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Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Why Learn Neuroscience? A student asked me why she needed to know neuroscience. Here is my answer. I argue that science is the new story with which we must contend. If we do not know the contemporary stories of science, they will be used against us. The actual stories being told today about the brain are quite uplifting, full of hope. They include neuroplasticity and epigenetics. If we know these stories we can fight against bad neuroscience.

Joan Brunwasser: John Robbins on "The New Good Life - Living Better Than Ever In an Age of Less" One of the reasons I wrote my latest book is to provide people with simple, easy and inexpensive suggestions on how to raise their quality of life while lowering their cost of living, and at the same time lowering their ecological footprint. Learning to live with respect for ourselves and the whole earth community is no easy task in a culture that has become as out of balance as ours has.
Todd Kashdan: The Problem with Happiness Asked what is the fundamental objective of life, the vast majority of people answer quickly and definitively -- happiness. Their lives are organized around trying to be happy. Sounds good, right? Sounds even better when you read about the scientific benefits linked to happiness.
Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Explanatory Plurarlism I ask the question, what if all knowledge existed in the form of stories and all stories were true? If we practiced in this manner, as advocated by Uncle Albert, an aboriginal elder, how would we act? The notion of explanatory pleuralism argues that explanatory stories on any particular level do not have to relate to any other level of explanation; rather they must correspond to the level of which they are explaining.
Warren Davies: What is Happiness? How would you define happiness? Is it an emotion? A state of mind? A decision? Is it a reaction to things that happen to us, like pain, or is it something we can create
Saberi Roy: The Psychology of Empathy Describing empathy and delineating the stages of empathy along with the theoretical and therapeutic implications

Joan Brunwasser: Part Two: Renowned Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck on "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" It isn't the answer to all of life's problems,but my research shows it allows you to break free from the concern that challenge is dangerous(because you might not be smart enough to pull it off),that effort is undermining(because smart people don't need so much effort), and that a setback would be devastating(because it will publicly reveal your limited ability).These shrink our world, growth mindset offers a larger one.

Joan Brunwasser: Renowned Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck on "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" My most compelling story relates to what happened when we introduced the growth mindset to adolescents. We taught them that the brain is like a muscle that grows with exercise. We also taught them that, every time they stretch themselves to learn something new, their brain grows new connections and, over time, they can get smarter. It was like a lightning bolt struck. One of the boys said, "You mean I don't have to be dumb?"

Joan Brunwasser: Omega Institute's Elizabeth Lesser on "Broken Open" and Personal Transformation The hardest aspect of memoir is that it involves writing about not only oneself, but also about the people in one's life. My children, my parents, my husband, my ex-husband, my friends: none of them asked to be characters in my book. I am sure I caused discomfort for some of the folks in my life. But I did it for a reason that I still feel clear and good about.

Rick Hanson PH.D.: The Self-Transforming Brain; Excerpt from Buddha's Brain; The practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom What flows through your mind sculpts your brain. Thus, you can use your mind to change your brain for the better--which will benefit your whole being, and every other person whose life you touch. This book aims to show you how. You'll learn what the brain is doing when the mind is happy, loving, and wise.
Lewis Mehl-Madrona: Insurance Should Pay For Healing, Not Treating Numerous studies have shown that 80% of primary care visits to health care practitioners involve the ordinary suffering of daily life and not diseases that need treatment, yet we throw pills and potions at these woes as if that is their solution.

Gary Groesbeck: Integral Awakened Mind Coachingâ„¢ Expanding Anna Wise's Awakened Mind protocol into Ken Wilber's Integral Theory(AQUAL)
Rob Kall: The Politics of Responsibility, Self Regulation & Optimal Functioning Moving from an illness care model to a health and self responsibility model of health care.
Thomas Budzynski: Tuning In On The Twilight Zone FOR A BRIEF TIME as we lie in bed at night, neither fully awake nor yet asleep, we pass through a twilight mental zone that Arthur Koestler has described as a state of reverie. Many people associate this drowsy stage with hallucinatory images, more fleeting and disjointed than dreams, and compare it to the viewing of a speeded-up, jerky series of photographic slides. A host of artists and scientists have credited the...

Lewis Mehl-Madrona: The Miracle of Peacefulness Unfortunately, miracles cannot be guaranteed or produced on demand. What is more certain is our ability to cultivate a sense of peacefulness and meaning even in the face of illness. This is miraculous in itself given today's world and medical culture. So many people sit namelessly, faceless and alone on nursing home floors, passing the time before death.
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Joan Brunwasser: Chatting with Uncommon Thinker and Best-Selling Author, Robert Fulghum, Part Four Well, I wish people could say that about themselves: I do what I can do as well as I can do. And that's my part. I speak for a lot of people when I say I can't fix it all. But I can still take care of my own corner. And my corner involves writing what I write and saying what I say and hoping that it's useful.
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Joan Brunwasser: Chatting with Uncommon Thinker and Best-Selling Author, Robert Fulghum, Part Three The band that got all the press was the Rock Bottom Remainders, which was a group of writers -" Stephen King, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, people like that. And a publishers' rep in San Francisco found out that we were musicians. It was her idea that we should put this band together and we would raise money for good causes and,in the meantime, have a lot of fun. I can tell you outrageous stories.
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Joan Brunwasser: Part Two: Chatting with Uncommon Thinker and Best-Selling Author, Robert Fulghum I don't have to be in one place anymore as a writer.I've got family in Seattle.I have friends now in many places. I feel so lucky that I can go and live in a place like Bali for several months and think, "Wow, mine is not the only way to live in the world." You know that abstractly. You live in a village, you experience it; that really jars you loose from your prejudices and preconceptions.
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Joan Brunwasser: Chatting with Uncommon Thinker and Best-Selling Author, Robert Fulghum You suddenly look in the mirror and think "Why, I are a writer now. "And if they'll take that stuff,maybe if I put my mind to it, I could write something else." So, the second book, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It came along. And they traded #1 and #2 at the top of the NYT best-seller list for months. And so I thought, "Well, this is something I can do." Well, it'd be crazy not to see how far it would go.
Book Excerpt: Change Your Stories, Change Your Life I believe anyone can become... the person who experiences pain or doubt or tough times or unfairness but who maintains perspective, humor, and a sense of optimism. When this person faces difficult problems, he or she still performs at his or her best. This person is an everyday hero.

Adam Kahane: Love and Power: Book Excerpt To co-create new social realities, we have to work with two distinct fundamental forces that are in tension: power and love. This assertion requires an explanation because the words power and love are defined by so many different people in so many different ways.Power and love are difficult to work with because each of them has two sides. Both power and love have a generative side and a degenerative side
Rob Kall: Positive Perception: Learn to See the World You Want: Self Regulation of selective perceptual filtering Taking Control of Creating A Positive Attitude and A Positive Way to See the World,
Rob Kall: On Being Brave, Having Courage Today, a researcher interviewed me. He was looking for people who thought they were brave. Well, in some ways, I've considered myself to be a coward, but then, others have told me I have big cojones, so I volunteered. It was an interesting conversation that got me thinking more about bravery and courage.
Todd Kashdan: A Secret to Happiness? Discovering the Pleasures of Uncertainty Being on a national radio show is often a painful experience. Sometimes you simply lack chemistry with the host (and unlike a party there is no alcohol, and nowhere to hide). They take long, deep breaths directly into the microphone, allowing you intimate knowledge of the saliva in their throat....
Pam Oltman: Tapping the Power of Gratitude I can't remember exactly what the simple incident was (something like someone picking up something I dropped), but in that moment I recognized, truly recognized, that someone did something for me...just because they were being kind. I said "thank you", but somehow that moment made a larger impact on me than what my words were able to express. Soon I was making cards saying, "I know it may seem like a small thing that you...
Abbas Sadeghian: Prozac of the Neanderthal ,The origins of Human Religious Behavior Although ,through out history of psychology, the topic of human religiousbeavior has been referred to as a learned behavior ,There is a reasonable amount of information ,to consider the possibility of heridetory origins of human religous behavior
Warren Davies: "You can do anything you set your mind to" Vs "Stick to your strengths" What exactly does it mean to say "You can do anything you set your mind to"? It's a tribute to the power of dedication, persistence, and time, or course. It means that even against all odds, these three pillars will support your success; all you have to do is try hard enough for long enough.
Grant Lawrence: The Bodhisattva's Vow: Moving Past the Prison of the 'Self' The Bodhisattva, to me, is a state of being and not a concept that is owned by any particular religion or sect. Rather,"What makes someone a Bodhisattva is her or his dedication to the ultimate welfare of other beings, as expressed in the prayer: 'May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings'."
Rob Kall: The Art and Science of Smiling Originally Published on OpEdNewsExplores smile anatomy, pumping smile iron, smile psychomotor retardation-- Self awareness and control techniques can be used to train individuals to increase awareness and voluntary control of their emotional states, facilitating positive feelings, attitudes and expectancies. Our muscles not only move us through our world, they also mediate our experiencing of it.

Rob Kall: Smile Anatomy: Emotional Self Regulation and Facial Expression Muscle Measurement and Training an overview of the use of smile muscle training, smile biofeedback and a discussion of a number of the facial muscles involved in authentic and inauthentic smiling, plus discussion of smile psychomotor retardation-- people who have a hard time smiling and feeling good feelings

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