Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

transcendental

temple. I have seen Rick and Richard offer

distributed, passionate motivation. These two networks are woven

Bring Mindfulness to Fear Anxiety, dread, apprehension, worry, and even panic are just mental states like any other. Recognize fear when it arises, observe the feeling of it in your body, watch it try to convince you that you should be alarmed, see it change and move on. Verbally describe to yourself what you’re feeling, to increase frontal lobe re

Some refuges are ineffable, though potentially more profound: confidence in the power of reason, feeling connected with nature, or a basic intuition of the fundamental alrightness of all things.

Most fears are exaggerated. As you go through life, your brain acquires expectations based on your experiences, particularly negative ones. When situations occur that are even remotely similar, your brain automatically applies its expectations to them; if it expects pain or loss, or even just the threat of these, it pulses fear signals. But because

So sense down into the youngest, most vulnerable, most emotionally charged layers of 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

If you’re feeling ambitious, do something additional: take small risks and do things that reason tells you are fine but worry wants you to avoid—such

The art is to find a balance in which you remain mindful, accepting, and curious regarding difficult experiences—while also taking in supportive feelings and thoughts. In sum, infuse positive material into negative material in these two ways: When you have a positive experience today, help it sink in to old pains. When negative material arises, bri