Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life

by Winifred Gallagher

regions that are linked to this optimistic, goal-oriented orientation.

The discovery that a focusing regimen can have profound impacts not only on a person’s ability to concentrate but also on his or her basic emotional disposition is particularly significant, because temperament has traditionally been regarded as highly stable and resistant to change.

this function can be strongly modified by your experience, which in turn greatly depends on how you direct your attention.

“That’s the process that ultimately determines who you are and what you do.”

Not only how you focus, but also what you focus on can have important neurophysiological and behavioral consequences.

that concentration on positive emotions improves your affect and expands your focus.

Davidson speculates that deliberately focusing on feelings such as compassion, joy, and gratitude may strengthen neurons in the left prefrontal cortex and inhibit disturbing messages from the fear-oriented amygdala.

When you aren’t doing anything in particular but are just “at rest,” your brain’s so-called default mode kicks in. This baseline mental state often leads to inward-looking, negative ruminations

focusing workouts can make you more focused, engaged with life, and perhaps even kinder.

To maintain an optimum level of any complex skill takes work, and like great athletes and virtuosos, great meditators continue to drill intensively.”

Just as a good gym routine includes both upper- and lower-body exercises, an ideal attentional regimen would target both cognitive and affective fitness with a combination of exercises that strengthen concentration and benignity.

Meanwhile, “just as you have to search for the right kind of physical exercise program that meshes with who you are, you might have to spend some time finding out which of the hundreds of kinds of meditation you really enjoy and can commit to.”

Most people could meditate daily, and the more you practice, the better you get. Our data directly correlate the number of hours spent with the magnitude of the changes in the brain signals.”