Letting Go of Attachment “Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.” ~Dalai Lama Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Lori Deschene of Tiny Buddha. If there’s one thing we all have in common it’s that we want to feel happy; and on the other side of that coin, we want to avoid hurting. We pin our happiness to people, circumstances, and things and hold onto them for dear life. We attach to feelings as if they define us, and ironically, not just positive ones. In trying to hold on to what’s familiar, we limit our ability to experience joy in the present. When you stop trying to grasp, own, and control the world around you, you give it the freedom to fulfill you without the power to destroy you. It’s no simple undertaking to let go of attachment—not a one-time decision, like pulling off a band-aid. The best approach is to start simple, at the beginning, and work your way to Zen. Experiencing Without Attachment Call yourself out.
The All-Time Top Six Psychological Reasons We Love Music What psychological roles does music play in our lives? Modern technology means it’s never been easier to hear exactly the music we want, whenever we want it. But whatever technology we use, the reasons we listen to music are universal. Music grabs our emotions instantly in a way few other art-forms can manage. So what are the universal psychological functions of music? 6. Languishing down at number six was the way in which music teaches us about the world. Psychological research backs up the importance of the information music sends out to others about our personalities. Music is also sending us a message about the state of the world. 5. In at five is identity. One general trend in popular music is towards greater narcissism. 4. The fourth most important function of music is its social dimension. There’s little doubt that music and love are inextricably linked and we use one to get the other. The song that did the trick? 2= Negative mood management 2= Diversion 1. Image credit: Kris Krug
how to erase memory (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents appears this week in Science Express. “When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person’s life,” says Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D., professor and director of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Behavioral therapy built around “extinction training” in animal models has proven helpful in easing the depth of the emotional response to traumatic memories, but not in completely removing the memory itself, making relapse common. In further experiments, they found that removal of these proteins depends on the chemical modification of the GluA1 protein.
How to Promote Visionary Thinking Why we are more creative when mind and body are out of step. Usually we perform best with mind and body in sync. With our thoughts tied to our actions decisions are made faster, we are more engaged and we feel at one with ourselves. If you want to be creative, though, sometimes it pays to be out of sync according to a recent study by Huang and Galinsky (2011). They had some people recalling a happy time in their life while at the same time frowning. Another group recalled sad memories while smiling. In two comparison groups, participants were told to produce consonant mind-body states, i.e. happy memory plus happy face and sad memory plus sad face. After this participants had to make judgements about how typical words were of a particular category. Participants in the dissonant conditions, then, were thinking more expansively. As creatures of habit people automatically go down the same avenues of thought time after time. Image credit: Racchio
Tips for Living an Extraordinary Life by Henrik Edberg Is truth stranger than fiction? Perhaps. In this great article written by Henrik Edberg, we find that Mark Twain had expressed in his writings over the years an entire philosophy for living. If he were around today, it seems he would be on the lecture circuit with the likes of Eckhart Tolle or Wayne Dyer. “Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” “When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.” You may know Mark Twain for some of his very popular books like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain is known for his many – and often funny – quotes. 1. “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” If you don’t approve of yourself, of your behaviour and actions then you’ll probably walk around most of the day with a sort of uncomfortable feeling. This can, in a related way, be a big obstacle in personal growth. 2. “Age is an issue of mind over matter.
Highly Trusting People Better Lie Detectors Contrary to our intuition, research suggests that more trusting people are better than cynics at detecting when others are lying. Humans can be an untrusting race. People are often very cynical about human nature, tending to think that strangers will happily lie to us if there is something in it for them. We intuitive believe that being cynical is an advantage in detecting lies. The results were as we’d expect: 85% thought low trusters are better than high trusters at lie detection. Is this the right answer though? Liar liar Carter and Weber weren’t so sure, so they measured how trusting 29 participants were and had them watch videos of a staged job interview. In these videos, interviewees had been told to do their best to get the job, but half were told to tell three lies in the process. These videos were then shown to participants who rated the honesty of the interviewees, along with how likely they would be to hire them. What is going on? Social intelligence Risk and reward
The Pathology of Love The Pathology of Love By: Dr. Sam Vaknin Click HERE to view the video Malignant Self Love - Buy the Book - Click HERE!!! Relationships with Abusive Narcissists - Buy the e-Books - Click HERE!!! READ THIS: Scroll down to review a complete list of the articles - Click on the blue-coloured text! The unpalatable truth is that falling in love is, in some ways, indistinguishable from a severe pathology. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki of University College in London showed that the same areas of the brain are active when abusing drugs and when in love. Other MRI studies, conducted in 2006-7 by Dr. On August 14, 2007, the New Scientist News Service gave the details of a study originally published in the Journal of Adolescent Health earlier that year. The conclusion? "'We were able to demonstrate that adolescents in early-stage intense romantic love did not differ from patients during a hypomanic stage,' say the researchers. Moreover: Q. 1. A. Q. A.
Backmasking & Reverse Speech What is Reverse Speech? It has been called the discovery of the 7th sense. The research into this phenomenon has been described as being of "Nobel calibre". It has been featured in numerous publications around the world, and in the United States it became a household name in the late 90s. It is called Reverse Speech, the phenomenon of hidden backward messages in speech. It initially gained worldwide fame in the early 80s as those strange backward messages in rock and roll. If human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. The pioneer and 20 year veteran of this field, Australian David John Oates, describes Reverse Speech as another form of human communication. The applications of this discovery are exciting. Although still a new and emerging field, Reverse Speech is already making its mark felt in many areas. Reverse Speech has now come back to Australia, where it was initially discovered.
10 Things you didn't know about sound Shh! Make your life sound better Julian Treasure: Sounds we hear have an important effect on our lives and healthNoise can cause physical harm and sound can heal, he saysHe says headphone abuse is creating deaf kidsMore research needed to fully understand how what we hear affects our health, he says Editor's note: TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas worth spreading," which it makes available through talks posted on its website. (CNN) -- Most of us have become so used to suppressing noise that we don't think much about what we're hearing, or about how we listen. 1.) 2.) 3.) Video: Julian Treasure: Making life sound better 4.) Women, by contrast, typically adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the journey, going with the flow. Other listening positions include judgmental (or critical), active (or reflective), passive (or meditative) and so on. 5.) According to a 1999 U.S. TED.com: Music is medicine, music is sanity TED.com: Jose Abreu on kids transformed by music 6.)