Our Plastic Thoughts
Did you know your brain is plastic! The brain is a substance that can easily be shaped or molded. NY Times best seller Dr. David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain notes in the foreword of New Beliefs, New Brain that researchers not only demonstrated that the human brain remains in a dynamic sate of renovation, but moreover, […]
Feeling Good Creates Lasting Memories
What if you could squeeze all the richness and vitality out of your experiences and program that into your memories so that each time you remembered it you accessed vivid and alive detail? What would you choose to hold onto? What would you then pay attention to? It has been proposed that stimulating dopamine, […]
Empathy and Analysis…They Just Might be Mutually Exclusive
When we empathize the analytical part of our brain becomes inhibited, and conversely when we are stuck in analysis we are unable to empathize according to a recent study done by Case Western Reserve University. So perhaps a comprehensive approach to life is about balance. What if every time you were analyzing you gave yourself moments […]
Wake Up or Die More Quickly Trying
Wake up or you might continue to experience each day primed for disease and negativity. Our prefrontal cortex regulates attention and thoughts with vast amounts of neural connections and a system of arousal and neurotransmitters. If we take no action, our default system favors error detection, threat response, excessive stress, and even disease. Science shows […]
Stress is Killing You
Are you setting yourself up for a stress related disease? Are you shortening your own lifespan? Over time, the allostatic load of stress on the body can no longer be mitigated by the sympathetic nervous system. We end up with impaired immunity, atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, bone demineralization, atrophy of brain nerve cells, hippocampus damage, growth […]
A Fear-Orientation is Killing You!
In our modern world of green-house fears, war atrocities, environmental pillaging, and global threats the social media is rife with stories of conspiracy, fear, and apocalyptic preparedness. What is this focus doing to us? While it’s not advisable to put our heads in the sand and ignore the direction of current events, we can effect […]
How to be Less Impulsive and More Big Picture
Recent research published in this summer’s Journal of Neuroscience noted that increasing levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex curbed one’s tendencies towards impulsivity and supported a more “larger, later” mentality. So how does one do this? During moments of focused attention, learning something new, experiencing a novel stimulation, or completing a task from your […]
Seeing in Black and White…Not Just a Metaphor
We sometimes refer to perspectives as “black and white” where there’s little room for moral negotiation. This is actually more than just a metaphor. Recent studies show that when one reads information on a black and white background, such as a newspaper, the information is perceived to have less moral wiggle room as information read […]
How Close is that Looming Spider…Really?
The things we fear tend to appear larger, closer, and perhaps more ready to pounce than they really are. A recent study published in Current Biology notes that in controlled studies individuals rated fearful images as closer than they actually were. You know how quickly you are to react and snap to judgements when you […]
Getting Rid of Unwanted Memories
There is likely an ethical debate that could ensue around the art of removing or rewriting unwanted memories. Perhaps words like denial or delusion come to mind. But let’s pretend for a moment that neither of these things is an issue. IF our memories keep us locked in negative patterns, AND we know that each […]
