What
happens in your mind changes your brain, both temporarily and in
lasting ways; neurons that fire together wire together. And in what
happens in your brain changes your mind since the brain and mind are
a single,integrated system.
Therefore
you can use your mind to change your brain to benefit your mind and
everyone else whose life you touch.
People
who've practiced contemplative traditions are the “Olympic
athletes” pf the mind. Learning how they've trained their minds and
thus their brains reveals powerful ways to have more happiness.
Wisdom and love.
The
brain evolved to help you survive but its three primary survival
strategies also make you sufferer’s
Virtue,
mindfulness and wisdom are the pillars of everyday well-being,
personal growth and spiritual practice; they draw on the three
fundamental neural functions of regulation, learning and selection.
The
path of awakening involves both transforming the mind/brain and
uncovering the wonderful true nature that was there all along.
Small
positive actions every day will add up to large changes over time as
you gradually build new neural structures.To keep it you need to be
on your own side.
Wholesome
changes in the brains of many people could help tip the world in a
better direction.
Three
fundamental strategies have evolved to help us pass on our genes,
creating separations, stabilizing systems and approaching
opportunities while avoiding threats
Although
these strategies are very effective for survival, they also make you
suffer.
The
effort to maintain separations is at odds with the myriad of ways
you're actually connected with the world and dependent upon it. As a
result you may feel subtly isolated, alienated, overwhelmed or as if
you're in a struggle with the world.
When
the systems within your mind, body and relationships become unstable,
your brain produces uncomfortable signals of threat. Since everything
keeps changing, these signals keep coming.
Your
brain colors experiences with a feeling tone – pleasant, unpleasant
or neutral – so you'll approach what's pleasant, avoid what's
unpleasant and move on from what's neutral.
In
particular we evolved to pay great attention to unpleasant
experiences. This negativity bias overlooks good news, highlights bad
news, and creates anxiety and pessimism.
The
brain has a wonderful capacity to simulate experiences but there's a
price. The simulator pulls you out of the moment, plus it sets you
chasing pleasures that aren't that great and revisiting plans that
are exaggerated or not even real.
Compassion
for yourself helps reduce your suffering.
Some
physical and mental; discomforts are inevitable, unavoidable. These
are the first darts of life
When
we react to a first dart with one or more of the Three Poisons of
greed, hatred or delusion (broadly defined) each one of which has a
craving in it's center – we start throwing second darts at
ourselves and others. In face we often toss second darts even when BO
first darts it found. Most poignantly we sometimes throw second darts
as a reaction to situations that are actually good, such as receiving
a complement.
Suffering
is deeply embodied. Physical reactions involving your sympathetic
nervous system (SNS) and hypothalmic pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA)
cause suffering to snowball throughout your body.
Most
people experience chronic second dart cascades with numerous negative
consequences for their physical and mental health
The
rest and digest parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) calms down
SNA/HPAA activation.
The
best odds prescription for a long, good life is a baseline of mainly
PNS arousal with mild SNS activation for vitality combined with
occasional SNS spikes for major opportunities or threats.
Being
with whatever arises, working with the tendencies of mind to
transform them, and taking refuge in the ground of being are the
essential practices of the path of awakening. In many ways. These
practices correspond respectively to mindfulness, virtue and wisdom.
On
the path of awakening, keep going! Lots of little moments of practice
will gradually and truly increase your contentment, kindness and
insight.
To
gradually replace negative implicit memories with positive ones, just
make the positive aspects of your experience prominent and relatively
intense in the foreground of your awareness while simultaneously
placing the negative material in the background.
Imagine
that the positive contents of your awareness are sinking down into
old wounds, soothing chafed and bruised places like a warm, golden
salve, filling up hollows, slowly replacing negative feelings and
beliefs with positive ones.
The
negative material you're working with could be from adulthood
including current experiences. But it's often important to address
explicit and implicit memories from your childhood, since these are
usually the taproots of the things that keep upsetting you. People
sometimes get angry with themselves about still being affected by
things from the past. But remember the brain is designed to change
through experiences, particularly negative ones. We learn from our
experiences, particularly the ones that happened during childhood and
it's natural for that learning to stick with us.
I've
pulled a lot of weeds in my life. Frequently when I haven't pulled
out the whole root system, the weeds have returned. Upsets are like
that too. So sense down to the youngest, most vulnerable, most
emotionally charged layers in your mind and feel around for the tip
of the root of whatever is bothering you. With a little practice and
self understanding, you'll develop a short list of “usual
suspects,” the deep sources of your recurring upsets and you'll
start routinely considering them if you feel irritated, anxious, hurt
or inadequate. These deep sources might include feeling unwanted by
others due to a difficult childhood or being unpopular in school, a
mistrust of intimacy due to a painful break up,a sense of
helplessness due to a chronic illness... When you find the tip of the
root, take in the good that will gradually dislodge its hold on you
so that you'll be pulling weeds and planting flowers in the garden of
your mind.
Painful
experiences are often best healed by the positive ones that are their
opposite. Fr example replacing childhood feeling sod being weak with
your current sense of strength is effective. If sadness from
mistreatment in an old relationship keeps surfacing, recall being
loved by other people and let those feelings sink in. Add the power
of language by saying something like this to yourself: I got
through all that. I'm still here and many people love me.
You
won't forget what happened but it's emotional charge will decrease.
Try
not to do this in a desperate way but to find a good balance e.g.
when you have a positive experience today really let it sink in to
old pains and should negative material arise today, bring to mind the
positive emotions and perspectives that will be it's antidote.
Research shows that negative material is most vulnerable to change
just after it's been recalled so practice adding the positive within
that same hour.
Add
a more risky piece and do something your mind knows isn't harmful but
worry wants you to avoid like telling someone how you really feel
right now... When the results turn out to be good as they most likely
will, take them in and slowly but surely clear out all those old
fears. Most often taking in the good takes between a few seconds and
a minute. It;s a private act that no one needs to know you're doing.
But over time you really can build new positive structures in your
brain.
Explicit
memories are conscious recollections of specific events or other
information. Implicit events are residues of past experiences that
largely remain below awareness but powerfully shape the inner
landscape and atmosphere of your mind.
Unfortunately
the bias of the brain tilts implicit memories in a negative direction
even when most of your experiences are actually positive.
The
first remedy is to consciously look for and take in positive
experiences. There are three simple steps: turn positive facts into
positive experiences, savor these experiences and sense them sinking
in.
When
experiences are consolidated in memory, they tale with them whatever
else is also in awareness, especially if it is intense. You can us
this mechanism to infuse positive material into negative material;
this is the second remedy. Simply have a positive experience be
prominent in awareness while the painful one is sensed dimly in the
background. Use this method in two ways: when you have a positive
experience, help it to sink into, soothe and replace old pains; when
negative material arises, bring to mind emotions and perspectives
that are its antidote.
Become
aware of the deep roots of recurring upsets. The tips of these roots
are typically lodged in childhood; different upsets amy have
different experience roots. Deliberately direct positive experiences
toward these roots in order to pull them out completely and stop them
from growing back.
Every
time you take in the good, you build a little bit of neural
structure. Doing this a few times a day for months and even years
will gradually change your brain and how you feel and act in far
reaching ways.
It's
good to take in the good. It builds up positive emotions, with many
benefits for your physical and mental health. It's a great resource
for kids, especially spirited or anxious ones. And it aids spiritual
practice by supporting motivation, conviction and wholeheartedness.
