Science of the SpiritS


Butterfly

The more you regularly experience gratitude, the more self-control you have

Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
gratitude, thanks
When an emotion can be more powerful in curbing impulsiveness than thoughts.

Being grateful helps to increase self-control and reduce impulsive behaviours, new research finds.

People who cultivate gratitude towards everyday events are also more patient.

Professor David DeSteno, one of the study's authors, said:
"We can all point to the five things in our lives that we're most grateful for, but if we keep thinking about those, we'll habituate to them—they're going to stop being interesting.

Those kinds of daily gratitude boosters will function like a vaccine against impulsiveness and enhance self-control and future orientedness."

Comment: The benefits of practicing gratitude are countless. Feeling grateful helps release toxic emotions such as frustration, envy, regret and resentment and increases our sensitivity and empathy toward others.

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Light Saber

Traits of extremely smart people that have nothing to do with IQ

Yvonne Holterman
Enlightenend Consciousness
Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
reading, intelligence
You're probably smarter than you think you are, if you seldom assume you're smart at all. So the less intelligent you assume yourself to be, the smarter you probably are.

Years ago researchers discovered that smartness does not equal intelligence. Intelligence is systematically measurable and defined as an ability to acquire new knowledge and skills and to use them.

Genuinely smart people do not have to be 'brainiacs'. Most often than not, they will go through school being average, never drawing attention to themselves by being stellar performers, athletes, or spelling bee champions. Their unique skill set will help them out more in the real world, which is not boxed into a set of academic rules and expectations. Highly intelligent people have the upper hand in a well-organized, structured environment, but they will still often be outperformed by smart individuals who might not be their intellectual equals.

Mental proficiency and ability can be categorized in different ways. A popular manner is 'book smarts' and 'street smarts'. 'Book smarts' refers to academically focused mind, good at abstract thought, but bad at common sense and simple relationships.

'Street smarts' is the opposite strong common sense, good with real world situations, but bad at academic study. There is a group of people that fit within both groups. These people are truly intelligent and use their brilliance to adapt and grow as needed to any situation.

Comment: Being genuinely smart also implies having a high degree of emotional intelligence and self-awareness:

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Cloud Precipitation

Emotional self-abuse: How we can be our own worst enemies

Adam Gilad
PsychCentral
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
negative self-talk, emotional abuse
He is a multimillionaire client of mine. Handsome. Accomplished. Respected. Gentle. Reflective. Kind.

And I was examining every angle of why he was allowing a clearly destructive woman (borderline personality disorder) out of his life. He agreed over and over again that she was bad for him, that she felt no remorse, that suddenly abandoning partners was her longtime modus operandi, and yet, he couldn't let go.

With enough digging, a story emerged.

"I was small as a kid. I was the last guy picked for all the teams. I guess I'm afraid nobody will pick me again if I can't get her back."

So he was telling himself, "You're not good enough! Why would anybody ever pick you?" He was his own best emotional abuser.

Stories of emotional abuse fill magazines and newspapers (and Lifetime movies), but little is said about how we often do the job on ourselves first. It's easy to see how partners abuse each other — we can hear the insults and witness the behaviors — but what happens when the denigrating talk, shaming, threatening and behavioral choices happen inside one's own head?

What happens is that the behavior — unspotted by those who care — persists.

Comment: Critical self-talk destroys the spirit, but we can train ourselves to replace those ugly messages with a more balanced perspective. Listening and identifying the critic by slowing down and paying more attention to our unconscious thought processes is the first step. With more awareness, we can then take steps to distance ourselves by refusing to listen, and then begin to grow a stronger inner voice that can respond with statements that are supportive and we know to be true.

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Bulb

Why are we so bored? We live in a world of constant entertainment - but is too much stimulation boring?

Sandi Mann
The Guardian
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 16:00 UTC
bored
© Sportsphoto/AllstarNothing to do: the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, in which five students endure a day’s detention
It amazes me when people proclaim that they are bored. Actually, it amazes me that I am ever bored, or that any of us are. With so much to occupy us these days, boredom should be a relic of a bygone age - an age devoid of the internet, social media, multi-channel TV, 24-hour shopping, multiplex cinemas, game consoles, texting and whatever other myriad possibilities are available these days to entertain us.

Yet despite the plethora of high-intensity entertainment constantly at our disposal, we are still bored. Up to half of us are "often bored" at home or at school, while more than two- thirds of us are chronically bored at work. We are bored by paperwork, by the commute and by dull meetings. TV is boring, as is Facebook and other social media. We spend our weekends at dull parties, watching tedious films or listening to our spouses drone on about their day. Our kids are bored - bored of school, of homework and even of school holidays.

Comment: 'I'm bored!' -- Research on attention sheds light on the unengaged mind

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Butterfly

The Japanese tea ceremony: Chado, "the way of tea"


Traditional Medicinals
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 02:19 UTC
tea ceremony
Like so many traditional Japanese arts, the formal tea ceremony called chado, or "the Way of Tea," is an ode to harmony—in this case, the harmony between tea, art, nature, organic materials, and people. Highly influenced by Zen Buddhism, chado has been used as a sacred and meditative ritual in Japan throughout the ages. From the processing of the tea to the way it is served, all aspects of the ceremony demand mindfulness and care. While chado is typically a privileged experience of the elite, you certainly don't need attend a formal ceremony to infuse its spirit into your everyday tea drinking rituals. The powdered green tea present in the ceremony, matcha, can be purchased in specialty stores, and we sell the more common leafed green tea as a primary ingredient in our certified organic line of Fair Trade, blended green teas.

Comment: See also: Dandelion root: Immune system builder & anti-cancer properties

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Folder

Flashback Can't see images in your mind? You may have aphantasia

Carl Zimmer
New York Times
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 20:57 UTC
blank brain
© Jordan Isip
Certain people, researchers have discovered, can't summon up mental images - it's as if their mind's eye is blind. This month in the journal Cortex, the condition received a name: aphantasia, based on the Greek word phantasia, which Aristotle used to
describe the power that presents visual imagery to our minds. I find research like this irresistible. It coaxes me to think about ways to experience life that are radically different from my own, and it offers clues to how the mind works. And in this instance, I played a small part in the discovery.

In 2005, a 65-year-old retired building inspector paid a visit to the neurologist Dr Adam Zeman at the University of Exeter Medical School. After a minor surgical procedure, the man - whom Adam and his colleagues refer to as MX suddenly realised he could no longer conjure images in his mind. Adam couldn't find any description of such a condition in medical literature. But he found MX's case intriguing. For decades, scientists had debated how the mind's eye works, and how much we rely on it to store memories and to make plans for the future. MX agreed to a series of examinations. He proved to have a good memory for a man of his age, and he performed well on problem-solving tests. His only unusual mental feature was an inability to see mental images.

Comment: Read Blake Ross' Facebook account of his experience with aphantasia here.

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Bulb

The drawing effect: Improve your memory by drawing pictures

Joe Battaglia
Prevent Disease
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 20:21 UTC
girl with dragon
A recent study showed that drawing helps to create a more cohesive memory trace that better integrates visual, motor and semantic information and a significant recall advantage for words that were drawn as compared to those that were written.

From caffeine to specific herbs, memory can be enhanced in so many ways. However, drawing pictures of information that needs to be remembered has been found to be a strong and reliable strategy to enhance memory.

The study showed that drawing helps to create a more cohesive memory trace that better integrates visual, motor and semantic information.

Comment: See also:

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Candle

How to perform a "despacho" ceremony: A portal to the soul of the world

Lissa
Lissa Rankin, MD
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 14:41 UTC
Despacho Ceremony
When I stayed in a Q'eros village at 16,000 feet in the Andes last year, I was blessed to participate in several "despacho" blessings performed by the Q'eros shamans. To the Q'eros, the primary spiritual principle is one of "ayni," which refers to a sort of spiritual reciprocity. They believe that "Pachamama" (Mother Earth) is inherently nurturing when all is in balance. When things go awry and this reciprocity is not honored, Pachamama withholds her blessings and may even become hostile. The fields may not yield as many potatoes, and natural disasters may destroy their homes or their people.
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No Entry

The importance of saying "No" in a healthy life

Mark Sisson
Mark's Daily Apple
Thu, 21 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
woman holding her hands up saying no
© www.annaaparicio.com
In the health and fitness arena, taglines often sell the idea of "accept no limits." After all, we're supposed to believe in ourselves, push through boundaries, improve exponentially and show them all, right? Dramatic images, big numbers and extreme makeovers get the spotlight. And when people work hard for what they achieve, I think it's great. My own primary focus on MDA is helping people live their best life with the least amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice possible. To that end, I offer ample positive advice for what to do. Inherent to the bigger picture, however, (and just as critical in my opinion) is the skill of discerning what not to do. Today I'm talking limits—and how knowing where to draw the line is essential to living an awesome life.

I know we all live in a culture of "more is better." At various points of my life I've been tempted by that siren song. (I am a former Cardio King after all.) And yet the last few decades have affirmed a very different truth for myself and for others I've observed.

Because of the work I do, I meet a lot of people who are motivated to live a healthier life. It's one of the things I love most about what I do in fact. And, yet, as a result I also see the full spectrum of behavior around "healthy" action.

Comment: Dr. Gabor Maté goes into an extensive study on what happens to people when they refuse to say no when they need to: in short, their body says "no" for them through illness and breaking down. Whether a person is pushing themselves too hard or feeling outside pressure to push past their limits and boundaries, eventually the body will say no. Pushing oneself to excel is certainly a good thing overall, but one must respect one's own limits and boundaries and find balance in their lives and their pursuits. For more information:

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Rainbow

Remembering and savoring positive memories is a practical and effective way to lift your mood

Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
happy memory, couple in love
The study examined how positive emotions can be used in the therapeutic process to aid healing.

Positive memories could be used as a way to help boost mental well-being, new research finds.

Therapists have traditionally focused on addressing negative emotions, as these are most pressing.

However, researchers are now looking at how positive emotions can be used in the therapeutic process to aid healing.
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