Emotions

Differentiate Self and Emotions with Mindfulness

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“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” – Daniel Goleman
As we grow and develop throughout our lifetime we need to develop a sense of self that is independent and separate from other people. This is particularly evident in social contexts where individuals and the group pressure the individual to conform or model other people. Self-differentiation involves a process of developing a strong and independent self that can immerse in a group or identify with others if that’s appropriate but which can stake out an independent path, take different stands, and develop a unique individuality.

 

An aspect of this differentiation is developing independence in emotional expression, allowing emotions to be felt and expressed that are representative of the true feelings of the individual regardless of the social context. These are emotional expressions that are completely aligned with the differentiated individual and are expressions of the true self. Alexithymia is the term used in psychology to describe individuals who suffer great difficulty in emotional expression. This can result in isolation as the individual may avoid close interpersonal relationships.

 

These processes of self-differentiation are not limited to childhood or adolescence but go on throughout the lifetime. For healthy development the individual must differentiate both in terms of personality but also emotionally. Mindfulness promotes the comprehension of the interdependence of all things, how each individual is connected to everyone else and to other organisms and the environment. But, this does not mean that individuality cannot be developed. Rather the development of full individuality requires understanding the interdependence and interconnections among people and things. This suggests that mindfulness would promote the development of self and emotional differentiation.

 

In today’s Research News article “Examining Mindfulness and Its Relation to Self-Differentiation and Alexithymia”

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Teixeira and Pereira investigated the relationship between mindfulness and self-differentiation and alexithymia in undergraduate college students. They found that high mindfulness was associated with high levels of awareness and acceptance of the present moment. In addition they found that high mindfulness was associated with high self-differentiation, including differentiation of self and others, and low levels of alexithymia including difficulty in identifying and describing feelings.

 

Hence, Teixeira and Pereira’s study indicates that mindfulness is associated with the development of individuality of self and emotional expression. It is well established that mindfulness promotes emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/) which improves the individual’s ability to feel emotions yet keep their intensity at manageable levels and respond appropriately to them. But, these results indicate that in addition to improved emotion regulation mindfulness improves the ability to express them regardless of social demands, to be free to express what is being felt and be close to other people.

 

Mindfulness then appears to be associated with the full development of an individual self that is unique and distinct from others. It is interesting and important that mindfulness is positively associated with this very high level of individual human development. It further suggests that mindfulness is useful in developing independence throughout the lifetime both in terms of the self and in the expression of emotions.

 

So, be mindful and differentiate self and emotions.

 

“Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.” –  Jon Kabat-Zinn

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Develop a Better Brain Mindfully

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The nervous system changes dramatically during development. It is a time when the brain is greatly affected by the environment and experiences of the individual. This is what neuroscientists call neuroplasticity. It is present in adulthood, but is particularly evident and important during development. The nervous system is molded to efficiently analyze the environment presented.

 

Studies of the development of the nervous system during adolescence have revealed marked changes occurring throughout the teen years. The brain doesn’t look like that of an adult until the early 20s. Over the course of childhood the outer layer of the nervous system, the cortex, increases in thickness and then during adolescence thins. Late adolescence is a time of brain development when the highest levels of intellectual development are being produced by refinements in the structures of the nervous system. The thinning of the cortex is thought to reflect a pruning of cortical systems making processing more and more efficient. It is making the nervous system more efficient and tuned to the environment in which it is immersed.

 

It is thought that many of the emotional and behavioral problems during adolescence occur due to the fact that the neural systems underlying emotional reactivity and expression are fully developed well before the development of the higher processes that regulate and control the emotions and the responses to the emotions. As a result, adolescent behavior can be overly determined by emotion. This can potentially explain the high rates of teen suicide, reckless, thrill seeking behavior, and social anxiety. The erratic emotion driven behavior of the teen years is reflected in the teen nervous system.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to be associated with emotion regulation. The higher the level of mindfulness the better able the individual is in experiencing emotions at a manageable level and responding to them adaptively and appropriately (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/). Hence, it makes sense to study the development of the brain, mindfulness, and emotion regulation during adolescence. Perhaps mindfulness can compensate for some of the emotional dominance of behavior in the teen.

 

In today’s Research News article “Dispositional mindfulness is predicted by structural development of the insula during late adolescence”

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Friedel and colleagues use MRI neuroimaging to measure brain structure of males and females at age 16 and again at age 19 to view the changes occurring during late adolescence. They also measured mindfulness, emotional self-regulation, attention, inhibitory control, frustration, as well as behavioral aggression and depressive mood. High levels of mindfulness were found to be associated with higher levels of cognitive reappraisal, attention and inhibitory control, and lower levels of self-reported frustration, aggression and depressive mood. In other words, the adolescents who were very mindful were in better control of their emotions.

 

Friedel and colleagues then compared the brains at 16 years to those at 19 years and observed the expected thinning of cortical regions over this period. They found that mindfulness was associated with less thinning of an area called the Insula and that this was also associated with intelligence. They also found that the higher the level of mindfulness the less thinning of the Insula occurred and the higher the IQ test score.

 

These are intriguing findings. The Insula is an area of the cortex that has been found to be associated with interoceptive awareness, that is with the individual’s sensitivity to and awareness of their internal state. This is important for regulating emotions as the first step in regulating is actually becoming aware that they are occurring. Hence, the results suggest that the improved emotion regulation that is associated with mindfulness during late adolescence may be due to improved awareness of the emotional state and that this is due to less thinning of the Insula region of the cortex.

 

So, develop the brain mindfully and develop a more in-control teen.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Improve Well-being with HIV with Mindfulness

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“People wait in line to see me, saying there’s plenty of living to be done even if you have an HIV diagnosis. People say they are 10- or 15-year survivors and still moving forward.” – Greg Louganis

 

More than 35 million people worldwide and 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection. In 1996, the advent of the protease inhibitor and the so-called cocktail changed the prognosis for HIV. Since this development a 20 year old infected with HIV can now expect to live on average to age 69. Hence, living with HIV is a long-term reality for a very large group of people.

 

People living with HIV infection experience a wide array of physical and psychological symptoms which decrease their perceived quality of life. The symptoms include muscle aches, depression, weakness, fear/worries, difficulty with concentration, concerns regarding the need to interact with a complex healthcare system, stigma, and the challenge to come to terms with a new identity as someone living with HIV. Hence there is a need to find methods to improve the quality of life in people who are living with HIV infection.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to improve psychological and physical well-being in people suffering from a wide range of disorders (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/why-is-mindfulness-so-beneficial/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/how-do-mindfulness-based-interventions-improve-mental-health/). So, it would stand to reason that mindfulness would also be beneficial for people who are living with HIV infection.

 

In today’s Research News article “Dispositional mindfulness in people with HIV: Associations with psychological and physical health”

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Moskowitz and colleagues investigated the mindfulness, appraisal, positive and negative affect, coping, and indicators of psychological well-being and physical health of a group of primarily male HIV positive individuals. They found that mindfulness has significantly associated with a number of positive indicators of psychological well-being. HIV infected individuals who were high in mindfulness were found to have lower depression, lower perceived stress, fewer hassles, less negative affect, less escape-avoidance and self-blame forms of coping and more positive affect.

 

There are a number of potential explanations for the association of mindfulness with improved psychological well-being. The study demonstrated that the association between mindfulness and lower depression was mediated by lower perceived stress and negative emotions. This makes sense as mindfulness has been shown to reduce both the physical and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/destress-with-mindfulness/) and it is also known to improve emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/) and stress reduction and emotion regulation are helpful in relieving depression. In addition, since mindful individuals are more attuned to the present moment they may be better able to deal with whatever symptoms are present and not worry and catastrophize about the future.

The results are impressive. They are, however, only associations and it cannot be concluded that there is a causal link between mindfulness and the improved psychological well-being. A trial where mindfulness training is actively manipulated is needed to resolve this issue. Nevertheless, these results are suggestive that mindfulness training may be a way to help the vast numbers of people living with HIV infection adapt and cope with the physical and psychological issues associated with living with infection.

 

So, be mindful of HIV

 

“I’m not cured, but the HIV is asleep deep in my body.”- Magic Johnson

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Get Balanced Emotionally with Yoga

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“Yoga is a balancing factor, a substratum across all of your life, so you do not get shifted in one direction or another. It gives you freshness, gives you light, recharges your batteries. You become a stable person. You realize what balance is, what sukha is, what contentment is, what joy is.” ~ Birjoo Mehta

 

Emotions are important to our well-being. They provide the spice of life, the joy, the love, the happiness. But, they can be troubling producing sadness, hurt and fear. They can also be harmful such as the consequences of out of control anger or suicidal depression. We need emotions, but we must find ways to keep them under control.

 

In psychology, emotion regulation is the term used to describe the ability to control emotions. It is not eliminating or suppressing them. Far from it, emotion regulation allows for the emotion to be fully felt and experienced. But, it maintains the intensity of the emotion at a manageable level and also produces the ability to respond to the emotion appropriately and constructively. Clearly, emption regulation is a key to a happier life.

 

Emotion regulation is most needed during times of turmoil and early adolescence is a time of intense emotional turmoil. This results from raging hormones, difficult social interactions, development of a self-concept, and tests of competency that are so prevalent during this period. So, any method that can help to develop emotion regulation could be of great benefit during this difficult period of development.

 

Mindfulness techniques such as mindfulness based cognitive therapy (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/) and meditation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/20/regulate-emotions-with-mindfulness/) have been shown to improve emption regulation. So, there is reason to believe that mindfulness techniques in general may improve emotion regulation. There is a need, however, to explore other contemplative practices and their applicability to the development of emotion regulation in adolescents.

 

In today’s Research News article “Yoga and Emotion Regulation in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556863/

Daly and colleagues investigate the use of yoga to improve emotion regulation in 15-17 year olds. They compared adolescents who were taught yoga as their physical education class to adolescents who participated in the usual PE class. They found that emotion regulation increased for the yoga condition and decreased for the PE condition. In addition they found that higher levels of body awareness were associated with higher levels of emotion regulation.

 

These findings are interesting and potentially important. They demonstrate that yoga, like other contemplative practices can improve emotion regulation. This improvement is probably not due to the exercise component of yoga as it did not occur with traditional physical education classes. Importantly, yoga can improve emotion regulation in adolescence, a time when there is such a great need for emotion regulation.

 

In addition, the positive relationship between body awareness and emotion regulation suggests that yoga may be especially effective because of its emphasis on body awareness. This would seem reasonable as the first step in regulating emotions is being aware of the feelings in our bodies that are an integral part of emotion. By being sensitive to the bodies state the individual can be more aware of the presence and magnitude of an emotional reaction. Emotions can only be regulated once their presence is detected and yoga may improve this skill.

 

Of course more research is necessary before recommending that yoga be taught routinely to adolescents. But, the current research is suggestive that such a program could be very beneficial during this difficult phase of development.

 

So, practice yoga and get emotionally balanced.

 

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.” ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available at the Contemplative Studies Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/

 

 

Yoga Practice Improves Prisoner Mood and Stress

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“You may think that only you are a prisoner, but other people are also prisoners. You are in a small prison, but others are in the big prison outside. When will they be released? Think that you are a yogi and that you are pursuing your sadhana in this particular place and at this particular moment. Immediately you will experience great joy. If you change your understanding, you will be free in a minute.”- Baba Muktananda

 

Around 2 ¼ million people are incarcerated in the United States. Even though these are euphemistically labelled correctional facilities very little correction actually occurs. This is supported by the rates of recidivism. About three quarters of prisoners who are released commit crimes and are sent back to prison within 5-years. Hence there is a great need for better prison programs that can not only help the prisoner adjust to prison life but also to life after release.

 

Contemplative practices have recently been employed in prisons and have been found to improve prisoner well-being and behavior. LINK to Auty Yoga and Meditation Improves Well-Being in Prisoners. Yoga is a multifaceted practice containing physical, mindfulness, and spiritual components. As such, yoga would seem to be ideal for the needs of an incarcerated population. Indeed, it has been shown to be beneficial for prisoners. Unfortunately, all that can be said is that engaging in a yoga program produces better results than not. But there is little understanding of how yoga practice might work and the amount of yoga needed to produce the benefits.

 

In today’s Research News article “Preliminary Evidence That Yoga Practice Progressively Improves Mood and Decreases Stress in a Sample of UK Prisoners”

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Bilderbeck and colleagues investigated the factors associated with the beneficial effects of yoga practice for prisoners. They found that the more yoga classes attended and the greater the amount of self-practice outside of classes the greater the improvement in the prisoners’ level of perceived stress and negative emotions. In other words, sustained, regular practice of yoga produced greater improvements in the prisoners.

 

Of course it is impossible to tell if the prisoners who obtained the greatest benefit were then the ones who would engage more reliably in the practice or that great amounts of practice produce greater benefit. It is also impossible to know if some other factor such as the impact of the social context or simply relief of the incredible boredom of prison life might have been responsible both for greater adherence and also to improvements in well-being. There is a need for research that controls and manipulates these factors to determine the actual causal connections.

 

There is also a need to follow up on prisoners who have practiced yoga in prison to determine the long-term impact on adjustment to life outside of prison and recidivism. Finally, there is a need to determine what facets of yoga practice are crucial for each benefit and which are unimportant.

 

Regardless, it is clear that practicing yoga is beneficial to the well-being of prisoners.

 

“Right, if you’re not careful, you could despair, but there is a support system, definitely in this prison, and it’s awesome just to be able to be part of a community where people do yoga and meditate – and I have the Siddha Yoga correspondence course. I use these things to take me out of my mind and more into the heart space.” – Gino Sevacos, prisoner at San Quentin State Prison,

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Make better Decisions with Meditation

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“For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, ‘No no no nooo!’ You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who’s trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn’t.” – Paul Haggis

 

We are confronted daily with a myriad of decisions, many small of little importance; chocolate or strawberry, pass or follow, do the dishes or empty the trash, watch a movie or sports, etc.. But some have a major impact on ourselves and others; take a new job, get married, buy a home, retire or stay working, exercise or not, etc. The problem is that humans are not always good decision makers.

 

We often make decisions for emotional reasons; buying a new car, not because we need one but because it makes us feel like a race car driver, selling a stock out of fear of losses, marrying someone out of fear of being alone, etc. We also have a tendency to make decisions based upon how we’ve made them in the past regardless of whether that strategy is still appropriate. Having decided to finish high school, get a college degree, and going back to school to get an MBA may have helped our careers, but then going back to school again may not.

 

We respond to the fact that we’re already invested resources in something and hate to give up, called sunk-costs bias. So, we may continue on in a marriage even after the partner has become abusive. We often procrastinate in making decisions out of fear of making a wrong choice. We frequently fall prey to the gamblers fallacy and believe that “we’re due” for a lucky break. We take unnecessary risks because of we love the adrenalin rush and the thrill of risk. We tend to weigh negative information to a greater extent than positive information and thus respond more to the possibility of loss than the possibility of gain.

 

The marketing and advertising industries well understand the illogic and emotionality of human decision making. Ads are tailored to appeal to our emotions rather than our reason. Salesmen and telemarketers use pressure tactics because they recognize that people have difficulty with confrontation and saying no to another human. Stores are designed to evoke spur of the moment impulse buying.

 

Decisions are important to our prosperity, health, and happiness. So, how can we make better decisions? In today’s Research News article “Calm and smart? A selective review of meditation effects on decision making”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513203/

Sun and colleagues review the literature on the effects of meditation on decision making and conclude that meditation practice helps to make people better decision makers.

 

They propose that meditation practice works to improve decision making in three ways. First it has been shown to improve attention, memory, and rational thought processes. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/overcome-attention-problems-with-mindfulness/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/when-are-distractions-not-distractions/). So, meditation leads to a more reflective consideration of the information, better ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information, reduced irrational behaviors, reduced habitual tendencies, reduced risky decisions, and overreacting to negative information.

 

Secondly, meditation practice is known to improve emotion regulation and non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/control-emotions-the-right-way-with-mindfulness/). Meditators are better at sensing their emotions and controlling their reactions to those emotions. Thus meditation practice can reduce the influence of emotion on decision making and lead to better decisions. Finally, meditation practice improves empathy and compassion for others and it improves our ability to listen to the concerns of others (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/17/be-positive-with-loving-kindness-meditation/). This more compassionate understanding of others and attention to their desires and needs can lead to superior social decisions.

 

So practice meditation and make better decisions.

 

“We need to know how we are feeling. Mindfully acknowledging our feelings serves as an ’emotional thermostat’ that recalibrates our decision making. It’s not that we can’t be anxious, it’s that we need to acknowledge to ourselves that we are.” – Noreena Hertz

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Take Command and Control of Your Emotions

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“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” – Daniel Goleman

 

Emotions are powerful forces that have profound effects upon the course of our lives. We strive to obtain and maintain positive emotions. We are driven by negative emotions. And we are bored when we lack emotions. To some extent we can become a slave to our emotions unless we discover means to effectively deal with them.

 

Mindfulness appears to help to deal with our emotions. It has been shown to improve emotion regulation http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfully-get-a-grip/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/control-emotions-the-right-way-with-mindfulness/. It doesn’t block or prevent emotions from rising up. Rather it appears to allow us to recognize and feel the emotions but be able to control our responses to the emotions. So mindfulness appears to put us in control so we are no longer slaves to our surging emotions.

 

Mindfulness appears to act to improve emotion regulation by improving cognitive reappraisal

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/. It simply allows us to think more clearly about our emotions and interpret their source and meaning appropriately. So, rather than taking everything personally and interpreting our emotions as due to our own failings, we can see that they may be caused by the actions of others who are simply acting out their own issues that have nothing to say about us.

 

All of this indicates that mindfulness produces an overall improvement in our emotional intelligence http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/be-smart-about-emotions/. It improves our ability to recognize our own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, to use this information about the emotions to guide our thinking about them and the situations that evoked them, and to control our responses to them. It truly makes us smart about emotions and in control.

 

A number of mindfulness trainings have been shown to be effective in improving emotion regulation. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed specifically to help the individual cope effectively with emotions particularly depression. But, it can also create a positive emotional upward trajectory http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/ where good feeling build on good feelings.

 

The cognitive component of MBCT is specifically designed to develop cognitive reappraisal of emotions, to help the individual better identify, label, and think about their emotions. This leaves open the question as to whether MBCT is effective because of the mindfulness component or the cognitive component or perhaps both.

 

In today’s Research News article “History of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is Associated with Increased Cognitive Reappraisal Ability”

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441334/

Troy and colleagues compared MBCT to Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), without the mindfulness component, and to no-treatment controls. They found that the mindfulness component was crucial. Only the MBCT group showed increased cognitive reappraisal.

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This is quite surprising that Cognitive Behavior Therapy alone did not change cognitive reappraisal, but only did so when combined with mindfulness. This suggests that the focus on awareness of present moment experience viewed without judgment may be a potent practice to induce effective cognitive reappraisal. It suggests that being able to look at experience without judging it may be the necessary groundwork that allows the individual to look at the experience anew and appraise it optimally. By removing an initial inappropriate judgement about the situation, MBCT may make it easier to see the experience for what it is rather than have to overcome a wrong interpretation in order to rethink it. In other words it allows thinking to start from scratch rather than from error.

 

Regardless, it is clear that mindfulness gives you command and control of your emotions.

 

“To balance and control your emotions is one of the most important things in life. Positive emotions enhance your life. Negative emotions sabotage your life.” – Dr T.P.Chia

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Regulate Emotions with Mindfulness

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“Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.”  ― Jean Racine

Difficulties with emotions are at the heart of the majority of mental health problems. Depression, anxiety disorders, panic disorders etc. afflict hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Unregulated emotions create suffering for the individual and their families and can occasionally result in suicide. Mental health is estimated to account for nearly half of all health care spending worldwide. It accounts for the lion’s share of prescription drug use. But, the medications don’t always work, are costly, and frequently have troubling side effects. Needless to say finding safe and effective ways to deal with out of control emotions is badly needed.

Mindfulness practice has taken center stage in the psychological treatments for mental health problems in what has been called the third wave of therapies. This has resulted from the accumulating evidence of the effectiveness of mindfulness practices for a myriad of mental health issues. Mindfulness is a natural low cost method, with very few side effects, for dealing with a variety difficult psychological issues including those that involve difficult unregulated emotional states.

One of the ways that mindfulness appears to be effective in treatment is through increasing the individual’s ability to regulate emotions. That doesn’t mean that it eliminates emotions. To the contrary mindfulness brings emotions into full awareness. But, in doing so the magnitude and the impact of the emotions is mitigated. As a result individuals are better able to respond effectively to the emotions with reason and compassion. Mindfulness improves emotional intelligence http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/be-smart-about-emotions/.

In previous posts we discussed how mindfulness meditation increases emotion regulation by altering the activity of the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and parahippocampal gyrus (see  http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfully-get-a-grip/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/18/control-thinking-and-feeling-with-mindfulness/.)

In today’s Research News article “Baseline and Strategic Effects behind Mindful Emotion Regulation: Behavioral and Physiological Investigation”

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Grecucci and colleagues explore the mechanism by which mindfulness practice improves emotion regulation. They found that emotions could be regulated by either of three strategies, mindfulness meditation, or a cognitive strategy where the reason for the emotion evoked by others is reevaluated, or by mindful detachment where the individual simply views the situation and the feelings with an attitude of acceptance and lack of judgment. All of these strategies were successful in reducing emotional and physiological reactivity.

When they had meditators apply the cognitive and the detachment strategies they found that the meditators did even better when employing the detachment strategy but not when they employed the cognitive strategy. It has been previously shown that mindfulness improves cognitive reappraisal of emotions http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/. These results suggest that mindfulness improves emotion regulation through both cognitive reappraisal and by mindful detachment, but that mindful detachment is the more important of the two. Mindful detachment allows the individual to simply view and not judge the situation and the emotions evoked and thereby react reasonably and effectively.

So, be mindful, view emotions with nonjudgmental detachment, and regulate your emotions.

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde

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Be Positive with Loving-Kindness Meditation

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There is a long history in psychology of a focus on mental illnesses and uncomfortable states. In other words, psychology was very much focused on the negative. Over the last couple of decades, however, a new movement has emerged in psychology to focus on the positive, to look for the effects of positive emotions and states and for ways to increase these positive states.

Meditation has been found to not only reduce negative conditions but to also increase positive states such as joy, love, and happiness. As a result positive psychology has become very interested in studying meditation effects.  Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) is specifically designed to develop positive feelings toward the self and others.  In LKM the meditator focuses on repeatedly wishing positive things, wellness, safety, happiness, health etc. for oneself and toward multiple other people from loved ones to enemies. (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/loving-kindness-meditation-and-the-disease-of-the-west/)

LKM has been shown to improve positive mood and improve social interactions (See https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1043326459024613/?type=1&theater

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/loving-kindness-meditation-and-social-function/). In today’s Research News article “The interventional effects of loving-kindness meditation on positive emotions and interpersonal interactions”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1069935599697032/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4450657/

He and colleagues demonstrated that a brief loving-kindness meditation practice increased positive emotions, interpersonal interactions, and complex understanding of others and decreased negative emotions in Chinese college students.

So, practicing Loving-Kindness Meditation can make you feel more positive toward yourself and others, can improve your interactions with others, and can even make you more understanding of the complexities of human nature. Once we develop compassion and kindness toward ourselves and others, which is the object of Loving-Kindness Meditation, it markedly alters not only our feelings towards ourselves and others, but also allows the cognitive understandings to grow and blossom.

These positive feelings and understandings of ourselves and others has wide ranging consequences. It appears to improve mental and physical health, increase longevity, change neural structures, make us better at coping with stress, improve social connections, and make us feel better about ourselves.

It’s quite remarkable that such a simple technique can have such profound consequences. This seems to support the old saying that “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar”. You can get much more good things done by emphasizing the positive than attempting to fix the negative. Along the same lines, it’s long been known in psychology that learning occurs much more swiftly and permanently with positive rewards than avoidance of punishment. Once again positivity is much more effective than negativity.

So, practice Loving Kindness Meditation and be positive.

CMCS

Control Thinking and Feeling with Mindfulness

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In a number of posts we’ve presented evidence and discussed the very positive effects of mindfulness on thinking, emotions, health and general well-being. The accumulated evidence makes a compelling case that mindfulness has a myriad of positive effects promoting physical and mental well-being.

It has also been demonstrated with neuroimaging studies that mindfulness training produces enlargement and increased connectivity of the frontal lobes of the brain. This area of the cortex has long been known to underlie executive function and emotional regulation. Executive function regulates cognitive processes, including attention, working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as planning and execution. Emotional regulation involves regulation of our experience of emotions, fully experiencing them yet preventing them from spiraling out of control and adversely affecting behavioral responses to the emotions.

It can be speculated that the effectiveness of mindfulness in promoting well-being results from the changes in the frontal lobes producing higher levels of executive function and emotional regulation and theses in turn produce the positive effects of mindfulness. In today’s Research News article “Trait Mindfulness in Relation to Emotional Self-Regulation and Executive Function.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1054045994619326/?type=1&theater

Lyvers and colleagues address this very question. They measured indicators of frontal lobe function; prefrontal cortex dysfunction, impulsivity, and alexithymia and correlate them to a measure of trait mindfulness. They find that the higher the mindfulness the lower the levels of prefrontal cortex dysfunction, impulsivity, and alexithymia, clearly suggesting that mindfulness is associated with heightened frontal lobe function.

Prefrontal cortex dysfunction indicates an impairment of attention and planning, impulsivity indicates impairments in controlling and restraining behavior, while alexithymia indicates an inability to identify and describe emotions, lack of emotional awareness, and difficulty with social attachment and interpersonal relationships. In other words, these are measures of the problems that arise with impaired executive function and emotion regulation.

Lyvers and colleagues further show that mindfulness is inversely related to negative moods, depression, anxiety and stress scores. This suggests that mindfulness improves well-being by promoting frontal lobe activity. This results in improved executive function and thereby improves attention and ability to analyze experience and realistically plan for the future, improving our ability to effectively deal with whatever experience we’re having.

The facilitated frontal lobe activity also produces improved emotion regulation with its consequent facilitation of the ability to identify and regulate emotions. Hence, all other factors being equal, negative moods are experienced less often or less intensely and responded to more appropriately compared to someone who has low levels of that emotion regulation.

So, practice mindfulness and improve your frontal lobe function and general well-being.

CMCS