Once a person reaches the first phase, can you “lose” enlightenment?
A: People define enlightenment differently. I like the expression: sudden awakening, gradual cultivation, sudden awakening, gradual cultivation, sudden awakening . . . . in lovely circle, or spiral, with no point of beginning. Or the traditional phrase: moments of enlightenment . . . many times a day.
In early Buddhism, enlightenment is conceived of...
June 13, 2014
Empathy and Brain Plasticity
In this interview with Ruth Buczynski, PhD, I talk about the evolution of the brain and the development and neuroscience of empathy.
The post Empathy and Brain Plasticity appeared first on Dr. Rick Hanson.
June 10, 2014
Kindness to You is Kindness to Me; Kindness to Me is Kindness to You
What do you need?
The Practice:
Kindness to you is kindness to me; kindness to me is kindness to you.
Why?
I usually describe a practice as something to do: get on your own side, see the being behind the eyes, take in the good, etc. This practice is different: it’s something to recognize. From this recognition, appropriate action will follow. Let me explain.
Some years ago I was invited to give a keynote at a conference with the largest audience I’d ever faced. It was a big step up for me. Legenda...
June 9, 2014
Integration of Mind and Brain
Linking of mind and brain has three important implications.
First, as your mind changes, your brain changes. Your brain changes both temporarily, millisecond by millisecond, AND it changes in lasting ways because – in the famous saying of the Canadian psychologist, Donald Hebb – “neurons that fire together, wire together.”
The fleeting flow of experience leaves behind lasting marks on your brain, much like a spring shower leaves little tracks on a hillside.
For example, the fine motor areas of p...
June 6, 2014
Being for Yourself
This practice – Being for Yourself – from page 66 in my book – Hardwiring Happiness – uses the first three HEAL steps of taking in the good.
1. HAVE – Notice any quality of being for yourself already present in the foreground or background of awareness. Perhaps you can sense or feel a determination to take care of your own needs, or good wishes for yourself. Or, create this feeling. Bring to mind a time when you were strong on your own behalf, when you self-advocated or were kind to yourself....
June 2, 2014
Grow a Key Inner Strength
What do you need?
The Practice:
Grow a key inner strength.
Why?
We all have issues – including demands upon us, stresses, illnesses, losses, vulnerabilities, and pain. (As Alan Watts put it: “Life is wiggly.”) Of course, many of our issues – in the broad sense I’m using the word here – are related to important sources of fulfillment, such as starting a business or raising a family; still, there’s some kind of challenge.
This JOT offers a basic road map for how to deal with issues – for healing, we...
Intention of Renunciation
Renunciation is founded on a disenchantment with the world and with experience, based on right view. You see through all the possibilities of experience: you see their ephemeral, insubstantial, empty qualities, no matter how alluring or seemingly gratifying. You see the suffering embedded in the experience, the “trap,” as the Buddha put it. And you see the happiness, peace, and love available in not chasing after pleasure or resisting pain.
Based on this clear seeing, you align yourself with t...
