November 2, 2015

Good news:  You can change your brain!

You’re no longer totally at the mercy of rotten DNA, unprepared parents, characterological defects, or personalities that leave much to be desired.   You can take back your life – or at least what’s left of it.  And hopefully many of you are even more excited than I am because you’re a lot younger!

Bad news:  It takes intentional concentration and repetition over time.

You’re not going to change your brain in a meaningful and lasting way with a spa weekend and a few classes.  That intentional concentration and repetition over time thing is real.

Don’t take it from me – the research is everywhere.  Check out The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison or the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts.  They’re documenting and quantifying what’s happening to folks who actually engage in consistent and repetitive meditation and mindfulness practices, and they’re surprising all of us with the outcomes.

Combo good/bad news:  We can no longer get away with saying: ‘That’s just who or how I am’.   The days of abdicating responsibility for our behavior are behind us.  We can’t change the world – but we can change our responses to it.

Back to the good news:  It’s do-able.  You can start with 5 minutes a day and over time you will begin to see for yourself what everybody’s talking about.  Less expensive than a spa weekend…

The one word definition for intentional concentration and repetition is practice.  And that means it’s never too late to start over, and over and over and over again.

Much love,