About Buddha's Brain - Creating the Self-Transforming Brain
- Affan Kermani
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
Below you will find some thoughts following the first meeting of the book club exploring Buddha's Brain. Registrations remain open through Sunday, February 22nd.
The book is about the practical neuroscience of happiness, love, and wisdom that delves into the connection between neuroscience and Buddhist teaching. It describes how the mind works and how Buddhist practices may help one remodel one's brain for more pleasure, love, and knowledge.
The book opens by discussing neuroplasticity, or the brain's capacity to alter and adapt throughout life. The authors document that the brain is continually evolving in reaction to our experiences, and we may take advantage of this by purposefully developing good events and thoughts.
The authors then discuss the three pillars of happiness, love, and wisdom, as well as how they connect to the brain. Happiness is related to the activation of the brain's reward system, love with the activation of the brain's bonding system, and wisdom with the engagement of the brain's prefrontal cortex, they explain.
The book furnishes us with a variety of Buddhist practices for cultivating pleasure, love, and knowledge. The book further discusses how these techniques alter the brain and generate pleasant emotional states.
Mindfulness Meditation
Compassion Meditation
Loving kindness Meditation
Registrations remain open through Sunday, February 22nd.
OVERVIEW OF THE THREE PILLARS
Happiness: Happiness is linked to the activation of the reward system in the brain, which is a network of structures involved in motivation, pleasure, and learning. When we have a favorable experience, such as a delicious meal or a hug from a loved one, that brings us joy, per Buddhist philosophy, we may boost our happiness by intentionally creating happy events and thoughts, focusing on the positive, and practicing gratitude.
Love: The activation of the brain's bonding system, which is a network of structures involved in attachment, empathy, and social connection, is related to love. Love brings sentiments of belonging, both love of fellow humans and love of God. Love can be cultivated by our actions of being kind and compassionate to others.
Wisdom: Wisdom is said to be connected to the prefrontal cortex activity, a region of the brain engaged in higher-order cognitive tasks, which include planning, decision-making, and moral reasoning. Wisdom brings clarity to make better decisions.
CHAPTER ONE
The first chapter presents the fundamental topic: the brain is continually developing, and we can use this to nurture a deeper state of pleasantness and consciousness. We read in some detail about the neuroplasticity, subsequently introducing fundamental concepts of brain change.
Neurons that fire at the same time link together. This indicates that the stronger the brain connections linked with a certain idea or experience, the stronger the more frequently we have it.
It is either use it or lose it. Neural connections that are not utilized on a daily basis deteriorate and finally vanish.
What ignites together connects together. When we have a favorable idea or experience while activating the pleasure regions of the brain, the neural connections linked with that thought or experience get stronger.
LIFE ALTERING PRACTICES
Take in the good activity. Strengthen the brain connections linked with happy experiences by simply taking a few minutes each day and reflecting on something wonderful that happened during the course of life so far. It can be memories and tears, and crying can be a good thing, as you allow yourself to enjoy the feeling from the past.
Practice letting go. Weaken the brain connection linked to bad experiences and events. Spend a few minutes every day recognizing a painful event and focus on expelling that experience, gently overshadowing it by the good things you previously recalled.
Meditate Loving-Kindness. Develop compassion for yourself and others. Think of someone you love, in this world or transitioned to the other, thinking of this person quietly recite, "may you be happy," "may you be in peace." "May you be well & safe."
Breathe Mindfully. Focus on your breathing to assist yourself in focusing on the present moment and letting go of thoughts (anxieties). Pay attention to your feelings as you breathe, such as how it makes you feel when you inhale and exhale.
This journey will allow us to reflect on and share our individual experiences, management of our daily lives, and our individual strengths and weaknesses. Together, we shall build our emotional resiliency, learning from each other as part of this 6D community.
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and New York Times best-selling author. His books include Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha's Brain, Just One Thing, Mother Nurture, and Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness. Hanson is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He is on the Advisory Board of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and taught in meditation centers worldwide.
Registrations remain open through Sunday, February 22nd.
Affan is a US tax professional within the financial services industry. He survived Polio as an infant of twenty-eight days in the early seventies. As a person with disabilities, Affan has been on a lifelong journey seeking ways to manage muscle weaknesses, bone loss, and contain progressive disability that comes with Post Polio Syndrome. He discovered the ‘Whole Foods Plant’ lifestyle during the thick of COVID-19 and adopted the lifestyle evidencing a positive shift in energy and mobility.
Affan moderates book clubs with a focus on books that will lead minds to contemplate the human ability of ‘mind over matter’ and the influence of modern-day technology and environment, on how each of us can best navigate life for our individual needs of health and wellbeing. Affan is also an administrator on our 6D Facebook Page - and the writer of these posts, of course!
Be well
Stop.Breathe.Focus.Move.Flow.
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