Mindsight
From a pioneer in the field of mental health comes a groundbreaking book on the healing power of "mindsight," the potent skill that is the basis for both emotional and social intelligence. Mindsight allows you to make positive changes in your brain--and in your life.• Is there a memory that torments you, or an irrational fear you can' t shake?• Do you sometimes become unreasonably angry or upset and find it hard to calm down?• Do you ever wonder why you can't stop behaving the way you do, no matter how hard you try?• Are you and your child (or parent, partner, or boss) locked in a seemingly inevitable pattern of conflict?What if you could escape traps like these and live a fuller, richer, happier life? This isn't mere speculation but the result of twenty-five years of careful hands-on clinical work by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. A Harvard-trained physician, Dr. Siegel is one of the revolutionary global innovators in the integration of brain science into the practice of psychotherapy. Using case histories from his practice, he shows how, by following the proper steps, nearly everyone can learn how to focus their attention on the internal world of the mind in a way that will literally change the wiring and architecture of their brain. Through his synthesis of a broad range of scientific research with applications to everyday life, Dr.
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- Read "Affective Neuroscience" (or Archeology of the Mind) by Jaak Panksepp for a better understanding of where emotions come from (primary affect).
Read "Mindsight" by Daniel Siegel for a view on higher level emotional processing. You can "sample" his ideas by watching some of his interviews on Mindsight.
Read "Passage Meditation" by Eknath Easwaran for a simple and accessible program of meditation. Meditation, in its various forms, improves emotional control.
- Mindsight by Dan Siegel is one I would recommend too
- Great book, by the father (to most at least) of PTSD and CPTSD. Has revealed for me the role of trauma in my life, and those of basically everyone around me.
But after reading it, i felt a little... lost. I knew a lot about the problem space, and some solutions outlined, but it wasn't integrated within me, and all i had was a few therapies I could try out and hope the best for.
Luckily, the next book I picked up was Mindsight by Dr. Daniel Siegel, and that has helped immensely in applying the knowledge of The Body Keeps Score, to bring about a shift in focus and presence in our bodies.
One thing he talked about that i found of interest is a column of neurons, only 6 deep, that make up our perceptions of reality. the top 3, take on a top down approach from the cortex downwards; while the bottom 3 come up from the limbic area of our sensory inputs - and it is in the middle of space of the column that reality appears - a mix of our past perceptions and preferences, with what we are observing in the here and now.
So, What happens with PTSD? There is a shift towards the top-down thinking, and a muting (or overriding) of limbic signals. In the tug of war of 6 neurons, the top down wins out over our perceptions - allowing people to experience and truly relive flashbacks of traumas like war in their bedroom - they are detached from their limbic signaling.
Which is why - mindfulness, meditation, and being more present in your body matter so much. What you pay attention to matters - and allows us to hone/reshape firing patterns.
https://www.amazon.com/Mindsight-New-Science-Personal-Transf...
- For those who want to get started on developing their own, here are some resources that have really helped me:
"Nonviolent Communication" - Marshall Rosenberg
"Mindsight" - Daniel Siegel
I've also been working on a new mathematical model (rooted in category theory) for how our brains, bodies, and minds work together with the goal of developing a natural language based way to generate practices for the sake of improving myself in targeted ways. I only just finished reading Mindsight & have been practicing some of the techniques in the book by accident for months prior after coming up with the practices myself through my model. I've found my other attempts at programming myself using the model also develop my ability to focus & direct my attention, as well. As a result, I've had initial successes with learning echolocation and learning a form of synesthesia I haven't heard of (seeing a stick figure that moves with my body), both in under 10 minutes of my first attempts.
I'm not an expert in any of this stuff. I'm an information addict in recovery who saw connections among various recent research findings in different fields and started making connections. If love to collaborate with any Neuroscientists or Category Theorists. My contact info is in my profile.
- The most awesome book I'm currently reading is "Custard, Cakes and Category Theory" by Eugenia Cheng [1]. It's already bringing some much needed back ground, some "why", to my much neglected maths education.
On a more spiritual note, I'd also recommend Mindsight by Dan Siegel [2]. An excellent book for getting some intuition into how people's past experiences shape them. The Trauma of Everyday life by Mark Epstien [3] blends teachings of Buddhism and mindfulness with the life long lessons of a Psychotherapist.
[1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cakes-Custard-Category-Theory-unders...
- Have you tried meditation? One way of looking at it is as a 2,000+ year old tradition of attention training. I highly recommend Googling "pragmatic Buddhism", "Mindfulness in Plain English", and "Mindsight" by Dan Siegel. But the most important thing is to spend a little time practicing every day.
It's not a fast or easy solution, but I've found meditation actually works.
