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I rewired my brain in six weeks

bbc.com

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Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#41

Post by DoreenMichele »

isaacfung wrote: post #19
moscoe wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practicing mindfulness/meditation is good for the brain

It seems to me the interesting thing is that they showed there was some measurable change in the brain scan after six weeks. Her amygdala has reduced in size while the cingulate cortex has increased in size, although they didn't say by how much.

And we don't actually have any means to prove those brain changes were caused by mindfulness.

It could be coincidence.

I'm not dismissing it, but we have no means to go back in time, split her in two and examine a copy of her brain after six weeks without mindfulness as the control.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#42

Post by keyrat »

bheadmaster wrote: post #18
guntherhermann wrote: post #8

I took a 'mindfulness' course a couple of years back, and the biggest benefit for me was learning to be grateful. It sounds riduclous typing it out but there it is. Practicing gratitude daily, e.g. giving myself reasons to be thankful for my lot in life is 1) really easy to do, and 2) takes about 5 minutes. The rest of it felt like new-age hippy trash, if I'm completely honest.

Grateful/thankful to whom, exactly? It seems to me that the popular (American) practice of gratitude is just a substitute for Christianity, filtered out not to mention any deities explicitly, but still containing references to them implicitly. I consider universe a random and chaotic place. In that worldview, there is nobody to be grateful/thankful to, so the practice of gratitude doesn't make sense.

Serious question: are you making this comment to justify being cynical? I can’t tell if you’re being neutral or not.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#43

Post by Jensson »

igor47 wrote: post #36
bheadmaster wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I would prefer to live in a world where people can say what they mean, without having to censor or sugarcoat their speech because someone else prefers not to hear their words. Different people have different preferences. Can't you just leave it at that? Why do you have to go around telling people not to say stuff you dislike in a public forum?

If you truly believe what you just wrote, why did you write it? Didn't you, in effect, dislike what I said and tell me not to say it? The whole point of forums is to productively disagree and hopefully learn something. It's not sugar coating to avoid being casually mean or dismissive -- it's advancing the very reason we're supposedly here.

Original attacked a concept, you attacked an individual. Don't equate the two.

The first person who starts to attack an individual will be told to stop, that is the only reasonable way to make people stop attacking individuals so we can argue freely.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#44

Post by tlb »

guntherhermann wrote: post #8

I took a 'mindfulness' course a couple of years back, and the biggest benefit for me was learning to be grateful. It sounds riduclous typing it out but there it is. Practicing gratitude daily, e.g. giving myself reasons to be thankful for my lot in life is 1) really easy to do, and 2) takes about 5 minutes. The rest of it felt like new-age hippy trash, if I'm completely honest.

I did the same, and found a different subset of techniques useful, and the rest new-age nonsense.

There are studies showing mindfulness works, but they've only tested the whole smorgasbord of techniques vs. placebo. I guess it would cost a lot more to test each one individually.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#46

Post by mdp2021 »

atoav wrote: post #11

I can't help but feel that obsessively mindful people always seem to have some deeper underlying issues that they need to cope with. I know a guy who for years went into all kind of new-age seminars, practised mindfulness constantly and then in a moment he told me about his traumatic event that has plagued him since childhood. All the mindfullness was practised because deep down he felt at unease. Don't get me wrong,…

> all the time

In order to correct a bad tendency, you have to exercise effort (as resistance) in all the spans in which the tendency may show.

Suppose for example you are standing: you have consolidated the function and the effort is optimal - but if you tended to fall you would have to spend more.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#47

Post by vidarh »

bheadmaster wrote: post #18
guntherhermann wrote: post #8

I took a 'mindfulness' course a couple of years back, and the biggest benefit for me was learning to be grateful. It sounds riduclous typing it out but there it is. Practicing gratitude daily, e.g. giving myself reasons to be thankful for my lot in life is 1) really easy to do, and 2) takes about 5 minutes. The rest of it felt like new-age hippy trash, if I'm completely honest.

Grateful/thankful to whom, exactly? It seems to me that the popular (American) practice of gratitude is just a substitute for Christianity, filtered out not to mention any deities explicitly, but still containing references to them implicitly. I consider universe a random and chaotic place. In that worldview, there is nobody to be grateful/thankful to, so the practice of gratitude doesn't make sense.

Gratitude does not require an object. You can have the feeling without feeling it towards anyone or anything.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#48

Post by rockbruno »

I think it's really sad that despite all of the evidence that meditation is good for you, people still treat it as some kind of pseudo-science hippie non-sense.

It makes sense why people would think that since this started as a religious exercise (and also because to this day there are still lots of people who connect the two in their practice), but you can simply not do that. I treat it simply as an exercise to make my brain calm down from stress and anxiety and it has been extremely helpful for me.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#49

Post by atoav »

mdp2021 wrote: post #46
atoav wrote: post #11

I can't help but feel that obsessively mindful people always seem to have some deeper underlying issues that they need to cope with. I know a guy who for years went into all kind of new-age seminars, practised mindfulness constantly and then in a moment he told me about his traumatic event that has plagued him since childhood. All the mindfullness was practised because deep down he felt at unease. Don't get me wrong,…

> all the time In order to correct a bad tendency, you have to exercise effort (as resistance) in all the spans in which the tendency may show. Suppose for example you are standing: you have consolidated the function and the effort is optimal - but if you tended to fall you would have to spend more.

I don't think so. If you want to be more sporty, because you are overweight the lasting solution isn't going to be to try to be sporty all the time, because that is a too big jump. It is going to be to move more when you can and have make a small sustainable habit of doing a sport acrivity — and you do this on top of adressing other root causes of your overweight, which may be psychological and have to do with the food you're eating.

Don't fet me wrong, I have nothing against mindfulness, as I said it can be very good to be mindful. But as I said I have met quite some people who talk about practising it who do not come across as the balanced individuals they believe themselves to be.

I still don't believe being mindful all the time is good. Maybe being "meta-mindful" — so to be aware when it is also good to tap into other modes of perception — is better.

Re: I rewired my brain in six weeks

#50

Post by psiops »

bheadmaster wrote: post #31
guntherhermann wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For being able to see For having all of my digits Clean drinking water Effectively infinite light at my fingertips (most of humanity couldn't do much when it got dark). The world's knowledge. So much food that I have to monitor how much I eat so I don't get too fat. For having a loving family, friends. For being given the opportunity to go to university. For having a career that pays well. That's just on the top of m…

I'm not asking for reasons. I'm asking: whom are you grateful to?

In your case, just substitute "feeling gratitude for positive things in your life" with "consciously acknowledge positive things in your life".
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