A small but interesting study by scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital shows that just 8 weeks of meditation is correlated with structural changes in the brain.

It's just another bit of data showing that how we think changes who we are. Or, more succinctly, brains are amazing!

"Remember the last time you sifted through old photographs, daydreamt about bygone days? I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for nostalgia.

But does nostalgia make us feel sad and alone?

Well a series of studies published in Psychological Science reveal that sentimental thoughts actually heal loneliness ( Read more... )

The full article, Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain, is about twice the length of the quote below.

"Recently, a growing body of research has focused on a particular mental limitation, which has to do with our ability to use a mental trait known as executive function. When you focus on a specific task for an extended period of ( Read more... )

The presence of a receptor that regulates general serotonin activity in the brain correlates with people's capacity for transcendence, the ability to apprehend phenomena that cannot be explained objectively.

"The Effects of Serotonin on Spirituality"
Huffington Post, July 21, 2008

Perseverance is the hard work you do
after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

~Newt Gingrich

One may go a long way after one is tired.

~French Proverb

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

~Japanese Proverb

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

I'm trying to stay off the computer today -too many other things to do- but I just had to note today's Doonesbury strip. It contains an excellent example of cognitive behavioral therapy.

I'm impressed.

I've finished the first three chapters of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, by Daniel L. Schacter. By the time I'd finished the introduction I was in love with the author ( Read more... )

"A person has an inferiority complex only to the degree that he cannot accept himself as having or being less than conceived perfection in selected areas ( Read more... )