I am delighted to bring to you neuropsychologist, meditation teacher and author of the hit new book Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, Rick Hanson, Ph.D. Rick is co-founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, which also publishes the monthly Wise Brain Bulletin and hosts the WiseBrain.org website. He is also author of the Meditations for Happiness audio download and co-author of the Meditations to Change Your Brain CD set. Today Rick talks to us about how we can use our minds to change our brains, to help our minds in everyday life. Elisha: You quote a popular phrase that came from Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb, saying that “neurons that fire together, wire together.” Can you let us in on the significance of this quote? Rick: Hebb and others were trying to understand how we learn things, from remembering what we had for breakfast to the emotional learning that is the residue of happiness – at one end of the spectrum – and trauma, at the other end. In other words, how does mental activity change neural structure? A pretty important question! Hebb developed the theory, since borne out in its essence by subsequent research, that it is the simultaneity of firing (within a few thousandths of a second) of neurons that are connected with each other that leads to strengthening existing synapses – which are the junctions between neurons – and to building new ones.

Here's a question to consider (and this isn't one of the two): When the mind pops up with the statement "I am such a failure," what is the underlying value that it is in cahoots with? We all have values in life, some we're aware of and some we're not. Values are the road signs that guide us in the direction we want our life to go. Maybe we value good physical or mental health or perhaps being a good friend or politically active member of society. But values aren't always pointing us in healthy directions and sometimes we're not even aware of what our values are. Perhaps we value never failing or never being vulnerable. Or maybe it is a hidden value that we must always be right. Where do these values get us? I promise you that you care about where you are going in life. The simple fact that you are reading this post right now tells me that you care about your health and well-being.

If you've been following recent developments in the field of psychology or neuroscience or if you've been following my postings, you've heard the term neuroplasticity before. This term refers to the discovery in recent years that the brain is actually malleable throughout the lifespan and we have the ability to grow new neural connections. This has tremendous implications for our mental health and anything that has to do with human training, both hopeful and detrimental. Now, this isn't the first time this idea has come up. In the late 1800s, Freud hypothesized about this calling it the law of association by spontaneity, and in recent years neuroscientists have come up with the catchy saying, "neurons that fire together, wire together." In other words, how and what we pay attention to has tremendous implications for how our brains grow.

There is a tradition on the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy blog. Every Monday, I cite a quote or a poem that is related to mindfulness and psychotherapy in some way and then explore it a bit and how it is relevant to our lives. For me, quotes and poetry can often sink me into a state of greater understanding. So for today, here is a quote by Kahlil Gibran from his writing On Joy and Sorrow: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. In the past few years there's been a big push on "Happiness" and how to get there. If you follow my blog, you know that I frequently reference and even at times review books in the self-development field. Where a lot of these books miss the boat is in the very wisdom of Gibran's words. He continues: Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Today I bring back Dr. Daniel Siegel to talk with us how to use Mindsight to work with our fears. If you missed his earlier interviews, you may want to check out The Power of Mindsight and Mindsight and Blue Man Group. Dan received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. He is the co-editor of a handbook of psychiatry and the author of numerous articles, chapters, and the internationally acclaimed text The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. He has also published a wonderful book on parenting with Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., Parenting From the Inside Out. His breakout book in the field of mindfulness is The Mindful Brain, which explores the application of this newly emerging view of the mind, the brain, and human relationships. His newest book, which I am thrilled about, is Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. Dan has been invited to work with some esteemed people as a result of their interest in his work including: the U.S. Department of Justice, The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, Microsoft and Google, early intervention programs and a range of clinical and research departments worldwide. He has been invited to lecture for the King of Thailand, Pope John Paul II, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

There is a tradition on the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy blog. Every Monday, I cite a quote or a poem that is related to mindfulness and psychotherapy in some way and then explore it a bit and how it is relevant to our lives. For me, quotes and poetry can often sink me into a state of greater understanding. This is a special day as it marks the release of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. So, I'm going to begin with something from the book. We open up A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook with a very appropriate poem by Mary Oliver, entitled "The Journey": One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice— though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried.

There is a tradition on the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy blog. Every Monday, I cite a quote or a poem that is related to mindfulness and psychotherapy in some way and then explore it a bit and how it is relevant to our lives. For me, quotes and poetry can often sink me into a state of greater understanding. So for today, here is a quote by Tara Brach: When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is. Well, here we are again, the “shoulds.” Or the classic saying, “I need to stop shoulding on myself.”

Loss is an unavoidable fact of life that we all experience, and it can come in all forms from job loss, divorce, unemployment, relocation, and of course, the most obvious, the death of someone we love. The truth is, for most of us, we’d love nothing more than to forget about the word “death” and to move on with life, turning the other cheek. The problem is, when we lose sight of the experience of loss, we also lose sight of the preciousness of the moment and of life. In a previous blog post here, psychotherapist and author Susan Berger, Ed.D., LICSW, talked about her own struggles with loss at a very young age. She said: “I was reminded about my own mortality, and my sense of urgency to experience life as much as possible and make a difference in the world.”

There is a tradition on the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy blog. Every Monday, I cite a quote or a poem that is related to mindfulness and psychotherapy in some way and then explore it a bit and how it is relevant to our lives. For me, quotes and poetry can often sink me into a state of greater understanding. So for today, here is a quote by Rumi: Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

There is no question about it, the interest in Mindfulness-Based Interventions to work with people experiencing a variety of “disorders” and also in healthy individuals is growing at a rapid pace. There has been research ...