As I continue to read the required chapters for my grad school class, I am more and more astounded by what I am reading! Background: today I went to see my counselor, whom I have not seen for almost a year. I started seeing her last fall, because I was anxious all the time, and my emotions were all over the place. I kind of pushed her (my counselor) out of my mind for awhile, but finally decided I should see her again this summer. So - when I saw her today, she talked to me about meditation and prayer. As I rattled on about all the happenings of my life for the past year or so...she said it made her exhausted, and asked if I ever take time to meditate or pray. She told me that studies in psychology show that people who meditate on a regular basis are healthier people, and their brains actually develop differently! OK...so that is background. Now on to my reading...
In the book "A Whole New Mind," Daniel Pink cites the work of Andrew Newberg, from the University of Pennsylvania. It says,
"Andrew Newberg has scanned the brains of nuns when they have meditated to the point of religious ecstasy and connection with God. His images show that during such moments, the part of the brain that guides a sense of self is less active - thus contributing to the feeling of being unified with something larger..."
Then he goes on to say...
"We ought to take spirituality seriously because of its demonstrated ability to improve our lives - something that might be even more valuable when so many of us have satisfied (and oversatisfied) our material needs...People who pray regularly have been shown to have lower blood pressure, on average, than those who don't, according to research at Duke University."
The next section of the book is all about "Meaning." He cites the work of Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of "positive psychology." I thought this was interesting...
"Among the things that contribute to happiness, according to Seligman, are engaging in satisfying work, avoiding negative events and emotions, being married, and having a rich social network. Also important are gratitude, forgiveness, and optimism."
WOW! It's like....we know all this stuff, right...but we forget it so easily! We become so bogged down by the material stuff out there, and so stressed out by the future or by the past, and we forget that we get to choose how we live right now. We get to choose (hopefully) our work, which events we participate in, and engaging in community. And of course...living a life of gratitude certainly makes a person more fulfilled.
Good reminders....thank you, psychology!
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