Status Updates From Buddha's Brain: The Practic...

It's as if we live at the edge of a waterfall, with each moment rushing at us—experienced only and always now at the lip—and then zip, it's over the edge and gone. But the brain is forever clutching at what has just surged by.

interesting stuff

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Interesting and engrossing! Hope something fruitful comes out of it!!

awesome medical scientific perspective on the spiritual side of neuroscience

Maybe- I am listening to it. Could be a very interesting book but there is so much repetition there that it's a bit off-putting.

Awesome! Getting my fingers limbered up for some review-writing. No, really! This time I really will...

FEELING SAFER: "no longer likely" imagined companionship is still connection. triad of victim/prosecutor/protector. the nurturer does not flatter or *make things up*. "dark nights of the soul." "do all that you can, with all that you have, in the time that you have, in the place where you are." -nkosi johnson. "lean into the future"-reach. the longer the view, the wiser the intentions.

how to do it—practical applications. "i am larger, better than i thought, i did not know i held so much goodness." -walt whitman. turning positive FACTS into positive EXPERIENCES. "let the experience fill your body and be as intense as possible." CHANGE YOUR BRAIN. "being kind to yourself, cultivating wholesome experiences, and taking them in." getting to the "tip" of the "root" of what's bothering you—active effort.

much talk of the video clips to which sw referred in session on wednesday, 7/20. the mini-movies "reinforce painful emotions." "even in your dreams." discussion of self-compassion, which is "more emotional" than self-esteem. "when you're closed to your own suffering, it's hard to be receptive to suffering in others." "may i be happy again. may the pain of this moment pass." darts.

excellent wisdom in passages re: neuroscience and suffering. "only we humans worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the future." "we suffer *that* we suffer." many simple statements reaffirming spirit≠body. "you have to be on your own side." i wonder about a statement on p.43: "hatred is an aversion to sticks." is it?

sw, md, psychiatrist, loaned me her copy. it's always strange/interesting reading through someone else's yellow highlighter. i spilled water on the corner of the book so i'll need to re-highlight her passages in a new copy. which, i guess, means i can start pink-highlighting this sucker up.

Amazing. This was a gift from my longtime lab manager, confidential advisor and friend Gin. It explains the wisdom and contentment of Buddha in terms of underlying brain mechanisms, drawing on recent studies in neuroscience and neuropsychology. A how-to guide for contentment, with practical tips and chapter summaries. Outstanding. Thanks, Gin!

Just made it to part one of this book. I'm pretty sure it isn't what some of my friends were expecting it to be, but so far its been a joy to read. The book genre is one of my guilty pleasures and it fills the gap perfectly.

Basically its shakes down the ideal that one has control over ones thoughts and as such has the ability to seed happiness into ones life.

Slowly working my way through...

Still totally digging this book.