Cultivating Compassion Through Meditation

Science Daily has an article about some research Drs. Davidson and Lutz have done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It involves neuroimaging of meditators engaged in compassion practices compared with a control group of non-meditators. Results suggest that compassion is a quality that can be cultivated through practice.

Read the full article here.

Kahneman on Happiness

At a recent TED Conference, Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize winning psychologist, gave a talk about an intriguing theory where he differentiates memories of happiness from the ongoing experience of happiness.It seems to me that his idea has interesting implications for the study of mindfulness.

In traditional notions of mindfulness, a person spends more time in the present moment -- according to Kahneman's theory, for this person, their experiential happiness would then be more influential. A person who is less mindful would spend more time thinking about past episodes of their life and thus be more influenced by remembered happiness. Perhaps a person who is more mindful will not be as influenced by memories of past unhappiness (or happiness) and vice-versa with a person who is less mindful. To me this was an interesting idea that could fairly easily be translated into a study, if it hasn't already.

Steve Hayes on Mindfulness, Prejudice, and Compassion

I first saw this talk by Steve Hayes, the primary creator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, when he presented it at a conference in Philadelphia. At the time I was greatly moved and I saw several others around me who also had tears in their eyes. I'm glad its been put online where others can see this moving and controversial presentation. In this presentation, he does an excellent job of showing how a scientific view of mindfulness can be applied to the issue of human objectification and dehumanization.


http://www.globalpres.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=017fe6ef4b1544279d8cf27adbe92a51

Nine Ways That a Meditating Brain Creates Better Relationships

In Psychology Today, Marsha Lucas, PhD, authored an article on why she recommends mindfulness meditation to couples as a way to improve their relationship. Dr. Lucas does a nice job of tying together some of the neuroscience research in explaining how meditation may affect the brain in a way that mediates more adaptive responding.