Jan 2, 2007
Change or Die: Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain
By: Alvaro Fernandez
We are tempted to drop it all, find a nice warm tree in the park or coffeehouse table, and simply read 2 books that have just been published. We haven’t read them since they have literally just been released today, but we are certain there will be a fun and illuminating read for anyone interested in the brain and the mind.
Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life by Alan Deutschman. Alan, a journalist for Fast Company, turns the superb article Change or Die he wrote in May 2005 into a book. We liked the article so much, that it has been at the top of our recommended Articles since then.
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves by Sharon Begley. Sharon is the Science writer at the Wall Street Journal, and here relates the 2004 Mind & Life Institute meeting between the Dalai Lama and several top neuroscientists. The book description leads with “Is it really possible to change the structure and function of the brain, and in so doing alter how we think and feel? The answer is a resounding yes.”
Hooray for Sharon Begley and the Wall ST. Journal adding common sense to behavioral changes. My new book BRAINSWITCH OUT OF DEPRESSION shows how to change your depressive neural patterns by use of simple mind exercises.
Thanks for your post. Yes, it is encouraging that there is increasing awareness of what each of us can do.
What are a couple of examples of the mind exercises you recommend?
Here’s one that works for a lot of people.
When you find yourself suddenly in some sudden pain of depression say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,yes, over and over again in your mind. Scream it if you have to in order to maintain dominance over the thought that you are in pain. Once the edge is off the pain, get into small chores or begin your daily routine, using yes, yes, yes anytime the pain comes back.
[...] A promising area of scientific inquiry for stress management is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). You may have read about it in Sharon Begley’s Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain book. An increasing number of neuroscientists (such as UMass Medical School’s Jon Kabat-Zinn and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Richard Davidson) have been investigating the ability of trained meditators to develop and sustain attention and visualizations and to work positively with powerful emotional states and stress through the directed mental processes of meditation practices. And have put their research into practice for the benefit of many hospital patients through their MSBR programs. [...]