Science of the SpiritS


People 2

Practical ways to boost empathy

Dan Fries
Collective Evolution
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:19 UTC
empathy
What if you had no friends?

You would have no one to turn to and cry with, laugh with, share secrets with, go hungry together with, or just be plain and silly you with. There would be a void and empty hollow where a familiar and cherished person should be. As lonely as it looks, there wouldn't be anyone to empathize with and comfort you in that sadness.

Whenever we go through trials and challenges in life, there will always be people we turn to for help. Depending on what we're going through, we crave for people to understand because they've either gone through the same problem before or are currently going through it as well.
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Hearts

Children's mental health issues are helped by simplifying their lives

Tracy Gillett
Raised Good
Fri, 04 Mar 2016 14:03 UTC
childhood child mental health
© Tracey Gillet
When my Dad was growing up he had one jumper each winter. One. Total.

He remembers how vigilantly he cared for his jumper. If the elbows got holes in them my Grandma patched them back together. If he lost his jumper he'd recount his steps to find it again. He guarded it like the precious gift it was.

He had everything he needed and not a lot more. The only rule was to be home by dinner time. My Grandma rarely knew exactly where her kids were.
They were off building forts, making bows and arrows, collecting bruises and bloody knees and having the time of their lives. They were immersed in childhood.
But the world has moved on since then. We've become more sophisticated. And entered a unique period in which, rather than struggling to provide enough parents are unable to resist providing too much. In doing so, we're unknowingly creating an environment in which mental health issues flourish.

Comment: Further reading

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Hourglass

Productive confusion can be good for you

Jason M. Lodge
The Conversation
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 17:41 UTC
confused woman
© Flickr/Tactical Technology, CC BY-SA
Confusion is a common aspect of our lives but it can be useful and perhaps even necessary, particularly when we are trying to learn something.

Confusion is typically experienced when we are confronted with new information. It is particularly likely to happen when the information we encounter is complex, counter-intuitive or unlike anything we've experienced before.

When this happens it can be difficult to reconcile the new incoming information with what we already know.

For example, we might find a maths problem confusing because we don't know what the mathematical symbols mean or have difficulty with calculations.

Confusion occurs because the prior knowledge we have leaves us ill-equipped to deal with new information.
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Family

Sense of entitlement can lead to poor relationships, interpersonal conflicts, and depression

Rick Nauert
PsychCentral
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 19:20 UTC
it's all about me
A new study suggests a belief in entitlement can lead to dire psychology and social costs.

Case Western Reserve University researchers discovered entitlement, defined as a personality trait driven by exaggerated feelings of deservingness and superiority — may lead to chronic disappointment, unmet expectations, and a habitual, self-reinforcing cycle of behavior.

In a new theoretical model, investigators mapped how entitled personality traits may lead to a perpetual loop of distress.

The findings appear in the Psychological Bulletin.

"At extreme levels, entitlement is a toxic narcissistic trait, repeatedly exposing people to the risk of feeling frustrated, unhappy, and disappointed with life," said Joshua Grubbs, the primary author of the paper and a recent Ph.D. graduate from Case Western Reserve.

Comment: See the articles below for more information:

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Info

New research shows mental activity can be consciously controlled

Tia Ghose
Live Science
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:28 UTC
Brain activation
© NSFAn example of brain activation from the Neurovault database. Red areas are activated by a particular task, blue areas are deactivated.
People who can "see" their brain activity can change it, after just one or two neurofeedback sessions, new research shows.

People in the study were able to quiet activity in the amygdala— an almond-shaped brain region that processes emotions such as fear — after seeing simple visual or auditory cues that corresponded to the activity level there, according to a new study published in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings reveal the incredible plasticity of the brain, the researchers said.

The new technique could one day be used as an inexpensive treatment for people with anxiety, traumatic stress or other mental health conditions, said study co-author Dr. Talma Hendler, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the Tel Aviv Center for Brain Functions in Israel.

"I see it as a very good tool for children and for people who we don't want to give medication," Hendler told Live Science.
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Hearts

How our emotions affect our health

Gregg Braden
Upliftconnect
Sun, 07 Aug 2016 18:47 UTC
emotions
The quality of our emotions determines the instructions our hearts send to our brains
In each moment of every day, a conversation is taking place inside us that's one of the most vital we will ever find ourselves engaged in. It's the silent, often subconscious, and never-ending conversation of emotion-based signals between the heart and the brain. The reason this conversation is so important is that the quality of the emotional signal the heart sends to the brain determines what kind of chemicals are released into our bodies.

When we feel what we would typically call negative emotions (for instance, anger, hate, jealousy, and rage), the heart sends a signal to the brain that mirrors our feelings. Such emotions are irregular and chaotic, and this is precisely what the signals they send to the brain look like.

Comment: Read more about how emotions affect health:

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Family

Journaling: Therapeutic enrichment for you & your family

Ty Bollinger
thetruthaboutcancer.com
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 16:18 UTC
journaling
Growing up, I remember my middle school English teacher getting us kids to write down some of the things we did and experiences we had that left an impression on us. She encouraged us to keep this up in the form of a written journal. She told us that one day we would really appreciate being able to look back and relive with fondness each of the coming-of-age milestones that were important to us at the time. Keeping a journal would also push us to ponder how these unique events impacted our lives and help shape us into the adults we became.

I'm sad to say that I didn't listen to my teacher and faithfully take detailed life notes of all the memorable goings on of my teenage years and beyond. I do still have some of my old school notes documenting a few of these cherished memories, which I'm deeply appreciative that my mom saved so that I have them now.

My teacher was right: these written memories mean more to me now than I could ever have imagined. Not simply for purposes of nostalgia, but also as a type of family heirloom that I can pass on to my children, who can then pass it on to their children, and so forth.

How could childhood notes in any way benefit my kin, you might be asking yourself? Well, one of the things I've come to realize is that journaling isn't just about scrawling the minute details of one's personal life across the pages of a private diary in order to keep them under lock and key...

Comment: Read more about writing for better mental and physical health:

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Heart

Transforming lives by nurturing the growth of empathy

Roman Krznaric
UpliftConnect
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
empathy

Are We Living in the Age of Empathy?

If you think you're hearing the word "empathy" everywhere, you're right. It's now on the lips of scientists and business leaders, education experts and political activists. But there is a vital question that few people ask: How can I expand my own empathic potential? Empathy is not just a way to extend the boundaries of your moral universe. According to new research, it's a habit we can cultivate to improve the quality of our own lives.

But what is empathy? It's the ability to step into the shoes of another person, aiming to understand their feelings and perspectives, and to use that understanding to guide our actions. That makes it different from kindness or pity. And don't confuse it with the Golden Rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." As George Bernard Shaw pointed out, "do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you—they might have different tastes." Empathy is about discovering those tastes.

The big buzz about empathy stems from a revolutionary shift in the science of how we understand human nature. The old view that we are essentially self-interested creatures is being nudged firmly to one side by evidence that we are also homo empathicus, wired for empathy, social cooperation, and mutual aid.

Comment: Further reading:

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Attention

Keeping the confusion going: Triangulating tactics of pathological liars

Támara Hill, MS, LPC
PsychCentral
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
lying
Do you know someone who engages in telling multiple lies, even when you or someone else has caught them? Do you know someone who seems to manipulate others with his or her lies? If so, this article is for you.

As a therapist working with children and adolescents, I have seen my fair share of lies and juvenile delinquent behaviors which included pathological lies. Although we have all had to tell a "while lie" or two or minimize a situation to keep the peace, pathological liars lie for the simple fact of pleasure, manipulation, or to get what they want. To make matters worse, some pathologically lie for no apparent reason. Sadly, mental health professionals are largely uninformed about this insidious and evil behavior. We lack research and knowledge about pathological lying and have been unable, for centuries, to explain why it happens and how it develops.

As a result, society remains very uninformed about pathological lying and is often shocked when someone close (a family member, friend, co-worker, etc.) begins sharing their lies and untruths.

This article will highlight some of the common behaviors of pathological liars. I will also explain triangulation.
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Post-It Note

When you don't like yourself: Learning how to let go of self-hatred

Alex Lickerman. M.D.
Psychology Today
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:50 UTC
Caregivers
It turns out the fastest way to heal and start caring for ourselves is to help and care about others
Some people have the misfortune to have been born to abusive parents who belittled them and prevented them from developing a healthy self-esteem. Others are born predisposed to view themselves in a negative light because of their physical appearance, a disability, or for no reason anyone, including themselves, knows. Research has consistently supported the notion that it's difficult to be happy without liking oneself. But how can one learn to like oneself when one doesn't?

What parts of ourselves do we dislike?

People filled with self-loathing typically imagine they dislike every part of themselves, but this is rarely, if ever, true. More commonly, if asked what specific parts of themselves they dislike, they're able to provide specific answers: their physical appearance, their inability to excel academically or at a job, or maybe their inability to accomplish their dreams. Yet when presented, for example, a scenario in which they come upon a child trapped under a car at the scene of an accident, that they recoil in horror and would want urgently to do something to help rarely causes them to credit themselves for the humanity such a reaction indicates.

Why do self-loathers so readily overlook the good parts of themselves? The answer in most cases turns out to relate not to the fact that they have negative qualities but to the disproportionate weight they lend them. People who dislike themselves may acknowledge they have positive attributes but any emotional impact they have simply gets blotted out.

Comment: Negative qualities and the narratives attached to them are not the full measure of who we are and we do not need to define ourselves by what those narratives say. No matter how much the negative introject can make it seem like you are worthless or no good, it's important to remember to try and keep things in perspective. Part of the reason why being of service to others can be invaluable for self-worth and self-esteem is because taking an interest in the lives of others helps us to see that we aren't the center of the universe, and neither are our negative qualities.

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